Hypocritical Nationalism
Last night at a campaign rally not more than 25miles from me, Trump said this:
“You know, they have a word, it sort of became old-fashioned. It’s called a nationalist,” Trump said at a campaign event in Houston, where he rallied voters to support Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) in November’s midterm elections.
“And I say, ‘Really? We’re not supposed to use that word,’” Trump continued. “You know what I am? I’m a nationalist. OK? I’m a nationalist.”
No, just no. You don’t get to whine about not getting to use the word ‘nationaliam’ while at the same time treating the word ‘socialism’ as a dirty word. This is hypocrisy in action. This is asshole masculinity manifest.
Socialism is about making the world work better for everyone. It’s fundamentally about caring for people. It’s had some rough implementations and been abused to do some terrible things. But it’s inherently feminine. It’s about caring for those around you.
Nationalism is fundamentally selfish. It’s all about “fuck you, you’re not part of my team”. It’s been used to cause wars and uphold some terrible regimes. It’s about telling kids to go die for their country because it benefits those in power. It’s rooted in racism and tribalism. People like Trump want to remind people that the Nazi’s were National Socialists but brush under the rug the National part of that name. The Nazi’s were not socialists but they were most certainly nationalists.
Sure, nationalism has good parts too. Unlike Trump, I’m not an asshole and can acknowledge that it’s had a role in history that wasn’t always terrible. Freeing subjugated countries from European colonial rule for one. So, maybe, like socialism, it shouldn’t just be used as a pejorative.
Loving your country isn’t about ignoring the faults. It’s about acknowledging them and trying to fix it. Nationalism just wants you to ignore the problems.
Nationalism wants the woman to stay with her abusive husband because they made a solemn vow and, after all, he didn’t really mean it. Won’t she think of the kids?
Nationalism is
a sense of national consciousness 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.
It’s selfish. And cruel. And a terrible way to think.
Nationalism caused two world wars.
We’re not going to let you get away with this hypocrisy. You don’t get to play the victim here. Nationalism causes a lot of bad. You can’t just ignore that.
