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The Leftist/Socialist/ and Media Highjack of the term "Nationalism"
Amerisrael ^

Posted on 12/11/2011 12:07:29 PM PST by Amerisrael

And the demonization of Serbs, Israelis, patriotic Americans, and the ongoing attacks against capitalism.

The definition of "nationalism"--

Webster's New World Dictionary 1982:

  1. a) devotion to one's nation; patriotism. b) excessive, narrow, or jingoist patriotism; chauvinism.
  2. the doctrine that national interest , security, etc. are more important than international considerations.
  3. the desire for or advocacy of national independence.

 The definition most Americans would certainly agree with are,-

 1. a)-devotion to one's nation; patriotism and all of # 2 & 3.

But certainly not 1. b)-excessive, narrow, or jingoist patriotism; chauvinism.

jingo- "a person who boasts of his patriotism and favors an aggressive , threatening , warlike foreign policy; chauvinist"- also from Websters.

[Warlike [imperialistic] foreign policy.] 

It is interesting that in the first 1828 edition of Webster's dictionary the word "nationalism" is not listed.

Perhaps due to the highjacking and re-defining of the term nationalism starting in the late 1700"s, that influenced future editions of the english dictionary. Which can explain 1. b) above. 

From the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English: 

1 the desire by a group of people of the same race, origin, language etc to form an independent country 
2 love for your own country and the belief that it is better than any other country [↪ patriotism]

 

The Classic Liberal  asserts this definition of nationalism:

"Too many Americans confuse patriotism with nationalism today, but these words have 2 very different meanings. Nationalism describes not a love for one's country, but a devotion to its central government. Nationalism places the collective over the individual, the State over the community, and power above liberty."

That is a complete highjack and re-defining of the term "nationalism".

However, it is an absolutely on target definition of Communist, Marxist, and Islamist supremacism and imperialism.

The communist, socialist, and marxist devotion to the "state" [ atheistic all powerful central government]

Leftist desire to socialize America.

[Obama government imposed health care for starters] 

Islamist allegiance to the "Ummah" and their imperialistic desire to subjugate and Islamacize the non-Muslim world.

Have another look at the re-definition of nationalism as put forth by the Classic Liberal above:

"Too many Americans confuse patriotism with nationalism today.."

[False, according to the traditional definition nationalism and patriotism are the same.

"... these words have 2 very different meanings."

[False, according to Webster's definition 1. a) above nationalism is,-

devotion to one's nation; patriotism]

"Nationalism describes not a love for one's country, but a devotion to its central government"

[False]

"Nationalism places the collective over the individual, the State over the community, and power above liberty"

[False, -rather that is an accurate description of imperialist Communism, Marxism, and Islamism. 

Islamic Shariah law= power above liberty,-[totally anti-freedom and democracy]

Islamic ideology places the agenda of Islam over the individual and the Ummah over the community, or political nation-states.

Allegiance to the "Ummah"=the state over the community.

In Islam the "Ummah" is the Muslim State.

The Muslim State, or Ummah, is global and transcends political nation-state borders.

Muslims have more allegiance to the Ummah [Muslim State] than political nation-state borders which they regard as temporary.

The earliest highjacking of the term "nationalism" seems to have begun in the late 1700's.

Carl Savich writes the following:

[Words in brackets are mine]-

"Nationalism as a modern [highjacked] political ideology and modern nations emerged only following the French Revolution of 1789. Carleton Hayes stated in Essays on Nationalism, 1926, that 'nationalism is modern, very modern.' Nationalism [highjacked] developed and evolved during the 19th century, reaching its highest stage in the 20th century."

"Elie Kedourie in 'Nationalism', NY: Praeger 1961, argued that nationalism [highjacked] 'is a doctrine invented in Europe at the beginning of the nineteenth century".

Carl Savich writes a lot of things in his article "Nationalism and War" this blogger takes strong exception to. Read the whole thing here.

Here is a brief excerpt of what George Orwell wrote in 1945 in his Notes on Nationalism: (1)."

"But secondly — and this is much more important — I mean the habit of identifying oneself with a single nation or other unit, placing it beyond good and evil and recognising no other duty than that of advancing its interests."

[That describes atheistic communism]

 "Nationalism is not to be confused with patriotism."

[Sorry George, that is what you just did]

"Both words are normally used in so vague a way that any definition is liable to be challenged,"

[Disagree]

"...but one must draw a distinction between them, since two different and even opposing ideas are involved."

[False]

"By ‘patriotism’ I mean devotion to a particular place and a particular way of life, which one believes to be the best in the world but has no wish to force on other people. Patriotism is of its nature defensive, both militarily and culturally."

"Nationalism, on the other hand, is inseparable from the desire for power. The abiding purpose of every nationalist is to secure more power and more prestige, not for himself but for the nation or other unit in which he has chosen to sink his own individuality."

[George Orwell is misusing the term 'nationalism'. The definition he just asserted for 'nationalism' is actually a good definition for atheistic communism.] 

"So long as it is applied merely to the more notorious and identifiable nationalist movements in Germany, Japan, and other countries, all this is obvious enough."

