Thank you to Skillshare for sponsoring this video. Heck yeah.
Trump: You know they have a word. It sort of became old-fashioned.
It's called a nationalist.
And I say really, we're not supposed to use that word.
You know what I am? I'm a nationalist ok. (cheers) I'm a nationalist.
I am Mr. Beat, and President Trump got a lot of crap for saying that. But why?
Well, because nationalism is a word that often has a negative connotation these days.
In fact, the word is often used to attack people. It’s often automatically associated with white nationalism.
Reporter: On the campaign trail, you called yourself a nationalist
some people saw that as emboldening white nationalists
Trump: Well I don't know why do I have my highest poll numbers ever with African Americans.
And lately Trump and others
like Prager U
Nationalism is making a comeback.
If you care about freedom, you should hope it succeeds.
are trying to change that.
But French President Emmanuel Macron said “nationalism is a betrayal of patriotism.”
Wait, patriotism? Well that word is often glorified.
And yet, nationalism and patriotism are two words that people constantly get mixed up.
Wikipedia even says this, for crying out loud.
While the two terms are related and used to basically mean the same thing, today they no longer mean the same thing. So let’s clear this up.
Patriotism is love and devotion to one’s country.
Nationalism is love and devotion to one’s country ABOVE ALL OTHERS
Now, nationalism does have other meanings, and there are different kinds of nationalism, but I don’t want to complicate things too much.
For the rest of this video, I do want to analyze why so many people think nationalism is dangerous and patriotism is not.
Understanding that will hopefully help give you a deeper understanding of the difference between the two, and I did bring puppets along again to help me out with this.
American: I love my country Canadian: I love my country, eh?
American: Right on Canadian: Awesome!
American: I love MY country. Canadian: No, I love MY country, eh?
American: I SAID I LOVE MY COUNTRY Canadian: I SAID I LOVE MY COUNTRY, EH?
American: Wait a second, what’s so great about YOUR country? OURS is better.
Canadian: Oh no, you’re country doesn’t have universal healthcare ya hoser
American: But how about America’s pastime, BASEBALL, yo?
Canadian: Hockey’s so much more graceful.
(punching sounds)
First of all, nationalism often leads to revolution and war. Patriotism usually does not.
In fact, nationalism was one of the primary causes of both World War I and World War 2.
PragerU: Many now seek comfort in a simplistic narrative.
ceaselessly repeated that nationalism caused two world wars and the Holocaust.
but this is one of the great untruths of our time.
Mr. Beat: Hey, that was rude.
And no, it WAS a cause of WWI and WW2.
It was one the causes, not the only cause, of course.
PragerU: Adolf Hitler was no nationalist. He was an imperialist.
If his ambitions-
Did he just say Hitler was not a nationalist? PragerU: Adolf Hitler was no nationalist. Oh geez. He really did.
Ok, yeah, Hitler was a nationalist and of course, yeah, also an imperialist.
They often go hand and hand. This isn’t either/or.
Puppet #1: So what do you hear?
Puppet #2: Oh yeah, it’s definitely laurel
Puppet #1: Well I hear yanni, actually. I’m so sorry to disagree with you.
Puppet #2: No worries. We can still be friends.
Puppet #1: So what do you hear?
Puppet #2: Oh yeah, it’s definitely laurel
Puppet #1: Excuse me? CLEARLY IT IS YANNI.
Puppet #2: Uhhh NO. IT IS LAUREL.
Puppet #1: So it’s like that. You know I never pictured you as one of those Laurel people. Ya freak.
Puppet #2: My parents warned me about you Yanni folk. They told me you Yanni folk can’t be trusted.
Puppet #1: GET OUT OF MY HOUSE
Puppet #2: THIS IS MY HOUSE
(punching)
Second, nationalism is exclusionary.
Patriotism does not have to be.
Nationalism creates this in-group/out-group mentality, and often justifies doing whatever possible to help just one nation while ignoring, neglecting, or even hurting other nations.
This automatically makes every global issue an “us vs. them” issue.
You’re either with us or against us!
Novelist George Orwell was a big critic of nationalism.
He once said, “A nationalist is one who thinks...mainly in terms of competitive prestige...his thoughts always turn on victories, defeats, triumphs, and humiliations.”
PragerU: Our strongest loyalties are those who are closest to us.
To our family, then the larger community or tribe
and finally to the nation.
Long ago it was discovered that the key to human freedom
is to build political life out of this natural loyalty.
By putting decisions into the hands of the family, the community, and the nation
you could get people to cooperate with one another
join in the common defense
and willingly obey laws
Mr. Beat: Of course it’s human nature to be loyal to your family first, then neighborhood or town, and then nation.
