Nationalism’s puzzle is why recent small imaginings yield huge sacrifices.

Evidence

These deaths bring us abruptly face to face with the central problem posed by nationalism: what makes the shrunken imaginings of recent history (scarcely more than two centuries) generate such colossal sacrifices? I believe that the beginnings of an answer lie in the cultural roots of nationalism. — Benedict Anderson, Imagined Communities, 42

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Sacrifice itself can generate the value of its goal — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 242; Moral responses to catastrophe get displaced by nationalist ideology that shields power structures. — Max Haiven, Cultures of Financialization, 218

Broader Connections

• Sacrifice itself can generate the value of its goal #expands (0.85) — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 242