I watched Diane Sawyer interview the girls last week. (Full disclosure: I love their music.)
— If you are a celebrity in this country, dissent doesn’t put you in a gulag. Dissent puts you on a magazine cover, and gives you a primetime spot with Diane Sawyer. It may FEEL like your first amendment rights are being squashed, but ACTUALLY: you are being given platform to explain yourself, defend yourself, say stuff like: “No, what I meant was…” Try “dissenting” in Iran or Saudi Arabia.
— Here is what I think was behind the comment-in-question made at the concert in London. Natalie did not explain herself to Sawyer. She said, “Those were not the right words. I just had some questions about why we were going to war.” Yes. But that is not what you said. You said: “Just so you know, we’re ashamed the president of the United States is from Texas.” If anti-Americanism is pathological, to some degree, than our desire to be liked can also be pathological. I don’t believe she would have said that at a concert in Memphis.
— I wonder what has gone on behind the scenes, with the three of them. I especially liked when the dark-haired one said to Diane: “We are not foreign policy experts.”
— If you get involved in the anti-war or anti-Bush movement, be prepared to back up your sentiments articulately. This is serious business. This is war. Know your history.
— However: everywhere you look right now are the Dixie Chicks. They are live on an international platform. A bulldozer drove over some of your CDs. So what. People are angry. If you insist on walking into a kitchen (without knowing how to cook), then take the heat. That’s the deal.
