The Dixie Chicks

[Regnad Kcin]

The group's lead singer, Natalie Maines, achieved mass-notoriety in 2003 by declaring before an overseas concert audience she was ashamed George W. Bush was a Texas native, like her. As a result, the group suffered a substantial commercial backlash as well as a public outcry that included numerous death threats.

In their first album since the incident, "Taking the Long Way Out", they (the trio reportedly of a like mind) are apparently not flinching nor apologizing. In a Time magazine feature, Maines reflects for a moment on what to her was a defining personal choice, "I think I'd gotten too comfortable living my life. I didn't know people thought about us a certain way -- that were were Republican and pro-war."

My question: What does it mean to be patriotic?

 

[wunky]

Apparently she does not like her home town much, either. She maligns it in the latest album

 

[pgwenthold]

Which one? Plainfield (her actual hometown ? or is it Plainview? one of the "Plains" in that area) or Lubbock, which is close-by (where her sister Sharon is a TV news anchor)

 

[Jocko]

My question: What does it mean to be patriotic?

To stand up for what you believe is best for your nation, consitent with its ideals and your understanding of what is good about it.

The Dixie Chicks are free to express themselves any way they like. But since celebrity is only enjoyed at the pleasure of your fans, using it as a podium runs the risk of seeing your celebrity evaporate.

This is apparently what's happened here, since the Dixie Chicks can only make news for their political speech and not their music. Put them on the shelf next to Streisand, Clooney, Baldwin and Sarandon. Each chose to alienate a large part of their fan base to speak out for what they believe is right.

That's fine. That's good. That's noble. Just so long as they don't come back bitching about censorship when their fans make them pay.

I think a better question here is this: who the hell thought the Dixie Chicks didn't blow chunks long before the Bush kerfluffle?

 

[ImaginalDisc]

To stand up for what you believe is best for your nation, consitent with its ideals and your understanding of what is good about it.

The Dixie Chicks are free to express themselves any way they like. But since celebrity is only enjoyed at the pleasure of your fans, using it as a podium runs the risk of seeing your celebrity evaporate.

This is apparently what's happened here, since the Dixie Chicks can only make news for their political speech and not their music. Put them on the shelf next to Streisand, Clooney, Baldwin and Sarandon. Each chose to alienate a large part of their fan base to speak out for what is right.

That's fine. That's good. That's noble. Just so long as they don't come back bitching about censorship when their fans make them pay.

I think a better question here is this: who the hell thought the Dixie Chicks didn't blow chunks long before the Bush kerfluffle?

Damn it Jocko, don't make me agree with you again.

 

[Jocko]

Damn it Jocko, don't make me agree with you again.

I'm all about free speech. I'm also all about accepting responsibility for one's actions. Courage means doing the "right" thing in spite of the consequences, not because you're assured there won't be any consequences.

 

[BPSCG]

who the hell thought the Dixie Chicks didn't blow chunks long before the Bush kerfluffle?

Thyanks for reminding me of something I think I saw on The Man Show:

Chimp dressed in human clothing, at a bar. Chimp bartender behind the bar.

Chimp: "Man, I got drunk last night."
Bartender Chimp: "How drunk were you?"
C: "I got so drunk, I blew chunks."
B: "Hell, everybody gets that drunk."
C: "Chunks is my dog!"

(Both chimps screech jibberishingly...)

 

[ImaginalDisc]

I'm all about free speech. I'm also all about accepting responsibility for one's actions. Courage means doing the "right" thing in spite of the consequences, not because you're assured there won't be any consequences.

No, stop! No more reasonable statements! Quick, say something inane!

 

[Jocko]

No, stop! No more reasonable statements! Quick, say something inane!

Er, Roddy Piper deserves the lifetime achievement Oscar® for his role in They Live.

That's not just the most inane thing I've said today... that's in contention for #1 lifetime.

 

[Cleon]

I actually like the Dixie Chicks, politics aside. Great bluegrass singing and harmony. For a modern country act (which to me is usually synonymous with "sucks harder than a black hole"), they're pretty good.

It seems to me they're in a no-win situation. They could apologize and just get on with their lives, but the increasingly-cynical public would just see that as pandering. They could stick to their guns (which is what they're doing, admirably), but they'll piss off the rednecks--who make up the base audience for country music.

Either way, they'll never be the superstars that they once were. But they'll continue to be popular among certain circles, they'll continue to tour, and they'll keep making music.

