eli5: what the difference between nationalism and patriotism and how one is viewed more favorably than the other?

Very basic answer, which I hope others will elaborate on:

Patriotism: loving your country, wanting it to prosper, working to make it a better place, respecting its history and all its inhabitants.

Nationalism: thinking your country is more important than other countries in all aspects, placing extreme importance on ethnicity, usually to the point of racism or xenophobia, wanting to keep your country homogenous, creating narrow definitions of what it means to be a true citizen/national.

(plus also loving your country, wanting it to prosper, etc- but only for the selected group of people you consider truly belonging.)

Of course, people who are nationalists consider themselves patriots, and many people don't like to be called patriots because they don't want to be mistaken for nationalists.

/r/explainlikeimfive Thread