OK, fair enough. I understand and respect your thinking, while not sharing it.

George - 01 September 2009 10:17 AM

shiraz - 01 September 2009 08:20 AM

BTW, why are low birth rates a “problem”?

According to the communist party in Czech. (so I read), it was the decreasing number of future soldiers.

That’s the argument I addressed at the beginning of the thread as something that historically was a secular reason to abhor abortion (as well as contraception and celibacy). But it is not a valid reason in the modern developed society.

But surely low birth rates should be alarming for any country, unless you are willing to accept immigrants—which is something the Czechs don’t seem to be fond of.

So the problem is jingoism, not low birth rates.

shiraz - 02 September 2009 06:32 AM

So the problem is jingoism, not low birth rates.

Hmm, Wiki defines jingoism as an “advocation of the use of threats or actual force against other countries in order to safe guard what they perceive as their country’s national interests.” I don’t think they have a problem with other countries as much as they do with Prague being polluted by mafia gangs from Ukraine, Russia, Albania, and China.

Shiraz may have meant national chauvinism. (chauvenism?)  Many of us, myself included, would have defined jingoism more closely allied to national ego than the Wiki definition.

Occam

Occam - 02 September 2009 09:55 AM

Shiraz may have meant national chauvinism.

Yes.

And those who prefer to have their own children over adopted ones, suffer from yet another form of jingoism, also known as narcissism, right?

The typical dictionary definition of jingoism is “extreme nationalism marked by a belligerent foreign policy.”

I think the best word shiraz was looking for is xenophobia.