Notes On Nationalism Orwell Pdf

“It can be argued, that patriotism is an inoculation against nationalism, that monarchy is a guard against dictatorship, and that organised religion is a guard against superstition.” ~ George Orwell Notes on Nationalism. Orwell’s writing has as much meaning today as it did in the 1940s. Too many people — in every country — think nationalism and patriotism is the same thing. They’re not; they’re completely different.

Orwell defined patriotism as “devotion to a particular place and a particular way of life, which one believes to be the best in the world but has no wish to force upon other people.” Can’t argue with that. According to Orwell, nationalism is the habit of identifying oneself with a single nation or an idea, and “placing it beyond good and evil and recognizing no other duty than that of advancing its interests.” In other words nationalism doesn’t have to be based on a country. This same fanaticism can be applied to any “ism”: Communism, Neo-Conservatism, and Fundamentalism (of any religion), you name it. Captive Works Bin File. Whether it’s based on a country or an “ism,” nationalism always has that combination of blind zeal and indifference to reality.