If you've been following the Dixie Chicks' saga - and based upon the traffic and comments, in the days just before the war, few were concerned with much else - you know that after Natalie Maines slammed President Bush in London, she apologized the next day.…
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426 - Amber
|was actually at the conert where Natalie said, "I am ashamed that the president of the United States is from Texas". What she said has been blown out of all proportion! It was a tongue-in-cheek gesture, with which she followed up by saying that although she may not like Bush, or be pro war, she still supports the troops 100%. She made that *very* clear. And the reason shesaid all this in the first place? It fitted in with the context of the song she was about to sing, which was Travellin' Soldier. She also said that the US government had asked her to sing tis to the troops, and personally she didn't think it was appropriate as the soldier in the song never actually came home.
Natalie didn't like the idea of going to war, as I'm sure many other people out there don't, but she made it crystal clear that she was totally in support of the troops. It's this vital fact that the media have decided to exclude, which is why the Chicks have become so unpopular.
She said it on the spur of the moment, as she is apt to do. So what? We all make mistakes, and, as people requested, she apologised. Then when she actually did apologise, people claimed that the apology was worthless and that she wasn't stickin to her origonal opinion. What could the poor girl do?
And what about the audience. We're the ones that cheered at her comment, she only said it. We could have just as easiy booed her off the stage, and although it was a British venue, there were a lot of Americans there as well.
427 - Reginleif the Valkyrie
One reason Natalie Maines may have felt safe in dissing "rednecks" who've bought Dixie Chicks CDs is that the Chicks not only play pop country music, but bluegrass, which I much prefer. Unfortunately, due to the audience overlap among bluegrass, "roots music," and "folk music" in its various forms, there are a lot of left-wingers who listen to bluegrass now, and quite a few even play it. I've read elsewhere that Maines, having attended Berklee School of Music here in Boston, may have become insecure about her roots in the midst of so many hipper-than-thou Northeasterners, and decided it was more important to impress their UK cohorts with her "political awareness" than to please her fan base.
- Al Barger describing Pat "Goebbels" Buchanan as "scholarly;"
- Dan bellowing, "CANADA AND MEXICO NEXT!" and exhorting us to kick the former and "bitch-slap" the latter;
- the semi-literate Deborah ranting, "WE ARE THE TOP COUNTRY AND DON'T YOU FORGET IT" (doesn't there seem to be an inverse correlation between IQ and prolonged use of the caps lock?);
- Joanne claiming that criticizing the President in a foreign country shows "lack of moral character" (of course, any celebrity abroad who slammed Clinton during his tenure in office would undoubtedly have had Joanne's admiration);
- Bob the Builder, whose nick makes him sound as if he became unemployed with the recent demise of Mr. Rogers, resorting to the time-tested playground retort of, "Shaddup, you big faggot!"
- "Alaska Dan" claiming that his stomping ground "is one of the few states that isn't completely estrogenated yet," echoing the prevalent conservative whine that all them lily-livered wimmenfolk -- literally, those pussies -- have been diluting the red blood of this once-manly nation ever since we gave 'em the right to vote. (Hey, Dan, may I suggest you Google on "Pfc. Jessica Lynch"?) Oh, and Dan also takes Bob's squeamishness toward gays to new, uh, heights. Dan, you don't happen to write essays under the pseudonym of Bruce Heffernan, do you?
- Fred resorting to the equally brilliant misogynist epithets of "whore" and "c*nt" to describe Maines;
- the erudite Tim hollering, ".UNLESS YOU'VE BENN IN A FOX HOLE AND LOOKED ACROSS THE WAY AT THE ENEMY..THEN SHUTUP" [sic], obviously never having been informed that the American military was deliberately created to be under civilian control;
- various people insulting the Chicks for being "fat" and "ugly," two of the favored insults of those who think Britney Spears and Calista Flockhart are the ne plus ultra of feminine beauty;
- various people claiming it's treason to criticize a president during wartime (the handful of people who actually stayed awake in ninth-grade civics class have already pointed out that not only is this untrue, but its untruth is one major thing that distinguishes us from whom we're fighting);
- various people (significant overlap with the previous item) claiming that the Chicks and all those who agree with them should move to Iraq (remember when it was Russia?);
- and a general oblivion to the fact that if only speech that offends nobody is protected, what's the use of protecting speech at all?
