The Role Of Nationalism In The World

The problem with nationalism or any kind of ancestral pride is that it's pointless. I think the Buddhists, Christians, Jews, and other belief systems have it absolutely right when they discourage pride of all sorts. All it ever does is put a veil over our understanding -- distracting us from the business at hand, and the attainment of a clearer understanding of the world around us. Pride in the whole takes away from an understanding of the parts.

For example, I have heard many of my right-wing friends talk about how the Iraqis killed in this war were probably up to no good, anyway. Or say that if another country doesn't go along with US desires (like the French) then that country should be bombed next. Where does this come from? I think these are otherwise very nice people who have just had the wool of nationalism pulled over their eyes so that the US is all good, and everyone else is worthless.

And I know this isn't just limited the US -- it just comes across as more arrogant since we're the most powerful nation on Earth. For example, the Germans I know have an incredible amount of pride in their heritage; but aren't they the same people who spawned that most evil of all sinners, David Hasselhoff?! To me, that just shows that nationalism is bull.

A country is nothing but a lifeless construct made up of regular people -- no more worthy of pride than any other group of people. People in Sudan or Turkey or Venezuela are exactly like the people in the US in every important respect -- EXACTLY the same. Take one of them at birth and drop them into an American family, and that kid'll end up like any other American. It works the other way around, too...

So forget nationalism and treat individuals as individuals.

Some will say that I'm wrong -- that America is different from all those other countries. Drop an Algerian in France and they'll never be considered French, but bring them to America and they're part of us -- American through and through.

Unfortunately, people who believe this are living in a fantasy land. The ideal America is very different from actual America by the very definition of the word.

We all deal daily with the hoax that is the "American melting pot." Yes, it's an ideal that I would love to see, but is it true? We live in the same country, but...

How American were Middle Eastern-looking people in the weeks after 9/11? Were they welcomed as true Americans? I have an uncle who has said that no Muslim is a true American -- that they're all enemies of the US. How inclusive is that comment? And he's not alone. One of the older German people I know who has been in this country for less than 50 years, is complaining about how LEGAL immigrants are coming in and taking "American" jobs. Irony all around!

And I think it's ironic how Americans hate the French (of course, EVERYONE hates them). But, of all the other cultures on the planet, French culture is the one that most closely mirrors our own -- a passionate nationalistic sense that tends toward the xenophobic, a near-total disregard for other countries' desires and international law, and now, an official language. Culturally, we're more like the French than we'd like to think.

Would I like to see an America that shines like the city on a hill? Absolutely -- we have the power and ability and strong Constitution to make it so. Does that make me proud of our country? No. It just makes me very excited by our potential!