It might be characteristic for intact democracy polticians cannot simply command public opinion. The public selects its issues in accordance with its own, rational chaos principle. And usually it is not a great pity that urgently demanded debates on fundamental values bog down in hesitating editorials. But there are of course exceptions to that, too: A very long time (to be exact, more than two months ago) a certain political party called upon reflecting on patriotism. Quite a good idea which has never been seriously dealt with in Germany.
Owing to German history reflecting on national identity has been considered quite a long time to be inopportune. Thanks to impressive negative examples Germany was apparently afraid of resuming the search for living space in a reflex action. So why rouse sleeping dogs? But meanwhile several factors have caused us to face that issue: among others there is globalization, the EU extension, migration and last but not least the impression German culture is on the decay. So the question might not be that inappropriate anymore: What is the Germans' attitude towards their nation like? What to make of nation today? The answer to that question allows valuable conclusions who has been asked. Leaving those lacking interest aside, basically two categories remain, namley the nationalists and the patriots.
For a long time a left-wing progressive point of view has regarded patriotism and nationalism as synonyms. But assuming that language does not accidentally make two different words available to their speakers, then we should profit by taking different contents as a basis - regardless how thoughtlessly we might deal with these differences. And not only the Left, no, right-wing circles also have a deep mistrust in patriotism. It is not popular enough and sometimes even ready to criticize the nation - without jumping to the conslusion that national states are in the era of globalization fatally outmoded and Germans are obliged to deny they are Germans. The notion of patriotism is under fire from both sides; the one rejects it as the first step to revanchist nationalism, the other smells the rats of disguised traitors who lack any respect for God and Fatherland and sell out national interest by signing shameful dictates. As can be seen, patriots cannot please anybody. Which makes them very agreeable.
If we compare patriotism and nationalism, we can work out three different aspects:
Time
Nationalism declaredly refers to the national past. or that reason it attaches an almost mythical importance to commemoration. The more it goes back in time, the more its idea of nation is anchored - at times so firmly we cannot talk respectably about the German nation at all. Cases in point: Charles the Great or, following that line, even Hermann the Cherusker. Thus, the date of the Battle of Nations, the founding of the Kaiserreich 1871 or, depending on temper, maybe January 30, 1933 traditionally serve as prominent commemorative occasions. This implies nation is conceived as something perfect which must not be changed, that is jeopardied. This is the conservative trait of any nationalist attitude, which does not mean in turn any kind of convervatism is nationalistic.
In contrast, patriotism cherishes a more dialectic relation to nation. According to that nation can only be preserved by adjusting to changing social, cultural and political events - if it likes it or not. From that point of view, national unit is based on its dynamics, which means incorporating the future into the concept of the past. So where nationalists castigate the decline of national values and lament the sell-out of national interests, patriotism has its place. It presupposes nations can only be improved.
Fact
Both nationalists and patriots attach much importance to criticizing th enation, but the other way round. Nationalism takes criticism as occasion to present itself in confrontative top form. It seizes the opportunity to call on national awakening. In contrast, partiots are always ready to criticize their nation sharply. Nationalists will regard it as destructive, but it is originally meant to be constructive. Unlike nationalism which defines the nation strictly ethnically and enthusiastically applies biological metaphors like the national body, the patriotic definition is more complicated, less clear, more ideal, for it also takes cultural and political aspects into consideration. Its disadvantage, of course, is that endeavours to produce concepts like 'constitutional patriotism' and 'citizenship' fail to give warmth to the heart of the national body and remain too abstract. But it saves itself (and the persons concerned) the question how comes that there are coloured Germans, too, who sometimes have a better command of the language than those who content themselves with tracing their genealogical table back beyond the requirements of the Arian certificate.
Mass
A single nationalist is a very lamentable phenomenon. He squats secludedly in front of his memorabilia, the books with squiggles, the cracking military marches, the flags on the wall, the insignia in cigar boxes. A similar things goes for a patriot forced into gregariousness; for mass events under national omens will make him feel a little uneasy. Critics always like to regard themselves as individualists, because they are afraid their autonomy could suffer if several people thought along the same line. In other words: nationalists and patriots back their attitudes with reference to the masses - but just the other way round. Nationalism claims to preserve the mass interest, thus incapacitating it. Patriotism hopes by not pursuing mass goals the responsible majority will agree with it. Nationalism wants to win the mass of people in order to declare it irrelevant. Patriotism wishes to declare the mass of people irrelevant in order to win it in spite (or just becasue) of that.
National benefit
The most simple distinction criterion concerns the value of nationalists and patriots. Nationalists are the ones getting patriots in foreign politics into a nice mess, let them have to face the music and then complain about it. Patriots just live dangerously. No wonder there is a constant fear they might have died out. Perhaps that is the true reason why the commanded reflection did not come into full effect, particularly since it soon turned into a lamentation about the exodus of German companies into foreign countries.
