....One of the country stations in Dallas that helped champion the Chicks when they were scraping by in that city playing gigs on street corners for tips, "99.5 The Wolf," said they are listening to the listener's views but do not think it is right to immediately jump on the bandwagon and stop playing the Chicks, said program director Paul Williams.
Williams said it is too early to tell how strong a backlash may develop against the Chicks. He said the comments touched a deep nerve in Texas because they came from one of the biggest country groups to come out of the state and were directed at a president who calls Texas home.
"The listener outlash is probably bigger here than anywhere else," William said. [Reuters]
Where did all of this outraged response come from? Well, um, outraged citizens of course, but doesn't the response strike you as a bit extreme? Check out this email that the sponsors of the Chicks' tour, Lipton, received from a "concerned citizen":
- Hello
You should know that your company is being targetted by a radical right-wing online forum. You are being "FReeped", which is the code word for an organized email/telephone effort attempting to solicit a desired response. Please go to http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/864728/posts and http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/863398/posts
for evidence of this.
www.freerepublic.com claims over 30,000 members.
The opinions on this forum are often racist, violent, and homophobic. I hope you will not feel pressured by them to change your policies. Keep in mind that they are very active and will give the appearance of a widespread reaction when in fact it's limited to their isolated group. These are not people you want to cater to, as you will see if you spend a little time observing them. And don't feel bad. Besides you, they are boycotting Canada, France, Germany, Russia, Mexico, Belgium, and 3/4 of hollywood. They are so petty that they research goods they believe are produced by these nations and list them for boycotting. The dumb thing is they get it wrong half the time.
I will be very dissappointed with Lipton if it tries to appease these radicals. I would continue to buy Lipton regardless though :)
When we went to the site it was clear what was going on, this organization had not targeted Lipton for their campaign, they had selected the Chicks for "FReeping."
As we reviewed the site we came across a whole area that was devoted to the Chicks, and more specifically the activities of the campaign against them, check it out:
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - Al Barger
listener, customer, citizen complaints are often the result of organized campaigns and not the spontaneous behavior of independent individuals.
This sounds EXACTLY like spontaneous grassroots behavior. Is it illegitimate somehow to communicate what you're doing, and encourage others to join in?
Some of the Freepers can get a little radical, but they're not much of a nefarious outfit. Much as you don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows, you don't need a Freeper to tell you that the Dixie Chicks have squandered huge reserves of public good will for the sake of cheap self-indulgence.
I forsee a USO tour in the Dixie Chicks near future.
2 - Eric Olsen
Don't disagree with anything you've had to say on the matter Al, just digging into the workings of it all. Everyone has an agenda.
3 - bflaska
Some still have common sense.
http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/news/31403_local_rodeofight.html
Brawl erupts after song played at rodeo
Felix Fanaselle says he and another rodeo patron got into a fight during the playing of Lee Greenwood's Proud to be an American.
By Elma Barrera
ABC13 Eyewitness News
(3/14/03) — Talk of war with Iraq has sparked an atmosphere of tension and anxiety. And it may be to blame for a brawl that broke out at the rodeo Thursday night.
ABC-13 report
With some 15,000 to 20,000 folks at the rodeo drinking beer and having fun, things can get a little out of hand at times. It happened when a tape of Lee Greenwood's song Proud To Be An American was playing. Some rodeo fans were standing and others were sitting down. Felix Fanaselle and his buddies chose to remain seated.
"This guy behind us starts yelling at us (because) we're not standing up," said Fanaselle. "He starts cussing at us, telling us to go back to Iraq."
The 16-year-old said the man seated behind him started spitting at him and spilling his beer on him and his friends.
"By the end of the song, he pulled my ear. I got up. He pushed me. I pushed him," said Felix. "He punched me in my face. I got him off me."
When the dust settled, Fanaselle had been handcuffed and released. He and John McCambridge were cited for "mutual combat" and fighting in public. That's a $200 fine. Fanaselle's lawyer says you don't have to stand for a country and western song.
