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Born in Belfast and educated at Queen's University of Belfast, Robert Lynd spent most of his adult life in London, writing for a variety of newspapers and magazines, including the New Statesman.
In his essay "On Being an Alien," originally published in 1921, less than three years after the end of World War I, Lynd examines the "anti-foreign feeling which is already vehement enough in most of us, and which must be tamed into moderation if the world is to be civilised." Compare Lynd's sentiments with those expressed by Oliver Goldsmith in his essay "On National Prejudices" (1763).
In his essay "On Being an Alien," originally published in 1921, less than three years after the end of World War I, Lynd examines the "anti-foreign feeling which is already vehement enough in most of us, and which must be tamed into moderation if the world is to be civilised." Compare Lynd's sentiments with those expressed by Oliver Goldsmith in his essay "On National Prejudices" (1763).
On Being an Alien
by Robert Lynd
It is surprising that anyone who wishes to be popular ever troubles himself about any other subject except aliens. Dislike of aliens is instinctive with the majority of us. There is not a single race of human beings in existence which has not to make an effort in order to admit the possible equality--especially in the virtues--of the members of another race with its own. We have been afraid of strangers since we were pagans. We are suspicious of strange dogs and strange men. One has heard of savage tribes who were so scared of strangers that they regarded them as sacred. The origin of hospitality may, for all we know, be found in the universal terror of "foreign devils." It is not many years since we thought the Chinese a funny people because they naively called foreigners "foreign devils." It is the turn of the Chinese to laugh to-day. Their point of view has come to Europe, and here, too, the foreigner has become a nightmare, a creature with horns and a tail. There is unquestionably something to be said for the Chinese point of view. Foreigners, said Dr. Johnson, are mostly fools. There is quite as much to be said for the opinion that in their incursions into other countries they are mostly rascals. We do not need to read many books of travel in order to discover the rascality with which foreigners have behaved in the less well-armed parts of the earth. Cortes and all his men did not stand silent upon a peak in Darien for their health. He was of the heroic build, but his object was to acquire what did not belong to him, and if cruelty to the natives was necessary to the success of his plans he became cruel to the natives. If we could have the opinion of the ancient Gauls on Caesar they would probably have the same story to tell. Caesar was a "foreign devil," and it is only by forgetting what must have been the Gallic view that we can be whole-heartedly enthusiastic about him. The Assyrians, the Greeks, and every other conquering people were also "foreign devils" in the eyes of those whom they conquered. The conquering race only becomes tolerable when it ceases to be regarded as foreign and is accepted as resident and native. The Norman conquest of England ceased in the course of time to be a foreign conquest. The Normans settled down, and became more English than the English themselves. They did not, ultimately, rule England from abroad, and in a century or two they were foreigners not in England but in Europe. That is why England has suffered so little from her conquerors. She has made them, almost without exception, Englishmen. She has made herself their home and their chief interest. She has never had to resent their presence as the Italians for long resented the presence of the Austrians or as the Dutch resented the presence of the Spaniards on the ground that they were merely alien top-dogs, immigrant parasites. I remember hearing a Frenchman, many years ago, in despair of the way in which the working-classes of this country voted for Conservative politicians, expressing the opinion that the English people had never recovered from the Norman Conquest. His view, however, will not bear examination. If there has not been an anti-Norman movement in England, it is not because the English people were finally crushed at the battle of Hastings; it is because the Normans, by a happy chance or a happy purpose, ceased to be anti-English. We are only afraid of foreigners if we suspect their interests of not being the same as our own--if we believe they regard us not as their fellows but as their prey. The Normans were at least skilful enough to put themselves at the head of English patriotism and not in opposition to it.
During the war, it can hardly be disputed, the wise foreigner was he who raised his voice somewhat louder than his neighbour's in the utterance of patriotic sentiments. If a man had German connections or a German-looking name, he did well not merely to sing "God save the King," but to bellow it. One should in such circumstances write articles denouncing aliens till one's pen scratches and sputters. One should shout "Intern them all!" till one's voice hoarsens to a husky whisper. So intense is the vulgar hatred of foreigners that it sounds sweet music even on the lips of a foreigner. Many nations, indeed, have to import a foreigner in order to give full expression to the pomp of their patriotism. France could find within her own borders no Napoleon to spread her gloire? through the very fingers and toes of Europe. German patriotism only became protuberant in its pride in the works of a Slav historian, Treitschke, and an English philosophaster, Houston Chamberlain. We are always ready to give our right hand to a foreigner who will help us to cultivate megalomania. Every nation has a head to be swollen, and no one can do the work quite so skilfully as a foreigner. On the other hand, the poorer classes are so deficient in patriotism that they have not always the educated man's taste for having his head swelled. The foreigner to them is simply the dark-eyed neighbour who is a rival for their job. They have an idea that if there were no foreigners there would be more work, or better still, more money to go round. The foreigners are in their eyes nothing but a swarm of locusts settling down on a country and eating every green thing. It is impossible not to sympathise with their point of view when the foreigner brings with him a low standard of living and wages and cleanliness. Who would not hate the man who would offer to do his job at half the price? The American's terror of the Chinaman, the Englishman's dread of the Russian Jew, are simply a fear, intelligent or unintelligent, of being supplanted in the earning of a living. The natives would feel more comfortable and secure if these pestilent rivals were swept out of existence. Most of us dream of circumstances which will give us perfect comfort and security. We are vaguely resentful of the peril and poverty in which we live. The illusion of a world in which, foreigners having been got rid of, there would be plenty of money to go round, attracts us like the ambitious fancy of a child. In such a mood, foreigners seem to us not only the enemies of our country but our personal enemies.
