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"Patriotism is often an arbitrary veneration of real estate above principles." - George Jean Nathan

This article asks us to provide a reason for the disappearance of nationalism; certainly a compelling question. Unfortunately, rumours of the demise of nationalism have been greatly exaggerated.

Having exposed nationalism for the simple-minded tribal mentality it truly is following the horrors it engendered in World War II, the people of the Earth rejected ultra-nationalism, and took the first tentative steps towards a truly global society in the creation of the United Nations. Progress towards this ideal has been steady in the decades since, hastened by the advent of globalizing technologies such as satellite communication and the Internet. For the first time, it seemed as though we human beings were setting aside the petty bickering of the past, and uniting in a global family of mankind.

Naturally, it didn't last long.

The Soviet Union collapsed into respective national states; the Balkans decayed into individual national entities so fast that the term "Balkanization" was coined to describe the phenomenon; Iraq began splintering into its own ethnic enclaves following the the US invasion of 2003. Perhaps most disappointingly, right here in the United States we've witnessed a return to the isolationist, anti-immigrant, pro-censorship, flag-waving "patriotism" so beloved of the conservative movement since the earliest days of our democracy.

So why has nationalism disappeared? The answer is, of course, it hasn't - and it won't, so long as there are those who stand to gain by playing to the fears and prejudices of their own tribe at the expense of the greater human family. Twice in the last century, that outpouring of nationalism led to the most fateful and destructive wars in history, and make no mistake - if, heaven forbid, such destruction should come upon us again, we'll know exactly where to lay the blame.

Nationalism is a bloody flag, indeed.

Learn more about this author, Timothy Ellis.
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