@SarcasticDespot

1 year ago

I think one of the main issues of nationalism is that it was more or less an old reactionary movement birthed in the death of empires - its not fit for purpose. Being created via newly indepenent countries who were generally oppressed shunned these supranational states and wanted to give power back to the people (often based on ethnicity). Or simply ruling countries whose empires were falling needed to find a new myth to unite the people. But in this globalised world where diversity in many countries is increasing and where the power of the internet has given voice to minority groups who were traditionally silenced point out the hypocrisy/exclusiveness/flaws of said nationalism. Add in the growing inequality and complex issues the world faces its often easier to wrap yourself in the flag and blame outsiders for your issues. But expelling all the immigrants wont solve your problems. Disconnecting from the world wont solve your problems. The issue is finding a way to allow these different groups to unify under a collective identity and talk through the problems being faced. The resulting chaos (I would count riots and protests as low level compared to civil war) seems like dysfunction to a lot of people and this dysfunction makes people look to their often mythicised past for a stability that never existed. But as you said low level chaos is not bad in my opinion, if it is not crippling it forces people to adapt and rethink the way they do things.

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