On the Scene: The Dixie Chicks at Madison Square Garden

Mesa ‘tinkin dat alla dissa arguin’bout bombad Dixies smells stinkin!
WHY YOUSA WASTIN’ TIME ON DISSEN?!

Yikes, no wonder nobody caught on last night, I thought I was exaggerating, but apparently not.

“They hate America, thay have said so, president Bush is a great American patriot, he saved this country from evil doers, and what thanks does he get? He gets 3 bottle blond jezabels bad mouthing him and calling him names, he is the president, and the presidentsy is a sacred office that must be respected.”
Okay, so I’m a little late to the party here. I’ve been catching up on all the reasoned debate we’ve been having. I’m never quite sure why we have to call each other ridiculous names in order to express our opposing opinions. Is every Republican an ignorant redneck country-music listening NRA-joining misogynistic fundamentalist homophobic who wants to take us back to the dark ages to acheive some sort of Biblically perfect version fo the world? No. Is every Democrat/liberal an anti-American traitor who wants to turn the running of the world over to the UN, take away your Bibles, force everyone to have an abortion, and let terrorists blow up anything they want because it would hurt their feelings not to? No. Everyone is an individual, and every individual is different (I know that’s a little bit Sesame Street, i.e. a lesson we all should have learned as 5 year olds, but some people seem to really like tarring everyone with the same brush).
No one should be judged just simply by the fact that they’re democrat or republican. I know people have been bashing free speech, like it’s something that liberals only bring up when it’s convenient for them, but it was one of the founding principles of this country. Everyone has a right to their opinion. Everyone has a right to express that opinion, just as everyone has a right to disagree with that opinion if they don’t think it’s right.
When we go around calling each other stupid names just because we hold a different opinion, we just make ourselves sound dumb (I include myself in this, as I have called our president a few choice names myself over the last 5 excruitiating years… oh, and by the way, disliking the president does not make me a traitor and does not mean I hate America, nor does liking him mean that you are an ignorant moron… seriously).
Bottom line: name calling is for five year olds. Can’t we express our opinions without calling people names?
But also, can we please stop this whole thing about george bush stopping “evil doers”. Saddam Hussein: Bad man. But guess what, there are a lot of bad men out there who do equally bad things to the people they have power over and we do nothing about them. Try living in Saudi Arabia for a while… but of course we don’t do anything to them because they have the money and the power.
Also, as has been mentioned, the presidency is a job. A job that is fairly important to the operation of this country, but a job nonetheless. How the president does his job affects people more than how I do my menial, soul-sucking job, but that doesn’t make his job “sacred” or beyond reproach. The president is a man with a job who is elected by the people and is therefore answerable to him. Being elected president did not suddenly make it so that he was above us. Does he represent us? Yes. But if he does it badly, we have a right to say so. No president in the history of this country has gone without criticsm, not even during a war (especially during a war).
Oh, and yes we can bring up how the Republicans used to bash Clinton. You treat Bush as if his position is completely unassailable just because he is president, but many Republicans and conservative (notice I say many, not all) bashed Clinton unrelentingly during his tenure, even before he cheated on his wife. No one talked about the office as sacred when he occupied it. You can’t have it both ways. You can’t say it’s sacred when a Republican is in it but vulnerable when a Dem is in it. It either is or it isn’t. And it isn’t. This is a free society, not Stalinist Russia where if you insult the Great Leader you’re tossed into a jail without trial.
Anyway, I have rambled on way too long, and probably somewhat incoherently. (sorry if I’ve bored you all) It just kind of makes me sad that some of us, on “my” side and “your” side, feel like the only way to get our point across or feel validated is to resort to schoolyard tactics. (And yes, I am including liberals and conservatives and everyone between in this rant… no one is without blame here… People in glass houses and all that…)
But I do defend your right to resort to schoolyard tactics if that’s what you feel like you have to do, because that is one of the freedoms of expression you are entitled to…

Its Offical! After months of out right lies and spin by the chicks, they have now “oficially” canceled 14 venues on the AMERICAN leg of their tour!!
Could not happen to a more deserving group!

I hope it’s true that the Dixie Chicks (a fantastic group) are cancelling shows in the south. It means they’ll have more time to play in other parts of the country. You know, places where people don’t hold someone exercising their right to free speech against them. Places where people don’t think finishing high school is higher education. Places where you don’t go to family reunions to try to meet women.

“So, which is it? With sex you say that’s the way it has always been- but we should evolve our look at marriage because who cares that’s how it has been.”
Those are two separate things that are not comparable as to how they are looked at or done or the thought process behind them. If you cannot realize that marriage and sex are separate and teens see it that way, then I am sorry. One does not equal another.
As far as the discussion about abortion, you think having a million gray areas will cover it? Please! What so it gets listed in the law books as a no-no UNLESS A, B, C, -ZZ happens? And what tells you that it is wrong? Religion? Why should another’s religious views be foisted onto me? That must be that my way or the highway mentality. Just because it worked out for you and many others does not mean it works out for all. How hard is it to understand that? All people and their circumstances are different and all people should be given the choice to make their own decision based upon their circumstances. You don’t believe in it, don’t do it. Leave my choice alone because I do not believe what you believe.
Oh and I have also worked with teens who have become pregnant and are scared. Some have babies they cannot take care of and Child Services must come in when their own absentee parent and now uncaring grandparent who did not care that their own child was running the streets but has to now care for another child because they have no money to do much else let the toddler play by the stove and burn their little body. I have seen some who have had family support and gone on to do wonderful things. I have seen those who have struggled with the decision and decided they could not bring a child into the world with all the baggage they have, whether it be drug use or abuse or simply not being ready at the age of 14. You see most of those confused teens did not receive education about how to prevent pregnancy or did not have the healthcare to do so. All of those are different things I have seen and there are a million others. Like the girl raised in a satanic cult who has received almost no nurturing in her life. Or the girl who hears voices but is too young to be diagnosed as schizophrenic. Or the addict who cannot get services to get clean and has already done many drugs during pregnancy. Or the woman in an abusive relationship with a man who would force her to have the child if he knew. Or the girl raped by her uncle. Or the woman with 5 kids already who cannot pay bills despite her husband working two full time jobs which offer benefits at the price of $200 a week. Or the woman working her butt off to make a better life and would have to give up school to care for a child. You cannot predict this stuff. You cannot predict who will fall into the .02% of people whose birth control fails.
Most and usually do not cut it when making up rules that have such an impact on so many lives.
So what, we don’t teach them how to not get pregnant and then give them no choice about how to deal with what they could have prevented had they been given the chance and then once they have no other choice but to have that child we do not provide them with adequate healthcare to ensure that mother and child (or child and child in some cases) are healthy? How does that make sense?
“And in the case of the mother’s life in jeopardy because of pregnancy problems. Just some things in life come along that are not fair and do not make sense. ”
Well, that takes the cake. We can save on but instead let both die because your religion says it is wrong. YOUR religion.
And if you think that the gay community has not been vocal about the marriage issue, then you do not listen.
And still no answer how Bob and Joe down the street affect George and Laura. Or how it is disrespectful. But you can’t answer those without bringing religion into it, can you? And your religion should not be making decisions for others. Simple.
Great post, dub.
Jethro, you only thought you were exaggerating, but you were right on.

Really cool site! Keep going on!