 

[DaChew]

And the album's not doing well by previous Dixie Chicks standards - and they've been tossed off a lot of country stations:
http://upi.com/NewsTrack/view.php?StoryID=20060522-101753-8848r

Here's the rule: If you're in a band called Green Day, you can pretty much say or do anything you want. If you're in a group that depends on country music fans do not deride any of the following:

God
Country
the military
the flag
Dogs
Pickup Trucks
18 wheelers
NASCAR (except Jeff Gordon)
guns
Sears
horses
Hank (Sr or Jr)
Johnny
Willie (even though he's a democrat)
Deere
BBQ (except Chicago style)
Dolly's boobs

 

[BPSCG]

Haven't seen the current Time issue yet, but since Mrs. BPSCG gets it*, I'll take ten or fifteen minutes tonight and read it. But meanwhile, something Jonah Goldberg wrote the first time the DC's got all pissy about the reaction to their politics:

If I owned a hardware store and put a sign in the window reading, "Down with Bush" — I'd lose business. Or, if I put one in the window saying "Down with Saddam!" I'd also lose business. This is because other people have the right to associate themselves with ideas just as much as movie stars have the right to express their "ideas." Only by the logic of the bitchy little world we call Hollywood, where even men are divas, would we say it's outrageous that store owners are having their "right" to sell three-penny nails revoked.

* She is an otherwise intelligent, thoughtful woman.

 

[BPSCG]

Er, Roddy Piper deserves the lifetime achievement Oscar® for his role in They Live.

That's not just the most inane thing I've said today... that's in contention for #1 lifetime.

"...and I'm all outta bubble gum..."

 

[whitefork]

well

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Allen_Coe

a narrative in which Coe explains that the perfect country and western song has to mention "Mama, or trains, or trucks, or prison, or gettin' drunk", whereupon he sings the last verse:

Well, I was drunk the day my Mom got out of prison,
And I went to pick her up in the rain,
But before I could get to the station in my pickup truck,
She got runned over by a damned old train.

 

[Regnad Kcin]

I'm all about free speech. I'm also all about accepting responsibility for one's actions. Courage means doing the "right" thing in spite of the consequences, not because you're assured there won't be any consequences.

So I gather you admire the Chicks' continued defiance?

 

[Jocko]

So I gather you admire the Chicks' continued defiance?

Sure, as long as they accept the price to be paid. I thought that was pretty clear from the post you quoted. Where's the confusion? If you mean to conflate that with defiance=patriotism, however, then you're way off the mark.

 

[Number Six]

So I gather you admire the Chicks' continued defiance?

If the past couple years constitute continued defiance then what do the six or eight years previous to that constitute? Continued deception? Or perhaps they were honest then too but they simply changed their minds at some point. Changing your mind is fine but they could've started giving their political opinions while simultaneously showing a little more respect for their long time audience. Instead they basically said "Now that we've got a bunch of money from you dumb hicks we can start calling you dumb hicks to your faces."

It's easy to have the courage of your convictions when you have a big bank account to back it up.

 

[Jocko]

If the past couple years constitute continued defiance then what do the six or eight years previous to that constitute? Continued deception? Or perhaps they were honest then too but they simply changed their minds at some point. Changing your mind is fine but they could've started giving their political opinions while simultaneously showing a little more respect for their long time audience. Instead they basically said "Now that we've got a bunch of money from you dumb hicks we can start calling you dumb hicks to your faces."

It's easy to have the courage of your convictions when you have a big bank account to back it up.

Did I forget to mention that I also support the right of every American to get rich by any legal means at their disposal? Frankly, I don't care if they're born again peaceniks or cynical bandwagon-jumpers. They got rich doing one thing, and should not be surprised to see that end if and when they alienate their fan base.

 

[pgwenthold]

I actually like the Dixie Chicks, politics aside. Great bluegrass singing and harmony. For a modern country act (which to me is usually synonymous with "sucks harder than a black hole"), they're pretty good.

I agree. I like the way they took Landslide, for example, and turned it banjo. That takes cajones.

My current goal is do a banjo version of Only the Good Die Young. Need to get my g-string replaced, but I'm going to do it.

 

[bluess]

I like the Dixie Chicks.

I generally don't care about a performer's politics/personal difficulties, until they become so in my face that I can't ignore them (can we say Tom Cruise?).