Ten years later
When I first created this blog The Twin Cities Underground nearly three years ago, at the time I decided to make an unwritten rule to try to leave politics out of my blog. Of course I occasionally broke that rule on more than one occasion (if I can remember correctly, I do know that I did break that rule once...lol). I decided to break that rule again tonight. The topic? The Dixie Chicks and the tenth anniversary of the extremely controversial comments lead singer Natalie Maines had said about the previous president. I am not a huge fan of The Dixie Chicks but I do like a few songs by the band.
This morning before work, I read this article on CNN about the Dixie Chicks and the controversial comments. What really stood out with me in the article was this:
Last week, in marking the 10-year anniversary of Maines' comments, Country Music Television asked fans whether the Chicks should be forgiven, and more than a third of responders said "no."
Wow. There are still some people who are angry about Natalie Maines' comments after all these years. Their anger is totally misplaced especially with the Iraq war going on its tenth year. If they really need to be angry, they need to be angry at our government for allowing this war to continue. Angry that so much money invested in re-building Iraq has clearly been wasted. Why are those who still hold a grudge against The Dixie Chicks aren't focusing their anger at our government for allowing that travesty of war to continue for so long and to waste our money? I won't even get into the countless lives of soldiers and families that the Iraq war has forever ruined. Perhaps those country fans are just not willing to admit what Natalie had said was true and just want to hold on to their anger towards the band. After ten years, it is time to let go of that anger and to look at the bigger picture which is too much money wasted and worst of all too many lives lost.
Secondly why is it that The Dixie Chicks gets tarred and feathered publicly for what I perceive is a frivolous comment while fellow country artist Hank Williams Jr makes up shit about President Obama. And then there is has been rocker Ted Nugent and his "wonderful" comments. Gotta "love" his comment about Obama sucking on his machine gun. Frankly I personally find those two has-been musicians' comments far worse than what Natalie Maines had said ten years ago. When people criticized Ted and Hank for their comments, the far right starts screeching "free speech", yeah well that is what Natalie Maines and her bandmates needed to hear ten years ago instead of getting freaking death threats. That was totally uncalled for and because of that has made Natalie Maines a bit more reticent to return to her band which is a damn shame. While I deplore the comments that Ted and Hank have made, I would personally not give into the same childish mentality of those who scorned and harshly criticized The Dixie Chicks. I'll let them spew their crap as I will spew mine because of that lovely thing called the First Amendment.
That said, I will end this blog with this live performance of Natalie Maines' new song "Take It On Faith" from her new album Mother due out in May. Quite a lovely song IMHO.
This morning before work, I read this article on CNN about the Dixie Chicks and the controversial comments. What really stood out with me in the article was this:
Last week, in marking the 10-year anniversary of Maines' comments, Country Music Television asked fans whether the Chicks should be forgiven, and more than a third of responders said "no."
Wow. There are still some people who are angry about Natalie Maines' comments after all these years. Their anger is totally misplaced especially with the Iraq war going on its tenth year. If they really need to be angry, they need to be angry at our government for allowing this war to continue. Angry that so much money invested in re-building Iraq has clearly been wasted. Why are those who still hold a grudge against The Dixie Chicks aren't focusing their anger at our government for allowing that travesty of war to continue for so long and to waste our money? I won't even get into the countless lives of soldiers and families that the Iraq war has forever ruined. Perhaps those country fans are just not willing to admit what Natalie had said was true and just want to hold on to their anger towards the band. After ten years, it is time to let go of that anger and to look at the bigger picture which is too much money wasted and worst of all too many lives lost.
Secondly why is it that The Dixie Chicks gets tarred and feathered publicly for what I perceive is a frivolous comment while fellow country artist Hank Williams Jr makes up shit about President Obama. And then there is has been rocker Ted Nugent and his "wonderful" comments. Gotta "love" his comment about Obama sucking on his machine gun. Frankly I personally find those two has-been musicians' comments far worse than what Natalie Maines had said ten years ago. When people criticized Ted and Hank for their comments, the far right starts screeching "free speech", yeah well that is what Natalie Maines and her bandmates needed to hear ten years ago instead of getting freaking death threats. That was totally uncalled for and because of that has made Natalie Maines a bit more reticent to return to her band which is a damn shame. While I deplore the comments that Ted and Hank have made, I would personally not give into the same childish mentality of those who scorned and harshly criticized The Dixie Chicks. I'll let them spew their crap as I will spew mine because of that lovely thing called the First Amendment.
That said, I will end this blog with this live performance of Natalie Maines' new song "Take It On Faith" from her new album Mother due out in May. Quite a lovely song IMHO.
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