By Dawn McMullan, KERA 90.1 Commentator
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/kera/local-kera-512443.mp3
Dallas, TX –
A friend of mine likes to poke fun at outrage, saying people are often outraged without the real facts. I disagree. Not about the facts, but about the outrage. As far as I can see, we don't have enough of it these days at least not enough aimed at true injustice.
The Dixie Chicks have it. Unfortunately, most of us can't hear it because country music fans are too outraged to let the rest of us listen.
Three years after the group's lead singer did a little on-stage Bush bashing, the group has a new album. If you'll recall, the Dixie Chicks were the victim of an old-fashioned book burning of sorts back in 2003 when Natalie Maines badmouthed President Bush while at a concert in London. Her exact words were, "Just so you know, we're ashamed the President of the United Sates is from Texas."
She was outraged about the war. So were many. But soon, country music stations everywhere were refusing to play their music because their fans were so outraged. Maines received death threats. Country fans held protests. Now I love a good protest, but I remember actually seeing someone on the news running over their CDs with a tractor. Picture how ridiculous that looked.
The first single off their first album since the tractor scene is called "Not Ready To Make Nice." If you aren't paying attention, the chorus might lead you to believe this is about a relationship in disrepair. Natalie belts out, "I'm not read to make nice. I'm not ready to back down. I'm still mad as hell and I don't have time to go round and round and round. It's too late to make it right. I probably wouldn't if I could. 'Cause I'm mad as hell...can't bring myself to do what it is you think I should."
I downloaded the song off the internet, listened to it until I got tired of my kids counting the number of time she said "hell," and became riled up all over again about what some people in this country spend their energy being outraged about.
Is anyone really outraged about the genocide in Darfur? Anyone protesting that the United States has one of the highest infant mortality rates of industrialized countries because of our ridiculous health-care for the poor? How about that children in Africa are lucky if they're only orphaned because of the AIDS epidemic; dead if they're unlucky.
Surely, I thought, this outrage had run its course over the last three years.
So I kept waiting to hear the song on the radio. But didn't. Surely, I thought, I've just been missing it. So I called all three major country stations here: 96.3 KSCS, 99.5 The Wolf, and 96.7 The Twister. No, no, and no.
The Twister is a radio station that debuted about the time of the 2003 controversy, and they were the only station for a while playing any Dixie Chicks. They, at least, sounded a bit apologetic about not playing the new song. "We tried it," the DJ said. "It started off good and didn't go so well. Some people aren't over it. It probably wasn't the smartest song to come out first."
I disagree. The song has outrage. These women have parts of the male anatomy I can't say on public airwaves. Giant ones.
So do the country music fans who are still wasting their outrage on a blip in the political road three years ago. In the new song, Maines says she made her bed and she sleeps like a baby. Can those who are making such strong stands against a country band instead of dying children - or any other true injustice going on in our world - do the same?
Dawn McMullan is a freelance writer based in Dallas.
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