[Monolith]

Originally Posted by lunulae

Hi all.

Lately i've been very perplexed about politics and so on. i've had an early interest in intellectual pursuits and i feel confident with fields like biology (evolutionary biology), ethnology (i am an ethnology-student myself), anthropology, sociology, some psychology etcetera. i have a profound passion for my country. i love to study the folk culture, customs, traditions and so forth, though i don't support any form of chauvinism or national supremacy. my problem is that i don't feel my nationalistic views go hand in hand with the consensus of the science of today. lets take an example. richard dawkins is a secular humanist and i've agreed on much of his stuff (almost every of his stuff), but how can my views on politics be compatible with these (his) views? i mean, i should obviously be a secular humanist if i agree with dawkins. or am i misunderstanding something? the only modern intellectual who publicly defends nationalism is the english conservative philosopher roger scruton and i don't lend him all my trust, since my view on religion always has been very skeptical. as you can hear, i am quite confused. if you have any thoughts on my situation or have similar experiences, then please post in this thread.

Thank you.

Hello, and welcome to the forum.
Much like yourself, I was intrigued by the very same questions, some time ago. All I knew about the nationalism was what various media have presented to me. Even today, the word "nationalism" has negative connotations in the minds of many, because today's media tend to promote multiculturalism and liberalism(as opposed to nationalism), so nationalism is often regarded as something bad, inappropriate, and even obsolete.
I'd even dare to call it brainwashing, where people are constantly exposed to: "we're all equal, we have to share, be tolerant, live in a modern cosmopolitan society.." etc.
Which reminds me of propaganda in the ex-Yugoslavia, that said: "Ne talasaj druže", which means that you should never go against the mainstream, otherwise you'll be alienated from the society, or even banished or killed(which was common in that time). Many people were sheep then, and many are now.
As for the science and nationalism, these are two separated terms which do not exclude each other. My view is that science should exist apart from politics, because scientists should be independent and think without any biases.

You said you're keen on studying folk culture, customs and traditions, and this is all about that. It's about preservation of these treasures, and refusal to discard them just because of current degeneration trends, as well as refusal to blend into a common identity, and lose our own.