But why stop the pyramid there? You could put planet underneath that.
After all, if there was an alien invasion, we’d quickly forget about the idea of nations. We’d have to unite as a species or end as a species.
This leads to the third problem with nationalism.
Politician: We shall respect the laws of other countries, even if they are not aligned with ours.
Politician: We shall respect the laws of other countries (unless breaking them helps us, amiright mwhahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahahahahahahaha)
It often leads to breaking laws of other countries. Patriotism does not.
With nationalism, the laws of one country always supersede the laws of all other countries.
It also leads to the breaking of treaties. For example, time and time again we’ve seen countries break the Geneva Conventions due to nationalism.
PragerU: The Protestant Reformation of the 16th century
made the independent nation-state the political cornerstone
of the modern world.
When Henry the 8th declared England would no longer obey dictates from Rome
he became Europe's true nationalist.
Mr. Beat: Ok, he’s mixing religion and the nation state here.
Luther was breaking away from the Catholic Church, not a country.
And Henry the 8th just wanted to divorce his wife and the Catholic Church wouldn’t let him.
PragerU: European elites learned the wrong lesson.
believing that independent nations are inherently dangerous.
Mr. Beat: Well, independent nations can be dangerous. I’d say Germany and Japan were a bit dangerous in the late 1930s.
PragerU: Better, they reasoned, that all countries live under one government.
Ok, that’s a straw man. Most world leaders have not called for that.
Unless he’s confusing one world government with the United Nations, or maybe the EU.
PragerU: In 1992, this vision gave birth to the European Union.
Oh, there you go. Yeah, the EU is not one world government.
It was a voluntary agreement that European countries signed up for to make trade easier, and it has in fact created more freedom in the world, not less.
PragerU: British prime minister Margaret Thatcher
hated the idea. She didn't want the bureaucrats in Brussels making decisions for Brits in Birmingham.
But in the utopian 1990s, Britain thought it was better to dump Thatcher
and go with Brussels.
Mr. Beat: But these bureaucrats are representatives from all the countries in the EU.
He made it sound like it was only citizens of Brussels or Belgium that controlled all of the EU. Boy that was misleading.
Now, I know I have attacked this PragerU video quite a bit, but it appears that that gentleman in the video, Yoram Hazony, has simply created a new definition of nationalism to make it sound better?
PragerU: A nationalist is someone who believes the world is governed best when nations are free
to chart their own independent course
cultivating their traditions
and pursuing their interests without interference.
Well see, this is the part of his definition that could be problematic.
What if their interests are to drop nuclear bombs on people?
In conclusion, remembering the difference between patriotism and nationalism should is key to recognizing how nationalism could be a threat to world peace.
Yes, individual countries should have sovereignty, but cooperation between sovereign nations is the way forward if we want humans to stick around for awhile.
And I think we do, right? I like humans.
I really do.
So yeah, you watched this video. I think? So you like learning.
So what’s another great way to learn? Skillshare.
It’s an online learning community for creators, with more than 25,000 classes in design, business, and more.
The premium membership gives you unlimited access, so you can learn sooooooo much, joining whatever classes and communities that fit you best.
Whether you want to fuel your curiosity, creativity, or even career, Skillshare is the perfect place to keep you learning and just making yourself better, man.
It’s also cheap. I paid thousands of dollars at a public American university to become semi-fluent in Spanish, only to forget most of it years later.
Now, with Skillshare, I’ve been trying out classes like Peter’s Hanley’s The non-stop speaking Spanish course to become semi-fluent again.
And this all for less than $10 a month for an annual subscription.
So join the more than 7 million creators learning on Skillshare. The first 500 subscribers to use the link in the description of my video will get a 2 month free trial. Heck yeah.
So what do YOU think about nationalism? Was I wrong to say nationalism is really that much of a threat?
Let me know in the comments below.
A shout out to Paul and Bryan from The Felt Show for helping me make this video with their dandy puppets.
Check out the Felt Show on YouTube and subscribe.
It's great. It's not kid-friendly, though. I should warn you about that.
And finally, here’s a shout out to all of my Patreon supporters who donate at least $10 or more a month.
Here is your monthly shout out.
Eric B Wolman, Elcaspar, Jojo’s Dogtail, Matt Standish, Nik Everett, Pillerstiller Bahn Ruthington, Sean Conant, Cjkavy, Kenneth, John Johnson, Unnamed Muffin, Chris Prall, Chris, and Victor Warmflash.
Thank you so much for your support, and thank YOU, yeah you right there in the green shirt, for watching.