Dixie Chicks Again


Cut on the Bias discusses the Natalie Manes's appearance before a senate hearing where she played the victim. By her telling, it wasn't the fans who created the backlash against the Chicks. No, it was an evil media corporation.

Why does she keep stirring the pot?

The Chicks say they want to put the controversy behind them. Yet, every time the flames dies down, it is the Chicks who fan it back to life. It was Natalie, not an evil media company, that picked the fight with Toby Keith and continued it at an awards show. Now, it is Natalie Manes trying to reignite it by playing the victim for Barbara Boxer.

Given the strong feelings among country music fans, a radio station would have been nuts to keep playing them during the controversy. Radio is a tough business where stations fight for small gains in marketshare. Playing the Chicks was a sure way to lose listeners, so, of course, stations were going to drop them.

The divide between the Chicks and Toby (who i like only half the time), highlights a fault line in the country at large after 9-11. Col. Jeff Cooper put it best: what happened wasn't a "tragedy" , it was an "atrocity." This distinction is important because, as he noted, the proper reaction to a tragedy is sadness, but for an atrocity it is rage.

Our media elites (executives and most artists) don't want to fan the rage so they declare 9-11 a tragedy. Many of us, in our gut, disagree.

And because they disagree with our gut feelings, they do themselves commercial harm. For example, why did Sean Hannity see the potential in Martina MacBride's Independence Day ("Let Freedom Ring") but her record company did not? If they had re-released it, they could have racked up big sales and radio play.

Similarly, Charlie Daniels's In America was a big hit in the early 80s and struck the right note for a post-911 update and reissue. It wasn't even that jingoistic. Yet the record company chose to pass on those sales.

The post-911 concensus is that we can be sad. If we are angry, our betters in the media want no part of it or us. That is the atitude reflected by the Chicks. For those who agree with Col Cooper, the Chicks and their LA friends are an annoyance and an irritant.