History UsefulNotes / MisplacedNationalism

** Anti-Quebec sentiments flare up nigh-constantly over the tendency towards secession in Quebec, and Quebec's language laws, [[Administrivia/RuleOfCautiousEditingJudgment which are best left undiscussed here]].

%% Remember always the Rule of Cautious Editing Judgement.

** The concept of "Pinoy Pride" can be seen either as means to uplift the Filipinos during this apathetic and dismal times or this trope. The statements like "Proud to be Pinoy" or "Filipinos are World-class" can been seen as a form of CulturePosturing though the latter statement is perpetuated by the media. However whenever a Filipino or someone with Filipino blood does something successful internationally, it's usually those who are in the entertainment industry (e.g. Creator/LeaSalonga, Creator/JakeZyrus, Creator/OliviaRodrigo) or winning in the sports sector (e.g. Manny Pacquaio). Though the Filipino media does report Filipinos or half-Filipinos who are successful in other international sectors, such as medicine, business, politics or science and it's only mentioned once or twice while entertainment is usually featured several times. As for sports, they'll only reported more if the person won. Seriously, how many Filipinos would rather like or tweet the news of Filipinos or half-Filipinos entering international singing competitions like ''Series/AmericanIdol'' or ''Series/XFactor'' than a Filipino-American who is Obama's personal chef in the White House?

What is this force that divides {{Message Board}}s, derails discussions, and causes otherwise reasonable people to turn into [[PatrioticFervor frothing super-patriots?]] That's right, it's [[TitleDrop Misplaced Nationalism]], the division of the Internet along national[[note]](Nationalism is the belief that everyone is (born as) a member of a "nation", a group of people who all share certain traits (citizenship, language, culture, ethnicity). Most countries are nation-states, wherein the people of one nation predominate, but not all nations are countries and some countries - like the now-defunct Austro-Hungarian Empire - are dominated by the people of two or more "nations".)[[/note]] lines even though it's supposedly transcends borders and cultures. This generally comes hand in hand with the assumption that even though ''[[MyCountryRightOrWrong you]]'' [[MyCountryRightOrWrong may not agree with everything]] ''[[MyCountryRightOrWrong your]]'' [[MyCountryRightOrWrong country does]], people from other countries are totally complicit in everything ''their'' country does. Don't like their leader? Insult them for it or, better yet, blame them for supporting that person ([[MisBlamed even when they didn't]]). Have a grudge on their country for something that happened decades or even centuries ago? Bring it up now, and [[SinsOfOurFathers blame the current generation for it!]] Hold a nasty prejudice against another country? Rag on them for it! If they insist you're misinformed, tell them they're lying, because you clearly know more about their country than they do.

** Many people from other states, particularly the Western or Northeastern, will be derisive towards Texans for their (perceived or otherwise) overtly conspicuous state patriotism and anti-intellectualism. Often times, Americans will comment that Texas is to the rest of America what American is to the rest of the world (eg, Some Americans blame Texas and sometimes Florida for their poor international reputation). The rivalry between New Mexico and Texas, which can be felt everywhere from local New Mexicans complaining about Texan drivers on mountain roads to ''state vs state lawsuits'' for rights over the water from the Rio Grande, is one sided - New Mexicans towards Texans - but still very real.

** The perception by Scottish and Welsh people that they are run as colonies by a distant and uncaring administration in London is seeping into the north of England for much the same reasons; there is discontent in the North that whoever they vote for, they are outnumbered by a far more populous South and South-East that effectively dictates by weight of numbers who runs the country. Many northern people will snarkily say that at least Scotland and Wales now have a measure of local autonomy - and we ''don't''. this feeling of alientation and a suspicion that Britain is run purely for the benefit of London and the South-East is thought to have contributed to the North voting for Brexit - just to stick it to London and its (perceived) out-of-touch insular intelligensia, in a big way (the irony being the people most backing Brexit were probably the most snobbish and out-of-touch people from the South. This means some more left-leaning people in the South perceive the North as being racist idiots for voting for Brexit, especially when many parts of the North decided to vote Tory instead of Labour for the first time due to their desire for Brexit, believing the North has screwed themselves over considering economic assessments of the effects of Brexit shows ironically many of the areas most in favour of it will be among the worst hit).

