I disagree with this argument solely for the fact that nationalism as a FUNCTION arises out of a desire to form a cohesive cultural identity that can be defined and can ostensibly provide context for people’s place in a society; something that occurs across the scale of human settlements, but which in our current age manifests primarily in association to a nation-state. I think the point you’re trying to make is that nationalism as an IDEOLOGY is weak and highly prone to exploitation, leading to its broad application by people with evil intentions.
Also, a reminder that the Confederacy was definitively a separatist movement.
Nationalism as a function, to use your terms, doesn’t have to specifically be a result of a desire for cultural identity. It might, but when speaking of it as a function it has a narrower meaning and doesn’t have to carry additional baggage like that, though it may often imply it. When speaking of nationalism as ideology, it definitely fits my definition of evil, by putting artifical values above the wellbeing of people, which nationalism does by definition. Following that logic, nationalism as function isn’t necessarily evil (though it may be if you flavor it with racism or such, like Confederation did), while nationalism as ideology necessarily is. I’m not sure what specifically you were disagreeing with, so I hope I made my point clearer.
I disagree with this argument solely for the fact that nationalism as a FUNCTION arises out of a desire to form a cohesive cultural identity that can be defined and can ostensibly provide context for people’s place in a society; something that occurs across the scale of human settlements, but which in our current age manifests primarily in association to a nation-state. I think the point you’re trying to make is that nationalism as an IDEOLOGY is weak and highly prone to exploitation, leading to its broad application by people with evil intentions.
Also, a reminder that the Confederacy was definitively a separatist movement.
Nationalism as a function, to use your terms, doesn’t have to specifically be a result of a desire for cultural identity. It might, but when speaking of it as a function it has a narrower meaning and doesn’t have to carry additional baggage like that, though it may often imply it. When speaking of nationalism as ideology, it definitely fits my definition of evil, by putting artifical values above the wellbeing of people, which nationalism does by definition. Following that logic, nationalism as function isn’t necessarily evil (though it may be if you flavor it with racism or such, like Confederation did), while nationalism as ideology necessarily is. I’m not sure what specifically you were disagreeing with, so I hope I made my point clearer.