- the not only illiterate, but incoherent m.o.m. taking this fine opportunity to 12-step the bunch of us;
- Tek repeating "Bush is a Twat" like a mantra, demonstrating how the wisdom of the ancients can be readily and creatively applied to modern political discourse;
- Daisy reminding us, as if we hadn't already heard it 10,000 times, about how "it's all about the oooiiiiiiillllllll!!!!";
- BritBoy's thinly veiled antisemitism (yeah, ButtBoy, we know how you EUnuchs feel about that "shitty little country");
- Sue's hand-wringing about "hate" and adults calling each other nasty names, as if we didn't have worse things to worry about (by the way, Sue, uncivil discourse is a hallmark of an open society);
- Annette claiming that the United Nations actually "works" (tell that to the folks in Kosovo and Rwanda, Annette);
- Tony the Sensitive Type telling Dan (not the Dan from Alaska) to "vent your anger in therapy;"
- LadyB, who teaches school but can't write as well as I and my classmates in my sixth-grade English class did, feeling the need to inform us how refined she is by stating, "I, really don't listen to country music" [sic], proving it's true what they say about education majors being dumber than students of any other major];
- Speaking Back, a/k/a Meg, using "pick up truck" and "rifle" as insults (telling, isn't it?);
- Enrique Juavez getting all flaming on Alaska Dan's ass (uh, figuratively, that is). The homophobe-baiting got old after the first couple of posts, Rico Suave; don't you have a Bette Midler CD to go listen to or something?
- and a whole boatload of people dragging out the fair-haired children of left-wing rhetoric, "Bush is an idiot" (he actually got higher grades in college than Al Gore did), and especially "Bush is an illegitimate president." They did the recount, people. He got enough votes. Not to mention for the 88th time that this is indeed a republic, not a democracy, and the popular vote doesn't mean dick. Move on. The rest of us did, a long time ago. Like 19 months ago.
My basic take on the situation is this: Maines exercised her right to free speech (I happen to disagree with her), but wasn't brave enough to hold her ground when others challenged her, as is their Constitutional right to do. Private radio stations have the right not to play the Chicks' CDs; individuals have the right not to buy them. This is all how a free society works, and it seems to me that in this case, it worked just fine.
This discussion thread, on the other hand...except for maybe a dozen commenters here, Rush Limbaugh and Michael Moore could not sit down and between the two of them draw up a more stereotypical cast of self-righteous conservatives and liberals.
On the right, we have:
On the left, we've got:
Last, but not least, I'd like to send a shout-out to Kate, who writes that it was "irresponsible" to post satire without a warning that it was, indeed, satire. Kate, I don't mean to be rude, but....godDAMN, girl, did you eat a bowl of Fucktard FlakesTM for breakfast!? Look at the freakin' URL, not to mention the misspelling "Chiks" on the page!
Maybe Eric should have set up a MIDI of an air-raid siren at 140 decibels to go off when the link is clicked on. Actually, maybe that should be an Internet standard, considering how many people are so deaf to non-literal uses of language that even a [/sarcasm] tag doesn't tip them off. (Admittedly, I myself was fooled by "Sane View"'s parodic post, but coming on the heels of comments from the likes of non-Alaska Dan, it seemed all too credible.)
428 - dubya
can I say fuck on this website? Freedom on fucking speech yeehaww!! motherfucker!!
429 - Robert
"By the way, BritBoy, you need a lesson in sentence structure and word usage. For having come from a country who gave birth to the English language, you are an extremely pour example of one who has a command of it."
Posted by: mark on March 23, 2003 02:07 AM
For someone debating grammatical structure, you should have spell checked your blathering before posting it. "pour" cracks me up.
430 - Robert
Did I mention that I've fallen feet over head for Reginleif the Valkyrie.
431 - po-dunk
I stand on the opposite side of the fence where the Chix are concerned. I believe the president has more knowledge about Saddam and Iraq than we or the media need to know. I honestly think he based his decision of war on what he thinks is best for ALL Americans (opinions and all), and it can't be argued that he doesn't have the right to do so, because that is what we voted him in for(decision making).I heard Nat's appology on TV last night, and I believe it's genuine. She's anti war, but she said she was ashamed out of haste not hate, she was angry because in her eyes the presedent was uncompassionate to protesters, on the same hand the comments of Bush's that she was refering to, I believe were said in haste as well, when he was asked about people protesting his decision to do what he feels and what we elected him to do what is in their own best interest(and they're protesting!) I can see how it would be very stressful for him, However the point still stands, Good American men and woman have died for Nat's right to have and speak her opinion (reguardless of whether or not it coinsides with their own. SO, if people died so that she could say what she thinks,Than I think it's nothing short of patriotic that she do so. I however don't share her views, just her freedom of speech.
432 - another guy
Hey, I heard that the Dixie Chix not only support Saddam in commentary, but ACTUALLY have secretly sheltered him in the Alamo in San Antonio. They sneak him Taco Bell by cover of night...
433 - po-dunk
george:
Your stupidity astounds me.
I can't believe that after all that has happend you still think this is about oil and money. Shurley you saw how many of ours they killed on 9/11. You must know that with the wepons that Sadam had, 9/11 could have destroyed our entire country,and would have after the fact based on there threts and what damage they had already done, had we delayed our response any further.The purpose of those people was nothing other than to kill Americans. No soldier went over seas and risked his/her life UNWILLINGLY to make sure that what happend on 9/11 never happens again. When someone lets a person hurt them once they WILL do it twice.
434 - johnny brain
the cocksucker[bush]is NOT from texas.