I think it's easiest to sum up as: I like to hear it, but only if it's authentic. I would prefer authentic actions to inauthentic words; however authentic words combined with authentic actions is best.
It's not terribly difficult to tell when someone is saying it and not meaning it. And there's nothing wrong, IMO, with saying it obligatorily at times.
We always say "I love you" when we say good-bye. If anything were to happen to us, I want those to be the last words we say to each other. Even though we do it out of habit, we still mean it. We wouldn't say it if we didn't.
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I am who I am. I don't need labels to define me. They're sticky, and I hate the glue they leave behind.
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