Nationalism as imagery
Nationalism is imagery, says Anderson. It is a constructed mental experience that is available to people with certain temperaments. The imagery is abstract, without a real reference, but that doesn't mean that nationalism doesn't manifest concrete imagery; it does. The concrete expressions of nationalism are seen in people's irrational, emotional attachment to their political point of view. There are entire news channels that exploit this emotional attachment, manifesting concrete imagery in the form of 24/7 coverage that inundates a person with positive feedback.
The media
The media is a beast with many facets, but perhaps the most telling facet is major news companies that ensure their profits by patronizing nationalist ideas so that people will associate their own identity with a certain news channel. "I'm a FOX guy," one might say. "I'm a CNN guy," another might say. The nation is split apart by inflammatory language, because big business leaders (the executives of major news operations) are willing to color the news of the day in a way that ensures an audience, so they can sell ads for extreme profits.
Community (concrete versus abstract)
Anderson's theory is that community is imagery that the human mind craves, because the human animal has existed in a certain kind of community for a long time, perhaps hundreds of thousands of years, but in recent history, major changes have disrupted the way community used to look. It used to be that small communities would coexist, and everyone knew most of the other people in town, so that a person didn't have to attach themselves to abstract ideas to have a strong sense of community. The people were the concrete attachment. In absence of that, the monarchy, and the religious union that defined past generations, the modern man is left to their own emotions, and many pick nationalism.