** Some English people will loudly object that if the Scots/Welsh/Northern Irish think that England's so terrible, they can ''leave'' (a common complaint is "they should have let US vote in the Scottish referendum - we'd have kicked them out!") ...only for nationalists in those countries to bite back that they'd love to, but one look at England's conduct during and after the Scottish referendum would suggest that Westminster will try anything to prevent them from doing just that.

** Then, there is the Sami question. Because of massive cultural suppression, ''any'' discussion on ownership to the Finnmark Plateau might end up in a fistfight - and Norwegians may be despised as "bloody southerners" for the heck of it.

** And on the same topic - if you're talking to any Eastern European except Russian, do not say that Nazi Germany was fought by "Russia" and "Russians", instead of "nations of Soviet Union" (and if you happen to talk to Estonian, Latvian or Lithuanian, it's better to omit the topic altogether, unless you're ready to condemn Soviet occupation of Baltic states).

* When you are talking to a Ukrainian person, don't call Ukraine "''the'' Ukraine", unless you want to get your face punched in - 'The Ukraine' implies that 'Ukraine' (no 'the') is Russian territory as it marks the place out as a region rather than a (nation)-state. This is because 'Ukraine' translates to 'at the border' or 'Borderland' - calling it '''the'' Ukraine' goes towards a title describing a location rather a name of a sovereign state that is derived from said location. That said, for most Ukrainians it's just a bit annoying rather than a BerserkButton - it just sounds silly, like calling the USA 'the country-land of the USA' or something.

* Anything regarding Ukraine at all - unless you ''really'' know the stuff you're talking about. Moreover, the country being divided into factions which hate each others' guts, you are almost guaranteed to rub ''someone'' the wrong way if you say anything of Ukraine at all.

* A notable Eastern European aversion is Belarus, which due to the peculiar nature of its political regime (which sort of carries on Soviet internationalist rhetoric) generally doesn't hold a particular grudge against any of the neighbors. However, some Belarusians can still get offended if you conflate them with Russians - or suggest that [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Duchy_of_Lithuania Grand Duchy of Lithuania]] was a Lithuanian state.

** When talking with Poles, you should steer clear of any WW II - related topics, unless you really want to start a flame war of similar magnitude. Especially dangerous topics includes:
*** France and England CavalryRefusal in 1939 - though in reality there is much more to that, many Poles are still bitter about being "betrayed" by their allies.

*** Warsaw Uprising - both validity of it (opinions vary from "valiant act of heroism" to [[HonorBeforeReason "sheer idiocy"]]). The fact that rest of the world doesn't react (which - again - is not the whole story) also tickles many Poles in a wrong way.

** Similarly, don't say they speak Dutch in Germany simply because the name of that country in its language (Deutsch) is Deutschland [[note]]And in Dutch: "German" = "Duits", "Germany" = "Duitsland". English somehow adopted the word for one country and uses it for the other - confused yet?[[/note]].

** Bavaria towards ''everyone else''. The Free State of Bavaria is to Germany what Texas is to the US - loud, proud and rather obnoxious. It tends not to consider itself "German" (and will rudely remind anyone who dares to make the mistake), and have some sort of xenophobic attitude going on for any other German-speaking region (such as Baden-Württemberg, its westward neighbour whom it sees as a bunch of rude bullheaded hippies, Berlin, which suffers doubly for being [[{{Kaiserreich}} Prussian]] and the capital city, and Austria, who is Bavaria's direct eastern neighbour and has at different points in history been either its worst foe or its closest ally).
---> ''[[GratuitousLatin "Extra Bavariam nulla vita,]] [[BadassBoast et si vita, non est ita"]][[labelnote:*]]"Outside Bavaria, there is no life, and if there is, it isn't like it"[[/labelnote]]'' - Bavaria's inofficial motto

*** Franz Josef Strauß is a guaranteed BerserkButton, even though he died in 1988. In Bavaria he is the equivalent of Ronald Reagan and regarded as a saint - they even named the airport of Munich after him. Criticize Strauß - even minor things such as his failure to win the 1980 election - at your own peril if Bavarians are around. Everywhere else and especially among non-conservatives he is regarded as a dangerous radical at best and some sort of second coming of the Nazis at worst. It does not help that he was involved in [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spiegel_scandal one of the biggest scandals]] regarding press freedom in post war German history or that the 1980 campaign of his opponent Helmut Schmidt was literally "Stoppt Strauß!". Still, when he died there was a lot of AntagonistInMourning and today some people who openly proclaim to hate him say they wished he was still around, because the politicians of today are not even worth hatred.

