the state of me

I am drunk in love with summer.

posted by Alissa @ 4:47 PM

I just watched the 48 Hours show that featured Diane Sawyer's interview with the Dixie Chicks. I love the Dixie Chicks. I own all their albums, I've seen them in concert, I own a Dixie Chicks t-shirt, I think they are fantastic, talented, fun, fabulous and have raised the bar for all musicians, not just country musicians.

I suppose most of all I simply don't understand why people are as angry about this at all, and the extent to which they are expressing their anger. All of us say things we don't mean, stupid things, things we know we shouldn't have said. I don't think because you are a celebrity and because the AP wire is recording everything you say is necessarily a reason for one person to be held to a higher standard than another. I don't know what it's like to be famous, I don't know what it's like to have people hang on your words, to be have the ability to affect another's opinion. Should celebrities be forced to check their opinions? Should they maintain a middle-of-the-road stance on all subjects that may or may not be inflammatory? I don't think so. I can't bear listening to Howard Stern or Rush Limbaugh, but they can both keep blathering away as long as they want. I don't have to turn them on. But the Dixie Chicks aren't even like Howard Stern or Rush Limbaugh. They haven't become famous for expressing their opinions on politics or society. They're famous for their music. So if Natalie makes some off-the-cuff remark that anyone with some semblance of common sense could see was made without a lot of forethought, but rather in the midst of a world in turmoil and debating whether or not declaring war on another country (yes folks, that's what we did) was a good idea, at a time where anyone with a conscious should have been confused--well, you can see that this statement isn't at all a BIG DEAL. (It irritates me that the AP wire even picked it up, that it was made to be a big deal by the press.)

When I see videotape of parents cheering their children on as they stomp on Dixie Chicks CD's I wonder if these people really understand why Saddam Hussein is/was such a crazy bastard or maybe they really could fall in line with Hussein's my way or be tortured and killed kind of a government. See, (and I'm talking to you, flag-waving-CD-stomping-boycotting-threatening folks who were featured over and over in the news since this happened in March) Saddam Hussein didn't let his citizens express free thought, dissent, opinions. If you had a problem with Saddam's bestselling novel, maybe wrote a bad review of it, said you were ashamed he came from your hometown of Tikrit, it wouldn't have been just your likeness that was stomped on, it would have been you who was stomped on. Don't punish the Dixie Chicks for doing exactly what you are doing by deciding not to buy their CD. You get to choose here in America. Why choose to get riled up over a musician's statement when actual politicians, people we voted into office to represent us, politicians like Senator Rick Santorum are comparing homosexuality to incest. Now that is something worth getting angry about, calling your radio station about, writing a letter about.

I tried too late to get a ticket to the Dixie Chicks Boston concert and I am so sorry I'll miss their live show, because believe me they are kick-ass live. Think I could get lucky and some "patriot" will decide to boycott the Boston show and I can buy their ticket on eBay? At the very least, I wear my Dixie Chicks t-shirt with much pride.

posted by Alissa @ 4:06 PM