Introduction
In their thought, Zbigniew Musiał and Bogusław Wolniewicz challenge the liberal paradigm, arguing that the national community requires xenophobia to survive. In a world striving for unification, the authors analyze this term not as hatred, but as a necessary defense mechanism. The article presents a vision of the nation as an organism that must possess clear boundaries to preserve its identity and spiritual metabolism. The reader will learn why uncritical openness can lead to the self-annihilation of the community and the collapse of the symbolic order.
Xenophobia: A Natural Defense Mechanism for Identity
The authors redefine xenophobia as a deeply rooted, natural attitude of caution toward the foreign. It is not a wild outburst of hatred, but a "contraction of the heart" for the community and an instinctive manifestation of care for one's own. Contrary to modern mythologies, xenophobia appears as a protective reflex, allowing the nation's contours to be saved in a world that persistently seeks to blur them.
Natural Community vs. Contractual Association
The nation is not merely a social construct or a political project that can be modified at will. It is a natural entity, an organism that has grown and lives like a tree, with roots reaching deep into the memory of the soil. Unlike associations based on contracts, the national community is born of an "essential will"—a persistence that one does not choose, but in which one participates.
Language and Heritage: Foundations of National Persistence
The core of the community is language, understood not as a product of culture, but as its primary condition rooted in biology. The mother tongue becomes a bond deeper than constitutions and passports; it is a form of being that carves out the inner space of spiritual closeness. The inheritance of emotions and the rituals of language allow the nation to endure through time, encompassing the dead, the living, and future generations.
Human Rights Universalism Destroys Local Identity
Musiał and Wolniewicz criticize the "human rights culture" as an instrument of political struggle and a homogenizing project. In their view, this universalism serves to create a "man without belonging"—an ideal consumer susceptible to bureaucratic control. Human rights are seen here as a moral revolution that distorts the natural order based on duties toward one's own community.
Oikophilia: Love of One's Own as the Source of Xenophobia
Oikophilia, or the love of home, constitutes the foundation of the nation's existence. Xenophobia is its inseparable complement—the boundary that allows for the distinction between "us" and "not-us." Without this barrier, community is impossible, just as a body is impossible without skin. For the authors, the value of the community outweighs the price of its exclusivity, as a lack of boundaries leads to uprooting.
Liberalism and Postmodernism Break National Cohesion
Contemporary ideologies, from liberalism to postmodernism, are interpreted as forms of identity dissolution. By attacking nature and mocking meaning, these projects aim to abolish all differences. In this perspective, the nation appears as the last bastion of resistance against nihilism and the global aquarium, where homogenization ends in universal indifference.
The Boundary: A Necessary Condition for Meaning and Order
Every identity needs a framework, and every community defines itself through exclusion. The boundary is not a moral failure, but a condition for preserving meaning and symbolic order. An overly rapid opening to otherness can be an act of self-annihilation. Philosophically understood, xenophobia becomes a moment of recognition and a pause that protects the individual from the collapse of meaning.
Patriotism: The Spiritual Structure of the National Bond
Patriotism has its own hierarchical structure: from love for the family, through the region, to the Fatherland. It is a concrete, emotional form of spiritual being, not a sentimental gesture. Belonging to a nation is a fate that gives life continuity. Without this rooting, man becomes a being without a yesterday, vulnerable to any universalist ideology.
The Fight Against Xenophobia Paralyzes the Self-Preservation Instinct
Paradoxically, aggressive anti-xenophobia provokes defensive reflexes and awakens dormant demons of identity. The attempt to abolish boundaries paralyzes the nation's immunological mechanism, making it defenseless against collapse. The more strongly the natural need for distance from the stranger is fought, the more violent the identity reaction of a community that feels its existence is threatened becomes.
Summary
The thought of Musiał and Wolniewicz is a bitter appeal to save a community based on heritage rather than arbitrary choice. The authors warn that the loss of the ability to distinguish between one's own and others leads to nihilism and social loneliness. Their actions produce the opposite of the intended effect: through an aggressive utopia of universal benevolence, they only provoke a defensive reflex, awakening dormant demons of identity. Anti-xenophobia thus becomes, paradoxically, a catalyst for a new wave of identity. The more it fights the boundary, the stronger it makes it. A stranger who wants to enter a home too smoothly arouses greater distrust than one who openly storms the gate.
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