--->'''Commenter 3''': [[OnlySaneMan Guys, surely training and experience]] - let alone [[StrategyVersusTactics the deployment and allocation and manouvre and concentration and engagement of forces using these weapons in accordance with operational plans]] - [[OnlySaneMan is just as if not vastly more important than the equipment's technical specifications?]]

** Or Slovenia for Slovakia. Especially confusing since the word for Slovakia in the Slovak language (''Slovensko'') sounds closer to "Slovenia" than their word for Slovenia (''Slovinsko'') does. Slovenians have it slightly easier - ''Slovenija'' for Slovenia, ''Slovaška'' for Slovakia.

* A form of Misplaced Nationalism is frequently directed towards Europe from American conservatives, who accuse the US left of turning America into "a European country", which either means "a bit more liberal", "country with a public healthcare system" or "socialist nightmare" depending on how extreme/pissed off the speaker is. This generally infuriates Europeans, who don't appreciate being held up as a negative option and who think their own political consensuses are just fine thank you very much (the British are especially prickly with regard to the UsefulNotes/NationalHealthService, especially after the "Creator/StephenHawking [[CriticalResearchFailure wouldn't be alive if he was British"]] fiasco). Ann Coulter in particular severely annoyed European commentators when she said UsefulNotes/BarackObama would turn America into "some pathetic little Western European country, only without... America to save us". Ignoring the massive internet and historical debates over whether America ever actually has "saved" Europe (and vice-versa, cough Lafayette cough), most European audiences thought that statement crossed the line from ignorance to outright xenophobia. Similarly, Europe is usually held up as a negative option in such circles - the idea that the United States ever has anything to learn from Europe ever is outright blasphemy, as opposed to the European political spectrum, where left-wingers admire the US first amendment (among other things and Brits on the left admire the U.S just for ''having'' a written constitution in the first place) and right-wingers admire the USA's welfare state (or rather, lack thereof).

** Most, but far from all, would admit they ''culturally'' Chinese, but emphasise their cultural differences - preservation of the old, "true" Chinese culture untainted by the Cultural Revolution. This kind of perspective is often encouraged by anti-Communism. On the other hand there are some who prefer a more modern, progressive form of Chinese culture and deride those in China as regressive and backwards. Some other Hongkongers think they should have an completely unique "Hong Kong" cultural identity with both Chinese, British and more influences, with a few more extreme opinions going further still to denounce almost any Chinese cultural ties, regarding them as either as rotten and medieval, [[TechnoDystopia futuristically dystopian]] or a nauseating combination thereof, and [[ForeignCultureFetish tout a wholly Japanese or European cultural identity]]. Across the spectrum, it is common to regard the Mainlanders as arrogant, uncouth and uncultured upstarts who would understand neither culture nor modernity if it hit them in the face.

** Linguistically, whether Chinese "varieties" are to be called languages or dialects will be forever be flamed over forever (note that Cantonese and Mandarin are more different than English and Dutch, while Taiwanese and Mainland Mandarin is about as different as British and American English...but this statement will also likely be controversial; divisions ''within'' Cantonese - which is often used to refer to Yue Chinese as a whole, but technically Cantonese is just the biggest branch - which are also often mutually unintelligible, is yet another argument). Also, a good way to spark a debate in Chinese forums is to ask whether Simplified or Traditional Chinese is the better writing method of the two.
** The political divide is, unsurprisingly, one of the most contentious splits. Most, but not all, Hongkongers will balk at being called "Chinese" in the "citizens of China" sense - most Hongkongers have a HKSAR passport and HK citizenship, but not a PRC passport (and by extension, Chinese citizenship). A good quarter of the population from surveys straight up supports full independence from China, and progressively ''fewer'' people identify as being part of China even as HK spends more years being part of China. One side would condemn the other for being "American imperial fascist separatist dogs" and get yelled "Communist totalitarian expansionist usurper dogs" in return, or some combination thereof. For a western audience familiar with "[[UsefulNotes/TheTroubles The Troubles]]", Hong Kong also had a brief period in the 60s of bloodshed and guerrilla violence when it is said that "the streets are littered with pineapples (slang for improvised explosive devices)" between communist insurgences and British forces. A few years prior the British ''considered [[NuclearOption nuclear retaliation]]'' if China tries to take over Hong Kong. The riots from that time is still a very touchy subject. And don't even start on the reunification vs independence issue in Taiwan...

