History Main / MyCountryTisOfTheeThatISting

* The [[http://www.cafepress.com/americanapology/137430 "American Traveler International Apology"]] [[FunTShirt t-shirt]], which reads "I'm sorry my president's an idiot. I didn't vote for him." in the six official languages of the UsefulNotes/UnitedNations. It was first made during the presidency of UsefulNotes/GeorgeWBush and a similar sentiment saw resurgence after the election of UsefulNotes/DonaldTrump. It was nowhere near as popular during the administration of UsefulNotes/BarackObama, as he was generally much more well-liked than his predecessor or successor.[[note]]Overseas, at least. The others did win a few elections stateside, after all.[[/note]]

* In ''Series/TedLasso'', Sam learns that Air Dubai, the sponsor of his football team, is causing extreme environmental damage in his home country of Nigeria and bribing the government to look the other way. In response, he pulls out of an ad campaign Air Dubai was featuring him in, tapes over the sponsorship logo on his uniform (with the rest of his team doing the same in support) and holds a press conference in which he openly accuses the Nigerian government of corruption.

* In ''Series/TedLasso'', Sam learns that Air Dubai, the sponsor of his football team, is causing extreme environmental damage in his home country of Nigeria and bribing the government to look the other way. In response, he tapes over the Air Dubai logo on his uniform and holds a press conference in which he openly accuses the Nigerian government of corruption.

* The [[http://www.cafepress.com/americanapology/137430 "American Traveler International Apology"]] [[FunTShirt t-shirt]], which reads "I'm sorry my president's an idiot. I didn't vote for him." in the six official languages of the UsefulNotes/UnitedNations. It was first made during the presidency of UsefulNotes/GeorgeWBush and a similar sentiment has seen resurgence since the election of UsefulNotes/DonaldTrump. It was nowhere near as popular during the administration of UsefulNotes/BarackObama, as he was generally much more well-liked than his predecessor or successor.[[note]]Overseas, at least. The others did win a few elections stateside, after all.[[/note]]

[[folder: Films -- Animated]]

[[quoteright:256:[[WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/simpsons_uncle_sam_9761.png]]]]
[[caption-width-right:256:An [[AmericaTakesOverTheWorld anti-patriotic joke]] made by people from the very country it's poking fun at.]]

* Comedian Creator/LennyBruce spent a huge part of his career targeting American censorship laws, especially regarding obscenity.

* Actress Creator/JaneFonda protested against America's involvement in the Vietnam War during the 1960s and 1970s and, in an even more controversial act, traveled to North Vietnam to meet the Vietcong.

* Americans burning their flag is still a controversial act in the United States, despite it being legal (only if the flag's your property though).
* In a 1954 speech, President UsefulNotes/DwightEisenhower said "Here in America we are descended in blood and in spirit from revolutionaries and rebels—men and women who dared to dissent from accepted doctrine. As their heirs, may we never confuse honest dissent with disloyal subversion."
* UsefulNotes/NationalBasketballAssociation player Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf caused a stir and drew a one-game suspension for refusing to stand during the US national anthem before games. He felt that the US flag was a symbol of tyranny and that the US had a long history of oppression. A compromise was eventually reached in which he would stand but lower his head and close his eyes.
** In late 2016, UsefulNotes/AmericanFootball player Colin Kaepernick did the same for similar reasons, which while inciting a massive backlash, also caused a backlash ''against'' the backlash, with many people[[note]]Many of whom, notably, had served in the military; a [=#VeteransForKaepernick=] hashtag was trending for a while on Website/{{Twitter}}[[/note]] coming out in droves to support him. After speaking with US Veterans, Kaepernick decided to kneel instead of stand, as a compromise to respect soldiers but still protest (kneeling was [[https://www.snopes.com/veteran-kaepernick-take-a-knee-anthem/ suggested by Veteran Nate Boyer]], as kneeling is what soldiers do at gravesites).

-->''"Wanda, do you have any idea what it's like being English? Being so correct all the time, being so stifled by this dread of, of doing the wrong thing, of saying to someone "Are you married?" and hearing "My wife left me this morning," or saying, uh, "Do you have children?" and being told they all burned to death on Wednesday. You see, Wanda, [[BritishStuffiness we'll all terrified of embarrassment]]. That's why we're so... dead. Most of my friends are dead, you know, we have these piles of corpses to dinner. But you're alive, God bless you, and I want to be, I'm so fed up with all this. I want to make love with you, Wanda. I'm a good lover - at least, used to be, back in the early 14th century. Can we go to bed?" ''
* Many westerns from the Sixties on have criticized the USA's wars against Native Americans in the 19th century: ''Film/DancesWithWolves'', for instance.

