Many years ago, I spent a few nights in a hostel on the outer edge of Edinburgh, Scotland. I was there alone, but had a great time exploring the city by day and then resting in my little cubby in a shared room at night. On my third or fourth night, an alarm went off in the building. I got up, grabbed my purse, put on shoes, and immediately went out the nearest exit, heading down to the bank of the small river behind the building. I waited at the far end of the lawn, alone for several minutes before the alarm stopped sounding. No one else came out at all. When I walked around the front of the building and was let back inside, I asked what happened. “Oh, the alarm does that sometimes,” I was told. “It’s no big deal.” I was confused, “But what would have happened if there had been a problem?” I was assured that everything would have been fine. There was nothing to worry about. Just go back to sleep. While this probably seemed like nothing to them, it was a big deal to me. I was only ...
There is a lot of current conversation using the words patriotism and nationalism as though they were interchangeable phrases or concepts. Historically, they have not been interchangeable and I would argue they’re not today either. Patriotism and nationalism differ in the areas of unity vs. uniformity, reflection, and expectation around improvement. They both reflect a love of country and a pride in home and aspects of history. One is more willing to embrace truth-telling than the other. With regard to unity vs. uniformity, nationalism seeks the latter. Most nationalist movements have a concept of the “ideal” citizen in terms of race, religion, and/or political ideology. In the beginning of most nationalist movements, this is the “quiet” part. Leaders of the movement don’t necessarily specify these preferred expressions because they need everyone to be “all in” in order to achieve power. Eventually, though, the truth will out. Look to who speaks for the group most often and ...