Borders, Culture and Nationalism.

One of the most defining features of humanity over its history has been the division of its self into communities along the lines of geography, social behaviour, language and a sense of connection between one another. Our entire history has been defined by this, its has been this unit of people did this, that unit of people believe this and did things to that other unit of people etc etc. This over time has formed nations, religions, politics and so on into what we all know today. We relate ourselves and the area we live in, to others and our actions and reactions are a consequence of those relations. From childhood we absorb this and grow up to believe in the divides of humanity, which seem immutable and all important. We all become engaged in the idea of nationalism to some extent whether that be through supporting your nations sports teams, concurring to some historical perspective on your or someone else's nations actions or the most extreme of views that your geographical location and those that inhabit it are for whatever reason superior.

 My own experience of this has been rather mild, like most I have followed sports and supported national teams and have become absorbed into the fervour of nations battling it out. This is the most benign consequence of nationalism and probably exists in most of us, even the most liberal and unnationalistic of people. They may not even enjoy sport but take pride that Joe Bloggs of his nation invented this or said that. We all do this. It is it seems an inherent part of being human, we form communities and take pride in the efforts of our fellow members. Countries are the epitome of human efforts of community, they reflect the shared values, language, religion (sometimes),history of a large group of people and as such this guides a communities interactions with other communities. Sometime ago it occured to me that borders are not a physical thing, they are an imaginary line in the earth or on a map that only exists within the human mind. A border is just a place where some people feel the sense of community end and thus they are somewhere else. What's more these imaginary lines are not immutable, static or forever. They expand and contract with human movement and interaction some of which is natural and some of which is pure human construction of how things should be, the modern nations of the middle east are a perfect example of this. Created by the allies after the defeat of the Ottoman Empire at the end of WW1.

 But as we all know by now we live in an ever shrinking world, where globalisation is taking it effect and as some would argue homogenising cultural values, language, money, politics and on and on and on. Albert Einstien once said "Nationalism is an infantile disease. It is the measles of mankind", and I would tend to agree. When I really look at it and really think about nationalism or patriotism I come to the conclusion that the future of humanity does not need it and I hope grow out of it. Globalisation is starting to do that of course it has broken down some of the barriers of nationhood sometimes for good and sometimes for bad. However we are only on the cusp of what globalisation will do. Many see globalisation as a problem and I am sure that it is causing problems, the growing economic divide between the rich and the poor being one of them. However we are very much still in the early stages of a world changing process that I believe will do more good than bad for humanity. More than anything it will lessen the impact of nationalism as the all defining force of community interaction and build shared values that span the globe rather than one corner of the planet.