M
Mintaka
Guest
It’s okay to be proud of your ancestors, or enjoy the cultures they came from. But it’s silly to identify European culture, which is the product of folks with all sorts of different heritages, as “white”.
Especially since “white” is really more like “sallow pink”.
“Nationalism” is a term which can only really be used in terms of governments and peoples of sovereign nations, or areas which wish to be sovereign nations. It has very little to do with culture. (Except if I’m saying, “My American culture is the best! In your face, all other cultures from other nations!”)
If I identify myself as, say, an “Irish nationalist”, I am saying that Ireland’s continued existence as a nation is the most important thing for me. It implies that I probably want Northern Ireland to join Eire, by vote or otherwise; or that I definitely don’t want Northern Ireland to join up because they’re all jerks up there; or that I send money to terrorist organizations like the IRA; or that I want the IRA to die like bugs on a windshield within the next five minutes, hopefully with my help. I probably know “A Nation Once Again” by heart, but not the ballad of “Finnegan’s Wake”.
If I just like Irish bands and the Irish language, I would identify myself as a fan of Irish culture and all kinds of Celtic stuff. I can do all this while being Japanese or African – and it’s even my God-given right to claim Irish ancestry if there’s no way in heck I have any drop of it in me but a drop of the creetur.
I am a fan of all sorts of different things and cultures. I am a patriot for my own country, the US. And I am a nationalist not at all, because I have a religion instead.
Especially since “white” is really more like “sallow pink”.
“Nationalism” is a term which can only really be used in terms of governments and peoples of sovereign nations, or areas which wish to be sovereign nations. It has very little to do with culture. (Except if I’m saying, “My American culture is the best! In your face, all other cultures from other nations!”)
If I identify myself as, say, an “Irish nationalist”, I am saying that Ireland’s continued existence as a nation is the most important thing for me. It implies that I probably want Northern Ireland to join Eire, by vote or otherwise; or that I definitely don’t want Northern Ireland to join up because they’re all jerks up there; or that I send money to terrorist organizations like the IRA; or that I want the IRA to die like bugs on a windshield within the next five minutes, hopefully with my help. I probably know “A Nation Once Again” by heart, but not the ballad of “Finnegan’s Wake”.
If I just like Irish bands and the Irish language, I would identify myself as a fan of Irish culture and all kinds of Celtic stuff. I can do all this while being Japanese or African – and it’s even my God-given right to claim Irish ancestry if there’s no way in heck I have any drop of it in me but a drop of the creetur.
I am a fan of all sorts of different things and cultures. I am a patriot for my own country, the US. And I am a nationalist not at all, because I have a religion instead.