2 ms·

(moderate) nationalism is just about cooperation with people you share a space with, don't you give preferential treatment to your family and friends?

• golemotron 12y ago
  With family and friends our cooperation can be grounded in our concrete experience of them. For what it's worth, I can recommend my brother-in-law, but I feel no urge to recommend/cooperate with his sister if I've never met her or heard anything about her. Nationalism is more like, "hey, I live in Tampa Bay so the Buccaneers are the best!" It's groundless presumption that someone or something is better or more deserving because you are close to it. It's a pernicious cognitive bias.
  • jiggy2011 12y ago
    But you would presumably find it easier to cooperate with her than a stranger picked at random because you have a shared link. It's not so much that one thing is better as it is that you are more able to help those closest to you, in roughly the order yourself - family - community - country. Without some degree of nationalism it is hard to justify things like universal healthcare, the welfare state or even politics on a smaller than global level. We invest in our communities because they invest in us.