Greeks versus Romans: A Talebian framing of immigration discourse in the West
Greeks versus Romans: A Talebian framing of immigration discourse in the West

Summary/Abstract: In this paper, political division in the West is depicted as a function of i) demographicchanges in Europe and the United States due to mass immigration; ii) tension betweengovernment policy and public opinion on mass immigration; and iii) attempts by the mediaand governments to proscribe and punish the expression of anti-mass immigrationsentiment. The ‘two sides’ of the immigration debate are characterized as Greek (ideologydriven)and Roman (practice-driven), utilizing concepts popularized by the writer NicolasNassim Taleb. Current divisiveness in political and civil discourse is framed as a consequenceof Greek ideology taken too far, in opposition to which populist movements have taken fulladvantage of social media and the new news media and the concomitant loss of monopolypower by traditional opinionmakers.

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