Source: http://grammar.about.com/od/classicessays/a/On-Being-An-Alien-By-Robert-Lynd.htm
by Robert Lynd
It is surprising that anyone who wishes to be popular ever troubles himself about any other subject except aliens. Dislike of aliens is instinctive with the majority of us. There is not a single race of human beings in existence which has not to make an effort in order to admit the possible equality--especially in the virtues--of the members of another race with its own. We have been afraid of strangers since we were pagans. We are suspicious of strange dogs and strange men. One has heard of savage tribes who were so scared of strangers that they regarded them as sacred. The origin of hospitality may, for all we know, be found in the universal terror of "foreign devils." It is not many years since we thought the Chinese a funny people because they naively called foreigners "foreign devils." It is the turn of the Chinese to laugh to-day. Their point of view has come to Europe, and here, too, the foreigner has become a nightmare, a creature with horns and a tail. There is unquestionably something to be said for the Chinese point of view. Foreigners, said Dr. Johnson, are mostly fools. There is quite as much to be said for the opinion that in their incursions into other countries they are mostly rascals. We do not need to read many books of travel in order to discover the rascality with which foreigners have behaved in the less well-armed parts of the earth. Cortes and all his men did not stand silent upon a peak in Darien for their health. He was of the heroic build, but his object was to acquire what did not belong to him, and if cruelty to the natives was necessary to the success of his plans he became cruel to the natives. If we could have the opinion of the ancient Gauls on Caesar they would probably have the same story to tell. Caesar was a "foreign devil," and it is only by forgetting what must have been the Gallic view that we can be whole-heartedly enthusiastic about him. The Assyrians, the Greeks, and every other conquering people were also "foreign devils" in the eyes of those whom they conquered. The conquering race only becomes tolerable when it ceases to be regarded as foreign and is accepted as resident and native. The Norman conquest of England ceased in the course of time to be a foreign conquest. The Normans settled down, and became more English than the English themselves. They did not, ultimately, rule England from abroad, and in a century or two they were foreigners not in England but in Europe. That is why England has suffered so little from her conquerors. She has made them, almost without exception, Englishmen. She has made herself their home and their chief interest. She has never had to resent their presence as the Italians for long resented the presence of the Austrians or as the Dutch resented the presence of the Spaniards on the ground that they were merely alien top-dogs, immigrant parasites. I remember hearing a Frenchman, many years ago, in despair of the way in which the working-classes of this country voted for Conservative politicians, expressing the opinion that the English people had never recovered from the Norman Conquest. His view, however, will not bear examination. If there has not been an anti-Norman movement in England, it is not because the English people were finally crushed at the battle of Hastings; it is because the Normans, by a happy chance or a happy purpose, ceased to be anti-English. We are only afraid of foreigners if we suspect their interests of not being the same as our own--if we believe they regard us not as their fellows but as their prey. The Normans were at least skilful enough to put themselves at the head of English patriotism and not in opposition to it.
During the war, it can hardly be disputed, the wise foreigner was he who raised his voice somewhat louder than his neighbour's in the utterance of patriotic sentiments. If a man had German connections or a German-looking name, he did well not merely to sing "God save the King," but to bellow it. One should in such circumstances write articles denouncing aliens till one's pen scratches and sputters. One should shout "Intern them all!" till one's voice hoarsens to a husky whisper. So intense is the vulgar hatred of foreigners that it sounds sweet music even on the lips of a foreigner. Many nations, indeed, have to import a foreigner in order to give full expression to the pomp of their patriotism. France could find within her own borders no Napoleon to spread her gloire? through the very fingers and toes of Europe. German patriotism only became protuberant in its pride in the works of a Slav historian, Treitschke, and an English philosophaster, Houston Chamberlain. We are always ready to give our right hand to a foreigner who will help us to cultivate megalomania. Every nation has a head to be swollen, and no one can do the work quite so skilfully as a foreigner. On the other hand, the poorer classes are so deficient in patriotism that they have not always the educated man's taste for having his head swelled. The foreigner to them is simply the dark-eyed neighbour who is a rival for their job. They have an idea that if there were no foreigners there would be more work, or better still, more money to go round. The foreigners are in their eyes nothing but a swarm of locusts settling down on a country and eating every green thing. It is impossible not to sympathise with their point of view when the foreigner brings with him a low standard of living and wages and cleanliness. Who would not hate the man who would offer to do his job at half the price? The American's terror of the Chinaman, the Englishman's dread of the Russian Jew, are simply a fear, intelligent or unintelligent, of being supplanted in the earning of a living. The natives would feel more comfortable and secure if these pestilent rivals were swept out of existence. Most of us dream of circumstances which will give us perfect comfort and security. We are vaguely resentful of the peril and poverty in which we live. The illusion of a world in which, foreigners having been got rid of, there would be plenty of money to go round, attracts us like the ambitious fancy of a child. In such a mood, foreigners seem to us not only the enemies of our country but our personal enemies.
Source: http://grammar.about.com/od/classicessays/a/On-Being-An-Alien-By-Robert-Lynd.htm