Thread: Loving Your Country

Originally Posted by Vampireboy

Give it enough time and I'm sure we'll move on from "oh those bloody Yanks/Brits" to "oh those bloody Terrans/Martians"

Yeah, then Martians can complain about immigrant Earthlings taking their jobs and we can all have space battles!

Everything's more fun in the future. Even bigotry and war.

Well in the grim darkness of the far future there is only war, so you'd best enjoy it

I like how the OP used a very basic generalization as a thread starter. Not rational at all.

And no, I don't "love" my country by virtue of being born here. I am thankful to be here and have the opportunities offered. Would rather be here than some shit country.

I think someone who truly is proud of their country should be able to recognize it's flaws. I personally want what's best for my country but the government does a lot of things to waste money imo, that I don't agree with.

What?

shit like this.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/15/op...-bay.html?_r=0

Originally Posted by IndieAnthias

shit like this.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/15/op...-bay.html?_r=0

Sick beyond description. How much longer are we as a society going to tolerate this evil insanity? Welcome to the era of the Patriot Act and the National Defense Authorization Act. Obama said he was going to close Gitmo. Yeah, right.

On a much lighter note...

I think it's more like loving what it stands for, not necessarily loving the soil itself... but they can get arrogant with the whole "freedom" issue. Most countries on this planet are free, just saying.

I like Sweden, but I'm not patriotic per se. Patriotism is closely linked to basic psychology - you hold something dear because you grew up with it, just like family, for example. I'm sure there are many great countries on this planet, but Sweden is probably not "the best", but hardly the worst either.

Patriotism has many degrees, but it gets really disturbing when someone claims their country of birth is "the best", just because they were born in it. Most of us are born in hospitals. Why don't we love hospitals then? In fact, I have a feeling most people dislike hospitals. Not to mention people who take pride in achievements they had nothing to do with personally. "We saved your ass in World War 2!!!", etc. You weren't even born back then. You're mooching off achievements you had absolutely nothing to do with. It's like writing a work resumé based on other people's experience rather than your own.

Originally Posted by Silent_Lucidity

I think it's more like loving what it stands for, not necessarily loving the soil itself... but they can get arrogant with the whole "freedom" issue. Most countries on this planet are free, just saying.

I like Sweden, but I'm not patriotic per se. Patriotism is closely linked to basic psychology - you hold something dear because you grew up with it, just like family, for example. I'm sure there are many great countries on this planet, but Sweden is probably not "the best", but hardly the worst either.

Being patriotic because one grew up with it is not the only kind of patriotism. I am patriotic to the United States even though I did not grow up here, and I am not patriotic to either of the two countries where I did grow up. My country of citizenship has my loyalty. Do I love it? In a way I do. It is the love for my country of choice. I recognize how Americanized I have become. My job is one where loyalty to the USA is a requirement for the job, and I have absolutely no problem with giving it, and could not imagine betraying my country. Even though I have lived in two other countries in my life, I could not easily imagine relocating to another country at this point. No, it is not perfect, but it is my country.

America is not a country.