Sampatrick posted:

I mean, the thesis that nationality is a relatively modern conception has never seemed particularly convincing to me. It's always seemed, much like the Rousseauian idea of societies moving from egalitarian hunter gatherers to authoritarian agrarian societies, to be mostly a thing people say is true but is mostly not the case based on actual evidence. I don't see why modern nationality is in any way distinct from tribal identities that existed beforehand. Maybe I just don't fully understand some essential distinctness between the two, but I've never really understood the idea.