Vinson’s Variety: Dixie Chicks what America is about
As most are aware, there recently has been much controversy surrounding the all-girl country music group the Dixie Chicks. That controversy stems from a remark lead singer Natalie Maines made at a concert in London, England back in early April, just as America was about to commence bombing Iraq: “Just so you know, we’re ashamed the president of the United States is from Texas.” (The Dixie Chicks hail from Texas, also.)
Later, the Chicks even appeared on Primetime Thursday with Diane Sawyer, giving a rather candid interview and attempting to answer the “Whys?” of their actions.
Even though Natalie Maines later apologized, saying her remark was “disrespectful,” country radio stations across the nation yanked Dixie Chicks music from playlists, while some protesters resorted to publicly trashing their CDs to demonstrate against the singers’ perceived lack of patriotism.
Don’t fall out with those country radio stations, though, because, actually, they had little say in the matter – on an issue of this magnitude, anyway. The FCC (Federal Communications Commission) regulates U.S. broadcast media and communications markets, meaning the FCC issues those stations their licenses. If a station manager/owner had refused to ban Dixie Chicks? playlist, he/she probably would have received a visit from the MIB, men in black. Next thing you know, that particular radio station would not be issued a license.
I thoroughly agree that Natalie Maines’ timing was not the best in the world. Her negative statement about the president on the eve of initiating war with another country was guaranteed to arouse plenty of controversy. However, as Maines admitted, her statement about the president just sort of slipped out – it was heartfelt.
Further, never one time did Maines threaten the president nor wish harm come his way. Never did she voice that she wished for any sort of harm to come the way of any American or American soil. Never did she align herself with our enemies.
In my opinion, what Natalie Maines said about the president should have been covered by the latitude and longitude afforded by our First Amendment Rights, namely freedom of speech. If you stop and ponder on it for a moment, the true essence behind the media’s harsh handling of Natalie Maines and the Dixie Chicks, ironically enough, is the same reason the U.S. went to the trouble of ousting Saddam Hussein from power: oppression.
All this bring to mind a scene from the movie “Liberty Stands Still.” In that particular scene, actor Wesley Snipes, portraying a disgruntled citizen, utters to himself: “Our First Amendment rights are protected as long as we don’t p**s off the guys wearing the suits.”
On the upside of this dilemma, though, it did me great good to see the Dixie Chicks pose nude on the cover page of the May 2 edition of Entertainment Weekly, in an effort to reestablish the group as a number one country act. In fact, there are reports their CD sales are back up, and tickets for their next concert are selling like wildfire.
Not only is that cover page easy on the male eye, it demonstrates that even though the Dixie Chicks have had their wings clipped, they still possess the ability to fly over wide open spaces not yet chartered by other country music acts. You go, gals!
(Mike Vinson is a Warren County columnist. He can be reached at [email protected].)