Definition Of Patriotism By George Orwell

George Orwell explains in his essay, Notes on Nationalism, his interpretation of the meaning of nationalism and the effect that it has on societies. Orwell states that nationalism is, “identifying oneself with a single nation or other unit, placing it beyond good and evil and recognizing no other duty than that of advancing its interests… there is no definition that would be universally accepted.” I disagree with this mindset. What I want to talk about in this is essay is my idea of nationalism that can be compared to patriotism, I will refer to this form as “patriotic nationalism.” Orwell’s term and my term are two different things, even though they overlap, they are still separate. I will discuss how terror management theory can help

Orwell says, “The abiding purpose of every nationalist is to secure more power and more prestige.” What’s wrong with securing power and prestige in order to preserve your country? Orwell would answer that German is a good example of securing power, the wrong way. Nazi’s would defend their actions by saying that their country needs resources from other lands in order to survive. They needed to secure their power, so they would conquer other countries, kill the population, and use extermination camps. Patriotic nationalism, on the other hand, means that societies must have a yearning to protect their land, patriotic nationalism. If not, other enemy lands that do have a sense of nationalism will conquer. When citizens of a country have a love for what their nation stands for and its people, their homeland thrives. People work harder and more efficiently when they feel pride towards a common goal. This is exactly something positive that Orwell doesn’t touch up on in his

Nationalism plays an important role in culture, especially today. Nationalism in culture highlights the diversity of a society. A main idea of cultural nationalism is the shared thoughts of people in a society, such as, political views, religious beliefs, sharing a language, and recognizing certain holidays. Orwell states, “Nationalism is not only defined as alignment to a political entity; it can also encompass a religion, race, ideology or any other abstract idea.” I’ve realized that America is a salad. I say this because you can see each ingredient, and some choose to pick out what they don’t like. America tries to be known as a melting pot, lots of different ingredients, people, coexisting together. In our society, it’s nice to say that we like being diverse, but perhaps we can improve and strengthen that thought. When we only focus on the ingroup and its worldview, its worldview probably includes diversity. To make our society more diverse, we should make everyone feel protected, not just the ingroup. We see in Orwell’s essay and the terror management’s that similar people join together. What could increase an understanding of diversity would be to encourage people who are different to join together as well. We have the power and understanding to coexist together