Patriotism vs. Nationalism
The world is a very complicated place. Every nation is different, every culture is unique, and every land is special. So, in order to control the masses one needs to look into these parts of a state. It is hard for one to come up with a solution for this. From the creation of man, governments have been coming up with methods to control the masses. Some times it worked for a long period of time, and then it collapsed. The another form of government would spring out of the midst of the ruins of the old, which would also work for sometime, then fall on to itself as it did before. But, there two concepts that I would like to look at. It does not deal with the government, but rather how the governed views the government.
After a state is established for quite sometime, the citizens start to feel a sense of pride. They are proud of the past, they are proud of the principles of the state in which it was founded up on. In the Untied States for example we are proud of our constitution, rights, and values. We are proud of our freedoms of expression, speech, religion, and much more. But, when we feel that these freedoms, rights, values, and constitution is being denied by the government, then the masses would react to protect these ideals which symbolizes the state. The state with out these fundamental ideals is meaning less. However, when the government is protecting these ideals the masses would support the government’s causes. If they felt that these are ideals are threatened by outside forces, then they will fight it. It is not a fight to protect the state or the land, but it becomes to fight for the principles. This is how I define Patriotism. When you have the masses patriotic, the government will not step on the principles, because the masses will stand against it. It acts like a form of checks and balance. Some might argue that a state with a patriotic population would be unstable. However, if the principles are clear, such as the constitution, and the bill of rights there is no threat because the government is supposed to follow it in the first place.
Another example could be Iran. In Iran the masses and the state is based on the principles of Islam. And these principles are written in the Quran. Thus, if the government does not follow it then the mass would stand against it. In the Quran, killing the innocent is crime against humanity. That is why the government said it will not build an atomic bomb, because it is against the principles of the Iranian people. On the other hand, it will use the technology for peaceful means. If the Iranian government does build such bomb, then the people will revolt, and try to stop it just like they did to the Shah.
On the other hand, masses can become nationalistic. In other words they follow the government no matter what the government does. Principles, values, freedoms, and constitutions do not come into play. If the government tells the people go right, the mass will go right, if the government tells them go left then they will go left. If the government tells them to fight, they will fight. If the government tells them to kill the enemy if they were young, old, women, or man they will do just that. The mass becomes brainless sheep, and the government becomes it herdsman. The will do anything to protect the government even though it might be hurting them. The disadvantage in that is once the government falls, the mass it lost. Like the sheep, they would become helpless, and fell vulnerable and meaning less.
If you look at the Roman Empire for example, the mass was very nationalistic. It is true that they conquered the world, but the mass did this because the Roman government told them to do so. Yes, they had technology, but all the technology they developed was primarily for war fair. But, once the Roman Empire fell, the people became helpless, and buried them selves into the dark ages. Another example is Nazi Germany. The Nazi controlled every aspect of life. The government was the brain and the masses were the hands that carried out the act. It is scary to see pride in ones government can do to people. They turned against their own neighbors and friends by the first sight of the moon light. They turned in to zombies.
Look at what the French did in Algeria. Look at the massacres they carried out. Look at Italy and what it did to the people of Libya. They put them too in concentration camps; they shoot the children for sport and raped the Muslim women for fun. But once these governments fell, their own masses became in doom. The economy went down, and reconstruction of life took years. If you look at Italy today, you will the that governments the try to establish them selves tend to follow the same like Russia, or unstable like Italy. In my personal opinion Nationalism is scary. Nationalism destroys itself and the other surrounds it.
One might argue that we as Americans are nationalistic in many ways. We blindly follow our government, even when it takes our values, principles of freedom and justice. We go around the world forcing the masses around the world to follow our government. We see our government as flawless including the people in it. We are now in wars that we started can not finish. Like Iraq, Afghanistan, and other wars that are scattered around in Africa. We have troops stationed around the world ready for action when they are called in Egypt, South Korea; in Georgia (I am not quite sure about that one). America is ready to destroy itself at any time when the government calls for it. If you remember Hitler, when he started his march to dominate the world, the world stood still. Now as we try to dominate the world, the world stands still. Yes, we do have allies, but we also have enemies. Eventually the world will fight back, just as it did against Hitler. Just think about it.
One the other hand if we were Patriots, we could have stopped this none sense. We could save our selves, our rights, our freedoms, our land, and our way of life. If we say no to the government, our families will be safely here at home. Our rights would be protected, and no more the so called PATRIOT Act (that is what I meant by that picture above). Our land will be free from pollution. Then we will live in peace. This is my argument for Patriotism and against Nationalism. Of course what I see is just what I see.
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