[gizmo686]

>history's first self-sustaining post-nationalist identity

I am not a historian, but wouldn't that honor go to religion? Regardless, religion is certainly older than the Internet.

[sighsigh]

This is technically correct in concept, but not in practice, as organized religion existed long before the formalization of the nation-state. In fact, one can even argue that nationalism is an agnostic subdivision of organized theology since it utilizes identical symbol worship mechanisms.