NATIONS AND NATIONALISTIC SYMBOLS

James Hong

When mentioning “France” to typical nonEuropeans, their imagination rarely extends beyond the iconic image of the Eiffel tower looming over the terrace of Trocadero. Bring up Greece? The Acropolis glows above mighty Olympus- and nothing more. While such are the “nations” modern tourists see, they are certainly understandable due to cruel modernity. The average length of an US summer holiday is a mere 10 days. When first-time-Europe tourists wonder whether they will ever visit Europe for a second time, they naturally try to cram every European country into their bucket-list. Thus, the itinerary thins into one symbol per country. Moreover, over 90% of Instagram posts have more than 40% of their images photoshopped. When the muddy yellow Thames becomes turquoise, the everraining sky turns flawlessly blue, the present image of Big Ben mummified by restoration material gets replaced by the same image from 5 years ago when the Big Ben was still at its former glory…who won’t spurge for a trip to London just to photograph the postcard-perfect national symbol? Another decisive factor is the rise of low-cost carriers (LCCs). Especially on intra-European routes, LLC mammoths such as Ryanair offer revolutionarily low fares- less than $34 on the London-Dublin route compared with $230 on British airways. Looking back less than a century ago, transatlantic travel was only for America’s wealthiest, many of which could only afford it once a lifetime. Early 20th century travelers such as Mark Twain spend more than six continuous months in Europe to leave no regrets should he never revisit. However, when LLCs cut transportation fees to less than the cost of lunch, a weekend trip abroad becomes economically feasible and even timewise preferable. What do you do on a weekend trip to France? Visit the Eiffel tower and none beyond. Limited holidays, social media, and LLCs all push tourists to visualize a nation as its nationalistic symbol.

Most 6th grade world history students can list the names of Athens, Sparta and at least some Greek gods and goddesses. However, the Hellenic basis of the Byzantine Empire, the post-WWII military juntas and all of Greece’s modern history confusingly disappeared from many history curriculums, leaving many students to picture crowds of Zeus’s modern worshipers- in a nation with a 93% Christian majority. Admittedly, with millennia to cover and one year to spare, history education focuses on the heights of every civilization, periods that gave birth to nationalistic symbols: Greece during the classical era, Britain during the industrial revolution, China during the Tang and Song dynasties. Stereotypes of previous generations, education, and social media create a lasting confirmation bias, that when we see the Acropolis, we believe we see Greece as how history education taught us. Nationalistic symbols are often the products of our biases.

Without being biased, how should one describe the Chinese people? Hardworking, diligent, and friendly? One can easily argue that these three words describe any person unless they have specific characteristics that contradict these values. On the other hand, “a portrait of Chairman Mao, red walls, and an ancient city spread behind” easily points towards Tiananmen square like anywhere else. While Tiananmen square doesn’t quite capture China as a whole, to the human mind, anchoring travel memories on a tangible place is preferable to getting lost in the abstract maze called “Chinese culture”. Hence, people are willing to accept nationalistic symbols regardless of their degree of cultural representation

Do ascend the Eiffel tower when visiting France. Nonetheless, while the Eiffel tower is part of Paris, do a quick fact-check before concluding that Paris is part of the Eiffel tower

[1]https://www.statista.com/statistics/1391484/averag e-stay-summer-holidays-worldwide [2]https://bmcpsychology.biomedcentral.com/articles /10.1186/s40359-023-01143- 0#:~:text=There%20are%20reports%20in%20the,rang e%20between%2030%20and%2090%25 [3] https://www.google.com/travel/flights? tfs=CBsQAhoqEgoyMDI0LTA2LTEzKABqDAgDEggvb S8wNGpwbHIMCAISCC9tLzAyY2Z0GioSCjIwMjQt MDYtMTkoAGoMCAISCC9tLzAyY2Z0cgwIAxIIL20v MDRqcGxAAUgBUgNVU0RwAXpoQ2pSSVNHeHRR VVZDUmxrNVFXOUJSVXRMZGtGQ1J5MHRMUzB0 TFMwdExYQnFjMjB4TWtGQlFVRkJSMXBTWkVSRlJ VZDNkR2xCRWdWR1VqSTNNUm9LQ084WkVBSW FBMVZUUkRnY2NPOFqYAQGyARIYASABKgwIAhIIL 20vMDJjZnQ&hl=enUS&curr=USD&sa=X&ved=0CAoQtY0DahgKEwiYoor XhaiGAxUAAAAAHQAAAAAQ6AY [4]https://www.britannica.com/place/Greece/Religio n