What does "Love your Country" mean?

[uppityperson]

I was told (bunch of crap) which included "love your country" and the person could not define what that meant, except some of US do and some of US don't. I love my family, and appreciate a lot about the policies and politics and life in my country, as well as dislike a lot about the policies and politics and life in my country. The person talking to me just glared at me and couldn't answer except to tell me I would "know" if I "loved my country." I asked if I could be critical of it if I loved it, said I was working hard to help people here, to help policies get better, and still didn't get much of an answer.

So, aside from cliched jingoistic bullshit (my opinion of the phrase), what they hell do they mean when they say this? What DOES "love your country" mean?

edited for typo, country, not county

[Bicoastal]

1. I love my country in a strictly platonic sense.

[uppityperson]

3. I get the platonic part, but what does love country mean?

You like living here? You are working to make it really good? You appreciate all it has to offer you, living here? What does it mean?

Glad it's platonic.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

2. one has to make a distinction between Government and it's people

We hate the Bush junta yet we LOVe the American people and the world!

[uppityperson]

5. We got past that, this person and I, the difference between administration and the people, but

still, that is just "I love the administration" or "I love the government of this country" or "I love the people of this country". Not "I love this country". It is a peeve of mine.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

12. hopefully January 2009 we will be back to I love this country (and the government finally)

[Demit]

4. It must mean you think your county is better than the one across the county line :)

[uppityperson]

7. spell check doesn't do it's job. Country.

silly, thanks.

[guitar man]

6. to me it means

if we really love our country, we need to give our leaders a good spanking ever so often. :patriot:

[tularetom]

8. I love the constitution and the principles on which our law is based

I hate what a bunch of selfish people are trying to do to those principles. I hate the fact that they have enlisted some fake religious leaders to support their efforts.

I don't give a rats ass about flag lapel pins or support the troops magnetic ribbons on the back of giant SUV's or anywhere else.

[Arctic Dave]

9. I think you answered your own question.

Love your country, Support the troops = Jingoistic Bullshit.

[uppityperson]

10. She didn't like me saying that to her, though I said it more politely.

To me, my religious and political beliefs do not need to be advertised, but just done.

[Arctic Dave]

19. Exactly. My friends that are religious SHOW me every day

their faith by what they do and how they act toward their fellow man (Even though I do not share their beliefs I certainly do respect them). Not by holier then thou preachfest and ribbons.

[AspenRose]

11. "Freedom isn't free"

I've always wondered about that one as well.

[Monk06]

13. It means, I LOVE AMERICA AND I WILL KICK THE ASS OF ANYONE WHO DOESN'T....

especially those negative Nelly, American hating
Canadians.

:evilgrin:

BTW if you want to piss off a RWer pose this question

What do the US, Soviet Union and China have in common?

Answer. All three have killed millions of innocent people
and gotten away with it.

[vixengrl]

14. I like this quote with respect to love of country--

"The Senator from Wisconsin cannot frighten me by exclaiming, “My country, right or wrong.” In one sense I say so too. My country; and my country is the great American Republic. My country, right or wrong; if right, to be kept right; and if wrong, to be set right."--Carl Shurz.

http://www.bartleby.com/73/1641.html

Or GK Chesterton's pithy reformulation, "It's like saying, 'My Mother, drunk or sober.'"

I think loving one's country may mean different things to diffeent people, but to me it's respecting that this particular country is not so much a condition of geography, ethnicity or shared culture--as much as it is an ideal. The Founding Fathers of this nation cast off a government that worked against, not for them, and forged a new one. Had they the complacency that many who claim to "love America" have, they'd have remained subjects of the King. One can dislike the people running the government, but still believe in and want to work for the improvement of this country.

[melody]

15. To paraphrase Twain, I love my country always. I love my government when they deserve it.

And I also bow to Al Franken with his, "A conservative loves his country like a four year old loves his mother."

I love my country, but I love it enough to insist that it live up to its promise.

[tomg]

16. I love my country, but unless

it agrees to go into counseling, I'm afraid we'll have to break up. As Walter Huston said to Ruth Chatterton in Dodsworth "Love has to stop somewhere short of suicide."

As to what they mean by "love your country"? They mean what any abusive person in a relationship means when they say they love you: "I'm right. You're wrong.Shut up. Do as your told." They really don't do the complexity and the beauty of the idea - to love one's country - very well.

Seriously, for me, loving my country is like loving my 14 year old. I can see him with all his flaws and with all his potential and I realize that he is still growing. When I'm at my best, I am doing what I can to help him reach his potential.

edit:typo

[Smarmie Doofus]

17. Should have left it as "county". Just as arbitrary, seems to me.

However much we love our country, we love the rest of the planet that much less.

[spanone]

18. impeach bu$h* & cheney