The Destructive Nature of Nationalism

We walk a fine line. Where will you land?

The line that separates patriotism and nationalism can be paper-thin, to the point of being invisible at times. And I believe we have all now borne witness to the danger that lurks at that intersection of ideals.

I think even as a kid I was wary of the concept of being “overly” patriotic. We are told over and over again about how the United States was the best country in the world, reinforced by reason after reason for our superiority over all the “lesser” countries.

Even then something to me felt off. I knew all the validations for that feeling of superiority: freedom, chance to be whomever and whatever you want, land of opportunity, freedom of speech specifically, right to bear arms; yadda, yadda.

Still, even my 10-year-old brain had at least a few slivers of doubt. Could it truly be all that great, or is there an element of hype? The reciting of the Pledge of Allegiance each day in the classroom did nothing to assuage my feeling of unease, in fact, quite the opposite.

Maybe I read too many books by George Orwell, Robert Heinlein, Walter Wangerin, Jr., and Richard Adams. Any story where the masses chanted together in unison always had a subtext of oppression for someone.

And usually that collectivism was pointed to either religion or a form of government. Religions, government, and cults all tend to demand a form of singular allegiance. You typically cannot straddle fences; you are either all in, or you are all out.

Both patriotism and its cousin nationalism are derivatives of the concept of tribes. Humans are social animals, probably because there is an increased likelihood of survival when we bind together into tribes or collectives. Many individuals with a common goal can achieve more than a single individual through the synergy of their efforts. A geometric expansion of benefits occurs when humans cooperate in collectives.

The functionality of any tribe is dependent on trust. If an individual or subgroup within the tribe leverages group…

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