Are the Dixie Chicks still standing strong against political backlash?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Ivan Seeking
  • Start date Start date
  • Tags Tags
    Welcome
Click For Summary

Discussion Overview

The discussion centers around the Dixie Chicks and their political stance against President Bush, particularly during their performance in England. Participants reflect on the implications of their actions, the backlash they faced, and the quality of their music. The conversation touches on themes of celebrity influence, patriotism, and the intersection of music and politics.

Discussion Character

  • Debate/contested
  • Exploratory
  • Conceptual clarification

Main Points Raised

  • Some participants express admiration for the Dixie Chicks' courage in speaking out against Bush, viewing it as a stand for social conscience.
  • Others criticize their music as mediocre and argue that their political stance should not warrant praise for their return to the music scene.
  • A few participants discuss the nature of their backlash, suggesting that it stemmed from a passive response rather than an active campaign against them.
  • There are differing opinions on whether the Dixie Chicks were naive or strategic in their choice to make their comments in England rather than the U.S.
  • Some participants highlight the broader implications of their statements on patriotism, arguing that their comments transcended mere criticism of Bush.
  • There is a discussion about the nature of celebrity opinions in politics, with some participants dismissing the Dixie Chicks as irrelevant while others defend their right to speak out.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants do not reach a consensus; there are multiple competing views regarding the significance of the Dixie Chicks' actions, their music quality, and the nature of the backlash they faced.

Contextual Notes

Some participants mention the complexity of the political climate and the varying perceptions of patriotism, which may influence opinions on the Dixie Chicks' actions. The discussion also reflects differing interpretations of the impact of celebrity statements on political discourse.

Ivan Seeking
Staff Emeritus
Science Advisor
Gold Member
Messages
8,252
Reaction score
2,664
I'm not much for country but I love them for what they did - they stood up for what's right when it counted and came out publically against Bush. Welcome back Dixie Chicks!

After a couple of years spent enjoying their family lives and weathering controversy, Texas’ mighty Dixie Chicks return to the Austin City Limits stage with old favorites and new classics from their defiant, triumphant new album
http://www.pbs.org/klru/austin/artists/DixieChicks.html

The crowd cheered when they sang "Not Ready to Make Nice". :approve:
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Science news on Phys.org
I second that. I hate cowboy ****, but they showed some true social conscience and are being vindicated by the facts every day.
 
I really enjoy their CD "Home". I should probably get more of their stuff, because if it's up to that standard, it's really good.
 
Their political stance is no reason to praise them for coming back to make more mediocre music.
 
loseyourname said:
...mediocre music.
Out of curiosity, what music do you listen to and is not mediocre?

Any bluegrass or Alison Krauss fans here?
 
I love Alison Kraus. I don't feel like giving a full inventory of music I enjoy, though. I'm listening to "In a Gadda da Vida" right now, oddly enough.
 
loseyourname said:
Their political stance is no reason to praise them for coming back to make more mediocre music.

I think it is as they put their careers on the line for what they believe is right. And indeed, Bush supporters tried to run them out of business for being country, but not loyal bushies.
 
loseyourname said:
Their political stance is no reason to praise them for coming back to make more mediocre music.
Right. But then again I also do like some of the songs.
 
MeJennifer said:
Any bluegrass or Alison Krauss fans here?

And another dichotomy arises. I had the hots for Alison like you wouldn't believe when she popped out that 'Steel rails' song on video, despite the fact that it was aired on a cowboy **** channel. She was something like 17 at the time, if the publicity is to be believed. More importantly now (to us Canuks) is that she's friends with Natalie McMaster and performs with her up here. (Natalie is one awesome Maritime fiddler/singer, and not bad looking to boot.)
 
  • #10
Danger said:
And another dichotomy arises. I had the hots for Alison like you wouldn't believe when she popped out that 'Steel rails' song on video, despite the fact that it was aired on a cowboy **** channel. She was something like 17 at the time, if the publicity is to be believed. More importantly now (to us Canuks) is that she's friends with Natalie McMaster and performs with her up here. (Natalie is one awesome Maritime fiddler/singer, and not bad looking to boot.)
I would love to here Alison Krauss in a duet with Norah Jones. :smile:
 
  • #11
Yeah. It was awful brave of them to stand up to Bush...In England. It's three moronic celebrities that I could care less what they think.
 
  • #12
FredGarvin said:
It's three moronic celebrities that I could care less what they think.

Come on, now, Fred. There's a distinct difference between some truly brainless jerk like Tom Cruise spouting his crap about (insert topic here), and the Chicks pointing out that their country is being ruled by a truly brainless jerk like Bush. The main point here is that they were expected, because of their cowboy **** affiliation, to be Republican sheep in the shadow of John Wayne. Cudos to 'em for telling the rednecks to stuff it.
 
