Korean Job Discussion Forums

[World Traveler]

Among English teachers: way more nationalistic Canadians than nationalistic Americans.

I have never met a nationalistic American here. But I have met dozens of nationalistic Canadians.

Isn't that weird? The people claiming to be superior (because they are not nationalistic unlike the backwards, ignorant Americans) are actually the ones who are nationalistic (while claiming to not be nationalistic).

[spicy]

nationalistic americans usually stay there.

not sure why the canadians here are so zealous about canada, though.

[joelove]

I believe nationalism makes us sick. It fractures us and is a source of fragmentation. It's something that divides us. You have to look at this carefully and with a kind of disinterest, if I may be so bold to say. In Korea, or China, or I guess almost any country, it's so obvious. You will see the streets and shops with the flags or the like. All promoting a kind of self-interest which has benefits I suppose, as well as a kind of ugliness. You will see the pride of strangers when fellow countrymen do well in sport or something, or the disappointment in their failure. It's all very strange.

The urge to belong is a strange feature we all have. Somehow we have convinced ourselves that we all belong to a much larger tribe. Then day to day we find that only a few in that large tribe even give the slightest damn about us. And we do this in numerous ways, this specialness we have decided is reserved for us alone, and yet we are aware that the rest of the world does the same thing. The culture gives it all to you, and tells you what to follow and believe. It's all very divisive, the nationalism, the particular religion, the group. We are so petty in all of this, and go so far as to give our trivial interests great importance. Because they are important, to each of us, not to others so much, who also have their own little interests. We do this with nearly meaningless stuff like what music or movies we like. I won't say they are meaningless of course, because we need our entertainment or else we'll go completely nuts.

Anyway, nationalism is not to be condemned, but looked at dispassionately. Try and see it for whatever it is, if I may be so bold to pretend I do. Essentially it's a human urge to belong to something greater than yourself, and give yourself some sort of identity. I suppose the problem is not so much in this but in the division it creates. When one is wholly convinced he is Korean, or Chinese, or Christian, or whatever, and will fight and die for this belief. This is the problem. Nationality is a fact, the rest of it is nonsense.

[Died By Bear]

http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_loqmoww9D21qc24pno1_500.jpg

[young_clinton]

[misher]

[Stan Rogers]

Canada is undefeted in war.

[Stain]

[quote="misher"]

[Stain]

Nationalism is just another form of pride. It's a lazy one, too. It allows you to feel good about something you have no involvement in. Individual success is a far more substantial aspect of pride, allowing that individual to pee on the the head of lesser beings, regardless of their nationality.

[Chaparrastique]

[EZE]

[Kuros]

Most of the examples of nationalism spoken of here involve the annoyance of various English teachers bragging about their countries.

In America, at least, we witness the habit of private citizens, particularly those ensconced in powerful institutions, to justify or accept the government's empty invocation of national security to push aside legitimate and serious violations of civil liberties. Most recently, Harvard Professor Cass Sunstein attacked a mentality in opposition to faithful nationalism, the so-called paranoid libertarian. But we should appreciate paranoid libertarians, even if we do not celebrate them.

[caniff]

The longer in the tooth I get the more convinced I become that the root of all evil is government in and of itself. Those that may have started out okay inevitably devolve into soul-sucking monstrosities. Look at history (or the present-day U.S. or E.U.).

What's the solution? Can't say I know exactly, but my gut tells me that maybe everything needs to be localized and centralization diminished. Globalization can go f itself except to the extent that people actually have a choice in the trade they are engaging in.

Oh, and end the Fed (and the fiat currency/fractional reserve banking scams now in place worldwide).

[joelove]

[Newbie]