March 18, 2003
From the desk of Jane Galt:That righteous stand
Can everyone who's concerned about the Dixie Chicks give the cries of corporate censorship a rest, please? The endless fulminating about how those arch-conservative suits in the music business are shutting down anti-war thought? First of all, you can get seriously hurt laughing that hard. And second of all, all the complaining does is make it crystal clear that the suits aren't censoring the Dixie Chicks -- their fans are.
Country music fans are conservative. You do not sell to them by making nasty comments about the president, and if the Dixie Chicks thought otherwise, they need to get in touch with their base. The suits at Columbia don't care what the Dixie Chicks say -- they care about record sales. And when the Dixie Chicks said something that threatened their star value, the suits stepped in -- just as they would have if the Dixie Chicks wanted to make an album full of gregorian chants. In the proud tradition of the first amendment, those executives are about as content-neutral as you can get. If the Dixie Chicks want to make anti-war speeches, all they need to do is grind out some hot-selling depressive folk-rock to sell to the kinds of folks who like a little Bush-bashing with their music.
The people complaining recognize that it's really the fans, but complaining about the record executives makes it seem more unfair, more like the Man stomping on freedom of speech with both jackboots. In screaming that the Dixie Chicks are being censored, they seem to have confused the two meanings of the word "free" as it relates to "free speech". The right guaranteed in the constitution uses free to mean liberty -- the right to say what you want without government interference. Those outraged by the treatment of the Dixie Chicks, and certain other figures on the left, want to use the word in another way: they want speech to be free in the sense that it has no cost. One could argue that the fan response is a tempest in a teapot -- but they're not arguing that. With good reason, because the Dixie Chicks didn't just say they were against the war. They declared in front of a foreign audience that they were ashamed that the President came from the same state they were. It was less a statement of conscience than unseemly pandering for cheap popularity by hurling, at the president of their country, the kind of schoolgirl sarcasm that one is supposed to have left behind by the time one is old enough to play in front of a foreign audience. It's hard to fault their fans if they decline to encourage that sort of performance. So instead they're arguing that it's somehow wrong of you to actually express your dislike of what the Dixie Chicks did by voting with your wallet.
Words have consequences, and I'm afraid I've no sympathy with those who complain about it. When you want to blather away into the ether, collecting the accolades and shunning the negative response, you're not advocating for speech to be free -- you're advocating for talk to be cheap.
Posted by Jane Galt at March 18, 2003 10:21 AM | TrackBack | Technorati inbound linksThe pre-popular Dixie Chicks included a talented Texas vocalist named Robin Macy, who is still recording with other fine Texas groups such as Big Twang and Domestic Science Club (DSC also features Texan Sara Hicks, IIRC.)
CW music fans who are fond of Texans in general and the current president in particular and are reluctantly giving up on the Dixie Chicks do, after all, have options.
For that matter, so do recording company executives. Robin Macy might jump at the chance to record a solo album and promote it on a European concert tour.
> You couldn't find a song that's more sensitive not just to the men who actually have to fight wars, but to the people at home who suffer as they wait for them.
Nice song, but so what? We all know that war is not nice for children and other living things. Using plastic shredders to chop up people isn't particularly nice either. In this case, it looks like we've get to choose between them.
Besides, Steve "Taliban John" Earle reminds us that singers are actors, that they don't necessarily believe what they're singing.
The Chicks have reaped the rewards, and are now suffering the consequences, of capitalism. Yet another reason to love the United States of America.
It's the stupidity. As bad as her comment from the stage was, the "apology" issued in the press release days later went on to hammer the president again. The chicks had plenty of time to contemplate their professional suicide. If they didn't realize how fans would react to the "apology", they really are too stupid for words.
Sounds like the Dixie Chicks should start practicing their next big hit: "Will you have fries with that?" :-) I hear Vanilla Ice needs help cleaning out the deep frier.
The thing is, the "Dixie" says it all. They're not the Santa Monica Chicks, they're not the Upper East Side Chicks, they're not the Hamptons Chicks. They apparently forgot that in Dixie, comments like "we're ashamed the president is from Texas" won't be cheered. Plenty of Texans are far from ashamed that Bush is a Texan. Failing to account for the reaction of their mainline fans was an appalling blunder.
Dixie Chicks play gregorian chants, I'd pay for that
FWIW:
I worked in the music biz for over 10 years, and joined the company PAC so that I could listen to what the politicos had to say.
I was one of only two people (VP level and above) who EVER voiced an opinion that could be characterized as "right wing."
Music execs are hard left. I get blast emails from industry buddies quoting Joan Didion or Robert Fisk. I am the only person on those lists "on the right." (Or the only one not afraid to speak up). The A&R or Marketing folks who would actually talk to bands are even more hard left.
