Andrew Sullivan: Sequined Dissent- The Deep Thoughts of Sheryl Crow

Salon via andrewsullivan.com ^ | 01/16/03 | Andrew Sullivan

[Pokey78]

Doesn't it sometimes get a tad bit embarrassing being on the left these days? I'm not talking about legitimate left-liberal beliefs - that income inequality is wrong, that corporations are evil, that governments are better judges than individuals about what's good for the world, etc etc. I'm talking about the way in which otherwise legitimate left-wing causes tend to get embraced by, well, the intellectually challenged. I mean actors and celebrities and pop stars and others not exactly known for being the brightest bulbs on the Christmas tree - almost all of whom seem to drift into the camp of the knee-jerk left. I mean people like Barbra Streisand, who doesn't know the difference between Iraq and Iran, and who at this point must have done more to discredit Hollywood liberals than an entire bookshelf of National Reviews. I mean Sean Penn, another man who just helped Bush win more support for war. I mean, well, Sheryl Crow.

Yes I know this is the proverbial cold blooded vertebrate in a round wooden tub. But what are you gonna do? Ms Crow showed up at the latest public relations exercise for the music industry, the American Music Awards, dressed in a sequined t-shirt with the message "War Is Not The Answer" blazoned across it. One word: Sequins? Here is a fabulously wealthy, famously cute singer, telling the impoverished men, women and children tortured, gassed and abused by one of the most disgusting dictators of all time that any attempt to rescue or liberate them is "not the answer." And she expresses this message in sequins. She couldn't afford diamonds?

One is also required to ask: if war is "not the answer," what exactly is the question? I wonder if, in her long interludes of geo-political analysis, Ms Crow even asks herself that. Perhaps if she did - let's say the question is about the threat of weapons of mass destruction in the hands of terrorists - we might have an inkling about what her "answer" might actually be. Mercifully, Ms Crow provides us with what she believes is an argument. Are you sitting down? Here it comes:

"I think war is based in greed and there are huge karmic retributions that will follow. I think war is never the answer to solving any problems. The best way to solve problems is to not have enemies."

Let's take this bit by bit. "War is based in greed." Some wars, surely. The pirate wars of the seventeenth centuries. Saddam's incursion into Kuwait. Early British forays in the far east and India. But all wars? The United States' intervention in the Second World War? The Wars of Religion in the seventeenth century? Many wars are fueled by nationalism, or by ideology, or by expansionism. And many wars have seen their protaganists not enriched but impoverished. Take Britain's entry into the war against Nazi Germany. It would have been far more lucrative for the Brits to have made a deal with Hitler, to preserve their wealth and empire. Instead, they waged war, lost their entire imperial project and ransacked their own domestic wealth. Where would that fit into Ms Crow's worldview?

And then there's the concept of a just war - wars which have to be fought to defeat a greater evil. Wars of self-defense. Wars of prevention. Wars against tyrants. Ms Crow's remarks seem to ackowledge no such distinction. Does she believe that removing Hitler from power solved nothing? That preventing further genocide in the Balkans solved nothing? That ending fifty years of Soviet tyranny meant nothing? Apparently so. There's only one word for this kind of argument: asinine.

Then we have this wonderful insight: "The best way to solve problems is to not have enemies." Wow. Like, wow. Like, war. It's bad. Bad karma. But, ahem, what if you have no choice in the matter? What if an enemy decides, out of hatred or fanaticism or ideology, simply to attack you? I'm not sure where Ms Crow was on September 11, 2001. But the enemy made its point palpably clear. Does wishing that these crazed religious nuts were not our enemies solve any problems?

I'm taking her too seriously, of course. I should ignore her. But the "anti-war" movement (I put it in quotation marks since appeasement will only make a bloodier future war inevitable) is happy to use celebrities for its own purposes. And so their presence in the debate has to be acknowledged, if only to be decried. So let's decry this moronic celebrity convergence. The weak arguments of the appease-Saddam left just got a little weaker. And the karmic retributions are gonna be harsh, man. Way harsh.

[Pokey78]

Pinging the Sullivan list.

[Support Free Republic]

SUPPORT FREE REPUBLIC! YOU'LL FEEL PROUD!
	Donate Here By Secure Server Or mail checks to FreeRepublic , LLC PO BOX 9771 FRESNO, CA 93794 or you can use PayPal at Jimrob@psnw.com
STOP BY AND BUMP THE FUNDRAISER THREAD

[Keith]

I love her music...and I am ashamed to say she is a native of my state, Missouri, but she's an idiot. Too much Californicate pot...

[dwollmann]

This from someone who's current pop hit is "I got my 45 on". Hmm.

Yes, I know, she's referring to a 45 rpm record, but it's hard not to picture her with a 1911A1 strapped to her hip when I hear the song. :)

[diode]

Sheryl Slow.

[Mo1]

There's only one word for this kind of argument: asinine

I can't argue with that

[ppaul]

Sheryl "Will Eat" Crow

[Capitalist Eric]

You know... while it is "sexist" to make such an observation, I have observed that there is a class of women that would best-serve humanity while chained to the kitchen sink or the bedpost...

Judging by the picture you have provided, I suggest the latter.... Especially if her mouth is taped shut.

< /sarcasm >

[etcetera]

"So let's decry this moronic celebrity convergence.

Moronic convergence...that's a good one! LOL!

[marron]

The nineties were tough in terms of my enjoyment of the arts. A long list of musicians and actors revealed themselves to be Clinton toadies, and it has become increasingly difficult for me to find a movie I can sit through.

My musical tastes have become increasingly eclectic, as old favorites now make me cringe, and so now my turntable only turns for obscure, or foreign, (or both) musicians who have no published opinions on Clinton.

The events on 9/11 simply exacerbated the problem, as writers and actors and musicians again lined up to say the most inane things about subjects which they are obviously, but inexplicably, ignorant.

Finding an actor, musician, artist, writer, who hasn't sucked up to the Clintons, and has resisted the urge to suck up to torturers and tyrants has become harder by the day, as like lemmings they line up to reveal themselves in all their empty glory. Someone please make them stop.

[Russell Scott]

"All I wanna do is have some fun"

With "deep" lyrics like this, I believe the morons coverged and overthrew her neurons a long time ago.

[reformed_democrat]

The nineties were tough in terms of my enjoyment of the arts. . . . and it has become increasingly difficult for me to find a movie I can sit through.

I know exactly what you mean. I used to enjoy Robin Williams, Barbra Streisand, Whoopie Goldberg . . .
Now I can't abide any of them. I see them in an old movie, and have to turn it off and get to FR before my brain melts.

[lillygarland]

Actually, she's referring to sunscreen.

[dfwgator]

Looks like Sheryl soaked up a bit too much sun.

[Fraulein]

Sheryl Slow.

LOL! Good one!

[lepton]

bookmark bump

[chimera]

Take Britain's entry into the war against Nazi Germany. It would have been far more lucrative for the Brits to have made a deal with Hitler, to preserve their wealth and empire. Instead, they waged war, lost their entire imperial project and ransacked their own domestic wealth. Where would that fit into Ms Crow's worldview?

Actually, it goes back further than that. Britain went from Banker to the World to Debtor Nation after the first war. That time around, they went to war against Imperial Germany to honor their treaty obligations as a guarantor of Belgian neutrality. As the Kaiser's representative said, "over a scrap of paper". Not much to be gained monetarily from that, and everything to lose.

Of course, such non-karmic aspects of world history are likely lost on the likes of Sheryl Crow, the consummate Passaround Party Girl.