Turning Curse Side of Nationalism and National Sentiment to Blessing

Abstract

 Nationalism and national sentiment could be considered blessing on the one hand and curse on the other understood properly from various perspectives. These notions can be considered blessing in the sense that they arouse the feeling of unity, nearness, oneness and ownness among the conationals or compatriots; they can be understood as curse in the sense that they create borders, divide humans into various different groups and sub-groups which arouses the parochial feeling of conational which sometimes results in conflict, civil war and division of a country. Nationalism, viewed from positive perspective, can be understood as an effective means or a tool that can work to arouse the feeling of unity, nearness, and ownness among the people belonging to a certain nation. In essence, it requires that all individuals belong to a nation for the realization of their true moral worth. As a result, they owe their primary loyalty to their nation over any other sub-groups to maintain the moral value. Viewed from negative perspective, nationalism, mostly the extreme form of nationalism, leads the individuals, their sub-groups, and nation to a dark moment. Racial hatred and ethnic cleansing--consequences of extreme kind of national sentiment--can be considered as some instances. The curse side of nationalism and national sentiment can be turned into blessing by properly handling the spirit of nationalism and national sentiment with positive thinking.