When the Dixie Chicks' Natalie Maines made her comments I was bummed because I like their music, but even more I was bummed for the record company. It is really hard to be a record company person right now, and hits are very hard to find. I'm sure that the record company worked very hard to "break the act."
The Dixie Chicks were on a big roll, poised to break out to the next superstar level. You just hate to have anything kill the momentum. The level of country airplay that they had and lost was a huge sales driver.
Maines just killed their momentum. She will still be rich, but she cost herself and her band mates (and her record label) millions. It isn't because she was anti-war. It is because she flouted the values of her base. You just don't diss (disrespect) your fans.
My girlfriend is probably the biggest Dixie Chick fan I know -- and she's crushed by what they said. Won't buy anymore CD's, go to anymore concerts. It really sucks because I HATE country music but I thought the Chicks were awesome -- and I frankly don't see a group that is even close to being able to replace the talent, songwriting and entertainment value that the Dixie Chicks have.
"When you want to blather away into the ether, collecting the accolades and shunning the negative response, you're not advocating for speech to be free -- you're advocating for talk to be cheap."
GREAT LINE!!!
Can I quote you -- or did this come from somewhere else?
Excellent!
TC
The "Dixie Chicks" will be ice skating in Hades before I spring for another of their CD's :-}
As far as I know, it's my very own, and of course you may use it -- as long as I get full credit. ;-)
Thanks to Melcher for helping to spread the word about Domestic Science Club. One minor correction: the extremely talented Texan he mentioned is actually Sara Hickman.
My wife loves the Dixie Chicks. I could always take them or leave them--like most contemporary countrt music. Nevertheless it was my wife who immediately sprang into action to let her disappointment be known with every Dixie Chick-related entity on earth. As soon as I heard what the chick said, I laughed out loud. Either she's really courageous or really stupid. Of course it's the latter. That's one chick who doesn't know her audience. It ain't a bunch of lefties in England.
Well, THeir comments won't stop me from watching the Dixie Chicks, and no matter what they say, It won't matter to me.
Cause I'll have the mute button on and just staring at the pictures ; )
Now Clear Channel is apparently dropping the Chicks from it's tiny little playlist. Hopefully this will be a cutting off your nose to spite your face scenario, as I don't like Clear Channel for many reasons. We'll see how long it lasts and what other stations do, but I think that even though people may boo them in public, a closet Chicks habit is hard to give up.
Actually, I had long gotten tired of the local Clear Channel country stations' "All Dixie Chicks All the Time" playlist. Thank god that stupid idiot mouthed off so I can hear some other artists.
I don't know if any of the rest of you are so declasse as to be "American Idol" fans, but Simon Cowell had an interesting comment on tonight's show: after a performance by one of the wannabes (who wasn't really that good), he said, "You're a good country singer; maybe you could replace that girl in the Dixie Chicks".
First Tony Blair, now Simon: ya gotta love the Brits!
Speaking of silly entertainer spouting off their mouths. Is Sheryl Crow an anti-Semite? These are her own words:
“..our plan to keep a military operation in Iraq to protect our
interests in Israel.
http://www.sherylcrow.com/news.asp?newsID=9699
http://216.239.53.100/search?q=cache:utXsVErSpsEJ:www.sherylcrow.com/news.asp%3FnewsID%3D9699+sheryl+crow+9699+news&hl=en&ie=UTF-8
This article was wonderful. Thank you!
As a person who would have considered himself a "Chicks" fan, I am very disappointed. Fame is a terrible bed fellow...While I support a person's right to speak their mind, too many of these people are isolated from reality and do not make an effort to get the facts before speaking. As stated by Bill O'Reilly, "They are bad Americans."
Oddly, the Chicks are catching hell for dissing the USA, and for dissing Bush--but not for dissing Texas.
IMO, the problem they have created for themselves with Texans is at least as meaningful for their careers as the other two problems.
I'm not a Texan BTW, I just know many Texans and well enough to appreciate their reactions to all of this.
It's not Clear Channel, it's local stations owned by Clear Channel making independent decisions.
If the Dixie Chicks had made this statement in the U.S., facing a crowd that might have booed them for it, that would have probably been the end of it, or at the very least the reaction would not have been as intense. They went to Europe to say it, turning "dissent" into a cheap applause line for a fawning audience.
For everyone who is complaining about the heavy handed big corporations stifling the voices that speak out against the conventional wisdom of the majority, I (and many others) eagerly await your defense of John Rocker.
Why do I think I'll instead get the sound of crickets?
"I'm not a Texan BTW, I just know many Texans and well enough to appreciate their reactions to all of this."
