7 Comments Add your own

• 1. Chuck Sweeny  |  August 20th, 2008 at 12:54 am

  There’s no need to denigrate country fans (and I am one) by using the word fascist. How, exactly, would you know?
  Now, if you want to talk fascists, I give you the infamous Altamont Rolling Stones concert in 1968. Now, there were some jack-booted thugs for you.
  Country fans don’t come to concerts to hear naive political prognostications, anid were shocked by what the Dixies said overseas. I was, too. I think it’s out of line to denigrate your country’s leaders while performing in another country, and I was among the people who stopped playing Dixie Chick albums after that. I just wasn’t interested anymore.
  Besides, Tim McGraw and Garth Brooks are liberal Dems, and popular country artists k.d. lang and Melissa Etheridge aren’t even straight. The fans really don’t care.

• 2. Pat Cunningham  |  August 20th, 2008 at 6:24 am

  Chuck: I, too, am a fan of country music, which I’ve evidenced in previous posts on this blog. I was referring to the radio executives, not the fans. (Re-read my post.) For example, the suits at Cumulus Media, which has scads of country stations, not only banned the Dixie Chicks from its playlists, it also sponsored a CD-smashing ceremony outside its Atlanta headquarters. Them’s the fascists to which I referred. But, of course, those radio execs have every right to smash what they want and ban whomever they choose from their playlists, and I have a right to call them fascists for implying that truly patriotic Americans must all march in lockstep behind the Bush administration when it goes to war. As for criticizing our country’s leaders while performing in another country, you may have a problem with that, but I don’t. Controversial political comments by performers of global renown are going to be noticed all over the world, anyway, so what difference does it make where they’re uttered? Besides, I think Great Britain has roughly the same free-speech rights that we have over here in the colonies.

• 3. Craig Knauss  |  August 20th, 2008 at 8:50 am

  Somebody should remind Chuck that in the U.S. we have freedom of speech. It doesn’t matter if the speech is popular or not. It’s still protected. Such as when the Nazis marched through predominantly Jewish Skokie, Illinois. As offensive as the Nazis were, their speech was protected. But when the Dixie Chicks criticized the incompetance of our present leader, they were banned from the airwaves. That’s the fascism that Pat is referring to.

  I, and others, have to endure ultra-rightwing rants daily. And anybody who disagrees with them is labeled “un-American”. That’s fascism.

• 4. Pat Cunningham  |  August 20th, 2008 at 9:33 am

  By the way, Chuck: My Super-Duper Applesauce Software informs me that your comment was the 4,000th to appear on this blog. In appreciation, I hereby grant you the right to submit one free comment — that is, one comment to which I will refrain from replying and will bar replies from any of the other creatures who visit here. If you choose, however, to invite replies to that one comment, the prohibition will be lifted. It’s your call.

• 5. Fred Flintstone  |  August 20th, 2008 at 11:10 am

  Chuck Quote:
  “the infamous Altamont Rolling Stones concert in 1968 Now, there were some jack-booted thugs for you”

  Chuck must be referring to those flag waving Nixonites better known as the
  Hell’s Angels. Nothing infuriated them more than to see a long hair wearing a peace sign or an Out of Vietnam Now button.

  But he’s absolutely correct about the fact that music fans don’t go to concerts to hear, “naive political prognostications”, and especially denigrating your country’s leaders while performing in another country.

  Which brings me to my point.

  Conservative Republicans seem to have very short memories when
  “One of Theirs” commits the
  very same sins that they accuse democrats or liberals of.

  Case in point would be none other than droopy pants himself, Arch Conservative gun nut and proto fascist Ted Nugent.

  He regularly denigrates the democratic leadership in the most crass of language
  including his dismal performance at the Swedish Rock Fest and other overseas
  venues where he has spewed his hatred and filth to the disappointment of rock fans.

  Some of his most recent rants included such quotable remarks as telling Obama to “Suck” on his “Machine Gun”, Calling Hillary a corrupt socialist and Obama a terrorist appeaser,

  Regularly referring too Obama a “piece of s—” and Clinton a “worthless bi#ch”. That would be denigrating in my book but then I’m not a Republican.

  One of the differences though was the lack of any concern by Conservatives when Nugent used the same tactics and language in his overseas political rants. Rather they like to play up
  the fact that Nugent has visited Army bases to perform for our troops overseas.
  Commendable yes, but if I recall my history, the last time Ted Nugent went anywhere near the Army, he pissed and craped his pants so he wouldn’t get drafted.

  Isn’t it amazing what a little change in law from a draft to a voluntary military can do for such a Rambo, “kill em all let God sort em out” , Conservative gun freak ?

  Also notice the lack of any backlash from the music industry that the Dixie Chicks had to contend with for making that non profane statement while performing overseas.

  The double standards set by Republicans as above as well as the 2004 election calls for John Kerry’s Military records seem to be forgotten now that those calls are now being
  made of John McCain.

  What was that they said back then, Oh Yea.

  “If he doesn’t have anything to hide, Then WHY NOT release all of his military records”

  Yea, Why not Chuck ….. Aaron …..Anyone ….. ? Crickets.

• 6. Chuck Sweeny  |  August 20th, 2008 at 9:47 pm

  Pat, what do I get for my prize? Yes, you did talk about station owners, but I think fascist is too strong a word to use. I rather prefer boneheaded jerks, it is more to the point.

  The last classy radio station owner was Verne Nolte.

  As to Mr. Knauss’s comment that we have free speech in this country, Well, duh, Craig, thanks for the reminder.
  .
  My free speech says I don’t like what the Dixies did, I can say so, and erase them from my I-pod. So there. Besides, SheDaisy is a much better act.

  What the first amendment says is: “Cngress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

  It talks about Congress. It does not say, “Chuck shall make no law,” or “Mr. Knauss shall make no law.”

  The First Amendment bans government restritions on most speech. That means we can say whatever we want. Well, except you can’t yell “Harrison Ford” in a crowded Indiana Jones movie.

  Britain, where the Dixies dissed W., is another story. They have an unwritten constitution and no bill of rights. The government can exercise prior restraing to prohibit publication of something it doesn’t like. There are laws against “hate speech” and speech codes are banning more and more words.
  The press have no freedom to cover anything that happens in a trial. And, oh yes, did I mention the millions of security cameras run by the police? They are literally on just about every light pole, in every public place. You should assume when in the UK that you are being watched.

• 7. solo sam  |  August 23rd, 2008 at 10:26 pm

  Well said Chuck. Most of us could really care less what a “celebrity” thinks politically. It’s bad enough how our culture puts these people on pedestals. Just ignore ‘em.

Leave a Comment

Name Required

Email Required, hidden

Url

Comment

Security Code:

Some HTML allowed:
<a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <code> <em> <i> <strike> <strong>

Trackback this post  |  Subscribe to the comments via RSS Feed