** Of course, there are plenty of Pro-Israel or Pro-Palestinian Westerners who don't even know anything about the subject. There are pro-Israel people in the US who think that all Palestinians are Islamist terrorist radicals, and there are pro-Palestinian people throughout much of the world who argue that a total boycott and divestment campaign would be a good thing for the world (even though Israel has created major developments in many different fields - total divestment would mean eliminating the Internet and not eating any food grown in California--to say nothing of the fact that divestment would, by making Israelis feel more isolated, embolden the far-right groups who are in favor of annexing the territories and "solving" the problem by kicking the Palestinians out entirely and/or handing over the Palestinian lands the settlers don't want/can't use to Egypt and Jordan).
** And the whole thing gets even uglier by the fact that the divide on that issue divides almost every political movement. Israel was founded in no small part by socialists and still has many kibbutzim, yet many Western Leftists have sympathy for the Palestinians (while others '''don't'''). Many religious Conservatives view Israel as some sort of "part of god's plan" (especially in the US), yet others resent it for not being Christian and the isolationist crowd resents the amount of aid it gets. It's fair to say that a group of politically minded people that discusses Israel - even if they agree on every single other subject - will descend into bickering and mutual accusations of being horrible people and traitors to their political cause in no time.

* Armenians and Azeris are just as bad of a mix, if not even worse. Though, like the above, genocide accusations are sometimes flung back and forth (but not quite as commonly), the main cause of contention is the disputed territory of UsefulNotes/NagornoKarabakh. Over two decades of a ceasefire have provided a long time for the animosity to build. They're even banned to play official association football (yes, yes, you call it "soccer") matches against each other - for fear of inflaming the conflict.

** ''Series/WhoseLineIsItAnyway'' - UK version or US?
** ''The Office'' - [[Series/TheOfficeUK UK]] version or [[Series/TheOfficeUS US]]?

* This even extends to ''Magazine/TheEconomist'''s website, of all places. Discussion relating to any article which mentions a country by name (to wit, all of them) will consist of three groups - one group genuinely discussing the article, one group maintaining that "Country X is bad!" and one group maintaining that "The Economist is spreading vile lies about Country X"... even if the article itself was entirely neutral in tone.

** Most, but far from all, would admit they ''culturally'' Chinese, but emphasise their cultural differences - preservation of the old, "true" Chinese culture untainted by the Cultural Revolution. On the other hand there are some who prefer a more modern, progressive form of Chinese culture and deride those in China as regressive and backwards. Some other Hongkongers think they should have an completely unique "Hong Kong" cultural identity with both Chinese, British and more influences, with a few more extreme opinions going further still to denounce almost any Chinese cultural ties, regarding them as either as rotten and medieval, [[TechnoDystopia futuristically dystopian]] or a nauseating combination thereof, and [[ForeignCultureFetish tout a wholly Japanese or European cultural identity]]. Across the spectrum, it is common to regard the Mainlanders as arrogant, uncouth and uncultured upstarts who would understand neither culture nor modernity if it hit them in the face.

''First'', people from Spanish and Portuguese-speaking countries are taught that the Americas are not ''two'' continents, but ''one'' (Portuguese kids, from the 90's onwards, have been taught the two continents classification, so the Portuguese don't really have this issue), using the denominations of South America and North America to define subcontinents, even including a third one, Central America. In the United States, Canada, most English speaking countries and Asia, the Americas are referred to as two ''separate'' continents and are always called "North America" and "South America." Thus, where people from the former group would refer to people from the American continents as "Americans" in their own language, people from the latter group would say "North Americans" or "South Americans" in theirs.\\

The typical result is that everyone else in the discussion (who up to that point had been nationless Internet entities) suddenly become flag waving patriots for whatever country they happen to be from (even if they don't actually take sides) or agree with. The argument will [[ForeverWar ALWAYS rage on permanently, and continuously, FOREVER AND EVER AND EVER, as not even moderators can stop this.]] Not even the SilentMajority can stop this, as they are [[NotSoDifferent indisdinguishable]] from the VocalMinority.

