By Adison Eyring November 10, 2018 President Trump openly declared himself a nationalist at a recent rally, associating himself with a group that devalues other nations to promote one’s own. | Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons/user: Evan Nesterak At a recent Trump rally in Houston, Texas, Trump proudly declared himself a nationalist. Though he had previously only been associated with this ideology by critics and fans, this marks the first time our nation’s current leader has openly embraced the term. In the two weeks since that rally, there have been multiple domestic terrorist attacks committed in line with nationalist ideals, while Brazil now operates under the control of their own nationalist leader. We need to loudly and passionately define and reject the nationalist movement before it results in further mass violence. A portion of the rise in nationalism appears to be out of ignorance of the word’s fundamental meaning and historical context. Nationalism is not simply a more extreme form of patriotism. Patriotism, the ideology that nationalists often invoke as a defense of their ideology, is defined by the Merriam-Webster Dictionary as simply “love for or devotion to one’s country.” Nationalism, meanwhile, is defined as “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.” In the context of this definition, a nation is a group of people who inhabit a territory and share race, culture or history. The… [Read full story]
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