I'm surprised to read it from a philosophy student, but unfortunately we see this specious line of thinking often these days. That is, the idea that hard cases make all categorization illegitimate. Russia and Germany have ethnic minorities, therefore "Russian" and "German" have no meaning. Or that "Frenchness" is a composite that evolved over time and is therefore somehow not real. Of course we see this in other areas as well -- a very small number of people have intersex characteristics, therefore the sex binary is erroneous and you can be whatever 697th sex your febrile imagination comes up with.
Zelenskyy himself provides a good illustration of the contrast between those two versions of nationhood. He's Jewish. According to Zionism, all Jews are supposed to consider Israel their true homeland. How fortunate for the world that Zelenskyy believes his homeland is Ukraine. And how fortunate that he is considered fully Ukrainian, which would never have happened in the Ukraine of a hundred years ago.
Thank you for this article. I agree with most of what you wrote. I wonder, why is no one talking about what Xi is doing to the Chinese diaspora all over the world? Don't the people of Taiwan, of Hong Kong have the right to freedom as well as Ukraine? Isn't Xi up to the same nonsense as Putin? Why so hard on the Russian Communists and so soft on the Chinese Communists? Xi might not be leading an armed invasion to unite historic lands, but it is an invasion just the same, and with the same purpose.
Maybe, but Lincoln argued that were the South allowed to decide in this "plebiscite" to withdraw its consent to the Union, that would mean there was no future for democratic government.
I'm surprised to read it from a philosophy student, but unfortunately we see this specious line of thinking often these days. That is, the idea that hard cases make all categorization illegitimate. Russia and Germany have ethnic minorities, therefore "Russian" and "German" have no meaning. Or that "Frenchness" is a composite that evolved over time and is therefore somehow not real. Of course we see this in other areas as well -- a very small number of people have intersex characteristics, therefore the sex binary is erroneous and you can be whatever 697th sex your febrile imagination comes up with.
Zelenskyy himself provides a good illustration of the contrast between those two versions of nationhood. He's Jewish. According to Zionism, all Jews are supposed to consider Israel their true homeland. How fortunate for the world that Zelenskyy believes his homeland is Ukraine. And how fortunate that he is considered fully Ukrainian, which would never have happened in the Ukraine of a hundred years ago.
Thank you for this article. I agree with most of what you wrote. I wonder, why is no one talking about what Xi is doing to the Chinese diaspora all over the world? Don't the people of Taiwan, of Hong Kong have the right to freedom as well as Ukraine? Isn't Xi up to the same nonsense as Putin? Why so hard on the Russian Communists and so soft on the Chinese Communists? Xi might not be leading an armed invasion to unite historic lands, but it is an invasion just the same, and with the same purpose.
May Putin have only made the Ukrainian state stronger and strengthened democracy also!!
𝘕𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘩𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘢 𝘷𝘰𝘭𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘺 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘩 𝘳𝘦𝘲𝘶𝘪𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘸𝘢𝘭, “𝘢 𝘥𝘢𝘪𝘭𝘺 𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘣𝘪𝘴𝘤𝘪𝘵𝘦” 𝘸𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘭𝘦𝘨𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘢𝘤𝘺 𝘤𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘳𝘦𝘦 𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘪𝘤𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘧𝘭𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘩 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘣𝘰𝘳𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴.
Maybe, but Lincoln argued that were the South allowed to decide in this "plebiscite" to withdraw its consent to the Union, that would mean there was no future for democratic government.
I think you need to do better.