Millerman Talks #4: Plato, Xenophobia, Immigration, the Far Right, Open Borders, and more

Episode 4. The Syrian immigration crisis has forced many in Europe and elsewhere to start asking some fundamental questions about who they are. Are they coldhearted, xenophobic, narrow-minded racists with a short memory about the horrors of indifference to the plight of others, or are they justice-seeking, justice-loving humanitarians, who can recognize the face of the human in the stranger and compassionately utter the Christ-like words, “welcome brother, I am you?”

Many discussions of the crisis operate with this stark either-or as something obvious and unproblematic. We are presented with Good, Tolerant Europeans (the good guys) throwing open their doors to the dispossessed, on one hand, and Far-Right Nationalist Bigots (in Hungary and in the Opposition Parties of Europe, the bad guys) marching with their jackboots and – well you get the picture.

But let us beware of oversimplifications and turn to classical political thinkers for at least a third option, neither the Bleeding Heart nor the Cold Shoulder, but the Middle Road of Common Sense and Political Experience.

https://michaelmillerman.ca/2018/05/18/platonic-xenophobia/

Видео Millerman Talks #4: Plato, Xenophobia, Immigration, the Far Right, Open Borders, and more канала Michael Millerman