[lbo-talk] as if on cue

[Dissenting Wren]

And Goethe did his university studies in Strasbourg/Strassburg.  But I don't 
know many leftists who "regard the nation as some sort of eternal form of human 
social life."  As far as I can tell, the Benedict Anderson/Imagined Communities 
perspective is pretty much current leftist common sense.

----- Original Message ----
From: Angelus Novus <fuerdenkommunismus at yahoo.com>
To: lbo-talk at lbo-talk.org
Sent: Mon, January 31, 2011 8:47:07 AM
Subject: Re: [lbo-talk] as if on cue

Wojtek:


> before 1939 few believed that the nation of Bach and Goethe will be 
> overrun by barbaric mass murderers.

There was never a "nation of Bach and Goethe."

Bach was born in the Duchy of Sachsen-Eisenach in the Holy Roman Empire, Goethe 
was from Frankfurt am Main, in modern day Hessen.

Projecting backwards in time some common German national identity is as stupid 
as when the present day EU lays claim to the ancient Athenian polis as a cradle 
of "European culture".

It's irritating whenever purported "leftists" regard the nation as some sort of 
eternal form of human social life.

It's funny how people are only critical about stuff like this when it comes to 
deconstructing Israeli national mythology à la Schlomo Sand, but every other 
nation on earth gets a pass.  

In fact, 1871 is only 77 years before 1948 in historical time, a mere blip, but 
somehow some nations are more "natural" than others.

      

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