Nationalism and Loyalty 3

One of the main cornerstones of nationalism is convincing your citizens that they are better off in your nation than in others.  Now we live in a world where there are quite disparate standards of living so its fairly easy for the rich nations to point out how people from poorer nations want to come and take your jobs and money.  It has also been fairly easy over the years to talk about how in other nations they don't have the same values as we do here.

Whether these arguments have any validity varies widely but they have been effective.  People want to feel they belong and the great appeal of nationalism is exactly that.  This is who I am and who I want to be.  The fact that for most of us is a matter of pure chance doesn't enter into the equation.

We all share the same human experience but as evidence in the many wars that have been fought is is fairly easy to decide that your national identity is more important than your humanity.  It is even easier to stir up hatred for complete strangers because they "want to destroy" your way of life.

After the horrors of the two World Wars there was some moves to globalization with the founding of the United Nations.  That organization continues but the degree to which it has succeeded is a matter of debate since nations remain fully sovereign.

We are actually seeing a rise in nationalism in many countries as a reaction to the globalization of trade.  We see the British vote to leave the European Union although the vote was close.  In the recent US election, one factor was that certain areas felt that globalization had led to the loss of jobs and opportunities and immigrants and refugees challenged our way of life.

It seems to me that the ultimate end of all this has to be more globalization.  It is clear that humanity needs to learn we all share the same basic issues and have the same basic needs.  It is not going to be a smooth path.  There are too many people who thrive because of the things that divide us.

As was demonstrated many times over the years, nationalism can also lead to internal cleansing to get rid of those who aren't like us and don't belong.  The idea that all people are created equal is unfortunately not a credo that most follow.

There is a saying that a stranger is simply a friend you haven't met yet.