Crossposted from Town Called Dobson
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Now, many years after the comments of the Dixie Chicks concerning their shame that Bush is from their home state, hate still brews for them in the American South.
Since the Dixie Chicks spoke their mind about President Bush just days before the United States’ invasion of Iraq, the country trio has all but disappeared from Southwest Florida country radio stations.
As a fan of country music and a fan of many of the Dixie Chicks’ older songs, I realized that I wasn’t hearing their famous tunes anymore. Hits like “Cowboy Take Me Away,” “Travelin’ Soldier,” “Wide Open Spaces” and the hilarious “Goodbye Earl” — all gone, absent, AWOL from the country airwaves.
It is sad that this is our America – even as we celebrate the accomplishments of Martin Luther King, Jr., hate still seems to be a family value. Even after all this time and now as most of America abhor Bush and his policies, the Dixie Chicks are still considered traitors.
It’s not that the remark itself was shocking or even terribly provocative. But the backlash from the country music industry, from the South, from the core of the Chicks’ fan base was just stunning in its vitriol and hypocrisy. The same people who are so proud to live in a country where freedom of speech is an inalienable right wanted to silence these women – and worse.
Hypocrisy, the right is choked with it. Here is America the freedom of speech is fundamental, yet the right, especially the religious right – America’s evangelicals, hate it. Whether they are banning sex education, Harry Potter or the Dixie Chicks, they don’t give a damn about the Bill of Rights.
They also don’t care about this list of soldiers that all died on January 7, 2007.
Spc. Eric T. Caldwell, 22, of Salisbury, Md., died Jan 7 in Iraq of wounds sustained when his unit came in contact with enemy forces using small arms fire. He was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 8th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division, Fort Hood, Texas.
Cpl. Stephen J. Raderstorf, 21, of Peoria, Ariz., died Jan. 7 in Balad, Iraq, of wounds sustained during combat operations. He was assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 8th Cavalry Regiment, 3rd Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division, Fort Hood, Texas.
Tech. Sgt. Timothy R. Weiner, 35, of Tamarac, Fla. killed Jan. 7 by a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device while performing duties in the Baghdad area supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom. Weiner was assigned to the 775th Civil Engineer Squadron, Hill Air Force Base, Utah.
Senior Airman Elizabeth A. Loncki, 23, of New Castle, Del. killed Jan. 7 by a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device while performing duties in the Baghdad area supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom. Loncki was assigned to the 775th Civil Engineer Squadron, Hill Air Force Base, Utah.
Senior Airman Daniel B. Miller Jr., 24, Galesburg, Ill. killed Jan. 7 by a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device while performing duties in the Baghdad area supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom. Miller was assigned to the 775th Civil Engineer Squadron, Hill Air Force Base, Utah.
Is banning the Dixie Chicks any way to honor their deaths?