leoj,

Your unsubstanciated rants don't interest me.

Dear Yuyutsu and Paul,

Hopefully something good will come out of the
current political mess that we're in - and voters
will have the wisdom to make better changes in the
future regarding the direction of this country
in so many ways.

Did either of you happen to watch Q&A last night?
The audience and the panel featured High School
Students. There were some tough questions presented
to the two politicians on the panel. Watching these
young people made me see that the future of our
nation is in good hands with these young people.

Dear Paul,

«Do you think there is a cure for it?»

Spiritual maturity.

You see, nationalism did not spring out of nowhere, historically it had some, albeit limited, character-building educational role for certain youths of a violent temperament, helping to constrain and direct their violence.

However, people too often confuse their educational aids with reality. Moreover, using the above technique on young people of a different temperament can be traumatic. Could it be that the use of "national interest" by adults, stems from them being abused by that same term in the first place when young?

In the final episode (fall out) of "The Prisoner" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Prisoner), are described three types of rebels.
One is "Uncoordinated youth, rebelling against nothing it can define".
Second is "An established successful member of the establishment turning upon and biting the hand that feeds him".
Thirdly, the hero of the series is described as: "A revolutionary of a different calibre, he has rebelled, resisted, fought, held fast, maintained, destroyed resistance, overcome coercion".

The success of nationalism is based on fear, essentially the fear of the first two types. It is a false solution, but it is easy for those who live in fear to overlook this. For spiritual maturity, we need to encourage the third type of rebellion, rather than the first or second.

While you seem to mostly blame the second type, depicting nationalism as a conscious intrigue, I think it is more often a case of inert habit and lack of reflection.

---

Dear Foxy,

I only caught a fraction of Q&A on the radio, while driving.
My impression, for whatever it's worth (mind you, I was more concentrating on the road ahead), was that these youths are being led like sheep within societal conventions and are not encouraged to think outside the square and ask more truly-important questions (well perhaps they earlier or later did, as I only heard a fraction).

Dear Yuyutsu,

It's a shame you didn't watch the entire program.
The younger generation asked tough questions of
their peers - Liberal Environmental and Energy
Minister Josh Frydenberg and Labor's Health
Spokeswoman Catherine King.

Topics covered were the cost of living, hovering
prices, and the skyrocketing of education fees,
the Adani coal mine in Queensland, the Great
Barrier Reef, climate change, same sex marriage
(raised by a gay student), mental health issues,
teenage suicide, freedom of speech, and how engaged
young people are in politics. Also a young Muslim
audience member raised a question about the new
combined intelligence ministry.

It was a program well worth watching in my opinion,
and hopefully it can be held in other towns and
states to get a better overall impression of what
the young think nationally.

Dear Foxy,

Yes, it would be interesting.

But I am not a watcher - I do not have a television and most I know of current affairs I hear on the radio while driving, also from OLO. I think that one ought to actively live their own life rather than watch from the sidelines how others live theirs.

Dear Yuyutsu,

I'm not a great TV watcher but I do have my favourite
programs. I read a lot which is not surprising having
chosen librarianship as a career path due to my love
of books.

One of my favourite shops in Melbourne is "Readings,"
you've guessed it - it's a book-shop.