Posted on 05/03/2003 9:28:33 PM PDT by asneditor
The Dixie Chicks is one of the most talented musical groups ever. Their music is very, very tight. Another Texas group shares that accolade, Asleep At The Wheel. What distinguishes both group’s music is not that it is catchy, or clever. Coming from someone with a little background in music, what impresses me most is that their music is extremely hard to do right. And, boy, they do it right!
AAW and the Chicks have true talent and enjoy rare gifts. It’s too bad the the Chicks also have stupidity and arrogance in equal, large measures.
Performers are loved for what they do to entertain. They endear themselves by the escape they provide. In a sense, they are not real people.
The harsh reality performers of all disciplines are discovering is that when one of them uses his recognizability and notoriety to draw attention outside his usual environment, he steps out of character.
Just like a stage actor who goofs-up and becomes a different persona at an inappropriate time during a play, the error is nearly impossible to overcome. The audience no longer trust him and is sceptical of what he is doing on stage. The show is ruined.
The Chicks did just that in England when Natalie Maines pandered to the foreign audience and announced that “Just so you know, we are ashamed George Bush is from Texas.” She made the mistake that arrogance encourages by thinking the audience wanted to hear what she thought instead of what she sings. She was stupid for doing it overseas.
The only possible way for the Chicks to salvage their future was to fire Maines on the spot and look for someone else. They didn’t. They’re history.
Oh, there will be more concerts, more CD releases, but the love affair is over. The country music-loving men of America can no longer listen to the Chicks and not remember the disloyalty the Chicks showed, and can no longer see them slip back into character. Many stupid and arrogant actors are also discovering this phenomenon. The American public has stopped spending money on what they are trying to sell.
I loved the Dixie Chicks. Their beautiful, exquisite music still rattles around in my head. And it makes me mad.
You see, they done me wrong.
This is Jet-Eye, Over and out.
Originally the term neo-conservative referred to people who were previously leftists or socialists who had come into the conservative movement. Usually they were formerly intrigued by communism, but having seen it close up, had become strongly anti-communist. They may or may not have adopted every bit of the conservative view, but they were outspokenly anti-communist and so, since that was the life-and-death-struggle we were in at the time, they were the conservatives best friend.
The better known "neo's" were Jewish.
The term has recently become a pejorative as some folks who consider themselves conservative, but are anti-Israel, or for other reasons oppose the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, have begun to try and make the case that only they are genuine conservatives. Pat Buchanan is one, for example. Since, the left has chimed in, and has started using the same term in reference to any conservative who either supports the war in Iraq or Afghanistan, or supports Israel. The first implication is that such people are not really conservative. The other, underlying implication, is that they are Jewish.
Some folks like to make the case that Bush and the US government are controlled by the Jews, without actually coming out and saying it. Their choice of the word "neo-conservative" allows them to make a fairly explosive charge without having to defend it; if you call them on it, they can always retreat and claim that they didn't mean what you say they mean.
Others will try to use the term to say that "neo's" pretend to be conservative but are really secret socialists or communists. The proof of that? The proof is that they support the war, or they support Israel. So, you see where it goes. In its original meaning, it had meaning. As presently used by Buchanan, the left, and journalists in general, it just means you are a member of a secret cabal that supports Bush.
Hitler youth and hard core German (and Norwegian and French) SS fighters who were "inspired" died like men in the last days of Berlin. They fought for evil but they didn't know it- they were "inspired".
I think this pretty much sums it up. I don't want to hear philosophy or politics from a celebrity. He should speak his lines, look convincing and hopefully pretty, and be mysterious about his private self--
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