I'm a Texan who is oblivious to the Dixie Chicks. Their sort of music bores me to death. Nonetheless, my girl friend works in an advertising department located in Houston. The Dixie Chicks have been constantly talked about in very unflattering manner.
I'm thrilled to see fans and non-fans alike react with derision at NMs asinine comment. She was pandering to a European audience, thinking somehow she had the right to use her platform to do so. When are entertainers going to learn that we buy their records and watch their movies to be entertained, NOT to be educated about politics or anything else? I don't plan to buy a CD of Henry Kissinger singing R&B, and I would really like entertainers to stop reading their press clippings and shut the hell up. Daniel Day Lewis put it best, something like "I don't really think people care what people in my position think." Amen.
Great article! This was a lovely explanation of how the left tends to interpret the "free" in speech - something I'd noticed before, but only in a nebulous fashion. I hadn't been able to think it through clearly - but now you've done so for me.
I usually listen to Gregorian Chant myself, but I'm going to go get a Dixie Chick CD today! Although I might just download from KaZaa...
Did politics ever hurt Willie Nelson, or Johnny Cash?
I'm more powerful than you are, you little hateful nothings! I'm gonna warn you again: If you harm me -- and I pray that no harm comes to you -- but I can't guarantee that it won't.
"I usually listen to Gregorian Chant myself, but I'm going to go get a Dixie Chick CD today!"
The following is from Rod Dreher of the National Review. He still remains a Catholic, but is distubed by the hatred of many far right wing Catholics toward the United States:
“I met a traditionalist Catholic at a party who, upon learning that I worked for NR, said cheerily, "Well, I'm anti-American." He himself was born and raised in America, a country which, for all its problems, is still a land where the Catholic faith is practiced to a degree no longer known in the European countries he and his sort revere. I've heard some of this same crowd, who have been untiring in their declaration that Pope John Paul II has been a disaster for the Church, now talking of the Holy Father as a prophet because the pontiff has set himself against America in the cause of war on Iraq.”
For Salon to call NM's the most forthright or boldest entertainer remark so far just shows that Salon isn't paying attention. Chrissie Hynde called for Americans to be killed. That's a little bolder than messin' with Texas.
The Rolling Stone says it's a tempest in a teapot.
Megan, that was a wonderful quote, and you are so right. Celebrities want the spotlight, but not the baggage that goes with it. Ah, sorry. Can't have it both ways.
>>Words have consequences, and I'm afraid I've no sympathy with those who complain about it.
Presumably it was somebody else who wrote that "the Comintern is policing our cocktail parties" a mere two days ago then? Or I suppose that the other logical possibility is that you don't have any sympathy for yourself, which seems terribly bleak.
And in related news, I find it unlikely that anyone tracks sales on the kind of accurate day-by-day basis to be sure that they had fallen rapidly in two days. The apology was issued because of pressure from *radio stations* which are both in general more conservative than their listeners, and more susceptible to pressure from phone call campaigns organised by nutters.
dsquared:
When Jane commented that "the Comintern is policing our cocktail parties" she also noted that she generally keeps her conservative views to herself because she knows the reaction they would provoke. If NM had done the same we wouldn't be having this discussion. Her post here is entirely consistent with her previous post: keep your mouth shut or be prepared to deal with the consequences.
I dont understand the fuss,what Natalie said was nothing much compared to what Ive hear. Plenty of people say much stronger things. There are a lot of people in the US who hold much stronger views than she espoused. Actually I thought her apology was lame. Whatever happened to standing up for what you believe in, let people who dusagree with you throw rocks,that is the American way. As far as the location its totally irrelevant, everybody knows Americans are never in universaal agreement on anything and that there is substansial opposition to the war here. Dan
The location is not totally irrelevant. There's a strong strain of "don't air your dirty laundry in public" among those who formed the Chicks' main audience. As HH said, if they'd done it at a concert in Texas, they'd have been booed and it likely would be over.
As for standing up for what you believe in, it appears she believes in making money.
I think all of you should be ashamed of yourselves.
There is something known as FREEDOM OF SPEECH.
If we all thought the same it would be a boring place.
Dixie Chicks had a right to express themselves and I respect and admire them for exercising that right not to be too scared of what the consequences would be to follow.
I think its time for the USA to start thinking back to whats important to their country and black balling for this is not it!
I still and will always support Dixie Chicks regardless of what others think.
I think all of you should be ashamed of yourselves.
There is something known as FREEDOM OF SPEECH.
If we all thought the same it would be a boring place.
Dixie Chicks had a right to express themselves and I respect and admire them for exercising that right not to be too scared of what the consequences would be to follow.
I think its time for the USA to start thinking back to whats important to their country and black balling for this is not it!
I still and will always support Dixie Chicks regardless of what others think.
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