Teacher
10-24-2018, 10:00 AM
This week's admission by President Trump that he is indeed a "Nationalist" is chilling on several different levels. And of course is a stark reminder of what Orwell was forecasting and warning.
Orwell was intrigued (to say the least) about the concept of nationalism beginning in the early 40's as fascism swept through Europe. In a 1944 letter about Hitler and Stalin he wrote, "...the horrors of emotional nationalism and a tendency to disbelieve in the existence of objective truth because all the facts have to fit in with the words and prophecies of some infallible führer.”
I you don't see the comparisons to what this president is doing, then you're not paying attention to the novel, or you're not paying attention to the news.
The danger of nationalism is that it is often confused with patriotism. Former Russian chess player and human rights activist Gary Kasparov once wrote, "Patriotism is when you love your country. Nationalism is when you hate all the rest."
The questions for us now is relatively simple: Will you allow ourselves to blindly follow? Disregard any attempts to seek the truth? Respect factual history as a barometer for the present?
Orwell was intrigued (to say the least) about the concept of nationalism beginning in the early 40's as fascism swept through Europe. In a 1944 letter about Hitler and Stalin he wrote, "...the horrors of emotional nationalism and a tendency to disbelieve in the existence of objective truth because all the facts have to fit in with the words and prophecies of some infallible führer.”
I you don't see the comparisons to what this president is doing, then you're not paying attention to the novel, or you're not paying attention to the news.
The danger of nationalism is that it is often confused with patriotism. Former Russian chess player and human rights activist Gary Kasparov once wrote, "Patriotism is when you love your country. Nationalism is when you hate all the rest."
The questions for us now is relatively simple: Will you allow ourselves to blindly follow? Disregard any attempts to seek the truth? Respect factual history as a barometer for the present?