"I guess next time, he'll think maybe we need to stand for the Okie From Muscogee," said attorney Clayton Rawlings. "This is phony patriotism. This man needs to be ashamed of himself for what he did."
Rawlings says he and the Fanaselle family will give McCambridge a chance to make this right without going to court. The family says the biggest insult was McCambridge telling Fanaselle to go back to Iraq. Fanaselle is half Hispanic and half Italian.
"He was born in this country and who is this clown to tell him to go back where he came from? He came from Houston, Texas, so he is where he came from," said Rawlings.
Rawlings says if the citation isn't dismissed after witnesses testify, they'll be going to court with accusations of assault and battery, mental anguish and lawyer's fees. Eyewitness news tried to contact John McCambridge in Austin for his side of the story, but so far there's been no response.
- Talk about this story
- General posting board
Last Updated: Mar 14, 2003
4 - Al Barger
What a retard. This jerk really needed a good Texas beat down. I for one sure as hell wouldn't be standing up for the *$&%^ Lee Greenwood crapfest. This story is WAY out on the stupidity scale. I'd suspect that the guy was an anti-war plant if I thought they were that clever.
I personally might well have been willing to stand up for the "Okie from Muskogee" however.
5 - bryan
I don't know. I live close to where the Chicks' tour is supposed to start - Greenville, SC, and the people I've spoken with around here are just upset - period. I don't know that they even know what freerepublic.com is.
Besides, what freerepublic is doing is no different than what moveon.org does all the time, or what poetsagainstthewar.org is doing.
6 - Eric Olsen
Bryan, I'm not saying people aren't upset of their own accord, just pointing out that at least some of the reaction is organized - on both sides, of course.
7 - Cindy
Flashbacks to the late '60's and early 70's...except R. Milhouse Nixon's dead and most of his thugs are powerless...except the ones that are still working in and around the Whitehouse. It's suddenly become unpatriotic/UnAmerican to express one's beliefs again and it scares the living hell out of me. Is this what I protested for 30 years ago????
8 - Tony
Well, to me, it seems that this stuff is no different from an organized letter campaign, which is an old tactic. Only the technology changes.
And as for Cindy's comment, I agree that Dixie Chicks have the right to say what they want. However, I have the right to be pissed off about it and express it. The same holds true for other angry Dixie Chicks fans. Their First Amendment rights don't trump mine, do they?
Regards,
Tony
PS - Didn't even know what a Freeper was until 2 weeks ago.
9 - Andrea
Brawls breaking out over Lee Greenwood music??? Freedom fries??? "I'm ashamed that George Dubya comes from Texas" as justifiable cause for the public response it seems to have prompted. Whoa! Okay, so democracy is not saying anything if you don't have anything "nice" to say, than? Let's hear it for that much-vaunted 'freedom of speech' everyone's always going on about.......
10 - dee
it's okay to have your right to free speech in this country where it is your right as a citizen but i have a problem with it when you air you opinions in a foreign country just to get a favorable response from the paying audience.
11 - mike
I say that if the rest of the world doesn't like America, we should just blow 'em away--oh, right, we already are.
The world won't be laughing when they're all dead and it's just the USA left on a cold blasted rock!
12 - Woland
I've been visiting radical right-wing websites all week and getting into 'debates' on message boards. The people trashing Dixie Chicks CD's are the same people who think Rachel Corrie was a 'waste of skin'. Miserable, hateful, cruel people.
And they defend themselves as such. Baffling.
Let people be free to speak their minds. Don't hold them (and others) hostage by their opinions.
13 - mike
Hey, I was put on this earth to take the Hate Radio crowd hostage by their opinions. Country music is on the soundtrack when these people copulate and reproduce. Got any good right wing message boards for me? I just got kicked off freerepublic.com for the zillionth time, this time for describing, in detail, the joy of doing all the Chicks at one while they spout out anti-Bush diatribes--in British accents, of course, and then summarize Chomsky's Aspects of a Theory of Syntax as the cum. Heaven!
