Nationality may fulfill the individual’s sense of self leaving him/her with little need to pursue a higher understanding of their identity until nationality can no longer be defined nor gratify the self’s needs.
Across the earth, there is an average of 353,000 babies being born each day[i]. Each baby will usually be given a name and a nationality. They will most likely grow up to go to schools or get the bare minimum of education, i.e., how to count, learn the language of the land, and its history.
Once they travel or acknowledge the outside world, they will learn how to identify themselves by geography; the land on which they were born (nationality) or originate from (ethnicity). When they open their eyes to social, economic, and philosophical matters, they will question who they are, where they stand, and who they support regardless of the system that governs them or tries to censor/isolate them.
The question here is: to what extent does land (Nationality/Ethnicity) define us? Is it an essential property of identity or an accidental property of identity? And is the rise of modern-day sugar-coated fascism a natural reaction to a widespread identity crisis? The answer for the last question seems to be yes, due to the illusion of tolerance demonstrated by disregarding what are considered key factors to identity, bearing in mind that identity should never be a basis for any form of discrimination.
Naturally, we are influenced by the societies in which we are raised in and by the lands which we are born on to a large degree, taking into consideration our level of self-awareness. In an ideal world, the impact of our land of birth on our identity wouldn’t define our essence nor would it replace it, but the matter of nationality is addressed more often than the identity, leaving the individual with little need to seek themselves and asking the question of “Who Am I?” or going through a pursuit they cannot capitalize on in the modern world. If we were to drop all nationalities today, for philosophical matters, and left only with ourselves, how many people would be able to identify themselves aside from their nationality and physical form?
Who we are is largely influenced by the land we are born in and our natural need of affiliation. Nationality does not only give us a sense of self, but its components give us an understanding of life and purpose. Since nationalities are largely land-orientated (ethnicity), that means they come with a set of belief system, culture, and history aside from the political rights. People with a different ethnicity to their nationality might not feel the same sense of purpose.
All of this may fulfill the individual’s sense of self until they face a struggle in life that undermines what they were taught to believe, or simply feel like their frame of reference no longer gratifies their needs. Their pursuit in finding an explanation/gratification may open way more doors than intended; leaving the individual lost in a labyrinth of scattered components. These scattered components leave us with a sense of uncertainty, but that uncertainty is where we create our identity; meaning the components we discover and fulfill us. How we decide to approach our struggles of identity is what defines whether or not land is essential or accidental to who we are.
[i] http://www.theworldcounts.com/stories/How-Many-Babies-Are-Born-Each-Day
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