I feel this too, at least a little. And I’m completely uninterested in what pop stars, actors and the like have to say about politics. Very rarely are their thoughts informed or interesting or challenging to me.
I’m a dyed-in-the-wool liberal. Maybe social democrat is a better term, and I think the Bush presidency was a disaster.
That said, like Chessic, I think criticism among our own is one thing, and criticism abroad is another. I’m married to someone who is not an American. We discuss lots of things, among them politics. I will admit to a visceral, non-rational reaction when she speaks critically of the United States. This is despite the fact that she is a brilliant, knowledgeable woman whose opinions are well worth listening to. Even when we disagree, I find that her opinion will shed some light on my own and sometimes even help me strengthen my position by exposing flaws in it. And still, I get that reaction. I have a bit of the same reaction upon hearing about some American entertainer speak critically of the U.S. from a foreign platform. As I said, I know this is not exactly rational, and I do my best not to let it intefere with actual thinking about issues.
I also don’t think what Mains said amounts to “criticism.” It was just a slogan, and has about as much intellectual weight as the wearing of a “Fuck Bush” t-shirt. Which is idiotic, unhelpful, and more of a fashion statement than a political opinion.
We’ve had enough sloganeering. If one’s political philosophy can be reduced to something that can be printed on a t-shirt, it’s not worth expressing. That goes for the left as well as the right.