To: Young Werther
Is the term nationalism, like fascism, so widely used and misused that it doesn't mean anything in the vernacular?
"My country right or wrong" strikes me as nationalism and is a mantra of the right.
13 posted on
12/03/2003 8:24:47 AM PST by
gcruse
(http://gcruse.typepad.com/)
To: gcruse
It's more of an aesthetics' issue.
Patriotism, love of the land of our fathers, has always been considered a positive trait in Western culture.
Nationalism, a rather arbitrary love of political borders, has always been considered lower and often leads to dangerous outcomes.
For example, the nationalist believes his country is always right, where as a patriot tends to believe in his country, right or wrong, which suggests that his country is capable of being wrong.
As an aside, nice catch with the comment on Utopia's but take it a step further. The War on Drugs, the War on Poverty, the War on Terrorism are all utopian ends that can never actually end.
15 posted on
12/03/2003 8:27:46 AM PST by
JohnGalt
(How few were left who had seen the Republic!---Tacitus)
To: gcruse
In a word, "No!"
Of course, that's my opinion.
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