A group of people or a nation can be as guilty of refusing to face unpleasant facts as an individual. National pride. for example. when it reflects a healthy espirt de corps is something we all admire. But when national pride becomes a form of aggressive A2373 nationalism which. accompanied by the waving of flags. applauds our selling goods abroad but cries "for shame" when any foreign goods are offered for sale. when the same nationalism unduly limits the entry of immigrants to our shores despite the fact that our wealth and greatness. not to mention our very presence here. depended on immigration. and when again it fails to recognize our responsibilities toward the rest of the world. then nationalism may be termed a kind of escapism. Selfinterest is a valid part of national policy. but escapism based on fear and insecurity leads to a retreat from the rest of the world. to bellicose and offensive selfaggrandizement. and to an effort to achieve economic selfsufficiency. all of which bear no more relationship to our own best interests than the frenzied effort of the ostrich at protection. If isolationism is at least in part an outgrowth of mass insecurity. so also is totalitarianism in all forms.
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immigration immigrants