Nationalism isn’t Patriotism: How to Tell the Difference
The Olympic games are a chance for everyone to feel patriotic. We get to root for elite athletes representing our country in competition against those from around the world. But Fox News’ Executive Vice President John Moody took things in a different direction — using the Olympics as an occasion to pen a nationalistic screed bemoaning increased diversity in the U.S. team, writing that the U.S. Olympic Committee “would like to change” their slogan “to ‘Darker, Gayer, Different’”, rather than focusing on winning medals.
Part of our mission at Indispensable is to counter the growing nationalist movement in the United States. In introducing our project to people, I’ve been repeatedly asked to explain the difference between patriotism and nationalism. It’s a surprisingly difficult thing to do quickly.
However, Moody’s op-ed clearly demonstrates the difference. For most Americans, watching 250 athletes walk out under the stars and stripes is a proud moment for our country. Even those skeptical of patriotic displays find themselves rooting for Chloe Kim and Adam Rippon. This is the essence of patriotism — pride in the accomplishments of your country and fellow countrymen.
Moody goes somewhere else though. He believes a note about the number of African-Americans, Asian-Americans, and gay athletes on the U.S. Olympic team is an “embarrassing laundry list.” He argues against replacing athletic competition in sports with diversity quotas — an argument that makes no sense. The way athletes qualify for the Olympics hasn’t changed: they beat other American hopefuls in competition.
For Moody, even though he couches his argument as prioritizing athleticism over identity, it is clear from his nonsensical reference to quotas that his ultimate concern is the ‘type’ of American represented at the Olympics, rather than their accomplishments. This is nationalism —the idea that “American” has a specific cultural definition, based largely on race and religion (and almost always defined as white and Christian).
Nationalism is Donald Trump saying that immigrants from Haiti are bad, while immigrants from Norway are good.
It’s why crimes by immigrants become a rallying cry for right-wing media organization Breitbart, justifying the construction of a giant wall and dramatic changes to immigration laws, while school shootings by angry white men are just sad events that we can’t really do anything about.
It’s why a group of white supremacists descended on Charlottesville, chanting “you will not replace us,” and killed a woman; and it’s why the President can’t muster criticism for their hateful actions beyond saying “there is blame on both sides.”
At Indispensable, we believe nationalism is driving America towards terrible policy — isolating ourselves from our allies, cutting support to desperate people in need, and creating space to express hatred in America and act on it.
We fight nationalist ideas out of a strong sense of patriotism — that America is best when it is living up to our values, here and abroad, by promoting freedom of speech, democracy, and human rights. Like any other human endeavor, our efforts sometimes fall short, but those failures should not stop us from working to make America and the world a better place.
We proudly support our Olympians from places like Clarks Summit, Pennsylvania and Vail, Colorado. And we cheer Maame Biney, an 18-year-old woman born in Accra, Ghana and raised in Reston, VA, who became the first African-American Olympic speed skater and is being called the future of the American speed skating.
Americans can be proud of her performance, but we should also be proud to live in a country that takes in a 5-year-old girl from Ghana and gives her the opportunity to realize her potential.
If you’re proud of that, you’re a patriot.
If you’re concerned about her ‘American-ness,’ you’re a nationalist — and maybe an executive at Fox News.
You can learn more about our work at www.indispensableUS.org
