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Danny |
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Journalists who were embedded with The Army’s Third Infantry or the US Marines during the war are now returning home to tell the full story of what it was like in Iraq. I, however, am applying to be embedded with The Dixie Chicks on their upcoming tour. This used to be a country where anybody had the right to make a fool of himself by opening his mouth and inserting his own foot without serious repercussions other than from the podiatrist helping to remove said foot. Now, unfortunately, the climate is one of vitriol from opposing points of view if one speaks out without being properly credentialed in the field of expertise or on the topic upon which one is speaking. In other words, if you don’t have a Fellowship at the Fill-In-The-Blank-Think-Tank or occupy the Current Affairs Desk at the proper literary journal or university, you no longer have a right to express an opinion. Right wing wackos will jump down your throat and try to ridicule your position by inferring that you are uninformed on your topic. War or No War. You need a degree to decide which side you’re on? Most of the kids on the front lines don’t have degrees. Since when do you need a degree to have an opinion? And now Diane Sawyer and Bill O’Reilly and the rest of the media elite have chosen to elevate a great group of Country Music stars to the worthy position of Foreign Affairs experts simply because of an impromptu comment. You really know the war is winding down when the lead story on news broadcasts is The Dixie Chicks’ political philosophy. “Coming up next- -Tarik Aziz throws in the turban- - the President bares his soul to Tom Brokaw- -plus analysis from Donald Rumsfeld, Dick Cheney and Natalie Maines.” Say what? For those who don’t know, and of course I know that’s only a few of you, The Dixie Chicks are one of the greatest musical acts in America today. The trio- -sisters Emily Robison and Martie Maguire and best friend Natalie Maines- -have sold millions of albums- -they have three CDs out so far- -and have toured the world to sell-out crowds. And just in case you were wondering, I have seen them live and they truly are great musicians and singers. If you watched the Super Bowl this year, you saw them sing the National Anthem. If you listen to pop music on the radio with any regularity, you’ve heard them. And if you own a TV, there’s a good chance you’ve seen them, although probably more as a topic for discussion than performing these days. Everyone has an opinion on just about everything. Stop reading right now and ask the person next to you what they think about anything. You pick the topic. See- -they have an opinion. Do they have a right to express that opinion? The Constitution says so. We just “liberated” Iraq so the Iraqi people could express their opinions, even if that means whipping themselves into a bloody frenzy with a Harley chain. (Religious axiom: I will be a better person if I pummel myself until I bleed. Bad me. Bad me. My bad. My bad. Islam-a-bad. Islamabad.) But now something ugly is happening. If you are successful and you speak out, those who disagree with you may begin organized hate campaigns against you for having expressed a point of view that they find unacceptable. Rather than just letting it go- -someone says something one day and it fades from view the next- -whole campaigns of letter writing, talk show calling and what-not are raising the level of discourse to a level of discord. The Chicks were opposed to the war. So were millions of others. But because they said so in public, radio stations stopped playing their songs. CDs were crushed with bulldozers, which is pretty silly since the CDs were already bought and paid for. And the Chicks have become the lead story on so many news broadcasts it’s laughable. What they say is news? Since when? Get over yourself!! A popular email making the rounds these days lists the educational backgrounds of Martin Sheen, Sean Penn and a whole host of talented performers who were against the war. Most on the list have no degrees, only acting school certificates, if that. Also in the email is a list of administration officials such as Condi Rice, Colin Powell and the like, and all of their educational backgrounds- -degrees, advanced degrees, etc, etc. The unstated point of the anonymous author is that these administration folks know more than the performers. They probably do know more about the minutiae of waging war. But you don’t need a degree to know whether you are in favor of war itself or not. This is becoming eerily something like the McCarthyism and blacklists of the 1950s. “You’re either with us or against us.”- -GWB. No. Dissent is healthy to the final outcome of any undertaking. Being a patriot doesn’t mean always blindly following the party in power- -no matter who it is- -down whatever road they choose to lead. Being a patriot means wanting the best for one’s country. Sometimes that means opting for a different path than the leadership. It’s just as patriotic to be against the war which was never explained satisfactorily- -the raison d’être changed at least six times while trying to sell the concept to the American public. You could be so in support of our troops that you want them home on native soil, not 10,000 miles away protecting us from an oily paper tiger. By the way, all this hoopla has not damaged the Chicks. Their current CD is still selling well enough to be number one. Yes I know that there was no way to reverse this course of action. The oily bird gets the worm. The Cheney-Rummy Axis of Weevils was going to have their war regardless of what anyone else thought. But being labeled unpatriotic for speaking your mind is a dangerous precedent best left buried with the Third Reich, Josef Stalin and Joe McCarthy. What if I were to tell you that the “DC” in Washington stood for Dixie Chicks?
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