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by friendly_fren 2310 days ago
Why do you think nationalism is bad?
4 comments

It doesn't have a good track record. Nationalism in all its forms is abhorrent.
Scottish Nationalism seems to appeal to many on the left. Apparently it’s very different to English Nationalism.
History shows that nationalism has a very direct path to fascism.
https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/an-important-distinction

Patriotism is love for one’s country. Nationalism is the belief that one’s country (and often ethnic subset) is supreme (and more deserving of prosperity), speaking generally.

Would the formation of Israel be an expression of nationalism? Can it in that light be seen as the belief that one's country or ethnic group is just as deserving as others'? Or to take a more recent example of Kurdish nationalism.
A desire for sovereignty isn't a belief that your people are supreme. The methods taken creating countries are often nationalistic though.
I’m not especially familiar with those groups but I would think not. Semantics are subjective but I would tend to assume that there’s a pre-requisite that they already be in power, and yet be pushing for tripling down on those power structures.

Trump’s campaign rhetoric is emblematic of nationalist themes. Anti immigrant. Playing up cultural mythos. Bragging about military capabilities. Blaming foreign nations for most problems. Implying that a return to core values will bring greatness. Lots of fear and anger.

Tends to be very effective for groups of people that used to be powerful but are no longer.

Just look at the ugly violence of nationalistic hatred currently gripping, oh I don't know.. let's say India?

If that's too much recursion, consider the World War I and II (among many others), both being based essentially in nationalism.

You've been breaking the site guidelines repeatedly in multiple threads on divisive topics by snarking, getting personal, posting flamebait, and so on. That's not cool. Would you please review https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html and stick to the rules from now on? Note this one: "Comments should get more thoughtful and substantive, not less, as a topic gets more divisive."