Is Todorov right?

On p. 250, Todorov writes: "'The man who finds his country sweet is only a raw beginner; the man for whom each country is as his own is already strong; but only the man for whom the whole world is as a foreign country is perfect' (I myself, a Bulgarian living in France, borrow this quotation from Edward Said, a Palestinian living in the United States, who himself found it in Erich Auerbach, a German exiled in Turkey)." Is he right?


I think Todorov is right in a sense, but also wrong.  It depends on how the individual "self" looks at the foreign "other".  If the individual sees the foreign as acceptable and interesting, then the quote is right.  If the whole world is foreign and the individual treats the foreign as equal, the world can be harmonious.  If people treat the "other" as equal, the world would be perfect.  This, however, is not how it has been in the world.


"Selves" often see the "other" as less than themselves.  They are petty, closed-minded, and often hostile.  This is seen among various states and even religious groups.  Since the "self" in these cases can't see the "other" as okay, and the people within these groups can't either, there can be no perfection in the thought process.  There can be no perfection in the way people treat each other.  Sadly, if people keep there closed-minded ideals, Todorov's quote can never be right.  Nobody will have that perfection the quote mentions.