First, the Patriot Police came for the Dixie
Chicks, and I said nothing because I'm fed up
with the predigested mush that passes for
country music these days. I wouldn't include the
Chicks in that category, but flag-waving
deejays and war-loving singers in cowboy hats
strike me as an enormous bore.
At a Texas rodeo recently, somebody remained
seated when the loudspeaker played
Lee Greenwood's cornball ballad "Proud
to Be an American." The man said he didn't
have to stand for no damn country song,
and fisticuffs ensued.
So Dixie Chicks lead singer Natalie Maines
ought to have known she was asking for
trouble by telling a London audience, "Just
so you know, we're ashamed the president
of the United States is from Texas." After
all, she grew up in Lubbock. Even after a
carefully-orchestrated uproar broke out--radio
stations dropped the Chicks from their
playlist and held CD-smashing rallies after
an e-mail and telephone campaign reportedly
originating with the Republican National
Committee--Maines briefly hung in there.
"One of the privileges of being an American,"
she said "is you are free to voice your own point of view."
Not if you want your songs on the radio,
sweetheart. With the music business, like the
news business, increasingly dominated by
huge corporations such as Clear Channel
Communications, the San Antonio giant that
owns 1200 stations, uses its muscle to
manage and promote concert tours, stages
pro-war rallies, and has direct political ties
to President Junior, artists exercise those
rights at their peril. Within days, the Chicks
were back in harness.
"As a concerned American citizen," Maines said
"I apologize to President Bush because
my remark was disrespectful. I feel that
whoever holds that office should be treated
with the utmost respect."
The satirical website thespeciousreport.com
finished the statement for her.
"I'm just a young girl who grew up in Texas,"
they wrote. "As far back as I can remember,
I heard people say they were ashamed of
President Clinton. I saw bumper stickers
calling him everything from a pothead to
a murderer. I heard people on the radio and TV
...bad mouthing the President and ridiculing
his wife and daughter at every opportunity.
I heard LOTS of people disrespecting the
President. So I guess I just assumed it was
acceptable behavior."
Next the Patriot Police came for a CBS TV
producer who spoke too frankly about his
forthcoming miniseries "Hitler: The Rise
of Evil," and I didn't say anything because hyperbolic
analogies to Hitler are a dime a dozen.
People making them deserve to lose the argument.
According to the Washington post, Ed Gernon
told TV Guide that "fear fueled both the
Bush administration's adoption of a preemptive-strike
policy and the public's acceptance of it....
Gernon said a similar fearfulness in a
devastated post-World War I Germany was 'absolutely'
behind that nation's acceptance of Hitler's
extremism."
Both TV Guide and the New York Post, which
made a big issue of Gernon's remark, are
owned by right-wing Australian magnate
Rupert Murdoch. CBS abruptly fired the veteran
producer before too loud a clamor arose.
Next the Patriot Police came after actors
Susan Sarandon and Tim Robbins, and I was
tempted to keep quiet because Sarandon
inexplicably sets my teeth on edge. Her presence
almost ruined Bull Durham for me, an otherwise
near-perfect baseball movie. Baseball Hall
of Fame president Dale Petroskey launched
a pre-emptive strike on free speech because he
feared what the outspoken couple might
say at a scheduled 15th anniversary celebration of
the popular film at Cooperstown later this
month. Instead, Petroskey cancelled the event.
A one-time press flack for President Reagan
and Sen. Elizabeth Dole (R-NC), Petroskey
informed Robbins that criticizing Junior
was tantamount to treason. "We believe your very
public criticism of President Bush at this
important--and sensitive--time in our nation's history
helps undermine the U.S. position, which
ultimately could put our troops in even more danger.
As an institution, we stand behind our
president and our troops in this conflict."
Robbins responded with appropriate anger.
"To suggest that my criticism of the President put
the troops in danger is absurd," he wrote
in an open letter to Petroskey. "I had been unaware,
that baseball is a Republican sport....You
invoke patriotism and use words like freedom in an
attempt to intimidate and bully. In doing
so, you dishonor the words patriotism and freedom
and dishonor the men and women who have
fought wars to keep this nation a place where one
can freely express their opinion without
fear of reprisal or punishment."
Like most serious fans, Robbins regards
baseball as an oasis beyond politics, and said he'd had
no intention of dragging Bush into it.
Alas, to the GOP Patriot Police, there's no such thing.
Major League Baseball quickly disassociated
itself from Petroskey's action. Former Texas Rangers
"owner" George W. Bush should too, unless the
right to criticize him isn't among the freedoms he values.