Nationalism

Ulysses · 11-10-2009, 05:32 AM

My take on nationalism is that too often it crosses a line.

I think it's one thing to have pride in a very selective perception of something as arbitrary as the circumstances of your birth but it's another when it's used as a 'my country is better than yours' pissing contest and 'arbitrary place of birth' or 'spurious take on genetics' becomes the most immediate, first and foremost way that people define themselves.

In the dozen years or so I've been online and been exposed to an international community - in a different way than actually going abroad myself or meeting people in my own country who are visiting abroad - the amount of truly messed-up nationalism I've been exposed to is staggering. Sadly, the bulk of this tends to come from Americans. I don't think there's anywhere in the Western World that espouses nationalism in the way that America does.

11-10-2009, 05:32 AM	#28 (permalink)
Ulysses Groupie Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: Nutwood, England Posts: 27	My take on nationalism is that too often it crosses a line. I think it's one thing to have pride in a very selective perception of something as arbitrary as the circumstances of your birth but it's another when it's used as a 'my country is better than yours' pissing contest and 'arbitrary place of birth' or 'spurious take on genetics' becomes the most immediate, first and foremost way that people define themselves. In the dozen years or so I've been online and been exposed to an international community - in a different way than actually going abroad myself or meeting people in my own country who are visiting abroad - the amount of truly messed-up nationalism I've been exposed to is staggering. Sadly, the bulk of this tends to come from Americans. I don't think there's anywhere in the Western World that espouses nationalism in the way that America does. __________________ The Fields of Mars