Earlier this year we learned about different political ideologies and their importance in society. While there is no defined definition of an ideology, they often take on the forms of “ism”s such as liberalism, conservatism and socialism. These “ism”s are a political belief system which represent the world views of a particular social class or group. 

Believing in an ideology is like wearing a pair of goggles, it changes the way one sees the world through their bias. Even if we don’t realize it however, we are all wearing these goggles. We all have our own beliefs that give us different views of the world from each other. Once we realize how our beliefs effect our world views however, we can begin to get a clearer vision of the world and try to see things in other perspectives. 

Instead of listing of and just barely touching on many different ideologies I will go more in depth into one ideology and explain how this one would shape one’s world view, as an example. 

So what is Nationalism? 

Definition: an extreme form of patriotic feelings, principles or efforts, especially marked by a feeling of superiority over other countries. 

All throughout history Nationalism has been an ideology with a great effect. It leads for people to do radical things, trying to protect their country, or gain independence for their nation. One major example of this is the start of WWI. While nationalism can unify a country, it can also divide others. Nationalism was extremely popular in Europe prior to WWI, with all nations attempting to further their own interests without considering how this may impact internal affairs. This nationalism grew dangerous as neighbours became rivals, and every nation believed they had the strongest military. Slavic groups created a form of Nationalism called Pan-Slavism, which aimed to make Serbia better for the Slavic people. This situation ended up leading to the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand which ended up sparking the First World War.

If one is extremely nationalistic they may do anything to further the needs of their own country, even if it harms another. Along with that, no matter what their country does, they will likely go along with it and support the decision. There is nothing wrong with being patriotic, Nationalism however is when you blindly support a country no matter what happens.

Here is a trailer Maria and I made to kind of show what Nationalism is. I hope you enjoyed.

https://youtu.be/U0f5LHbqzPc