We all know that nationalism and worship of a government is bad, right? I mean, we’ve seen chilling film footage of Germans who joined Adolph Hitler in those nighttime rallies at Nuremberg and Russians and Chinese singing their communist anthems in the days of the Cold War. Those are scary, right?
On the other hand, we all know that patriotism and love of the good ol’ USA is one of our highest values. That’s how we can appreciate the freedom we have, right? We pledge loyalty to our flag and promise allegiance to “the republic for which it stands,” but those are good things. Right?
In case you get confused, just remember that it’s nationalism when people in other countries get caught up in national pride — and indulge in blind loyalty about their country being the best ever — but it’s just good ol’-fashioned patriotism when it happens here.