I think I owe an apology to The Chicks (formerly The Dixie Chicks).
Nearly 20 years ago, I made the foolish choice to side with those who attempted to “cancel” The Chicks. That was likely the very first attempt in what would become the Cancel Culture, to get the public to turn against a group and attempt to erase all of their successes and make them disappear. Didn’t work. In fact, the situation they went through ultimately led to them having a critically acclaimed hit that won three Grammys and two nominations at the 2007 CMT Music Awards – I’m Not Ready to Make Nice.
The past several years have been extremely tense in the United States, politically speaking. It is clear where lines have been drawn with the two major political parties in this country. It’s scary. I never really used to follow any politics. I just went with the flow. I voted without doing my homework over the years, and it appears that I had not been the only one employing that technique. And it recently failed us. Big time.
Now, I am not trying to start a big political argument here with this post. So just bear with me please.
In 2003, our U.S. troops were in Iraq. It was a very tense political time then as well. Opinions about the war were being shared by everyone. It really should have come as no surprise to hear another celebrity speak up about their dislike for the war. I’m sure many celebrities supported it and many did not. So when Natalie Maines of The Chicks make a comment about it while on tour in London, it should have just been taken with a grain of salt, so to speak, as most comments are. But for whatever reason, her comment about being ashamed of where our President lived at the time (Texas, which is where The Chicks are from as well) blew the f&%# up!
The backlash that Natalie and the group experienced was harsh. Sadly, I must admit, that I was one that jumped on that bandwagon. My “boycott” of The Dixie Chicks was not nearly as harsh, but I agreed with those who stopped playing their music on the radio and the political commentators that probably said things like, “Celebrities should just shut up and be celebrities,” or things to that effect. I’m sure I even said things like, “If you don’t like it here in the U.S., then you can just leave.” Etc. Again, here I was just going with the flow and not really understanding it all. And btw – I never actually got rid of my Chicks cd and never actually stopped liking their music.
Fast forward to today. I’m still not as informed as I ought to be when it comes to politics, but I have made progress. I am much more informed. I have grown as a person. We all have the right to express our opinions, even celebrities. They are humans too and have to deal with all of the same shit us non-celebrity folks have to deal with. I understand where the group was coming from with their opinions of the President at that time. I have suffered through a presidency that I contributed to only to come to the same conclusion about that President as they did then.
Most importantly, I believe, is that I understand how important it is that we have the right to express our opinions about things without having to fear any potential consequences. Wishful thinking, I know. There is always going to be someone who will take issue with an opinion. We should also not fear being ourselves. Especially being a woman. I read a few things about the Chicks’ controversy from 2003 before writing this and was saddened to read about a male country star who walked out of one of their performances at an awards show because the performance apparently wasn’t country enough. That’s crazy!
I know this has gone from politics to freedom of expression to a touch on the marginalization of women. These are topics we could discuss for hours! But mainly I want to apologize to The Chicks for not taking the time to understand then, exactly how they were feeling and why.
I get it now.
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