Thoughts on Nationalism

Why is it that people cannot handle it when others bash their country? (I realize the pronouns could be clearer, but hopefully you get my drift) I was just reading an argument between an elderly American man and a young Russian girl. They are going back and forth about the conflict in South Ossetia. (If you are curious, the group is called "Ossetian conflict" on Facebook.com).

Observing their argument, it was apparent that both sides were stridently trying to assert the validity of their respective positions. They want to force the other person to believe what they believe and are saying. I look at the exchange and see how nothing gets done. People just get upset and yell at each other. So what then is the best way to get another to come around to your way of thinking? Loudly proclaiming your position in concert with disgust for views that differ from your own is not effective. Even if you "win" the argument, you still do not achieve your purpose. You may trounce your opponent rhetorically, but he (English really needs a gender neutral third person pronoun) still walks away holding on to his position stronger than ever. You cannot force someone to believe that you are right.

How would you set up a constructive exchange of starkly divergent views? Can it be done if the various parties are predisposed to spend their time thinking of rebuttals rather than listening and working to comprehend what another party is saying?

Where does all the passion and fervor for one's nation come from?

It comes from how people identify themselves. I am an American. As such, there are certain qualities I ascribe to America as a whole. At the same time, there are some of these qualities that I claim for myself; they make up part of my identity. When someone lashes out against America or its leaders, I may perceive that as an attack not on a distant, unrelated third party, but a personal attack on who I am and what I believe in. Perhaps there is nothing more sacred or fragile to a person, than their own estimate of self-worth. We wear ourselves out trying bolster and defend this fragile sculpture.

I once had a fight, an intense verbal argument, with a close friend. We were roommates and worked together 24/7 for several months. I do not recall having many arguments with him before or after, but I do remember this one. I do not remember how we got on the topic, but my friend made a comment which I took to mean that he thought his country was better than mine. This, of course, was absurd to me. I assured him that I am from the greatest country on the planet. The closest thing we had to a rival had fallen and disintegrated. If the world was a playground, we would be the king of the hill. Those are not my exact words, but the idea of American supremacy to any and all other countries was present. He proceeded to bash America. I then bashed his country. Looking back, we were not so much defending our countries as those parts of our identities that were wrapped up in our countries. We were fighting to protect our perceptions of our own self-worth.

How can a person move beyond the frenetic struggle to maintain their own self-worth?

The only sure core a person can have is knowing who they are. This knowledge transcends national, racial, economic and all other boundaries. People possessing this knowledge know that they are in fact children of God, known by and loved of Him with a love as real as any tender parent's care for their helpless infant. Only when you have this knowledge and learn to rely on it, to test it by your faith, can you be free of the daily rituals of building yourself up and fending off perceived threats. Only then can you be secure enough to move beyond the zero-sum-game mentality and treat those with whom you disagree, not as enemies to be conquered, but as siblings to be understood.

That, at least, is a step in the right direction.

Cell Phones + Development = ?

NY Times
Magazine
Can the Cellphone Help End Global Poverty?
By SARA CORBETT
Published: April 13, 2008
Why a corporate “user anthropologist” is spending so much of his time in the shantytowns of the world.


I found this story fascinating. I had heard that cell phones were great in developing countries, because they give the people in those countries the ability to communicate, without the costs associated with traditional land lines and the difficulties of tracking people down for monthly payments. This story, however, introduces a couple of ideas. Perhaps the most interesting is how the cell phone acts as a "fixed identity point." Regardless of where you are and what you are doing (for a good example, see the anthropologist this story covers) those who know your number can contact you with minimal expense and effort. Knowing someone's cell phone number is really the only thing you need beyond knowing them in order to maintain a connection regardless of where your individual lives take you.

Beyond that initial idea, the uses people in developing countries are finding for cell phones are incredible. Check out the part of the story where they discuss mobile banking and how people are using airtime for cell phones as a way of transferring funds to family and friends in distant locales. I also enjoyed how people would use SMS messages to keep in touch when governments shut down public media or during power failures. You've also got physicians in remote areas texting hospitals in more established regions for help in treating a particular patient.

Finally, the story raises the question of what will happen when the other 3 billion people on the planet have access to cell phones. The quantity of people is so great that even minute changes in individual circumstances will have huge aggregate effects. It will be interesting to see if companies in the mobile telecom markets can produce phones that are durable, affordable, and useful for those earning less that $4 per day.