14 - Joni Negus
My only comment is this: does anyone remember the First Amendment to the Constitution? Ms. Maines comments, while possibly being in bad form, are hers to make. She is entitled to her opinion and she is ENTITLED to express it. Our Constitution says so! All of you right wingers...you do remember the Constitution, right?
15 - Karen
If a member of the Dixie Chicks wishes to express criticism of America's President or his policies that is their right. It is a right they have that most of the world does not, because hundreds of thousands of American soldiers from the Revolutionary War to now were willing to give their lives to protect our freedoms, including freedom of speech. I will support to the death their right to say what they will in this country - among members of our American family. But to do so outside our borders, among people who hate us and our way of life seems treason to me and much of the US.
Most people with families know that however much family members may fight amongst themselves, no outsider may attack one member of the family without attacking all. That is the way families are. It is unfortunate that the Dixie Chicks, along with several former Presidents and Hollywood ego-airheads, choose to align themselves with our nation’s enemies and against the family which has afforded them their very right to protest. It is gross ingratitude at the very least. If you feel more closely aligned with our enemies, please go live with them and see just how much you are allowed to protest there.
Just as these people have the right as Americans to say what they wish, we have the right to listen or ignore them. I see no reason to reward with my money people who are ungrateful and who are attacking my family. I do not knowingly support companies who destroy the environment or the values in which my family believes. I do not have the bully pulpit of politicians or celebrities. I only have the money which makes their lives comfortable and famous. It is my right not to support those who are attacking my family. They may say whatever they wish, but don't expect me to pay for it. If you want to call that a boycott, then do so. But I doubt you'd willingly pay for poisoned food products at the grocery.
16 - brad
i agree with karen,ms maines can say or do as she pleases it is her right,but,my right is to not spend my money on her artistic efforts in any form.now that being said,who said that world opinion ruled how we run our country,i give a rats ass how france germany russia or iraq is ran i could care less i'm sick and tired of the world opinion,its that opinion that has put us where we are today at the brink of war for land we have already fought and spilled blood over and we let world opinion tell us not to take bagdad in 1991.and all the left wing blames george w well i blame george sr and bill clinton they should have taken care of this long ago.what's funny is that noone mentions the fact that in 1998 ole bill was ready to do the same thing but did not.so,we all have a finger to point at someone and the one i point is the middle finger at the world opinion.
17 - david
The chick expressed her opinion as is her right to do so. All of those who disagree with her also have the same right. She is not being thrown in jail for what she said, that would be a violation of her 1st amendment rights, someone organizing a boycott against the product she sells is also an expression of 1st amendment rights and not a violation of her rights. Anyone is free to express their opinion and not fear repercussions from the Govt., they are not free from the resulting repercussions from others who have the same rights, as long as the repercussions take legal form. Boycotts and demands that radio stations drop artists are all legally protected 1st amendment rights. So get off your high horse spouting off about how right winger's don't respect her rights.
18 - Nicholas Hentschel
"World opinion" didn't make us not take Baghdad; that was Bush, Sr.'s decision. In fact, we've actually taken a lot flak, both at home and in the world beyond, for not finishing the job, and thus leaving the Iraqis at Saddam's mercy for the past 12 years. (Note also the film, "Three Kings.")
Bush the Elder's decision not to topple Hussein has provided a decade-plus of amuunition for those who believe that the Gulf War was simply about oil, and not about Kuwait. And if, for the sake of argument, they were right, then it actually shows, as I said, that not finsihing Saddam the FIRST time consituted a defiance and a sacrifice of world opinion and welfare in favor of our own interests, not vice versa.
