Nationalist terrorism 3363

Peter H.M. Brooks

Hi Peter,

I think you are correct. Orwell describes a Nationalist like this.

"A nationalist is one who thinks solely, or mainly, in terms of compebreastive prestige. He may be a positive or a negative nationalist -- that is, he may use his mental energy either in boosting or in denigrating -- but at any rate his thoughts always turn on victories, defeats, triumphs and humiliations. He sees history, especially contemporary history, as the endless rise and decline of great power units, and every event that happens seems to him a demonstration that his own side is on the upgrade and some hated rival is on the downgrade. But finally, it is important not to confuse nationalism with mere worship of success. The nationalist does not go on the principle of simply ganging up with the strongest side. On the contrary, having picked his side, he persuades himself that it is the strongest, and is able to stick to his belief even when the facts are overwhelmingly against him. Nationalism is power-hunger tempered by self-deception. Every nationalist is capable of the most flagrant dishonesty, but he is also -- since he is conscious of serving something bigger than himself -- unshakeably certain of being in the right."

Nationalists owe unthinking loyalty to their own Power Group alone, lumping people into us and them groups. By stripping the 'outlanders' of their individuality, it makes it easy to attack an individual - who may have done nothing himself - and possess nothing in common with the 'outlanders' except his race or religion, which is essentially terrorism, isn't it?

Max