Patriotism: Would you die for your country?

[CapnHook]

Posted: 11/5/07 at 11:54pm

I took a survey today about qualities that define a person's status. One of the options they wanted you to rate was the statement "You would die for your country."

That stuck with me. I wouldn't die for my country. I believe our country is corrupt in many ways. I believe I could always move to a different country and be just as happy. I mean things aren't bad enough that would make me want to leave...I'm just here and abide by our laws and live by my beliefs.

I have an enormous respect for the ideals of 'freedom' that inspired this country to form. I love the concept of this country. I love many aspects of this country. But to say that I would DIE so that this country may continue live on...I'm not so sure...

Thoughts?

Does that make me a bad patriot?

[Unknown User]

Posted: 11/5/07 at 11:57pm

The point is to make the other poor sonofabitch die for HIS country.

[Yawper]

Posted: 11/6/07 at 1:03am

I think, under many circumstances, most of us would die for our country.

The people on Flight 93 died for the country, didn't they?

If we were invaded would you fight or flee?

If you were told, and you believed, a nuclear weapon was going to wipe out an American city, and you knew that by attempting to contact authorities you would probably be killed, would you still try or would you just let it happen?

Going into an overseas war is not necessarily patriotic, but defending the homeland is another matter. Why do you think Bush constantly tries to twist the war 'over there' into a defense of 'here at home'?

[thetinymagic2]

Posted: 11/6/07 at 1:17am

What a naive idiot. Read books. Sacrifice. Live.

[alxscrz2]

Posted: 11/6/07 at 1:35am

I wouldn't die for this country. Also I know its a little off topic but I really don't know why this president is sending these soldiers to fight and die in this pointless war. Urgh Bush gets me so mad

[Yawper]

Posted: 11/6/07 at 1:46am

Perhaps the question needs to be reframed. How do you define "your country"?

Because my country doesn't solely consist of a bunch of morons sitting in D.C. or corporate executive suites. They're actually the least of it.

Would you die for your family, your friends, your neighbors and classmates?
Updated On: 11/6/07 at 01:46 AM

[LumieRe]

Posted: 11/6/07 at 1:50am

i think that all wars are not called for. i dont believe im war. i dont believe in anything that has to do i fighting. i would not die for this county due to that fact, and because president bush doesnt deserve me to die for him, or in any case any president. All bush talks about it change i havent see any change in anything, only change i seen it in the gas prices. And another reason this couny doesnt respect homosexuals. why should they fight for any war and they cant be themselves. they get disrespected for the dumest things. well like i said i would not die for this WAR
Updated On: 11/6/07 at 01:50 AM

[Yawper]

Posted: 11/6/07 at 2:02am

Also, to die for your country doesn't even have to mean in combat. It could be from non-violently standing up for what's right - MLK, the students at Kent State, Gandhi, the Chinese students in Tiannaman Square, recently the monks in Burma

[tazber]

Posted: 11/6/07 at 7:59am

No country is perfect, but America is better than anything else that's out there. How easy it is to forget the freedoms we have and take them for granted.
Yes Bush is a disaster of a president, but the wrongs he did will be righted in time and we will move on.
To not support your country and its ideals b/c you're unhappy with its direction is childish. What you should do is VOTE him out of office and embrace America for the simple fact that you can do just that.
Using Yawper's rather astute definition, yes, I would die to protect my freedoms.

[madbrian]

Posted: 11/6/07 at 8:11am

I was all ready to get on my soap box, but then Tazber goes and states my point of view so well that all I'm left with is, "Yeah, what he said!".

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 11/6/07 at 8:37am

"No country is perfect, but America is better than anything else that's out there."

That line has always made me want to projectile vomit. American ethnocentrism at its worst, once again considers the US vs "antything else" as if they're sports teams. Put your foam rubber #1 finger on, tazber and chant "Woo!"

I'm the kind of person who considers NOT dying for "my country" patriotic.

[tazber]

Posted: 11/6/07 at 8:46am

So typical Namo.

