Thread by @Noahpinion

1/OK, so let's talk about Western chauvinism, as it applies to immigration and to geopolitics.

Western chauvinists have reluctantly accepted that a few East Asian countries have equaled the West, but they don't realize how widespread development is.

bloomberg.com/opinion/articl…

2/Here is what MIT president Francis Walker wrote 125 years ago, arguing for immigration restriction from places other than Northwest Europe:
theatlantic.com/magazine/archi…

3/Walker was, of course, wrong. Italy, Russia, and China, for example, were basket cases at the time. But Italian Americans, Russian Americans, and Chinese Americans have added immeasurably to American culture, economics, and national power since Walker wrote his bullshit.

4/Now, law professor Amy Wax has resurrected Walker's old argument, claiming that lower development levels in other countries mean that we shouldn't allow immigrants from those countries.

Here was a thread where I examined her arguments:

https://twitter.com/Noahpinion/status/1165282070840500224

5/But Wax is doubly wrong.

Even if other countries were all poor and scientifically backward, their people have huge potential that could be put to use in America.

BUT, increasingly, those countries are catching up to the U.S., proving Wax wrong on both counts.

6/As an example, take Malaysia, which Wax uses as her chief example of a country where people -- according to her -- don't respect science and technology.

bloomberg.com/opinion/articl…

7/After accounting for local living costs, Malaysians are about as rich as people from Poland and Portugal:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_c…

And the gap is still closing, as Malaysia outgrows the rich nations of the West.

8/IMF director Christine Lagarde has called Malaysia a "hub of innovation", with good reason.

imf.org/en/News/Articl…

9/Despite being less than 1/10 the size of the United States, Malaysia is an electronics export powerhouse.

10/Malaysia's Bayan Lepas Free Industrial Zone is a tech cluster with few rivals:
bbc.com/news/av/busine…

11/Startups are now thriving there as well.

channelnewsasia.com/news/asia/a-si…

12/Meanwhile, around the world, Malaysian scientists are making important contributions, putting the lie to Wax' ridiculous claim that Malaysian immigrants will bring and anti-scientific culture wherever they go.

says.com/my/tech/malays…

13/This is not to say that Malaysia is a developed nation already. It's not quite there yet.

Here are a few of the problems Malaysia still needs to solve:

14/But Malaysia is very close to joining the top rank of rich nations.

imf.org/en/News/Articl…

15/Nor is it the only one. Other countries like Mexico, Turkey and Thailand are on the rise as well, and may reach the top rank in the next three decades.

bloomberg.com/opinion/articl…

16/And in general, the developing world is gaining on the developed world. Countries like India, Indonesia, Bangladesh, and Ethiopia are still poor but are enjoying exponential growth. And China, of course, is doing great economically.

bloomberg.com/opinion/articl…

17/As a result, the global economic distribution no longer looks bifurcated between a rich West and a poor non-West.

The "beaten races", to use Francis Walker's vulgar term, did not stay beat.

Funny how that always seems to happen.

18/Western chauvinists, in other words, are rapidly being left behind by history.

This is as it should be, since their ideas were always bad and wrong.

19/Americans of all political stripes need to prepare themselves for a much more equal globe.

(end)

bloomberg.com/opinion/articl…