Nationalism and patriotism

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Given that July the 4th in America is coming up(many people are obviously from the US here), the matter of patriotism and nationalism quickly comes to mind. What is the role of patriotism or nationalism? Should individuals act in a patriotic or nationalistic manner? Why? Should individuals avoid acting in a patriotic or nationalistic manner? Why? Can society be maintained without patriotism and nationalism? Should the current set up of nations be abandoned? What should or could replace it? How would society work, without some form of nationalism or other attitude upholding the cohesion of such a group? Insert additional question here?

Any thoughts?

Rational, moderate patriotism is a good thing - people can come together and do good things collectively that they couldn't do as isolated citizens.

Excessive, irrational patriotism is a bad thing; it takes people's minds away from awesome AGism and may even lead them to invade their neighbors for no good reason.

WTF is AGism?
Patriotism can be good, but Nationalism is bad. The thing that gets me are the idiots when you criticize anything the US government says reply "well why don't you move to (insert name of especially unpleasant country to live in.)" No crap, the US is a better place to live than Iraq or Somalia, but it isn't better than Canada or France for example. Notice the people who say that are almost always ultra-conservatives. I liked how (newly elected senator) Al Franken put it - Liberals love America the way adults love each other - they like the good qualities and want to work together to change anything that's bad. Conservatives love America the way a 4 year old loves his mommy - mommy is never wrong and anyone who criticizes "mommy" is wrong and bad.

A form of narcissism.

I prefer ethnically centered Nation-states as opposed to mulitculturalism or a NWO alignment. Patriotism and nationalism are good things.

Plus I'm pretty sure that today is Canada Day.

I think nationalism and patriotism are important, but it may only be because I was taught it to be. I am not sure. Plus there are different types of nationalism so that term may mean different things to different people, but it does bother me when people misuse or abuse the flag, do not show the proper respect for the national anthem, or when Americans say they want to move to another country every time the government does something to annoy them. It concerns me how much our country depends on outsiders for basic needs like food. I am also troubled by our militia group movement who denounce the US government as a requirement of their membership. Maybe I will think of more later, but yeah, unpatriotic people and those unconcerned with our nation's ablility to be somewhat self-sufficient really bother me.

I say good but with one caveat - there's constructive patriotism/nationalism and friendly competition, and then there is destructive. Constructive gets people to take pride in their society on the micro and care more about the quality of its conduct and affairs. I'd imagine that there both plenty of conservatives and liberals who have both - one worlders hate it but I think anyone else realizes that we're one world regardless and if you have everyone staring at the whole globe you have the problem of diffusion of responsibility as well as really feeling both powerless and like your vote would count for nothing.

Nationalism and patriotism combined with the classic 'isms: no. Nationalism and patriotism driven toward "How can we both make this a better country (whichever respective country you live in) and keep its economics and politics safeguarded from corrupt ambitions in the future so our kids don't lose it?" - that's a positive. Cultivation of esoteric history is also what helps make this world as beautiful and diverse as it is.

Nationalism was a big reason for the First World War - a pretty direct cause of not only the Second World War, but also the modern problems in the Middle East and the ones in the Balkans in the 1990s.

Nationalism has sparked two world wars and several genocides.

However, it has also given us some very enjoyable music- I heard Dvorak's 9th Symphony on the radio just today.

I despise patriotism and nationalism. The last time I stood for a national anthem was when I was 13 or 14

Even leftwing economic nationalism?

Of course the idea of socialism in one country is an anathema to me

Not even in transition? I think you're the anti-James Laxer!

Both terms are often demonized by those who dream of a global communal mind-suck where everyone holds hands and sings Kumbia all day long.

"Nationalism" is often patriotism taken to an extreme, and extremes of issues can often produce bad results.

Nazi Germany was nationalistic.

However, patriotism is a positive feeling. Not all nations are equal. People love living where they live for a reason. Unless you can make every nation on the planet as good as the best nation on the planet (and not by "dumbing down" the best nations until everyone is the same), there is no reason to not be patriotic about your home nation.

tldr

what the heck are you on about, if a state becomes socialist, that is just one step towards world socialism, and has absolutely nothing to do with nationalism.