I’m D Chicked OUT!!
First of all let me say that I thought Open Spaces and Earl by the Dixie Chicks were both good songs, but they lost me as a fan a long time before they got political. Don’t get me wrong, it is not their politics that saw me leave them as a fan, it was their consistently average music. What sealed the deal though was their inability to understand that freedom of speech does not equal a right to be listened too, or to be removed from the consequences of speech. Their misunderstanding of that just sealed their fate in my eyes.
The louder these three, but mainly Natlie Maines(sp), get politically the worse their career seems to go. Yet they do not seem to get the fact that their failing career is not a consequence of them being silenced, but a reaction to their fans and public regarding their views. They also miss the fact that many people just do not think their songs are as good as some others out there. That is the choice of the fans, not the force of the government in action.
I am getting tired of hearing how they are huge in Europe too…like that means they should be huge here too still. Falco, Nina, Big Country, David Hasseloff, DJ Bobo, and Jerry Lewis were / are all big in Europe too, that does not mean that they deserve to be big in the US too.
Simply, how thick headed do these three have to be to continue to say that they are being silenced when they are on every station that does music, news, and / or entertainment. Add to that they have a documentary film out too. These three saying that they are being silenced is like Al Sharpton and his bull horn saying that he is just attempting to have a civil debate in front of a local courthouse.
Bottom line I support and encourage them to speak freely. That is their right, and many have fought in various ways and places throughout American history for that. The chicks are no less citizens then anyone else, but they are not more citizens either then others. There are plenty of people out there saying plenty of things that no one is hearing, listening too, agreeing with, etc. I am simply tired of hearing how they are being silenced when we are continuously on all forms of media telling us how hey are being silenced. If their speech is hurting their career then it is a result of their fans, and others, reacting to their statements, not due to some conspiracy to quieten them.
