Nationalism on its own seems like a
good productive concept. It gives an individual a sense of belonging and
attachment to a particular nation along with nationalistic pride. This pride
however, can sometimes turn into something very, very ugly. In it's extreme
form, nationalism is referred to the ill of jingoism. Jingoists, people who
adhere to jingoism, have an extreme sense of patriotism that more often than
not translates into aggressive foreign policies primarily to further the
interests of "our great nation.
The concept underlying jingoism,
before the term was coined, was referred as spread-eaglism especially with
regards to the US foreign policy. Spread-eaglism was mainly used by the media
to portray how the US government spreads its wings of influence over the rest
of the world.
Various examples can be used to show
that the USA indeed practices spread-eaglism all around the world. US
involvement in Korea and Vietnam amongst other nations to protect “national
interests” is clear examples of the adaptation of a jingoistic foreign policy.
In Vietnam, just because of one Gulf of Tonkin issue where an American ship was
"allegedly" attacked, the USA over the course of several years
droop 7,662,000 tonnes of explosives on Vietnam. This amount is
triple the amount used in World War II and such evidence only serves to prove
how far we have let the American eagle spread its wings.
Even today America fights wars in various states to
further its own interests, even though many of these wars have been proved to
being waged on baseless reasons.
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