Here's a synopsis, via TV Tome.
It's shot day and Bart tries to evade the needle. Dr. Hibbert manages to get the job done but Bart suffers a side effect of temporary hearing loss from the shot and he takes advantage of it for all it's worth. At Springfield Elementary the annual Donkey basketball tournament is being held. During the playing of The Star Spangled Banner Bart has his shorts eaten by a donkey, leaving his bare ass exposed towards the flag. Martin snaps a picture and everyone present is outraged at this behavior. As a result the Simpson family becomes very unpopular. They go on a cable news channel and only manage to dig themselves into a deeper hole when the host manages to twist Marge's words into saying that Springfield hates America. The negative publicity causes Mayor Quimby to change the name of the town to Liberty-Ville and they make everything patriotic. The family is arrested under violation of the "government knows best act" and they are brought to a reeducation center. The last registered Democrat tells them how they can escape. During their musical number they escape through a tunnel but find they were on Alcatraz. They are rescued by a passing French freighter and taken to France. After being there a while they decide they miss their life in America and go back as illegal immigrants.
OK. A couple of thoughts.
1. This episode is not anti-Bush Administration, as it appears at first. Anti-War celebrates haven't been rounded up and sent to education camps. Bill Clinton is still a free man. The repression of dissent hasn't reached the comically absurd levels demonstrated in "Libertyville." So that leaves us with two options. Either the writers are warning that things could get that bad, or they are underlining the fact that things aren't that bad. I think the second answer is far more likely; the show reminded us that things aren't that bad.
2. France Bashing is of course popular, as the French rescue the Simpsons only because they too hate America, despite our having saved them from Germany twice.
3. Stereotypical Arab Street loving the Simpsons. No shades of grey here, folks, Arabs hate America too.
4. The actual disagreement is pretty inane. Bart moons the flag, but not on purpose (the way that they set that up, Rube Goldberge style, is pretty funny, though). The family is innocent of hating America. The closest they get to a saying something is Marge saying that if everybody in America is a loud mouthed talk show host, than she hates Americans (or something like that anyway). Not that controversial, although of course it can be edited for television.
On the other hand the episode does underline the idea that one can disagree with one's country and still be patriotic. So I guess that's a good message--just a weird episode. One that I wish had been stretched to an hour, actually. I get the sense that we might have gotten a better resolution in that case.
Another review is here. Argueably better than mine.
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