#Nation

A country is an experimental social device defined by lines on a map, supplying its inhabitants with both patriotism and taxes. It flaunts signboards of language and custom, offering outsiders the trials of gates and passports. To the loyal it grants shared songs and legends; to the rebels it retaliates with barbed wire at the border. Ultimately, it is a vast illusion-collective powered by beliefs emblazoned on a mere flag.

Nationalism is an ideology that simultaneously offers collective unity and exclusivity by enthusiastically waving one’s flag while subtly looking down on other countries. Claiming to season patriotism and skepticism alike, it brands itself as a universal condiment but actually fuels conflict and anxiety. It transposes borderlines onto the mind, staging a perpetual rivalry behind fleeting solidarity—a paradoxical collective delusion.