"Confronted with a phenomenon like Nazism, which we can observe from the outside, nearly all of us would say much the same things about it. But here I must repeat what I said above, that I am only using the word ‘nationalism’ for lack of a better."

[How about the word tolitarianism George?]

"Nationalism, in the extended sense in which I am using the word, includes such movements and tendencies as Communism, political Catholicism, Zionism, Antisemitism, Trotskyism and Pacifism."

[Communism, you got that one right. Anti-semitism also is evil. Pacifism might be irresponsible but is it evil? Zionism-way off on that one George]

[Brings to mind the UN Marxist/Islamic adapted evil "Zionism is Racism" resolution.]

Instead of wanting membership Serbia needs to tell the EU to take a hike-

From Arutz Sheva News:

"Serbia to EU: While you ponder debt crisis, what about us?"

 "At the NATO summit,  NATO secretary general Anders Fogh Rasmussen declared his support for Serbia's candidacy for EU membership without presuming to tell the EU how to run its business. "We are very committed to the Euro-Atlantic integration of all the countries in the region. But that requires more democratic reforms, and these reforms must become reality."

"Rasmussen was seconded by Luxembourg's Prime Minister Jean Asselborn who claimed that Serbia's candidacy would serve the interests of both NATO and the EU. He warned that if the door was shut in Belgrade's face there would be a resurgence of Serb nationalism"

[resurgence of Serb 'nationalism']

"I believe that there is no other choice here. It cannot be desired that nationalistic tendencies take the upper hand in Serbia and the conflict with Kosovo becomes much more intense."

[ "It cannot be desired that nationalistic tendencies take the upperhand in Serbia.."]

"The major opponent of Serbia within the EU is Germany. Serbia fought against Germany in both world wars (Germany quickly recognized Croatia, a move that assisted the rapid disintegration of the former Serb dominated Yugoslavia).

"Germany also feels that public opinion within the European Union, already laboring under the debt crisis, would resist the admission of a problematic country such as Serbia."

To be continued in part two.

 

 

 


TOPICS: Conspiracy; Government; History; Politics
KEYWORDS: imperialism; islam; liberalism; nationalism

1 posted on 12/11/2011 12:07:35 PM PST by Amerisrael
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To: Amerisrael
Between Serbia and Germany, it's Germany that is the problem. Germany, frankly, has a lot more problems with chauvinism than either their politicians or media are willing to admit.
2 posted on 12/11/2011 12:49:43 PM PST by Olog-hai
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To: Amerisrael
In the Thirties and Forties you needed someway to distinguish between Hitler and Mussolini on the one hand and Churchill and De Gaulle on the other, so the difference between "nationalism" and "patriotism" was played up.

I'd agree that sometimes people make too much of the distinction -- people you like and agree with are patriots, those you hate are nationalists -- but there really was a difference between the kind of feeling we have for our country and people in the US, Britain or Canada, and the feeling that Germany's nationalists had in the years leading up to WWI.

The more you reflect on the distinction the fuzzier it may seem but we do need two words.

G.K. Chesterton summed it up by saying that a patriot loves his country as he loves his mother, because she is his mother. A nationalist has to believe that his country is better than all other countries or his mother is better than all the other mothers in the world.

The patriot recognizes flaws in one's own country and still loves his motherland, while the nationalist refuses to admit any flaws or weaknesses in his country (except perhaps those attributable to internal enemies and subversives or weaklings).

Things get complicated, though, when you combine the nationalism-patriotism distinction with the distinction between ethnic and civic nationalism.

3 posted on 12/11/2011 1:06:55 PM PST by x
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To: Amerisrael

The use of the term liberal has evolved since the time of the founders.

In the 1700’s a (Classic) “Liberal” was an anti-Statist (Anti-Monarchist).

Today the use of the term “Liberal” indicates a Marxist Statist.

Tell this to a Lib and watch their head explode.

They can play legal weasel word games with this. But that is how it is.


4 posted on 12/11/2011 1:16:22 PM PST by Texas Fossil (Government, even in its best state is but a necessary evil; in its worst state an intolerable one)
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To: x

“In the Thirties and Forties you needed someway to distinguish between Hitler and Mussolini on the one hand and Churchill and De Gaulle...”

I hear you, but why didn’t they use words like “tolitarian” or “fascist-dictatorship” that would be less confusing?

In fact the Mussolini dictatorship was refered to as “Fascist”.
The word “tolitarian”has also been used to describe the former Soviet Union communist dictatorship.

In addition to “EVIL Empire”.

My main point is there is an attempt by the Leftists/Marxists to impose their own re-definition of “nationalism” as a smear against democratic-capitalist nations.

In other words according to their definition “nationalists” and “nationalism” is a bad thing.

That’s why Peace Now and other Leftists who hate Israelis that are very patriotic, love their country, and believe in Zionism, like to refer to them as right-wing nationalists.

It is why the media and international community demonised Serbs as being “nationalists”.But the way they use[misuse] the word,- is better suited to the Jihadists Muslims.

The definition George Orwell put forth for “nationalism” would accurately describe both Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union.

But not American, Israel, or Serbia.


5 posted on 12/11/2011 1:56:50 PM PST by Amerisrael
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