  • #13
That's the point exactly: It is about their character. What they did took a lot of nerve given their audience.

Kind of like Obama denouncing the invasion of Iraq [before the fact] when he all but stood alone in a pen full of chickens.
 
Last edited:
  • #14
Ivan Seeking said:
I think it is as they put their careers on the line for what they believe is right. And indeed, Bush supporters tried to run them out of business for being country, but not loyal bushies.
There is no such thing as 'running them out of the business' - it wasn't a push, it was a passive response. People simply stopped listening to them/buying their cd's and radio stations stopped playing them. Music is popularity-based.

As I've said before, my boss is somewhat to the right of Rush Limbaugh. He's' kind-of a Bush supporter, but Bush is far too liberal for him. Anyway, he talks politics a lot and it sometimes comes up in business meetings (there is a lot of tree huggery in construction right now). Architects are artsy types and tend to be liberal, so if he starts bashing energy conservation, he gets into arguments with them. I do my darndest to steer conversations away from this - sometimes flat-out interrupting him and changing the conversation.

Aside from choosing to not take part in ill-conceived projects, we aren't big enough to affect real social change - and neither are the Dixie Chicks. In the meantime, my boss's primary responsibility as the president of the company is to help the company make money so that his employees (me...) get paid every other week.

The Dixie Chicks seemed surprised by what happened to them. That just makes them naive and stupid for doing what they did. They simply bit the hand that feeds them. If you have the means to affect real social change (see: Bono), that's great, but there is no honour in what the Dixie Chicks did - just stupidity.


edit: btw, there is a little more to it than just being anti-Bush. One member made a comment directly against the concept of patriotism. That's a much more important concept (especially to those in the south) than support for Bush. Bush is just the President for 8 years - they trashed the country in it's entirety.
 
Last edited:
  • #15
I completely agree with russ. What the Dixie Chicks did was stupid.
 
  • #16
Ivan Seeking said:
That's the point exactly: It is about their character. What they did took a lot of nerve given their audience.
That's not the point exactly. If they were "brave" as you put it, they would have done that at a show in the U.S. Blair had even less popularity in England than Bush did here, so that means Bush was very unpopular in England. I'll lay you dollars to donuts that they were surprised that the word got back to the U.S. on what they said.

It was stupid. The only smart thing about it was relying on the insanely short attention span of most of the U.S. citizenry.
 
  • #17
FredGarvin said:
That's not the point exactly. If they were "brave" as you put it, they would have done that at a show in the U.S. Blair had even less popularity in England than Bush did here, so that means Bush was very unpopular in England. I'll lay you dollars to donuts that they were surprised that the word got back to the U.S. on what they said.

I would disagree with that. Neither they nor their publicity staff are by any means stupid. If they were, you would never have heard of them in the first place. I'll put every donut in Tim Hortons' inventory against your dollar that they were very well aware of the fact that doing it in England would bring far more attention to it than if they'd done it at home. What could have been a minor publicity SNAFU in the US was guaranteed to make international news because of how it was done.
 
  • #18
Ivan Seeking said:
Kind of like Obama denouncing the invasion of Iraq [before the fact] when he all but stood alone in a pen full of chickens.
Good ole politicians,

ALWAYS there to say when they said something before it was more widely thought of, but also never admit they were ever wrong later on down the line.

But we also wouldn't like the ones that admit when they were wrong every time they were wrong, and we wouldn't vote them in.
 
  • #19
what did the dixie chicks do that was so politically loaded? i thought the big deal was them saying something like "we know you don't like bush here in england, and we don't like him in america either. as texans, wer ashamed he came from texas".

there must be more to the story because with my version i thought the big deal wasn't so much the moral fortitude of the chicks', but the patriotic ignorance of their conservative, pro-bush fan base (i.e. "bush may be sending this great country down the toilet, but by god he's our president and I'm going to stand by him no matter what!")
 
  • #20
devil-fire said:
what did the dixie chicks do that was so politically loaded? i thought the big deal was them saying something like "we know you don't like bush here in england, and we don't like him in america either. as texans, wer ashamed he came from texas".

there must be more to the story because with my version i thought the big deal wasn't so much the moral fortitude of the chicks', but the patriotic ignorance of their conservative, pro-bush fan base (i.e. "bush may be sending this great country down the toilet, but by god he's our president and I'm going to stand by him no matter what!")
Wasn't it the first thing that people didn't like was when she wore a shirt she made herself that said
Code: 
FU
TK

And apparently, how that was thought of, was an insult to Toby Keith, another country star, who happens to have written several quite patriotic songs.
 
  • #21
Hmmmphhh... I heard a couple of his songs when I was working in that cowboy bar. If I ever met him, I'd also say FU.