19 - Missy
Yes, it is also the right of folks to boycott the Chicks if they so desire--but organized boycotts designed to drown out the (probable) majority? I don't mean "majority" as in majority support for the war, but majority as in majority who don't give a shit what Natalie Maines says. I live in South Central KY, just north of Nashville, and know a ton of Dixie Chicks fans who don't give a rat's ass what Natalie Maines (or Charlie Daniels, or Kid Rock, or Martin Sheen, etc) think about the war, or the president. But if I thought a vocal minority could somehow stop a show that I paid money to see, or songs I like pulled off the radio because she opened her big, Texas-sized mouth, I would care, but still not about what she said.
Seriously folks, just what do you think a Dixie Chick's power is? Is it more powerful than the oil companies, gun manufacturers, chemical developers, etc, who stand to get rich off the war? Is it more devastating than our own gov't who GAVE the gas to Iraq that it used on the Kurds? Is it more anti-American than the French who have entered into an unholy economic agreement for oil with Iraq? Pick your battles people, one little chick with an opinion is not worth all this...
20 - James Adams
I have listned for many years to those in politics and to those in the public eye understanding that many times what they say is only self-serving. They think that by stating certain views that they can discredit the opposite party or gain noteriety. I have allowed this free will of attitude because it is our inalienable rights to say what we believe. Only now though I have listned to the Dixie Chicks and for example Daschele proclaim that our President is a failure in his attemts at foreign policy. I later heard an Iraqi politician take that statement and throw it back at us saying that our people do not support the President how can we allow people that represent others behave so callously their very statement is now a part of Iraqi's denial they say that our nation is not united and therefore they have the rights to join against us. We must confront Daschule and those that can not understand the need to swing a big stick sometimes to have peace at another we must make them understand how by not uniting in our efforts they have betrayed our nation. We must all be united our soldiers must never believe that they are taking actions that are not supported by all and that everything possible was done to bring peace to the region without conflict. Thank You.
21 - Missy
"We must all be united our soldiers must never believe that they are taking actions that are not supported by all and that everything possible was done to bring peace to the region without conflict."
Respectfully, I think that's a crock. Do you really believe that dissent should be subverted so our soldiers can believe that the whole of the country wants to send them off to die? Personally, if I were a soldier, I would prefer to think there were still folks at home willing to risk the wrath of public opinion to fight to see that I didn't need to die for this.
22 - Al Barger
One small point in this debate. Several people have ascribed blame or additional culpability to the Dixie Chicks for making their remarks while on foreign soil. I will go so far as to defend them on this specific count. They were in London, not Baghdad. Sean Penn just flat needed an ass kicking for going to Baghdad to talk his crap. The Dixie Chicks were in England among our staunchest allies. That's more like discussing it amongst friends. Criticize them for being disrespectful, but their locale really shouldn't be an issue here.
23 - Tim Hall
.... But to do so outside our borders, among people who hate us and our way of life seems treason to me and much of the US.
I though those comments were made in Britain, not in Saudi Arabia.
Since when has disagreeing with some of the policies of current President become "Hating America and their way of life"?
Or have some sections of American Conservatism collapsed into a state of clinical paranoia?
24 - Gale
It bothers me to no end that anyone, celebrity or otherwise, would be so thoughtless as to make such as statement against a President who seems to have nothing but the interests of our great nation at heart. Natalie Maines should be ashamed of herself, but a running scared, forced apology won't quite get it. She has the right to think or say whatever she please; previous wars and sacrifices have given her that right, but she needs to temper her rights with some common sense and judgement. She should take her concert to Baghdad and make a similar comment about Saddam!! Then she would realize how great this nation really is.
25 - Nigel Richardson
Did I miss something? Did Natalie Maines say something horribly libelous and damaging to the American nation besides that fairly innocuous remark about being embarrassed that Bush was from Texas? Or are people really still getting their panties in a tangle at the thought of Saddam getting some kind of military advantage out of knowing the short blonde one from the Dixie Chicks made a crowdpleasing wisecrack at a concert in London?