Opinion of Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue

[Frozen Sky Ever Why]

Toby Keith's controversial 2002 tune: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5PXSK3iDeAI

[Lambsbread]

Jingoism = awful
Toby Keith = generally unbearable
Stereotypical country music-isms = dear god no

figure it out from there

[Antonio the Sixth]

Is that a tribute to France? Awwww thanks Murica, we love you too.

[King]

Toby Keith is the worst so HS obv.

[angus]

Not bad, I suppose.  I listened to it.  I hadn't heard it before and I probably won't hear it again, because it's not my cup of tea.  Still, for those into that genre I think it's probably not too bad.  I have heard of Toby Keith before and I have the impression that he is fairly popular.
 
The song is awfully nationalistic, but presumably it was written in the aftermath of the 2001 terrorist attacks so the sensitivities are understandable.  It's a bit like watching a children's cartoon from the early 40s.  People become hyper-patriotic when attacked and pride in national identity begins to show up in many ways.  This song actually works better with Japan in 1941, now that I think about it, because it makes references to harsh vengeance against a definite enemy.  The "sucker punch from behind" was Pearl Harbor.  This placed the US in a major world conflict.  "Justice will be served/The battle will rage/This big dog will fight/When you rattle his cage" sounds very much like the intense fighting in the Pacific, and as the pilot of Enola Gay flew out of the shockwave, it was, for the Japanese, probably very much like "we lit up your world like the 4th of July." 

On the other hand, in the terrorist attacks to which this song presumably refers the attackers were non-state actors whose leader was taken out mysteriously in a far-away place with little fanfare about a decade later and promptly forgotten.  The casualties were nearly all civilian and many of them were not US citizens.  More than 90 countries lost people in the World Trade Center attack alone.  The biggest casualty of that episode, however, was the loss of freedom that Americans had previously enjoyed.  We live in an era of intense paranoia, when people favor security at the expense of our liberties.  We arrive at airports two hours early, remove our belts and shoes, and have ourselves prodded, poked, and scanned.  As an added bonus, all this is not "courtesy of the red, white, and blue" because we charge ourselves 25 dollars per flight for the privilege.  Thank you sir, may I have another?

Still, I voted FF for the song, because I do think it's the sort of guilty jingoistic pleasure that listeners of country and country-rock might enjoy hearing from time to time.
 

[TDAS04]

Any song by Toby Keith is horrible.

[Sprouts Farmers Market ✘]

Toby Keith is (was?) the best mainstream country singer so passable, but far from his best.

[DemPGH]

It's not a parody, so Horrible, and if I recall correctly, a lot of this far right jingoistic, middle-finger-to-everybody-that-ain't-'Murica, flag-waving nonsense came out of country music circa 2002-03. Country has been prone to that since (in the '80s and '90s it was a little different), but 9/11 really stirred up all kinds of negative feelings when that song came out. God, trucks, muh country, muh way of life, etc.

[Grumpier Than Uncle Joe]

FS, though TK is a piece of sh**t.

[RFayette]

Freedom song, when considering the context of the time (right after 9/11).

[Miles]

I like Made in America a lot more.

[© tweed]

my 'favorite' of these is Daryl Worley's 2003 pro-Iraq War tune "Have You Forgotten?"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6yLQRF-cEU



Sept 2001 - mid-2003 were scary times.  we're lucky they didn't institute a draft and invade the entire Middle East with several hundred thousand ground forces -- in Oct 2001, the Bush admin literally could have done anything.  Muslim internment camps, you name it.

[Mr. Illini]

Toby Keith is one of my least favorite country artists, but America. FS

[RINO Tom]

Freedom song, when considering the context of the time (right after 9/11).

[Adam Griffin]

Hey Uncle Sam
Put your name at the top of his list
And the Statue of Liberty
Started shakin’ her tits