Nationalism and Myth

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Nationalism is a phenomenon in which members of large communities co-operate for the purpose of unifying and strengthening the will of the whole community for the purpose of protection from other communities, for resistance to oppressors, for defense against aggressors, for retribution to harm-in-tending enemies, and simply for racial, religious or ethnic pride. The unity, being one of mind, must be induced through internal communication that needs a mythology to give it purpose. The truth or falsity of the mythology is not the problem, it is the end for which it is created or related, and the way that it is related that makes it mythological. Even real events are given a mythological twist when their original purposes are re-edited to make them patriotic or nationalistic. Heroic stories or mythology have as their purpose to inspire citizens to, if not emulation, at least admiration and agreement in the apparent ideals displayed by the hero. The hero becomes an "ideal" citizen displaying virtues that the national memeplex has, through development, come to define the model citizen. I would venture to say that, in the final analysis, nationalism is a very vigorous construct, based on myth, using myth to sustain itself, and partaking of the quality of myth itself.

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