The Political Left's Xenophilia and Anti-Ethnocentrism

Key Insight

The political left, particularly the moderate left, is known for its xenophilia, exhibiting a preference for and attraction to out-groups. An Israeli conservative joke derisively suggests liberal Israelis 'prefer the hummus from Damascus over the hummus from the Golan Heights', implying a greater affinity for outsiders than insiders. This embrace of foreign cultures and individuals is also seen in policies, such as Venezuela's Hugo Chavez's '21st-century socialist' government admitting masses of immigrants, including 15000 Haitian refugees and 4000000 Colombians.

Historical data supports this: a de-Nazification study in postwar Germany found anti-Nazis were more likely to read foreign books or have lived abroad for at least six months. Contemporary 'bedroom cues' in the US show left-wing individuals are more likely to have books about travel, cultural memorabilia, international maps, and world-music CDs, contrasting with conservatives' 'distaste for unfamiliar music'. Geographically, US states with higher foreign-born populations tend to support the Democratic Party and show greater acceptance of interracial dating.

On the far left, xenophilia can intensify into 'anti-ethnocentrism', an ideology demanding the suppression or destruction of ethnic and religious allegiances to achieve universal equality. Communist regimes, like the Soviet Union, actively promoted a 'new Soviet Man' by discouraging tribal identities and even disloyalty to family members, such as the legendary case of Pavel Morozov. This extreme left position, as seen in 'New Anti-Semitism' (anti-Zionism), may reject the right of specific groups, like Jews, to maintain a distinct ethnic state, thus pushing for assimilation and exogamy, sometimes even at the cost of ethnocide, a stark contrast to the extreme right's goal of genocide which entirely prevents exogamous mixing.