Does Nationalism Cause War?

Comments at Steve Sailer:

* Nationalism makes a people attractive, just as self-confidence makes people attractive.

* So nationalism causes war?

That’s funny. Ever since the Arab nationalism movement was crushed in the 60s, the Middle East seems to have been thrown into a perpetual state of war and backwards radicalism.

In fact every time a nation is destroyed or destabilized in the middle east things seem to get far worse and far more violent instead of improving. Perhaps acting in the interests of your region ethnicity, nation, etc in some official regard that is seen as legitimate by the local populace is a better idea than just letting whoever has the most guns or money take over your country.

* It’s weird to think that somewhere within the Icelandic govt or some NGO some bright spark is in a meeting and jumping up and shouting “You know what we need round here – a ton of Africans and Muslims!”

* I like how all the players are actually Icelandic in comparison with the French , German or English teams, although I am sure they have some immigrants even there. White countries are too good to pass up when there are goodies to be had.

Even Iceland will be inundated with the 3rd world masses.

There isn’t a white country around that the diversity freaks don’t want to get their claws into.

* “In 2014, the global winds are blowing in favor of conservative nationalism”

Eventually, the World WILL integrate and become one. Globalization is not a political or even economic process: it is a technological one, fostered by the massive developments in communication and transport technology, which has shrunk the World. This allows trade of goods, ideas and people on an unprecedented scale.

Like I said before, what is happening is that we are proceding to becoming a Type I civilization on the Kardashev Scale. The internet, for instance, is the beggining of a Type I telephone system.

Nationalism is rooted in tribalism, which is an atavistic instinct that many humans have. Such an instinct comes from the Paleolithic Era, when tribes of humans competed over small patches of land, which meant hunting grounds. Because humans back then couldn’t manufacture anything, which means that there wasn’t anything to trade with other tribes, and the struggle for survival was intense, tribes saw each other simply as rivals. Warfare was the natural state of Humanity back then.

But if you look at the history of the World since 10,000 B.C, it has been one of political structures getting progressively larger and more complex. The small bands of the Paleolithic Era , with no more than a few dozen people, grew into cities with thousands, these city-states joined with others and became nation-states. Now, nations are integrating and becoming a global community. The process is still in it’s infancy, and there will be many set backs, but the end result will be the end of all national borders. It might take another 100+ years, but the end result will be the same.

The reason why Globalization is inevitable is because of the enormous benefits in terms of increased prosperity , and the demands that the new technologies will put on industry, which is too great for any single ation-state to provide. Developments in industry and science will inevitably require cooperation internationally. Even the Manhattan Project, over 70 years ago, was a joint venture. It was mostly bank rolled by the U.S, but the majority of the scientists were from other countries.

The demands from industry are such that it requires intenational cooperation, and the benefits of a global market are obvious: the larger the market, the greater variability of skills and know-how on the part of producers, and the larger the scale of production and consumption, which act mutually to boost each other. American companies grew much larger than most European companies due to the larger U.S market, which allows them to produce and sell on a much larger scale than in the ones available in the tiny ountries of Europe. Globalization takes this to a much higher level by creating a global market. A larger market offers advantages not only due to the power of increased consumption power boosting producton by increasing demands, but also due to the greater options in terms of variety in labor skills and cost. For instance, many American conservatives want closed borders for trade because many American workers have lost their jobs to China. However, they don’t realize that there is a beneficial effect: by producing cheaper abroad due to cheaper labor, companies can sell their products to American consumers cheaper. This directly increases the living standards of Americans AND leaves Americans with more free cash, which they can invest to grow the economy, which creates new jobs with even higher wages for those Americans who previously lost their jobs to China. Everyone benefits when the market is larger and offers more options in terms of labor skills and cost, consumption and production. This goes back go Adam Smith and David Ricardo. But dumb conservatives don’t understand this.

The dumb conservatives that read Steve Sailer don’t understand this. They don’t understand the true nature of globalization, they don’t realize the progressive compression of the World, and they don’t understand the increased prosperity that comes from Globalization due to maximization of utility.

Sailer is right about one thing, though: tribalism, and therefore nationalist, is a very powerful instinct for many people and it will set back Globalization a lot. As Einstein once said:

“Nationalism is the cancer of Mankind.”

There will be many anti-Globalist movements. But I believe that the World becoming one “tribe” is inevitable. Such is the nature of the natural progression of technology, and the benefits of increased markets.

* Well, I can remember when foreigners coming to America were limited in number, the stress was on assimilation, and the people coming here wanted to be assimilated. Now it seems that the “fierce nationalism” inspired in people who weren’t born here is for their home countries and too many of them want to change America to be more like their home countries they are only too happy to flee.

About Luke Ford

I've written five books (see Amazon.com). My work has been covered in the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, and on 60 Minutes. I teach Alexander Technique in Beverly Hills (Alexander90210.com).
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