** This gets even more muddled by the fact that Stalin would go on to kill more of his own people than Hitler did. It's so bad that it's often forgotten that Stalin ordered his own [[NotSoDifferent extermination of the Jews.]] Russians tend to focus on the people who fought for their country and their lives and tend to avoid any talk about the period of Stalinism.

** After the U.S. soccer team beat Japan's during the 2012 Olymics, [[http://www.japanprobe.com/2012/08/10/racist-tweets-after-u-s-soccer-victory-over-japan-japs-pearl-harbor-trending/ there was yet another rash of anti-Japanese comments]] on Twitter and Facebook. It also sparked a backlash [[NotSoDifferent of hatred and stereotyping of Americans in response]], despite the fact that not all of the people making such ugly remarks were American.

*** DO NOT say that Ukraine stole all of its culture, language and traditions from Russia, because the person you are talking to will tell you to crack open a history book, and proceed to tell you over and over that it's not true. (It was 'Ruthenia' back then — Russia started as an outlying principality while the very word "Ukraine" is 17th century at best. The debate is largely about who is the true heir to that [[UsefulNotes/KievanRus Early Medieval nation]].) And the chances are that an unprepared Russian won't even understand a sentence spoken in Ukrainian literary language.

* Canada, seemingly unified to other people, is actually extremely fragmented internally. Many provinces, not just Quebec, have a long history of isolationism within the country itself. For a long time after Confederation, the attitude was "British Columbians are British Columbians, Albertans are Albertans, etc." Nobody was Canadian. That attitude still carries over today, especially with the clashing cultures of French Canada and English Canada. All of this misplaced provincial and cultural pride fuels flame wars on a truly horrific scale. The most unifying factor appears to be hatred of Toronto.

** Go and ask an English-Canadian in their 30s to 50s about their opinion about Quebec. There's a good chance it won't be pretty.

** The opposite sentiment has begun to arise with some English-Canadians, who actually want to ''expel'' Quebec from Canada, with the most commonly cited reason being Québec's "moocher" status.

* Similar to Europe, right-wing Americans look at Canada as a "socialist nightmare" for its famous national healthcare program and progressive social policies. This naturally irritates most Canadians, who are just as proud of their multiculturalism and single-payer healthcare systems as Brits are of the NHS, while left-leaning Americans admire Canada for the same reasons right-wingers loathe it, with many of them threatening to move there whenever a Republican is elected president. Canadians will also point to Stephen Harper's nearly decade-long tenure as prime minister as proof that Canada isn't nearly as left-wing as its American admirers and detractors imagine it to be.

** Many people from other states, particularly the Western or Northeastern, will be derisive towards Texans for their (perceived or otherwise) overtly conspicuous state patriotism and anti-intellectualism. Often times, Americans will comment that Texas is to the rest of America what American is to the rest of the world (eg, Some Americans blame Texas and sometimes Florida for their poor international reputation).

*** [[CompletelyMissingThePoint But why would anyone mistake the Persians for the French?]]

** The concept of "Pinoy Pride" can be seen either as means to uplift the Filipinos during this apathetic and dismal times or this trope. The statements like "Proud to be Pinoy" or "Filipinos are World-class" can been seen as a form of CulturePosturing though the latter statement is perpetuated by the media. However whenever a Filipino or someone with Filipino blood does something successful internationally, it's usually those who are in the entertainment industry (e.g. Creator/LeaSalonga, Creator/JakeZyrus) or winning in the sports sector (e.g. Manny Pacquaio). Though the Filipino media does report Filipinos or half-Filipinos who are successful in other international sectors, such as medicine, business, politics or science and it's only mentioned once or twice while entertainment is usually featured several times. As for sports, they'll only reported more if the person won. Seriously, how many Filipinos would rather like or tweet the news of Filipinos or half-Filipinos entering international singing competitions like ''Series/AmericanIdol'' or ''Series/XFactor'' than a Filipino-American who is Obama's personal chef in the White House?

** The concept of "Pinoy Pride" can be seen either as means to uplift the Filipinos during this apathetic and dismal times or this trope. The statements like "Proud to be Pinoy" or "Filipinos are World-class" can been seen as a form of CulturePosturing though the latter statement is perpetuated by the media. However whenever a Filipino or someone with Filipino blood does something successful internationally, it's usually those who are in the entertainment industry (e.g. Creator/LeaSalonga, Charice) or winning in the sports sector (e.g. Manny Pacquaio). Though the Filipino media does report Filipinos or half-Filipinos who are successful in other international sectors, such as medicine, business, politics or science and it's only mentioned once or twice while entertainment is usually featured several times. As for sports, they'll only reported more if the person won. Seriously, how many Filipinos would rather like or tweet the news of Filipinos or half-Filipinos entering international singing competitions like ''Series/AmericanIdol'' or ''Series/XFactor'' than a Filipino-American who is Obama's personal chef in the White House?

