QotD [Δαφνη Ευτυχια Αρθουρος]

Jim Hill, 2004-08-04:

I find it interesting that people who wish to effect changes in the behavior of the United States are frequently described as "American-hating".

If your child spits on your neighbor's shoes or kills their cat, and you tell the child to stop this, do you hate the child?

JamesJay Trouble, 2004-08-04:

And I would ask, rather, if your child spits on your neighbor's shoes or kills their cat, and you DO NOT tell the child to stop this, do you love the child?

My answer is, that's pretty obvious. That would be 180 degrees opposite of what is actually said and practiced throughout the Blogdom, however. Not PC...

And what, then, if the child persists...?? You okay-fine with that...??

Jim Hill, 2004-08-05:

"And I would ask, rather, if your child spits on your neighbor's shoes or kills their cat, and you DO NOT tell the child to stop this, do you love the child?" My point exactly. If my country does something I consider wrong and I do not speak up, do I love my country? If it does something wrong and I DO speak up, why do people say I hate my country?

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Which is why I'm the gadfly. I'll tell the unruly child doing something dangerous in a supermarket cart what could happen to it, when its mother is going "There, there, stop that." in a nicey-nicey way, I will say "If you keep standing up the way you are, and lose your balance, you will hit the floor and your head may break open like a melon, it will hurt a lot, and I'm not taking you to the hospital." I don't know whether the child understood, or whether it was the fact that a stranger spoke firmly to it. It sat back down, shut up, and let its mother do the shopping. She was slightly aghast, but relieved; I think. There were conflicting emotions on her face.

Back to the larger scene: I love (or I wouldn't cry at patriotic songs and stories) but am embarrassed by my country's behaviour and would discipline it were it not so large and unruly. I'm keeping my head down/low profile. If I said what I really think to the country, I'd get smushed, not the country. Bleah.

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It depends--some correction is appropriate and well-meant, but some is just perfectionism and/or hatred. It's not surprising if sometimes one gets mistaken for the other.

A light-bulb has just gone on. Reading the above, I thought, "Gee, you know, I think most of those folks who go around calling others 'Anti-american' for disapproving of America's behavior would be very offended by the comparison of America to a child. Ahhh....!"

Some people think of their country as a child in need of guidance and protection. The others think of their country as a parent to be obeyed and honored.

This would explain why people in the latter case seem so incredibly unconcerned with national defense, despite being hawks and despite their "we have to hit them before they hit us" rhetoric. This is why they are blithely unconcerned when it's pointed out that Saddam didn't actually have the WMD, i.e. he wasn't actually a danger to the US. They don't care about defense, because they can't believe any one can take their Daddy; they can't imagine it's a relevant concern.
Ω

"Who loves the state best opposes it most"? :D

See also the lyrics for "Stars and Stripes of Corruption."

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