A Beginners Guide to Nationalism. (Also applies to race/class/gender etc. BTW)

submitted by Robin from wikispooks.com

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[–]Chipit 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Ah, I've seen this concept before. This is about ingroups and outgroups.

The Western Right's outgroup is people who aren't Westerners. BUT the Western Left's outgroup is the Right. The real enemy is Western civilization and specifically white people. This is the best explanation I've ever heard at this link. A bit long but worth reading every word because it answers SO many questions.

http://archive.is/QRJ6m

You will notice that this comic, while being leftist, punches down and attacks the little people. There's no excuse for punching down. You punch up. What you don't do is make a joke at the expense of the less powerful or more oppressed group.

Punching down is a concept in which you're assumed to have a measurable level of power and you're looking for a fight. Now, you can either go after the big guy who might hurt you, or go after the little guy who has absolutely no shot. Either way, you've picked a fight, but one fight is remarkably more noble and worthwhile than the other. Going after the big guy, punching up, is an act of nobility. Going after the little guy, punching down, is an act of bullying.

This is perfectly explained by the ingroup/outgroup concept. The Leftwaffe would obviously never do this to anyone but The Other.

[–]Canbot 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

The same claim can be made about literally any group at all. But the fact is that groups do have utility. A lot of utility. Not only that but this criticism is usually levied in error. For example if a group is successful because of their shared culture someone who doesn't understand that the success comes from the shared culture would accuse everyone who has not gained personal wealth of being a fool who is taking credit for the achievements of others. To the person who doesn't understand the value of culture the only evidence of success is the wealth. However, to the group the wealth is just evidence of the value of the culture, and it is the shared culture that they are proud of.