Posted on 01/21/2015 1:04:21 PM PST by Enza Ferreri
I want to answer this Facebook comment by Diane Granger to my article Imagine No Heaven and Lots of War:
I disagree.Nationalism does not cause wars.Money and power cause wars.Those who profit from wars cause wars.Manipulate and blackmail the traitor politicians into wars.Every war has generally many causes, but it's impossible to deny the evident historical truth that nationalism has been a predominant cause of war.
Right now I'm reading respected historian JM Roberts' History of the World where he describes events in the 1930s' Middle East:
Unfortunately, the Syrian situation soon also showed the disintegrating power of nationalism when the Kurdish people of north Syria revolted against the prospect of submergence in an Arab state.This Kurdish example also shows that war is not necessarily to be considered as a negative occurrence, as Diane Granger seems to imply judging from the tone of her comment.
National wars, as well as religious wars, might sometimes have been justified.
But we are not entitled to our own facts, only to our own opinions. Among other obvious examples of factors provoking violent conflicts are Jewish and Arab nationalisms.
And Italian nationalism generated many wars of independence in the 19th century.
Besides, nationalism is not a preserve of "the people". What Diane lists, "Money and power ...Those who profit from wars... traitor politicians" may also have nationalist motivations.
One of the main causes of the First World War (if not the main) was Britain, then the greatest world power, not seeing favourably the economic and military ascent of Germany threatening the "sceptred isle"'s top position. That is nationalism too.
Just because one is attracted to nationalism shouldn't make one blind to reality.
Nationalism is and has been both good and bad, justified and excessive, opening people's eyes and sometimes closing them.
It would follow from that logic that there were less wars/killings before the rise of the modern nation-state in the 17th-18th centuries, which doesn’t jibe with my knowledge of history.
Wars are ultimately caused by man’s fallen, sinful, and lustful nature which is all too willing to unjustly deprive another of their life or freedom for their own satisfaction.
Nationalism is actually a protection against that, if it is a nation ruled justly by law rather than unjustly by the changing whims of man. America’s Constitution represents such a just Rule of Law.
It never ceases to amaze me that the idiots on the left think that if they got rid of nationalism there would be no wars. They understand absolutely nothing of human nature.
There was nothing but war before the nation states, it was just on a smaller scale. Tribal wars are still going on in the Middke a East. It was to prevent these tribal wars that Mohammad allegedly invented Islam to unify the tribes. To fight against the Nation Dtates.
Nationalism and religion have been used throughout history as an organizing tool. Neither one is bad in itself, but when used to manipulate people to support a despotic agenda, both become toxic.
Nationalism has saved millions of lives IMO over the centuries.
Nationalist PRIDE has killed millions of lives also.
You hit the nail on the head with your first sentence though. This fallen world and man’s sinful nature is the primary culprit for all wars, no matter what.
The #1 cause of war is economic necessity brought on by government ‘investment’ of wealth.
Exactly what we’re doing.
The nation state is a Western invention and is hated by some other Civilizations.
“Nationalism” is never independently bad, but nationalism, like anything else, can be manipulated by any class of rulers, or a “ruling class”, to achieve aims that may not be intrinsically necessary for, or with a right to be claimed by, a nation. That means that how nationalism can be used might be bad, but that does not arise from nationalism itself, independent of the bad actors that abuse it.
A very quiet, respectful nationalism has pervaded western European nations since the end of WWII, and, I am convinced that it has never needed a European Union or the Euro to sustain the peace that that nationalism has created.
“The nation state is a Western invention and is hated by some other Civilizations.”
The Nation-state replaced the tribe.
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