Patriot has Greek origins and originally meant “countryman”. For the purposes of this essay, Orwell greatly simplifies “Patriotism” and draws a distinct line between two concepts that are highly ambiguous.

In the works of Enlightenment thinkers like Jean-Jacques Rousseau it was basically used as a distinction between the traditional loyalty given to the church and a new, secular type of loyalty given to the state. However, these are essentially the same concept since they disregard loyalty to fellow man and society and instead place it in static institutions run by an elite minority.

If we consider how the term has traditionally been used, atleast in America, the claim that Patriotism is defensive by nature is unsupported by any period in post-Existential American history. Consider the persecution of Native Americans even before that, and this definition becomes all the more dubious.

Since the reemergence of “Patriotic” ideals in America after 2001, there is virtually no rational distinction between Patriotism and Nationalism.

Even in the pre-Revolution era there was controversy over the concept, as Samuel Johnson famously said:

Patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel.

He defined the word as “one whose ruling passion is the love of his country,” but added “it is sometimes used for a factious disturber of the government.” Although Johnson considered himself a “true” patriot (to England), he would be considered a “loyalist” today, while the founding fathers are considered the true patriots.

This is the perfect example that patriotism is a matter of perspective an nothing else.

The archetypal example of radical Nationalism that puts the prospect of advancing national interests ahead of moral and ethical concerns is the American concept of Manifest Destiny.

Historians have for the most part agreed that there are three basic themes to Manifest Destiny. 1. The special virtues of the American people and their institutions; 2. America’s mission to redeem and remake the world in the image of America; A divine destiny under God’s direction to accomplish this wonderful task.

Although there is debate about the number of Native Americans killed, a government study listed the death toll to be between 1-3 million while an independent study gave a conservative figure of 10 million and a maximum of 100 million.

However, there are still a number of revisionist historians who tend to downplay the effects American settlers had on the population (which may be somewhat true) and others who still maintain there was nothing amoral about it.

This is pretty much the basis for any radical nationalist movement whose goal is to foster the “Us vs. Them” mind frame that is even powerful enough to unite traditional enemies. The more abstract and evil the “enemy” is, the more powerful the effect. Nationalism in modern times has mainly been used to justify militarization or oppression of other groups

Nationalism has its roots in the past, but it is a contemporary vehicle to vent out human propensities to war.

Examples throughout history include:

• Nazi antisemitism
• American War on Terror
• Jewish Zionism
• Soviet Communism
• Cold War

Etc…It’s important to distinguish between a sort of rational Patriotism and the examples of Nationalism above. One is based on pride and confidence while one is based on fear and distrust.

The sort of Nationalism that Orwell refers to throughout this essay is almost exclusively in response to some sort of perceived outside threat and is founded upon fear of outside influence of some sort. The threat doesn’t need to be realistic, because that is not the point or goal of structuralist nationalism. Instead, it is aimed at inspiring decisive action and cooperation through establishing an “Us vs. Them” mentality. Paul Shaw & Wong Yuma explained:

[Nationalism] fosters pride, dignity and related sentiments among members of the in-group, thereby constituting a moral and philosophical basis on which to demand political sovereignty [from the out-group]

Above all else, Nationalism is a tool for transformation; a “rallying of the troops”. It mostly appears during some necessary transition a state must make, whether that is rebuilding after a war or transitioning from agricultural to industrial based economies or, more recently, from industrial to financial.

Some forms of nationalism don’t appear due to one cohesive set of ideals opposing another cohesive set of ideals, but sometimes out of a diverse, but shared opposition to a particular nationalism.

One example of this would be Antisemetism which lacks any particular loyalty other than to the hatred of Jews.

Another example is Anticolonialism which can be found in many exploited countries and is defined only in terms of shared opposition to imperial colonialism.

Since Modern Nationalism was often driven by (perceived) cultural achievement, it is not necessary to have a connection to any particular sovereign state.

For example, a major piece of the American identity is the concept of freedom & liberty. However, America has never been any more free than most other great nations throughout history and to think otherwise is due to American Nationalism

There are many kinds of Nationalistic tendencies, independent of geographical location, that are usually defined by civic, ethnic, religious, or cultural ideals.

There are basically two very general concepts of nationalism:

1. Primordial Nationalism — This perspective was long held and follows the evolutionary idea that humans naturally form cohesive cultural groups based on shared biological characteristics and ancient archetypal beliefs.
2. Modern Nationalism — This perspective arose after 19th century Romantic Nationalism movement. It suggests that nationalist pride is not due to natural evolutionary mechanisms, but is actually a social construct of a modern, industrialized society.

Radical nationalists will most often evoke the biological superiority of Primordial Nationalism but most mainstream scholars tend to hold a modern “structuralist” view. The most obvious example of Modernist Nationalism that attempted to conceal itself in Primordial Nationalism is Nazi Germany.

Longeur is the French word for length. It is specifically used to refer to a tedious passage in a book, musical piece, or other work of art.

Orwell is using the cross-cultural application of language to make the point that the phenomenon he referred to as nationalism is not exclusive to any people or nation, but is in fact widespread across nearly all cultures.