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Monday, November 6, 2006

Please, Dixie Chicks, I beg you - shut up and sing

By Blair Lovern

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Dixie Chicks movie gets a look-see by the Morning News for the Chick flick coming out this Friday.

As much as I enjoy their music (yes, I really do), I am loathe to write another word about the Dixie Chicks. They've long since reached a Tom Cruise level of annoyance for me. As I read the S-T story, their filmmaker is stuck in the same rut as are her subjects:

The 60-year-old (filmmaker Barbara) Kopple has been telling hard truths through film since she was dodging bullets on a Kentucky picket line while making her Academy Award-winning 1976 debut, Harlan County, U.S.A. That compelling chronicle of a coal-mining strike featured a much rawer brand of country music than what's on the slick Chicks tracks, but Kopple insists that her latest effort is no less politically charged than her early work.

"It goes to the very core of who we are as Americans," she says. "The whole sense of being able to have free speech, to not be silenced, to challenge assumptions, to stand up for who you are without manipulation. Maybe now we have more of a cowboy mentality in our country, and it's 'You're either with us or against us.' Whatever happened to discussion? What happened to dialogue? What happened to connecting with each other and being able to voice our opinions without all of this coming down?"

I feel sorry for people like this, and I'm not saying this to belittle Kopple. She actually does not understand free speech, or its consequences or its responsibilities. Just because you say something does not give you the right of me having to fawn over it. In fact, you might get something dished right back at you. Someone tell me when "dialogue" became "monologue"? I missed that meeting, sorry.

In another interview, Kopple says: "We're living in a time when the freedoms we take for granted--the freedom of speech, the freedom to protest and dissent--are truly in danger."

Really? I'd like to know from where this danger lurks. I hope someone from the CIA doesn't put a giant padlock on the Magnolia this Friday, because that would stink.

Freedom is just another word for soapbox lecture for these people.

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Comments

Elizabeth Eshelman

Elizabeth Eshelman Verified

Nice distinction Blair - That's right - I think it's a fine point that is missed by many in an attempt to be politically correct or for fear of seeming close-minded. What's close-minded is crying foul when the retorts "come down."

2 years ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )

Chad Jones

Chad Jones Staff

If I had to guess, the threat to liberty she's talking about is the Patriot Act and/or the Military Commissions Act.

2 years ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )

Blair Lovern Staff

OK, let's say that's the case, Chad - how have the Patriot Act and Military Commissions Act infringed upon the First Amendment?

2 years ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )

David Gouldin Verified

I couldn't agree with you more. If you really must make political statements outside of the music itself, look at Chris Martin and Thom Yorke as examples. Both are very adamant about their respective causes, but they're not cramming the message down your throat. They haven't made it their identity and used it as a marketing tool like The Dixie Chicks have. It's "hey let me tell you about this issue you might not be aware of" not "hey let me push this week's political hot button and create drama".

2 years ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )

Gregory Anonymous

Rick Perry is speaking freely.

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedconte...

2 years ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )

Chad Jones

Chad Jones Staff

Whatever she is suggesting is destroying the First Amendment isn't clear to me, either. I'm just saying that, if you had to guess what she was talking about, it'd probably be either Act.

2 years ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )

DowntownDallas Anonymous

She's probably referring to the way Bush's peeps crackdown on you if you attempt to protest him at a speech even if it's just wearing a t-shirt voicing dissent (and how you had to sign a loyalty oath when you were at his "Town hall meetings" during 2004's campaign). That's my guess, but I, too, don't know for sure.

Regardless, I'm glad the Chicks are going about the whole thing this way. They had to address the issue with the new album (which they did) and they're saying this documentary will hopefully answer any questions people keep shooting at them --so the press can move on. The media was going to focus on the incident so it makes sense to me that they'd use it for their benefit. The Country industry doesn't want to touch them --except they're counting the 1.6 millions copies of the album as part of the genre's excellent sales for 2006. Go figure.

2 years ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )

Todd Maternowski

Todd Maternowski Staff

I think it's interesting that Rock used Vietnam as a springboard in the 60s and 70s, but for this war [and Korea... and WW2...and the Spanish-American War...maybe Vietnam is the exception rather than the rule?] you don't have the radiowaves full of anti-war ballads.

I think [I'm assuming this, since they don't seem too clear explaining themselves] that the Dixie Chix are angry because, while aggressively unpatriotic, anti-war songs like "American Woman" are revered by the public, when they come out criticizing the prez they get ripped by their own fan base.

I saw Neil Young come out on Colbert Report saying nasty things about the current administration, but he didn't get the vicious response the Dixies got, probably 'cause he's got protest-cred. Maybe in 20 years when President Jenna Bush starts Iraq 3, the Dixies will be able to voice their opinion and have people quietly ignore them.

2 years ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )

David Gouldin Verified

Gregory: I don't want to drag this into an all out religious debate, but Perry is right about one thing ... the Bible is pretty clear in that regard, and he's simply voicing one of Christianity's most basic tenets. I would expect nothing different from anybody who claims to be a Christian.

Now as far as politics go, I'd have much more respect for Perry if he were voicing the same sentiments while running for governor in a state where they were less popular.

2 years ago ( Link to this comment | Suggest removal )

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