Nationalism

[Dill]

(11-06-2018, 11:16 PM)bfine32 Wrote: Are folks saying it is "wrong" to think my country is superior to others in the world?

One folk said it might depend on how you gloss "superior."  And where you go beyond "think."

Generally speaking, some people just prefer their own country to others because it is what they know.  If you ask if their country is "superior" they'll say it is for them. They don't necessarily think others are inferior. A Swiss who likes mountains thinks Switzerland is superior to Denmark. But he doesn't get upset if a Dane who likes the seacoast thinks Denmark is superior. He agrees that for a person who likes the seacoast it IS superior.

This is not to say such determinations are all just preference.  An Afghan who thought Afghanistan was a superior country 50 years ago might think it is not at all superior now. Most outside the country would agree.

But others may think their country better in some transcendent sense--"really" superior--making others really inferior by definition. Necessarily. For them, "wrong" consists in denying that superiority. 

So some question where that assumption of "real" superiority leads, perhaps to questions like-- Should inferior (e.g. shithole) countries have equal legal standing with superior? Should their citizens?

They think about where those questions have lead in the past. Where do you think they lead? Can you think your country superior but espouse an international legal order which defines all as equal? If so, then you are more like our Swiss mountaineer than someone who thinks his country is "really" superior. If you cannot, then maybe you are a nationalist.