by Here is a simple thought experiment by which we can discover how reasonable a person is.Case 1: Tibet Imagine the native people of Tibet whose ancestors have lived in Tibet for hundreds, if not thousands of years. We can take a poll of all people in Tibet and discover the following:(1) the majority of the people of Tibet regard Tibet as the homeland of the Tibetan people, but(2) at the same time they are perfectly willing to accept a reasonable number of migrants and refugees and even ethnic minorities as equal citizens with full rights, provided that these are, and continue to remain, a small minority of the total population (say, (3) the majority of the Tibetan people also strongly believe that Tibet must remain a nation where the Tibetan culture is preserved as the national culture and the Tibetan people remain the majority of the population.Does this seem reasonable to you?Do you support the democratic right of the Tibetan people to hold these beliefs and implement policies to maintain their country in this way?The Tibetans would have strong reasons to hold these views, since the Chinese government is subjecting Tibet to Han Chinese mass immigration on a large scale that might eventually make them a minority in their own country.
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Lord Keynes considers the following as important: Tibet versus Sweden: A Simple Test
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Case 1: Tibet
Imagine the native people of Tibet whose ancestors have lived in Tibet for hundreds, if not thousands of years. We can take a poll of all people in Tibet and discover the following:
(1) the majority of the people of Tibet regard Tibet as the homeland of the Tibetan people, butDoes this seem reasonable to you?(2) at the same time they are perfectly willing to accept a reasonable number of migrants and refugees and even ethnic minorities as equal citizens with full rights, provided that these are, and continue to remain, a small minority of the total population (say,
(3) the majority of the Tibetan people also strongly believe that Tibet must remain a nation where the Tibetan culture is preserved as the national culture and the Tibetan people remain the majority of the population.
Do you support the democratic right of the Tibetan people to hold these beliefs and implement policies to maintain their country in this way?
The Tibetans would have strong reasons to hold these views, since the Chinese government is subjecting Tibet to Han Chinese mass immigration on a large scale that might eventually make them a minority in their own country.
Case 2: Sweden
Imagine the native people of Sweden (including the Sami people) whose ancestors have lived in Sweden for hundreds, if not thousands of years. We can take a poll of all people in Sweden and discover the following:
(1) the majority of the people of Sweden regard Sweden as the homeland of the Swedish people, butWould this be unreasonable?(2) at the same time they are perfectly willing to accept a reasonable number of migrants and refugees and even ethnic minorities as equal citizens with full rights, provided that these are, and continue to remain, a small minority of the total population (say,
(3) the majority of the Swedish people also strongly believe that Sweden must remain a nation where the Swedish culture is preserved as the national culture and the Swedish people remain the majority of the population.
Do you support the democratic right of the Swedish people to hold these beliefs and implement policies to maintain their country in this way?
Conclusion
If you said “yes” for Case 1, but “no” for Case 2, why exactly would you hold such contradictory views?
If Case 1 is a normal, natural and even healthy wish that a nation of people would have, why isn’t this true of Case 2?
And, come to think of it, we could have written the name of many other nations in Case 2, e.g., Nepal, East Timor, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, Kuwait, Cameroon, Finland, Austria, Denmark, etc.