re: #238 Cato the Elder

Here’s a hint for you: If the Tibetans were in a position to hurl every single man, woman, and child of the invading Han Chinese back across their borders, and then seal the borders, I would write 150 new psalms in the style of King David in honor of that feat.

Failing that, I would applaud if they are merely able to keep Tibet majority Tibetan.

I’ll grant that intentionally moving people who are loyal to one group into another group’s country is a dirty tactic, and should be opposed. I oppose China moving Chinese people into Tibet in order to intentionally change the local makeup and increase loyalty, just as I would have opposed the Ulstermen of Northern Ireland and as I oppose continued West Bank settlements. For one country to try to move their own loyalists into another country in order to support their side of a disputed ownership claim is a really fucked up tactic.

re: #238 Cato the Elder

Absent the godlike ability to put all ethnicities of humans in a big bag, shake them up like different-colored marbles, and scatter them in a statistically even distribution over the face of the earth, this is the way the world works.

God does shake the bag, a little bit every day: it’s called entropy. You can let it happen over time, or you can try to build walls to keep it out. The latter is xenophobia. Also, futile.

re: #238 Cato the Elder

I like diversity among nations even more than I do among individuals. Call me old-fashioned - or whatever more scurrilous epithets you have so far held in reserve.

“Old fashioned” sounds about right as you’ve explained your perspective so far, but in practical terms I think the implications go beyond that.

I think that it’s quite likely that sociological development in the future can lead to new forms of diversity without necessarily trying to “hold the line” to retain the old. Heritage is a cool thing, and everybody should celebrate theirs. But maintaining heritage going forward shouldn’t be the policy of any society, particularly if it restricts the rights of others.

It’s quite possible that many regions, countries or cultures have yet to burst out with new distinct and specific “flavors” of human endeavor yet to be seen. Some of the best culture historically comes out of conflict between distinct cultures. We don’t actually have to try to preserve the distinct ethnic population distrubutions of the past in order to have lots of interesting flavors blended into the world.