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"Beyond the racist, nationalist, and public health impulses associated with the closure of national boundaries, the interest in decentralized nations reflects the ways people are looking for exit from systems they perceive to be failing them." (Ethan Zuckerman, Mistrust: Why Losing Faith In Institutions Provides the Tools to Transform Them)

What does this sentence say exactly?

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alibey1917What does this sentence say exactly?

It's fuzzy. It is not clear what "the interest" is, what a "decentralized nation" is, or who the "people" are. They seem to be Zuckerman's perception of some trend toward decentralization, Zuckerman's desire to erode nationalism, and the people Zuckerman cares about. But that aside, I might paraphrase thus:

"There are the standard reasons for immigration control—preservation of racial composition in the population, desire to preserve the fundamental principals of government currently in place, and preventing the introduction of new communicable diseases. We can look "beyond" these to the motivations of people who seek betterment by leaving their home country, a country that does not provide the wherewithal to even so much as survive sometimes. This motivation and sympathy with it have generated a move toward globalization of national sovereignty."

"Beyond" is a loaded word (not to mention "racist"). He slips it in hoping we won't notice that he is calling us blinkered if we don't agree. Only the superior mind will be able to look "beyond" the obvious, as his has. But "beyond" does not really make sense there because he is saying that "racist, nationalist, and public health impulses" reflect "the ways people are looking for exit", and that is not what he means. He just wanted to make us feel inferior and made himself look that way instead. Oh, well. I paraphrased what he thought he was saying.

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