All in all the borderline between nationalism and patriotism is more discernible than could be expected from these helpless statements. Any party which tried to win voters on that borderline and came out empty-handed in the end will confirm that; for its suggestive slogans will only produce disgust - either because nationalists have been better wooed elsewhere or because patriots do not wish to be wooed that way.
Owing to German history reflecting on national identity has been considered quite a long time to be inopportune. Thanks to impressive negative examples Germany was apparently afraid of resuming the search for living space in a reflex action. So why rouse sleeping dogs? But meanwhile several factors have caused us to face that issue: among others there is globalization, the EU extension, migration and last but not least the impression German culture is on the decay. So the question might not be that inappropriate anymore: What is the Germans' attitude towards their nation like? What to make of nation today? The answer to that question allows valuable conclusions who has been asked. Leaving those lacking interest aside, basically two categories remain, namley the nationalists and the patriots.
For a long time a left-wing progressive point of view has regarded patriotism and nationalism as synonyms. But assuming that language does not accidentally make two different words available to their speakers, then we should profit by taking different contents as a basis - regardless how thoughtlessly we might deal with these differences. And not only the Left, no, right-wing circles also have a deep mistrust in patriotism. It is not popular enough and sometimes even ready to criticize the nation - without jumping to the conslusion that national states are in the era of globalization fatally outmoded and Germans are obliged to deny they are Germans. The notion of patriotism is under fire from both sides; the one rejects it as the first step to revanchist nationalism, the other smells the rats of disguised traitors who lack any respect for God and Fatherland and sell out national interest by signing shameful dictates. As can be seen, patriots cannot please anybody. Which makes them very agreeable.
If we compare patriotism and nationalism, we can work out three different aspects:
Time
Nationalism declaredly refers to the national past. or that reason it attaches an almost mythical importance to commemoration. The more it goes back in time, the more its idea of nation is anchored - at times so firmly we cannot talk respectably about the German nation at all. Cases in point: Charles the Great or, following that line, even Hermann the Cherusker. Thus, the date of the Battle of Nations, the founding of the Kaiserreich 1871 or, depending on temper, maybe January 30, 1933 traditionally serve as prominent commemorative occasions. This implies nation is conceived as something perfect which must not be changed, that is jeopardied. This is the conservative trait of any nationalist attitude, which does not mean in turn any kind of convervatism is nationalistic.
In contrast, patriotism cherishes a more dialectic relation to nation. According to that nation can only be preserved by adjusting to changing social, cultural and political events - if it likes it or not. From that point of view, national unit is based on its dynamics, which means incorporating the future into the concept of the past. So where nationalists castigate the decline of national values and lament the sell-out of national interests, patriotism has its place. It presupposes nations can only be improved.
Fact
Both nationalists and patriots attach much importance to criticizing th enation, but the other way round. Nationalism takes criticism as occasion to present itself in confrontative top form. It seizes the opportunity to call on national awakening. In contrast, partiots are always ready to criticize their nation sharply. Nationalists will regard it as destructive, but it is originally meant to be constructive. Unlike nationalism which defines the nation strictly ethnically and enthusiastically applies biological metaphors like the national body, the patriotic definition is more complicated, less clear, more ideal, for it also takes cultural and political aspects into consideration. Its disadvantage, of course, is that endeavours to produce concepts like 'constitutional patriotism' and 'citizenship' fail to give warmth to the heart of the national body and remain too abstract. But it saves itself (and the persons concerned) the question how comes that there are coloured Germans, too, who sometimes have a better command of the language than those who content themselves with tracing their genealogical table back beyond the requirements of the Arian certificate.
Mass
A single nationalist is a very lamentable phenomenon. He squats secludedly in front of his memorabilia, the books with squiggles, the cracking military marches, the flags on the wall, the insignia in cigar boxes. A similar things goes for a patriot forced into gregariousness; for mass events under national omens will make him feel a little uneasy. Critics always like to regard themselves as individualists, because they are afraid their autonomy could suffer if several people thought along the same line. In other words: nationalists and patriots back their attitudes with reference to the masses - but just the other way round. Nationalism claims to preserve the mass interest, thus incapacitating it. Patriotism hopes by not pursuing mass goals the responsible majority will agree with it. Nationalism wants to win the mass of people in order to declare it irrelevant. Patriotism wishes to declare the mass of people irrelevant in order to win it in spite (or just becasue) of that.
National benefit
The most simple distinction criterion concerns the value of nationalists and patriots. Nationalists are the ones getting patriots in foreign politics into a nice mess, let them have to face the music and then complain about it. Patriots just live dangerously. No wonder there is a constant fear they might have died out. Perhaps that is the true reason why the commanded reflection did not come into full effect, particularly since it soon turned into a lamentation about the exodus of German companies into foreign countries.
All in all the borderline between nationalism and patriotism is more discernible than could be expected from these helpless statements. Any party which tried to win voters on that borderline and came out empty-handed in the end will confirm that; for its suggestive slogans will only produce disgust - either because nationalists have been better wooed elsewhere or because patriots do not wish to be wooed that way.
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