Updated On: 11/6/07 at 08:46 AM

[robbiej]

Posted: 11/6/07 at 9:58am

Do you really think we're better than everyone else?

Really? A country that does not provide health insurance to all its citizens? A country that has yet to outlaw the death penalty? A country which refuses to lead when it comes to global climate change? A country that elected George Bush?

You really believe we're still 'the best'?

[tazber]

Posted: 11/6/07 at 10:00am

Where do you think is better?

[robbiej]

Posted: 11/6/07 at 10:01am

Canada, Great Britian, Spain. To name a few.

What the Founders created (the concept of modern democracy) is remarkable.

What we've done to it is tragic.

But, I hold out hope for the promise of America...if not for America itself.

[Unknown User]

Posted: 11/6/07 at 10:13am

Robbie, Canada may have better health care but they do not have freedom of speech as we do. I worked for a company that had bookstores in Toronto-big, modern, progressive Toronto. There were hundreds of magazines that we could not sell there due to their content. It was an eye-opener for me.

[robbiej]

Posted: 11/6/07 at 10:24am

Are you telling me that Canada is anti-porn???

Scratch Canada and replace with the BeNeLux countries.

[CapnHook]

Posted: 11/6/07 at 10:36am

I would fight for ideals I believe in, but not so much this piece of land that I live on the way it's governed.

Yawper, if a plane I was on were to be hijacked, I would fight for my right to be safe. If I knew that plane was planned to be used as a means of terrorism and to kill a mass of innocent people, then I would fight for the lives of the masses. Not because they're Americans...but because they're humans who also have the right to live, and I would not want the statement of the terrorists to be successful.

Yawper, I am a U.S. citizen and if we were invaded I would fight for this land. Not because of what this land is, but because no one has the right to take it from us. If I were a Canadian citizen or a citizen of Mexico or China or England or Iraq, and that country were invaded, I would fight to keep that land, too.

That's my thinking, anyway.

That statement is just so bold...to DIE for your country. I wouldn't die for this or any other country. I would die for my RIGHTS as a human.

History has determined that we live here, you live there, and they live elsewhere. When it came time for me to enter this world, those are the circumstances that I was born into. I happened to be born an American.

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 11/6/07 at 10:42am

"So typical Namo."

Whatever you say, Arch.

[Borstalboy]

Posted: 11/6/07 at 10:49am

"Die for your country" has unfortunately become synonymous with "go along with whatever everybody believes in".

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 11/6/07 at 10:59am

"It may not be the greatest but it's the best there is" is the sort of statement generally backed up by no exposure or research.

[Calvin]

Posted: 11/6/07 at 11:03am

It is the best there is...for certain people.

Kinda like when they take all those different factors and determine that the best city in the U.S. for a person to live is Plano, Texas. Yeah. I'm sure I'd love living there.

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 11/6/07 at 11:24am

This is one of the best countries in the world if you're a millionaire -- great tax breaks, lots of stuff to spend your money on........ Not the best mind you (that's probably Monaco because of its tax laws), but pretty damn good. But if you're middle class or at the lower end of the financial spectrum, there are PLENTY of better places to live that have all of the same basic everyday freedoms, but also have a MUCH better social safety net, a health care system with no out of pocket expenses, far better education (the US isn't even among the top 30 countries in the world in math and science education, along with a plethora of other subjects), and with a foreign policy that doesn't make you the target of every terrorist on the planet (as well as being hated by the people in many free democracies).

Die for this country? Please. I'd move first.

Updated On: 11/6/07 at 11:24 AM

[artscallion]

Posted: 11/6/07 at 11:30am

Countries come and go. Species come and go. I get one life. giving it up for something equivalent to a meaningless speck of dust in time doesn't seem like a good idea to me. I wouldn't willingly die for a country, a religion, a family, anything. And I don't ask or expect anyone else to do it for me.

[robbiej]

Posted: 11/6/07 at 11:31am

How very Belize of you, Margo.