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I’ve never been much of a fan of cute blonde girl bands, but over the years Dixie chicks have impressed me with their staying power, declining blondeness, and especially for the Much Ado about Nothing that exploded when they had the gall to diss Bush as a fellow Texan.
This comment during a concert led to some disconcerting behaviors which I dare say are "Un-American". Boycotts, death threats against these "uppity women", CD-burning pyres and the like. It really was a shameful display of behaviors that most Americans stereotype Muslim extremists for. Then again, it was a display of not only political fanatcism, but frankly sexism as well. You didn’t see people making CD flambes out of Springsteen or Mellencamp or other men who oppose Bushie (in Chinese the press refers to him as "litle Bush" AKA "Shao Bushie").
I do love this song-and the section of lyrics below. Judge for yourself. I know not everyone, even those I love (and presumbly love me back), share my political leanings.
But Democracy IS Dissent.
If we can’t agree to disagree without sending death threats to one another merely for free speech - then the cause is already long lost.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bR1l95sLroQ&feature=PlayList&p=7A703FF1FAB9EE46&index=0
make my bed, and i sleep like a baby with no regrets
and i dont mind saying its a sad, sad, story
when a mother would teach her daughter that she ought to hate a perfect stranger,
and how in the world can the words that I said send somebody so over the edge
that they’d write me a letter sayin that I better ’shut up and sing’ or my life will be over’?
Movie critic Ebert also commented about getting hate mail when he voiced his political concerns. And he pointed out how nasty and dangerous it is when people have silly one dimensional notions like only "experts" have any "right" to comment about this world and our government. He also got comments like "shut up and stick with movies".
As Noam Chomsky has pointed out, there is nothing about basic politcal systems and the use/abuse of power that could not be explained to an 8th grader. As a rather over-educated and over-institutionalized person myself, I feel even more strongly that we need to hear the voices of people from all walks of life. Lots of my peers with bunches of fancy letters after their names are lesser human beings than the lady running taco truck or the guy washign your car. Keep it real to so speak. Some of why we are in such a darn mess is that the current government looks, act, feels, lives, not one whit like your average working Joe American. The entire point of a democracy is that one need not be any kind of royalty or official Ivy league talking head so as to have a voice and a say, one that matters.
So, even if you’re ideologically at odds with me & my peeps: speak up.
Don’t let those few vitriolic windbags obscure the middle ground.
Some of us still believe in those quaint concepts: dialogue, compromise, and most importantly, Peace.
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