The shit that doesn't merit its own thread (the resurrection)

Old habits die hard.

Sixty fucking thousand ffs.

I’m a little bit confused about all this here “Nationalism” malarky - seems like when a minority exhibit it and demand their own state (e.g. Scotland and Catalonia), it’s a jolly good thing and to be admired, but when a majority do it, such as in Poland, or here with “Brexit” it’s a bad thing and they’re all racists… It’s almost as if there are double standards being applied or summat… :thinking:

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I don’t know much about Catalonian nationalism but I suspect it is akin to Scottish nationalism i.e. an inclusive left leaning civic nationalism that bears no relation to the blood and soil type of right wing ethnic nationalism displayed in Poland or Charlottesville.

There was some nastiness in Scotland around the time of the referendum http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/scottish-independence/scottish-independence-historic-day-marred-by-isolated-reports-of-intimidation-abuse-and-violence-9741987.html. To be fair it wasn’t nearly as unpleasant as in some other countries and I suspect it represented the views of a pretty small minority. But it wasn’t completely absent.

EDIT: Here’s an even tinier minority, I suspect Siol nan Gaidheal - Wikipedia.

VB

I think it’s all bloody stupid.

My suspicion is that people can’t really cope with being “a citizen of the world”, it’s too big, so they come up with an arbitrary border depending on the size of their mind.

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I like to think I’m inclusive and left-leaning, but that really sounds like utter horseshit.

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There’s a third way. Put it in the joke thread, where it’s supposed to go :smiley:

If only they could muster up the same support to fight the destruction of this magical place

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As long as people care about traditions, have disparate preferences and are reluctant to share resources and opportunities equally it will be difficult to make a success of the idea that the whole world can act as one. Not impossible - there are a few things that the world does, pretty much, agree on (that CFCs are bad for the ozone layer, that ships should be allowed to navigate freely outside national waters, that no nation can own the moon …). But I suspect we’re going to be divided up into nations, where the like-minded can have things their way, for a while yet. Let’s face it, [blatant stereotyping] until everyone agrees that the best way to do everything is the French way there will still be France [/blatant stereotyping].

VB

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Are you not confusing nationalism with separatism? :thinking:

I agree, but my preference for the direction of travel is towards greater unity, not separatism; respecting and enjoying all our differences, rather than fighting over them. Acceptance of the state of the world as it is does not preclude a view as to where you’d like it to be.

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I’m sure that’s what supporters of nationalism would suggest.

Me, the only thing I’m not confused about is my confusion…

Agree with Adam, idealism may be a poor reflection of the reality of human nature, but without it we are doomed to perpetually repeat all of history’s worst excesses, generation after generation, until the weapons we use annihilate us all…

…and looking at Paul’s post, I sometimes wonder if that really would be such a bad thing…

Ă  la A Canticle for Leibowitz

Mine too. But there are some differences I struggle to respect and enjoy. For example the one that says it’s important that we don’t stun factory chickens before cutting their throats because the variation in weights means that stunning them will (sort of) kill the smallest ones and we can’t have them dead when we come to bleed them, because it says so in a book. And here we prohibit the ownership, outside the police and armed forces, of most types of guns. In other places they don’t, and guns are very widespread. I wouldn’t want that practice to apply here. I could go on …

VB

It’s not. There are different kinds of nationalism just as there are different kinds of socialism or capitalism.

There was unfortunately but genuinely a tiny minority and, categorically, not part of the SNP’s vision for an inclusive Scotland.

There is, and it’s no surprise to anyone that just like religion, everyone thinks their version is best.

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Well I think everybody here would agree that civic nationalism is better than the white supremacist crap that is on the rise in Europe, Russia and the US.

FWIW the industrial revolution ushered in the age of nationalism and globalisation is likely at the root of it’s current global resurgence. It’s a fearful prospect and scenes like those in the US and Poland really are a chilling wake up call.