In a recent speech, President Donald Trump called himself a nationalist and all his supporters followed suit. However, I am not sure Trump understood the word he was using. I think he meant US First as in being a patriot not what it really means. Let me explain…
According to Miriam Webster Dictionary, the definition of nationalism is:
“loyalty and devotion to a nation especially : a sense of national consciousness (see CONSCIOUSNESS sense 1c) exalting one nation above all others and placing primary emphasis on promotion of its culture and interests as opposed to those of other nations or supranational groups”
A good example of nationalism in recent history is Nazi Germany. The Germans felt that their culture and their people {specifically blonde blue-eyed Germans} were superior. They then began to eliminate Jews who had a different culture and religion than them. According to the article seen here in the balance:
“Nationalism is a system created by people who believe their nation is superior to all others. Most often, this sense of superiority has its roots in a shared ethnicity.”
“Because they believe in the superiority of their shared attribute, nationalists stereotype different ethnic, religious, or cultural groups. The resultant prejudice keeps their nation unified. Intolerance can lead to a desire to rid the country of those deemed as “other.” In an extreme form, it can lead to ethnic cleansing and genocide.”
I decided I wanted some examples of nationalists in recent history so I went on a search. This is what I found on wikipedia here:
20th-century nationalist regimes[edit]
- Adolf Hitler (Germany)
- Plaek Pibulsonggram (Thailand)
- Chiang Kai-shek (China)
- Sun Yat-sen (China)
- Benito Mussolini (Italy)
- Francisco Franco (Spain)
- Andrej Hlinka (Slovakia)
- Gerardo Machado (Cuba)
- Daniel Malan (South Africa)
- Maximiliano Hernández Martínez (El Salvador)
- Ioannis Metaxas (Greece)
- Ion Antonescu (Romania)
- Gamal Abdel Nasser (Egypt)
- Muammar Gaddafi (Libya)
- Slobodan Milošević (Serbia)
- Ante Pavelić (Croatia)
- Juan Velasco Alvarado (Peru)
- Augusto Pinochet (Chile)
- Reza Shah (Iran)
- António de Oliveira Salazar (Portugal)
- Jozef Tiso (Slovakia)
- Tojo Hideki (Japan)
- Rafael Trujillo (Dominican Republic)
- Getúlio Vargas (Brazil)
- Fidel Castro (Cuba)
Take a good look at some of the names, not a good group of people as far as I can see. Napoleon was another nationalist who felt his country was superior. When the Europeans came to America they had the feeling that their culture was superior and so came the demise of the American Indian culture and the death of millions of Native Americans.
Nationalism Vs. Patriotism
According to quora.com:
“The Difference Between patriotism and nationalismis that the patriot is proud of his country for what it does , and the nationalist is proud of his country no matter what it does ; the first attitude creates a feeling of responsibility while the second a feeling of blind arrogance that leads to a war .”
“Patriotism is based on affection and nationalism is rooted in rivalry and resentment. One can say that nationalism is militant by nature and patriotism is based on peace.
Most nationalists assume that their country is better than any other, whereas patriots believe that their country is one of the best and can be improved in many ways. Patriots tend to believe in friendly relations with other countries while some nationalists don’t.
In patriotism, people all over the world are considered equal but nationalismimplies that only the people belonging to one’s own country should be considered one’s equal.
A patriotic person tends to tolerate criticism and tries to learn something new from it, but a nationalist cannot tolerate any criticism and considers it an insult.”
Patriotism is a healthy way to be proud of your nation and put it first. Nationalism is racism with a different name. Be careful how you label yourself. Sometimes, even Trump makes a boo boo.
Angel Fox Media 