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Originally Posted by Manolo
I think that nationalistic fervour is born from one's need to portray one's country in a greatr light than it is. A nationalist will see his/her country as occupying a unique important role in the world, or representing some unique aspect of humanity that cannot be found anywhere else.
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I strongly agree and disagree--I think nationalism tends towards emphasizing the positive in order to an imply a negative about everyone else. However, I think there is such a thing as positive nationalism, since every country has something unique that is unknown anywhere else. Nationalism can be made to overemphasize it and turn a point of pride into a tool of hate, but I don't think it does so by nature. In my opinion, it is distinctly possible to be proud of one's country and its unique contributions to human heritage and at the same time respect the contributions of other societies and countries as well, much as a musician may be proud of their knowledge and skill and still revel in the contribution of their colleagues to the greater sound of the symphony as a whole. Perhaps my disagreement is just semantics--constructive nationalism may just be called patriotism, in which case nationalism would always be the negative flip-side.
And David, that was ridiculously well-said. I couldn't agree more with your summary.