--> '''Homer:''': ''"Please, please, kids, stop fighting. Maybe Lisa's right about America being the land of opportunity, and maybe Adil's got a point about the machinery of capitalism being oiled with the blood of the workers."''

* Music/{{Eminem}} had in the early part of his career, taken shots at the hypocrisy within American society, which accuses artists like himself (and Music/MarilynManson, see below) for tearing down the fabric of society and inciting violence, when they've taken a blind eye to the underlying problems that cause events like mass-shootings by teenagers, as addressed in "What I Am". "White America" is a little more pointed, taking jabs at [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin (white) America's]] MoralGuardians that crusade against his work, while their children listen to his music, [[ButNotTooBlack and musing on the factors that allowed his commercial success in rap music, particularly within suburban America]].

* Music/ChokingVictim pulled no punches in their views on the United States for misleading the masses via media and aggressive globalization ("Fuck America"), its police ("Crack Rock Steady"), prison practices ("Apple Pie and Police State"), making the masses complacent with television and drugs ("500 Channels"), and so on. Long before 9/11, the band were known to burn models of the World Trade Center in protest, and even after the day in question, singer Scott Sturgeon went on to claim that he "wasn't exactly opposed to [the towers] falling down" and [[RefugeInAudacity kept burning models of the WTC for at least a couple of years afterward]] [[TooSoon with his other band]].

* The ''Series/AdamRuinsEverything'' episode "Adam Ruins...America" centers around deconstructing the myth of American exceptionalism by stating that: the American dream is unattainable due to massive economic inequality; the U.S. constitution is notoriously hard to change because legislators insist on interpreting the original language instead of keeping it relevant to the times, and the constitution actually made it legal to own slaves, and thus Lincoln's emancipation proclamation was unconstitutional; finally, after the end of the Civil War, former slaves wee able to benefit from their new rights, but groups like the [=KKK=] and their sympathizers stripped them of their rights, and the Civil Rights Movement wasn't so much for creating new laws to give people new rights, so much as forcing the government to enforce the laws that had already been written one hundred years before.

* ''WebVideo/TheNostalgiaCritic'': In his review of ''"The Magic Voyage"'' Doug criticizes the German company who made this film for making such a historically inaccurate film. Then he turns the tables by adding: ''"We can't even get our own history right!"'' and shows the poster for ''Disney/{{Pocahontas}}''.

* ''ComicStrip/LifeInHell'': Creator/MattGroening pokes fun at American society a lot.

* The American left-wing political comedy podcast ''Podcast/ChapoTrapHouse'' is known for its constant vitriol towards the [[Administrivia/RuleOfCautiousEditingJudgment (perceived)]] racist, sexist, classist, imperialist attitudes that animate American politics in general.

* Swedish metal band Music/{{Sabaton}}'s 2012 album ''Carolus Rex'', [[TropesAreNotBad their first #1 hit in their home country]], is a warts-and-all retelling of the rise and fall of UsefulNotes/{{Sweden}}'s 17th century [[TheEmpire empire]], from [[UsefulNotes/NotableSwedishMonarchs Gustavus Adolphus to Carolus Rex]]. In particular, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VHeRnaWMtDk the title track]] paints [[UsefulNotes/CarolusRex Charles XII]] as practically a madman, utterly convinced of his own God-given rightness, and the following song [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7YuoIwWSTnQ "Ett slag färgat rött"]] ([[http://lyricstranslate.com/en/ett-slag-f%C3%A4rgat-r%C3%B6tt-blow-colored-red.html translation here]]) harshly criticizes his army for murdering hundreds of Russian prisoners of war after the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Fraustadt Battle of Fraustadt]]. Aside from this album, the band often takes PatrioticFervor to the point of comedy in live performances.

* ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' has Brian (an extreme left-wing liberal) meeting right-wing Republican radio broadcaster Radio/RushLimbaugh in the episode "Excellence In Broadcasting". Rush actually manages to convince Brian to change his political views and develop a new-found sense of patriotism. Brian moves in with Rush, and takes the liberty of replacing all of Rush's appliances with American-made versions. They all break catastrophically as Brian lists off what he replaced one by one, which includes: the toaster, refrigerator, dishwasher, stove, oven, coffee maker, coffee mug, fine china dishware, cupboard door hinges, light bulbs, ceiling fan, garbage disposal, faucets, Rush's man-bra, and his cat, [[SugarWiki/FunnyMoments which MOOS]].

