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Nationalism Is Not Always A Bad Thing

Decent Essays

“Nationalism Is Not Necessarily a Bad Thing”, this is an article recently written by Michael Barone who claims that Nationalism is not always so bad. The author believes that if Nationalism is understood properly, it can be used as a driving force to unite disparate people into a society with a responsible government to guard them against foreign attacks. He thinks that Nationalist, being the citizens, feel stronger bond with their country. Thus, they consider serving their country as their responsibility and expect the government to protect its people. Micheal Barone argues that each nation has established its own particular culture, its own traditions, and its own written and unspoken rules; thus, a mindful nationalist must respect the norms and values of other nations. However, I believe the evidences he used are not relevant enough to support his claims; therefore, I oppose his standing that Nationalism is not a necessarily a bad thing.
Michael Barone used sports nationalism to support his argument. He argues that sports nationalism easily embraces ethnic and racial diversity. People from nations with sharply divisive politics and suffering from economic setbacks and pervasive corruption (like the Olympics host, Brazil) nonetheless find themselves united in rooting for their country 's athletes (Barone). Moreover, he stated that millions of people watching the Rio Olympics around the world are an indication of Nationalism being not so bad. He mentioned the examples of

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