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Single Idea 23130

[filed under theme 24. Political Theory / D. Ideologies / 14. Nationalism ]

Full Idea

Popular imperialism is the cosmopolitanism of the poor, the lever by which the small and impotent come to believe that their acts have world historical meaning.

Gist of Idea

Popular imperialism gives the poor the belief that their acts have world historical meaning

Source

Adam Gopnik (A Thousand Small Sanities [2019], 2)

Book Ref

Gopnik,Adam: 'A Thousand Small Sanities' [riverrun 2019], p.96

A Reaction

It is not only the poor who like imperialism. The focus of this popular attitude is the armed forces, and especially the army, where personal bravery is most obvious. The army gets strong support, no matter how dubious are its activities.

The 19 ideas from 'A Thousand Small Sanities'

23124 Liberal community is not blood ties or tradition, but shared choices, and sympathy for the losers [Gopnik]
23127 Liberal community includes flight from the family, into energetic reforming groups [Gopnik]
23128 The opposite of liberalism is dogmatism [Gopnik]
23125 Most good social changes are incremental, rather than revolutionary [Gopnik]
23126 Conservatives often want peace, prosperity and tolerance, but not social fairness [Gopnik]
23132 Conservatives believe obedience and rank are essential to social order [Gopnik]
23130 Popular imperialism gives the poor the belief that their acts have world historical meaning [Gopnik]
23131 Patriots love their place, but nationalists have a paranoid ethnic hostility [Gopnik]
23129 Right-wingers attack liberal faith in reason, left-wingers attack its faith in reform [Gopnik]
23133 Cosmopolitan liberals lack national loyalty, and welcome excessive immigration [Gopnik]
23138 Modern left-wingers criticise liberalism's control of culture [Gopnik]
23139 Liberalism's attempt to be neutral and colour-blind erases cultural identities [Gopnik]
23135 Classic Marxists see liberalism as the ideology of the bourgeoisie [Gopnik]
23140 Environmental disasters result not from capitalism, but from a general drive for growth [Gopnik]
23136 Liberal free speech is actually paid speech [Gopnik]
23134 A 'free' society implies a free market, which always produces predatory capitalism and inequalities [Gopnik]
23141 Left-wingers are inconsistent in their essentialist descriptions of social groups [Gopnik]
23142 People are fallible, so liberalism tries to distribute power [Gopnik]
23143 Liberals have tried very hard to build a conscience into their institutions [Gopnik]