The Difference Between Nationalism and Patriotism

Mr. Beat explains the difference between nationalism and patriotism.

Produced by Matt Beat. All images by Matt Beat, found in the public domain, or used under fair use guidelines. Music by Electric Needle Room (Mr. Beat's band). #nationalism #patriotism #politics

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Photo credits:
Tom Page

Nationalism is a word that often has a negative connotation these days.
In fact, the word is often used to attack people. It’s often automatically associated with white nationalism. And lately Trump and others, like PragerU, (clip) are trying to change that. But French President Emmanuel Macron said “nationalism is a betrayal of patriotism.”

Wait, patriotism? Well that word is often glorified. And yet, nationalism and patriotism are two words that people constantly get mixed up. Wikipedia even says this, for crying out loud.
While the two terms are related and used to basically mean the same thing, today they no longer mean the same thing. So let’s clear this up.

Patriotism is love and devotion to one’s country.
Nationalism is love and devotion to one’s country ABOVE ALL OTHERS

Now, nationalism does have other meanings, and there are different kinds of nationalism, but I don’t want to complicate things too much. For the rest of this video, I do want to analyze why so many people think nationalism is dangerous and patriotism is not. Understanding that will hopefully help give you a deeper understanding of the difference between the two.

First of all, nationalism often leads to revolution and war. Patriotism usually does not. In fact, nationalism was one of the primary causes of both World War I and World War 2.

Second, nationalism is exclusionary. Patriotism does not have to be. Nationalism creates this in-group/out-group mentality, and often justifies doing whatever possible to help just one nation while ignoring, neglecting, or even hurting other nations. This automatically makes every global issue an “us vs. them” issue. You’re either with us or against us! Novelist George Orwell was a big critic of nationalism. He once said, “A nationalist is one who thinks...mainly in terms of competitive prestige...his thoughts always turn on victories, defeats, triumphs, and humiliations.”

And finally, the third problem with nationalism is that it often leads to breaking laws of other countries. Patriotism does not. With nationalism, the laws of one country always super cede the laws of all other countries. It also leads to the breaking of treaties. For example, time and time again we’ve seen countries break the Geneva Conventions due to nationalism.

In conclusion, remembering the difference between patriotism and nationalism should is key to recognizing how nationalism could be a threat to world peace. Yes, individual countries should have sovereignty, but cooperation between sovereign nations is the way forward if we want humans to stick around for awhile. And I like humans. I really do! They’re great.

[iammrbeat]

Maybe nationalism isn't as bad as folks say it is. What did I get wrong about nationalism? And it's true. I meant what I said. I like humans.

[Mr_DPZ]

The way I've always seen it:
-Patriotism: I love my nation, but not at the expense of others.
-Nationalism: I don't necessarily dislike other nations, but the interests of mine supersede all others.
-Jingoism: I detest any nation that is not my own.

[brianholmes]

Personally I've always diffenciated the two like this
Patriotism: this is my favourite country
Nationalism: this is the best country

[seanfoudy]

Love this quote: "The difference between patriotism and nationalism is that the patriot is proud of his country for what it does, and the nationalist is proud of his country no matter what it does; the first attitude creates a feeling of responsibility, but the second a feeling of blind arrogance that leads to war." Sydney J. Harris

[DarjeelingEnjoyer]

My take is this:

Patriotism: I love my country but I don't tell everyone that we're the greatest and I acknowledge our faults and try to be better.

Nationalism: We are the greatest and are superior to other nations. We should be first in everything and we should not care about other nations

[heimlershistory]

Glad someone is making this distinction. I grew up learning that it was bad to have pride in America. Then I started traveling the world and it seemed like people from other countries seemed very happy to be Brazilian or Italian or whatever. I think that’s when I started understanding the difference in nationalism and patriotism. Anyway, the difference is so helpful because I sure do like America, despite her sins. Good work on this one...

[lukedetering]

Video Idea: What exactly is political correctness

[bigdog]

A patriot is like a parent who loves his child unconditionally, and wants that child to be the best he can be, and to that end, is willing to do the necessary, but sometimes unpleasant work of correcting that child when he behaves inappropriately. A nationalist is like a parent who refuses to acknowledge that his child ever does anything wrong, spoils him rotten, and the child becomes an insufferable asshole.

[heinrichbierhals-wnxz]

Thank you for making this distinction! Everyone keeps insulting me because I'm a German nationalist, which I'm not, I'm Patriotic, sure I used to be a nationalist, but that was because I was blinded by the Nazi Regime into thinking I was better than everyone else and that my country was superior to all the other countries. You are a good man, Mr. Beat.

[Basedindividual]

Here in Scotland we don’t consider nationalism bad.

[SiVlog]

The snippet claiming former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher hated the EU was only half true. Yes she didn't care much about it towards the end of her time in 10 Downing Street, but believe it or not, she was one of the leading campaigners for UK to join what was in 1975 the European Economic Community (EEC). Indeed, she maintained, "it is not me that has changed, the EU has changed." She felt, rightly or wrongly, that the sovereignty of nations was being threatened by the EU becoming more centralised. She said "... Europe has been at its best when Spain is Spain, France is France, Britain as Britain, each maintaining their own unique identity and customs, "

[tirididjdjwieidiw]

i mean nationalism as seen in germany and japan during the 30’s is the most extreme case of nationalism. nationalism has also done plenty of good things in history, like the close ties that nationalism had to democracy back in the early 1800’s. and also the idea of the nation state. this type of nationalism is actually called civic nationalism instead of the more common idea of what nationalism is which is ethnic nationalism.

[xhinted]

Here in Spain the term "nationalism" is much better considered than "patriotism" in fact we think that the toxic and exclusive one is patriotism, so it's not an universal definition. Here and in many other countries, like Romania, Finland or the UK the term nationalism is also frequently used to describe the concept of identification to a "nation" whose territory is determined by a ethnic, cultural or linguistical common identity instead of one whose territory is just defined by its borders. While patriotism is commonly understood as a toxic or jingoistic version of the first.

[Anon-vdxd]

Nationalism is a very strong force. It can be used for great purposes, Or very bad ones.

[CapitalTeeth]

I refuse the notion that nationalism means pride in your nation at the expense of other nations. Without nationalism, the modern nation-state simply would not exist. France for the French, Poland for the Poles, Italy for the Italians, etc... Nationalism to me is not an ideology. It's an idea, a concept.

[lucaslevinsky]

Nationalism should not mistaken as Ultranationalism

[WanderingRusski]

The way i think of it is "Nationalism is the political implementation of Patriotism".

[icantcomeupwithagoodusername]

My dad described it this way:
Patriot: "I'm glad to live in my country because it's great"
Nationalist: "I'm proud to be from my country because it's the greatest"

[benjaminkovacs]

Nationalism: I love my country's people
Patriotism: I love my country and land

[jiggy]

patriotism: love of one's country
nationalism: love of one's nation