I feel the need to make a note of clarity, as there are people out there on the internets that think my taste in music is solely representative of my political views. (And who cares if it is? Is that wrong?) For the record, I am excited about the stance the Dixie Chicks have taken, and I am proud of them for standing up for what they believe in. I honestly believe that when you have the ear of millions of people, and you can still say what you believe and stand up for what you believe in, you have an incredibly high level of integrity. When I heard that the Dixie Chicks had a new album coming out, I was intrigued and surprised because of the continued asinine controversy, and I must say, I was more excited about getting it when I heard they weren’t backing down from their statements. While my decision to buy the CD was not solely motivated by their political stance, it did heighten that excitement, and made their CD a must have for me. It doesn’t matter if I had even heard of the Dixie Chicks, of which I have all their albums, because if I want to support an artist because of a a political tone they took on a record, I CAN! In fact, I bought Pink’s album for the very same reason. Does that mean that I wasn’t a fan of Pink’s, or that I ONLY bought the album because of the song that rails the president on it? Well, um, no. But it was a huge motivation, seeing as it was given to me for free, and I still bought it… I support Pink because I appreciate that she shares my opinion, and if you don’t like her or the Dixie Chicks’ opinions or music, then by all means, don’t support them. But other people can and will. (keep in mind that the point of my last post was more of an angry rant as to why free speech warrants a death threat, as well as my state of awe at the people that still support the president; not that those people were stupid… I just don’t understand how people can’t see the nose on their face sometimes.)
I’ll now go on record as saying that I am the type of person that if someone out there shows me some support, like for example, Charlize Theron’s refusing to get married until it is legal for gays and lesbians, you can better fucking believe I am going to throw my support right back at them. There are enough people that hate me and are against everything I believe in, so I am going to cling to the ones that stand up for me. In my opinion, what point is having all of that voice and audience if you don’t use it? The beauty of this country is that I can have my opinions, and you can have yours; but it doesn’t make me wrong or “sad” for expressing them. I am against the president because he is against me, plain and simple. The Chicks believe that and say it, so guess what, I am supporting them.
Just so you know, this post is solely motivated by a certain other ATLblogger, who decided he would write a post about me, quote me, and not even tell me. Honestly, I couldn’t give a shit that someone disagrees with me, in fact, people disagree with me all of the time. What does bother me, is when people generalize what I say, and take what they need to develop a skewed opinion about me; that they then post on the internet without telling me or owning up to it. If you have a problem with a post I wrote, COMMENT ON IT. Don’t go and write a whinny post on your site about how fucked up it is; that’s why I have comments enabled! I will admit that we have had a few email exchanges, and the reason why I felt it was necessary to air said email exchange, is because first of all, it really makes me mad that someone would talk about me seemingly behind my back and not have the guts to just comment on my site and talk to me about it. Trust me, if you have a problem with me, or my views, then let’s talk about it. By all means, you will see that you are not alone in your views, and also see that I am not alone in mine. Secondly, this person has taken fragments of what I have said, and, in a typical “hear what you want to fashion”, has only referenced the parts in which he believes I express my true opinion. I really can’t stand being misrepresented, and if you didn’t get enough information about something from a post that I wrote, then why not engage me on the rest that may be there, instead of assuming that everything is so black and white? NOTHING in life is black and white, and it is just silly to think so; as well as insulting to determine that I think that it is as well.
Well, I was going to finish this post with a wrap up of our email conversation, because there are things he said that I certainly think are generalized and that I don’t agree with, but… he has expressed a desire to keep them private, because they were not comments on a blog, and as such, were not made public. Since I do have integrity, the part I was going to write about here will be left out, because he has asked me not to publish said emailed comments; I certainly don’t want to be a hypocrite. I do however find it interesting that someone can make statements and cast opinions, but doesn’t want to actually discuss them. Interesting.
Oh well, that’s what I think about all this, and that’s all. If you don’t think that musicians have any say so in politics or issues, then I just suggest that you think about that little thing called the Constitution… it says otherwise. We may not like what people say, but they have the right to say it… even the Dixie Chicks. If pop culture doesn’t have the right to comment on their beliefs or views, then who does? Did any of you see the Passion of the Christ for crying out loud?
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