* For decades Mexico's poverty was locally blamed on foreign greed, be it from Spanish conquistadors or American capitalism. Chinese bashing (and even killing) was rife during the Mexican Revolution because their communities' prosperity in Mexico was a perceived sign of somehow stealing national treasure.

* A form of Misplaced Nationalism is frequently directed towards Europe from American conservatives, who accuse the US left of turning America into "a European country", which either means "a bit more liberal", "country with a public healthcare system" or "socialist nightmare" depending on how extreme/pissed off the speaker is. This generally infuriates Europeans, who don't appreciate being held up as a negative option and who think their own political consensuses are just fine thank you very much (the British are especially prickly with regard to the UsefulNotes/NationalHealthService, especially after the "Creator/StephenHawking [[CriticalResearchFailure wouldn't be alive if he was British"]] fiasco). Ann Coulter in particular severely annoyed European commentators when she said UsefulNotes/BarackObama would turn America into "some pathetic little Western European country, only without... America to save us". Ignoring the massive internet and historical debates over whether America ever actually has "saved" Europe (and vice-versa, cough Lafayette cough), most European audiences thought that statement crossed the line from ignorance to outright racism. Similarly, Europe is usually held up as a negative option in such circles - the idea that the United States ever has anything to learn from Europe ever is outright blasphemy, as opposed to the European political spectrum, where left-wingers admire the US first amendment (among other things and Brits on the left admire the U.S just for ''having'' a written constitution in the first place) and right-wingers admire the USA's welfare state (or rather, lack thereof).

* Website/FourChan's /int/ (international) board examplifies this trope to the Extreme. Being an ImageBoard, not surprising. Krautchan's /int/ (where the concept came) is relatively calm and tame though.

** The perception by Scottish and Welsh people that they are run as colonies by a distant and uncaring administration in London is seeping into the north of England for much the same reasons; there is discontent in the North that whoever they vote for, they are outnumbered by a far more populous South and South-East that effectively dictates by weight of numbers who runs the country. Many northern people will snarkily say that at least Scotland and Wales now have a measure of local autonomy - and we ''don't''. this feeling of alientation and a suspicion that Britain is run purely for the benefit of London and the South-East is thought to have contributed to the North voting for Brexit - just to stick it to London and its (perceived) out-of-touch insular intelligensia, in a big way.

* Special mention goes to the Scotland/England feud, which goes back a ''long'' time (people still talk about The Wars of Independence, which started in ''1286'') but has been given fervour by the ongoing independence debate. A lot of Scottish nationalists' rhetoric comes across as less 'pro-independence' and more 'anti-English', whereas the English arguments against independence can come across on occasion as rather patronising arguments for why Scotland is rubbish/wouldn't survive on its own (note: it should go without saying that Scottish unionists tend to feel the same way as these English naysayers). Tempers on all sides are easily inflamed, made even worse by the political divide (the current Prime Minister is Tory, a party with very little support in Scotland, so the mutual animosity there doesn't help).

** Similarly, after the Brexit vote, the Scots and Northern Irish blamed the English, whilst the English who did want to remain expressed interest in moving to any of those countries rather than staying in England. [[AndZoidberg Everyone forgot that the Welsh also voted to leave]].

It's another day on the Internet. Someone mentions a nation in passing, another person mentions something about that nation [[{{Demonization}} and how bad it is]]. Everyone takes sides, a [[FlameWar heated argument]] ensues, and the original topic [[LeftFielder may never be mentioned again]].

** There is a whole sub-trope for this: the YouTubeWarExpert. The typical discussion runs like this:

* And then of course, there is [[EverythingIsBigInTexas Texas]], known for people who are very vocally proud of their home state, and who like to remind others that their state was a Republic before joining (or annexing, depending on your point of view and degree of tongue-in-cheek) the rest of the United States. It is ''not'' part of The South, and the opposite is also true (although Texas did secede and join the Confederate States of America during the UsefulNotes/AmericanCivilWar, and seceded from Mexico over the exact same issue, possibly making Texas Double South).

