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Nationalism makes no sense (thelemmy.club)
submitted 1 week ago by to c/politicalmemes@lemmy.world
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[–] 71 points 1 week ago (10 children)

I agree with this, but I think we should have some kind of linguistic distinction between pride as in ‘I’m proud I’m not one of those inferior people’ and pride as in ‘I am not ashamed of my heritage’. Because having one word being used both ways has led to people with wildly diverging interpretations of the same sentence.

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  • [–] 21 points 1 week ago (3 children)

    I didn't even consider the first one to exist and was briefly upset at George for saying people shouldn't be proud/accepting of their base characteristics, but what you say makes sense of it for me.

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  • [–] 24 points 1 week ago (2 children)

    A potentially mind-blowing thing that really drives this point home:

    Obama is half-black and half-white (black father and white mother). He’s often and comfortably claimed to be the first black president, but never referred to as a white president, though he’s equally both.

    Some races and ethnicities have historically been considered as subtractive, and this is the often unconsidered evil of ethnic or cultural allegiance.

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  • [–] 6 points 1 week ago

    Logically it still made sense, IMO. If he's half black and half white, while all previous presidents were only white, then the black part is the discriminating factor one could highlight as a success to deviate from the previous norm.

    If you wanted to highlight this deviation without leaning in on the black part, you would have had to use something like “not fully white”, which would have been explicitly subtractive and therefore much worse.

    Of course one could simply ignore the skin color completely, but I also see empowering in highlighting this shift of breaking an otherwise strict all white run.

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  • [–] 2 points 1 week ago

    This is because the American slave owners wanted to be able to sell their own children.

    After raping a slave, if she got pregnant they could free their child or keep them as a slave.

    Thomas Jefferson's concubine, Sally Hemmings, was probably 3/4 white, and at least 1/2 white. Her granddaughter created a scandal when she 'passed' for white.

    If an american tries to call themselves Native because they are 1/32 Native, people laugh at them. But up until a few years ago, being 1/64 Black made you Black.

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  • [–] 4 points 1 week ago (2 children)

    This is why I prefer the word "celebrate". I didn't do anything to achieve neurodivergence, it's not an accomplishment, so why would I be proud of it? But I can be proud of the times when I can push past the executive dysfunction and actually tidy my room.

    But I can surely celebrate neurodivergence.

    But that's just me. I don't mind if other people want to shout "autistic pride". I used to get accused of being "proud" and "arrogant" a lot by a family member when I was mute or in shutdown, so that might be why I feel an aversion to that word.

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  • [–] -5 points 1 week ago (1 child)

    That's actually what left-wing nationalism is often about (But not always, sometimes it is economical left-populists trying to cope) Also I dont think we need anyone to tell how to relate to others. In a healthy(!) society people can sort themselves out without need to be controlled by some multi-culturalist enforcement (because idea of multiculturalism is kinda impossible)

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  • [–] 2 points 1 week ago

    How is 'multiculturalism' impossible? Try spending a day in any big city. People use words from different languages all the time. They use chopsticks and European table ware at the same meal.

    You don't even need to go to a big city. Look at the All American cowboy. Pretty much everything you associate with him comes from Mexico. His lariat comes from 'la riata' and his Stetson was based on a sombrero.

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