Is it patriotic or anti-American to criticize the US government? Explain.

Political scientist Brendon O'Connor of the United States Studies Centre in Australia suggests that "anti-Americanism" cannot be isolated as a consistent phenomenon, since the term originated as a rough composite of stereotypes, prejudices, and criticisms which evolved into more politically-based criticisms. French scholar Marie-France Toinet says that use of the term "anti-Americanism" is "only fully justified if it implies systematic opposition – a sort of allergic reaction – to America as a whole."Scholars such as Noam Chomsky and Nancy Snow have argued that the application of the term "anti-American" to other countries or their populations is nonsensical, as it implies that disliking the American government or its policies is socially undesirable or even comparable to a crime. In this regard, the term has been likened to the propagandistic usage of the term "anti-Sovietism" in the USSR.

when world war i broke out across europe in 1914, president woodrow wilson proclaimed the united states would remain neutral, and many americans supported this policy of nonintervention. however, public opinion about neutrality started to change after the sinking of the british ocean liner lusitania by a german u-boat in 1915; almost 2,000 people perished, including 128 americans. along with news of the zimmerman telegram threatening an alliance between germany and mexico, wilson asked congress for a declaration of war against germany. the u.s. officially entered the conflict on april 6, 1917.