In some countries such criticism is seen as highly unpatriotic, even treacherous. Dictatorships are the most obvious example, but even in some democratic countries expressing such opinions can bring people into serious trouble, and politicians opposing those in power will take pains to emphasize that they love their country despite their disagreements. Yet, in a truly free society criticism of your own country should be respected. Lots of sociological revolutions and changes have occurred just because people questioned the ideas of their government and society, and many modern countries trace their founding date to such uprisings, celebrating them with patriotic songs and holidays. People who embody this trope usually consider criticism of their homeland as an act of patriotism in itself, reflecting the other part of MyCountryRightOrWrong: if wrong ''to be set right.''

* ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' has Brian (an extreme left-wing liberal) meeting right-wing Republican radio broadcaster Radio/RushLimbaugh in the episode "Excellence In Broadcasting". Rush actually manages to convince Brian to change his political views and develop a new-found sense of patriotism. Brian moves in with Rush, and takes the liberty of replacing all of Rush's appliances with American-made versions. They all break catastrophically as Brian lists off what he replaced one by one, which includes: the toaster, refrigerator, dishwasher, stove, oven, coffee maker, coffee mug, fine china dishware, cupboard door hinges, light bulbs, ceiling fan, garbage disposal, faucets, Rush's man-bra, and his cat.

* Noam Chomsky is well-known for criticizing American foreign policy. He has stated that everyone should be chiefly concerned with the crimes of their own country more than those of other countries, because those are the ones they can do something about.

* Americans burning their flag is still a controversial act in the United States, despite it being legal.

** In late 2016, UsefulNotes/AmericanFootball player Colin Kaepernick did the same for similar reasons, which while inciting a massive backlash, also caused a backlash ''against'' the backlash, with many people[[note]]much of whom, notably, had served in the military; a [=#VeteransForKaepernick=] hashtag was trending for a while on Website/{{Twitter}}[[/note]] coming out in droves to support him. After speaking with US Veterans, Kaepernick decided to kneel instead of stand, as a compromise to respect soldiers but still protest (kneeling was [[https://www.snopes.com/veteran-kaepernick-take-a-knee-anthem/ suggested by Veteran Nate Boyer]], as kneeling is what soldiers do at gravesites).

* Creator/LeoTolstoy was highly critical of Russian society, Tsarism and the Orthodox Church despite being raised as a Russian aristocrat. He opposed the Russo-Japanese War and would eventually be excommunicated by the Orthodox Church despite being the most popular and respected Russian author in the world at the time.
** Many other Russian radicals and liberals also did the same in that period, with differing criticisms/depth of criticism.
* Author Emile Zola wrote a famous accusation near the end of the 19th century, simply called "J'accuse" ("I Accuse") in which he criticized the French government for cashiering Jewish military officer Alfred Dreyfus. Dreyfus was accused of treason, but as it turned out antisemitism was the real reason-he got made the scapegoat. Zola's written attack was a huge scandal back then and he was prosecuted too, but later he was VindicatedByHistory, with Dreyfus being released and exonerated. The scandal had a tremendous impact both on France (where it entrenched secularism) and Jewish life in Europe as a secular Austrian Jew of the name Theodor Herzl who hadn't felt particularly Jewish up to that point came to the conclusion that Jews would need their own state if they were ever to live free of prejudice and persecution, thus giving birth to Zionism.
* South African Alan Paton criticized his country's racial issues with books like ''Literature/CryTheBelovedCountry'', although that actually predated the formal beginning of apartheid.

* ''Literature/TheDivineComedy'': Italians, especially those from Florence, populate Hell so completely that Dante manages to find five Florentines immediately in the circle for Thieves. This prompts him to tell Florence to be joyous in its greatness, since her name extends everywhere in Hell.

* ''Series/LittleBritain'': Every episode proudly praises the glory of "being British", only to feature a lot of Englishmen[[note]] and ''Ladies''[[/note]][[note]] and Welshmen and Scots [[/note]] who are hardly something to be proud of.

* ''Series/AllInTheFamily'': Dealt with issues that polarized American society in the 1970s and ridiculed them.

* ''Film/TeamAmericaWorldPolice'': The anti-terrorist squad is portrayed as causing more damage to other countries than actually helping them. An important story arc too, as Gary the actor is shocked by their actions and refuses to help his country any longer.
** On the other hand, the [[KnowNothingKnowItAll Film Actors Guild]]--one of many critics to the titular Team America--are portrayed as negative version of this trope as they are so obsessed with stopping the group that they are willing to sponsor ObviouslyEvil people like Kim Jong Il for a World Peace conference [[spoiler: without realizing his plan to use the conference to launch a massive terrorist attack]].

** On the other hand, the [[KnowNothingKnowItAll Film Actors Guild]]--one of many critics to the titular Team America--are portrayed as negative version of this trope as they sponsored an ObviouslyEvil people like Kim Jong Il for World Peace [[spoiler: without realizing his plan to use the conference to launch a massive terrorist attack]].