** Or worse, the talk page for any article about an ancient tribe, nation, or ethnic group. Odds are it will contain a raging flamewar between the people who insist they are the sole descendents of that group (and hence are unique and special and downtrodden), and the people who think that ancient tribe was just an offshoot of ''their'' ancestors (and hence they can claim credit for everything they did and/or should own the land where that tribe lived). Expect to see lots of shouting, people taking (or giving) personal offence, and early 20th Century (or earlier) academics and out-dated notions of racial classification dragged in as "proof" of whatever point is trying to be made. Typical examples: were the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Bulgars Bulgars]] Turkic or Iranic, and are the Bulgarians mainly descended from them or from the Slavs?]].

** Criticizing UsefulNotes/RodrigoDuterte, particularly on his war on drugs, would earn you a truckload of hate from his diehard supporters. Whether you're a journalist regardless if you're local or international, a diplomat or a human rights' group, supporters would condemn you to hell. If you're a Filipino too who disagrees with Duterte, they would accuse you of supporting the former presidents Corazon Aquino and her son, Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino III, calling you a "Dilawan"(after the color "Yellow", the political color of the Aquino administration and the Philippines' Liberal Party, widely considered as pro-Aquino), regardless of affiliation and [[WithUsOrAgainstUs forced you to accept their beliefs or else, you're their enemy]].

What is this force that divides {{Message Board}}s, derails discussions, and causes otherwise reasonable people to turn into [[PatrioticFervor frothing super-patriots?]] That's right, it's [[TitleDrop Misplaced Nationalism]], the division of the Internet along national[[note]](Nationalism is the belief that everyone is (born as) a member of a "nation", a group of people who all share certain traits (citizenship, language, culture, ethnicity). Most countries are nation-states, wherein the people of one nation predominate, but not all nations are countries and some countries - like the now-defunct Austro-Hungarian Empire - are dominated by the people of two or more "nations".)[[/note]] lines even though it's supposedly transcends borders and cultures. This generally comes hand in hand with the assumption that even though ''[[MyCountryRightOrWrong you]]'' [[MyCountryRightOrWrong may not agree with everything]] ''[[MyCountryRightOrWrong your]]'' [[MyCountryRightOrWrong country does]], people from other countries are totally complicit in everything ''their'' country does. Don't like their leader? Insult them for it or, better yet, blame them for supporting that person ([[MisBlamed even when they didn't]]). Have a grudge on their country for something that happened decades or even centuries ago? Bring it up now, and [[SinsOfOurFathers blame the current generation for it]]! Hold a nasty prejudice against another country? Rag on them for it! If they insist you're misinformed, tell them they're lying, because you clearly know more about their country than they do.

* Happens sometimes in ''Webcomic/AxisPowersHetalia'' fandom, unsurprisingly due to the nature of the series but especially ridiculous due to the nature of the series, because everyone sucks in a funny way.

--->'''Commenter 1''': The Abrams/M16/Apache/F15 is the best battle tank/assault rifle/attack helicopter/strike aircraft in the world.[[note]]For the purposes of this example, put notional nationalist commenter is American. In practice, of course, it varies, as internet dickishness is hardly confined to a single nation. Usually these threads are sparked by some naive/mischievous soul asking "What is the best X in the world".[[/note]]

*** Prior to UsefulNotes/TheAmericanCivilWar, the state identity actually often superseded the "US-ian" identity, as evidenced by the phrase ''these'' United States ''are'', instead of the post 1865 ''The'' United States ''is''. The best known example of state first US second is Robert E. Lee, who justified rejecting command of the Union (North) army despite being personally opposed to secession with the fact that he was from Virginia and Virginia had seceded and [[MyCountryRightOrWrong he had to do what his state demanded]].

* And similar to the above two, the NoTrueScotsman fallacy is often used during these debates, as if apparently the "stupid" and "evil" elements of human nature are only confined to and only originate from certain specific areas and/or groups of people. When one (or an entire group) hears about a person committing a crime or something wrong, the person will see it as SnarkBait and will generally see it as "typical" of their nationality. However if another offender that is in the same nationality as their own commits a crime or does something wrong (especially if it's the exact same thing); rather than admit that they are wrong, the criminal is often seen as "atypical" of their nationality and will discredit them as "Not a true {Insert Nationality of their own here}."