Nationalism

  • Thread starter Dawn Bringer Invictus
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Dawn Bringer Invictus

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A rather controversial topic perhaps in our modern day, partially spurred from myself by the whole votin madness over in the USA. I think many of us enjoy, appreciate, and generally like the nations we were born in, but there's a certain level for many that seems to go beyond that into the realms of pride. This doesn't seem like a bad thing, but I'm sure many of you already know various historical occurrences where it has become one.

That being said, what are your thoughts on it?

Personally, I'm strongly anti-nationalist; I see the idea of being proud of simply being born at a certain place, with certain genetics, and a certain time as batshit stupid.
 
Ehhh, it's an iffy thing for me. I'm proud of where I come from but I would never choose nationalism over rationality or morality. I have found rationality and morality rarely go hand in hand anyway. I think a healthy amount of pride in your country is good just like pride in your own accomplishments is a good thing. As long as you don't take it over board everything is fine.
 
If nationalism overrides ethics and morality, Nationalism fails. In my opinion if you cannot first be ethical and moral, your nationalism is unsound and unhealthy
 
Never been much of a nationalist on my end of things. Only first generation here in the US from whatever countries from over dere, so I have no real ties to this land like some of the weirdos that promote it. I come from a family that has suffered some of the worst examples of nationalism from the National Socialists (Nazis) and the Soviet regime when they spread their influence into other Slavic nations. For me, there's nothing wrong with being proud of who you are or where you came from. The problem comes one, when you take away the rights of others in a quest to tell a national narrative.
 
I'm strongly in favor of the "if you dont love the country you live in, find one you do, and live there instead" camp, but as others have said, if your nationalism is gonna impact5 on how you see or treat others, then thats bad nationalism
 
I generally dislike (strongly) the idea of being proud of things you've never really worked for in one's life. Plus, wherever nationalism pops up, inevitably we get a lot of xenophobia, racial dissent, and the whole "oh we are the only ones truly fit to walk this land" type ways of thinking.
 
I can definitely see where Nationalism and Racism can corrolide, especially since it most often degrades down to "my people are better than your people. all your people are scum!"

But on a general sense, I am cool with Nationalism when you're proud of your country's accomplishments and they way it is being run. It's just like people that take pride in Iwaku over other RP sites. It's home and other places just don't feel as good. It just becomes an asshole thing when you start spitting hate and weapons without ever getting to know another country's (or website's!) culture and people!
 
I can be Jingoistic to a fault.

I honestly believe the United States is the greatest country on the planet. No other place in the world can you get the type of freedoms that this country offers. That being said, I do not think one should be totally blinded by their Nationalistic Pride. There are things to learn from others, and there has to be reason and logic applied to everything. You can't just go around saying, "AMURRICA, FUCK YEAH!"

But I also believe it's wrong to not have some kind of pride for where you're from. Not necessarily morally or ethically wrong, but obstinate to a degree. How can you not be proud of the accomplishments your fore-fathers made, in hopes of you and your future kin making greater accomplishments to build upon those?
 
How can you not be proud of the accomplishments your fore-fathers made, in hopes of you and your future kin making greater accomplishments to build upon those?

If I haven't done it, I don't see any point in being "proud" of it. That's an empty kind of pride; the sort that has nothing good to base itself on aside from some sugary wishy-washy nudge-nudge-just-shut-up-and-do-it type way of thinking that more often than not, reminds me too much of self deception just like my experiences with religion did. Hell, I'd be more proud of tying my shoelace than any great long-dead relative of mine who built the great wall of China.
 
But what they did had an impact on history.

Adding a stone to the Great Wall, or being a part of the planning stages of the Great Wall, point is, the Great Wall is still there. The imprint of their actions is still there; leaving behind a legacy like that is the ultimate goal, I think, of most humans. How can you not take some kind of pride in someone making that happen?
 
Key word: "they"

"They" are not "I"/"us".

"They" did it, not "I." The right to being proud of it is theirs not mine, and no degree of it simply being important transmits any of that right/justification to me.

I don't like taking credit for things I didn't do by my own limbs, pretty much. I can appreciate it and find it interesting, but I feel no real pride as I didn't have anything to do with this and had no hand in any of it.
 
I get intensely involved in politics. Mainly because I will soon in be a position of authority where philandering senators and governors' lobbyist-influenced policies actually affect me, my job, and those affected by me and my job. I've become a lot more jaded over the years and have forsworn any sense of national pride, but I do get active in the local and federal politics because of their immediate impact on me.