Is Dixie Chicks protest a conspiracy?

The Cincinnati Enquirer ^ | Tuesday, March 18, 2003 | John Kiesewetter

[Jabba the Nutt]

Are the Dixie Chicks victims of a right-wing conspiracy?

That's what their manager, Simon Renshaw, has told country music stations being pressured to drop the Chicks' music after lead singer Natalie Maines criticized President Bush last week.

In an e-mail to stations distributed by Sony Music, their label, Renshaw says the protest has been orchestrated by the Free Republic (www.freerepublic.com) , a Web site "for independent, grassroots conservative, " according to founder Jim Robinson of Fresno, Calif. The Web site also alleges that recent anti-war protests are "communist-organized demonstrations."

"Your company is being targeted by a radical right-wing online forum," Renshaw says in the e-mail. "You are being `Freeped,' which is the code word for an organized e-mail/telephone effort attempting to solicit a desired response."

On March 10, Maines told a London audience: "Just so you know, we're ashamed the president of the United States is from Texas."

Four days later, the Lubbock native apologized by saying, "I apologize to President Bush because my remark was disrespectful. I feel that whoever holds that office should be treated with the utmost respect."

Country music stations in Dallas-Fort Worth and Kansas City have been deluged with e-mails and calls demanding that the Dixie Chicks be dropped from the airwaves.

Complaints didn't arrive at WUBE-FM (105.1) until Monday. Only one person called Thursday when the B105 morning show read the story, says Tim Closson, operations manager.

"We broke the story on Thursday, and got very little reaction to it. We mentioned it again on Friday, and only got a few calls," he says.

The Chicks remain on B105. Closson says he "seriously considered indefinitely pulling all Dixie Chicks music... (but) our decision came down to one thing: We believe in the constitution. We believe in the freedom of speech."

At Middletown's WPFB-FM (105.9),the Dixie Chicks were dropped Monday for the week by Mark Evar, operations director.

"They're telling us that the minute the Dixie Chicks come on, they're going to change the station - and we don't want to lose any listeners," Evar says.

The Chicks' manager, in his e-mail, says the group's Web site "was totally overrun (Sunday) and had to be closed down, and our publicist's servers and telephone system failed under the weight of the calls.

"This is an extremely active and well-organized group. As always the `squeaky wheel gets the grease' and these weasels know how to squeak," Renshaw says.

Renshaw apparently used the word "weasel" because the Free Republic Web site uses that term.

Says the Free Republic home page: "As war with Iraq becomes imminent, more and more of the `useful idiot' leftist weasels are crawling out of the woodwork. So-called `anti-war' protests are popping up in cities all across the nation.

"We will not allow these communist organized demonstrations (to) go unanswered. Patriotic Americans are countering these terrorist supporting leftists wherever and whenever they pop up."

E-mail jkiesewetter@enquirer.com

[BlueLancer]

"evidently the dixie chicks are the ones hiding things,they did a photo shoot in the buff for PETA and management nixed it."

And here it is ...

[Mr_Magoo]

Posted 2 days ago

[ArGee]

As I said ... PETA should be happy that ad was nixed. It has me hollering, "Cover them with fur!"

Where'd they find a guitar that big?

Shalom.

[demosthenes the elder]

well, technically, yes: the Dixie Chicks ARE the "victims" of a VRWC.
A conspiracy is in the most basic sence a plan of action set by multiple individuals of like mind for coordinating activites towards a common goal. What we do here is often conspirational in that sense, and we here have certainly contributed to the downfall of the Dixie Chicks.
On the other hand...
Most people think "secretive, cloak and dagger, illegal shenanigans" when they hear the word conspiracy, and that does not describe what we do here, ever. We are open about our ethos, intents, and plans, and nothing we do here is illegal. So, in that sense, th DC PR boy is talking out his bung and needs to stuff a cork in it... unless he wants us to turn up the volume of our protest all the way to ELEVEN.
As to the DC being "victims": the sole responsibility for the pains and torment they now undergo lies at the feet, in the mouth, and in the heart of that silly little girl Ms. Maines.
Stupidity SHOULD hurt.
There endeth the lesson.

[demosthenes the elder]

ooo, nudity.

[demosthenes the elder]

you, sir, are evidently a graduate of the BOfH school of Sysoperation.

[billsux]

Just emailed him that very sentiment. (Gave him supporting links and everything so he wouldn't have to work TOO hard)Also told him he should to cruise over and check out the discussion on his well-balanced "article" as well.

later.

[new cruelty]

"No, no, no! It'e been changed to "East Wind Rain." (and turn your eyes nothward). Let's see how many Freepers get this one."

good one!

I got it, but only thanks to a swift google search. Very interesting story.

[songwrangler]

The Blixey Chicken Song

Http://www.beatboxer.com/dixchiks

[songwrangler]

The Blixey Chicken Song

Http://www.beatboxer.com/dixchiks.html

[rightwingreligiousfanatic]

This is an extremely active and well-organized group....

Awwwww shucks! Just doin' what comes natural...

The Ditzy Chicks brought it upon themselves...

[tacticalogic]

well, technically, yes: the Dixie Chicks ARE the "victims" of a VRWC

True, but I think in this case Vast Right Wing Consensus might be more accurate.

[dirtboy]

Sung to the wedding classic "The Hokey Pokey"

You put your left wing in,
You put your left wing out,
You put your left wing in,
And you flap it all about
You do the Dixie Chixies and you whine about George Bush
That's what it's all about

You put your right wing in
(Wait, we don't have a right wing)..

Start all over again.

You put your left foot in,
you put your left foot out,
you put your left foot in,
and you stick it in your mouth
You do the Dixie Chixies and you piss off all your fans
That's what it's all about

You flap your big fat mouth
You flap your big fat mouth
You flap your big fat mouth
And stupid words pour out
You do the Dixie Chixies and you tumble down the charts
That's what its all about

You say you're so sorry
Then whoops, you say you're not
You say you're so sorry
As you're facing a boycott
You do the Dixie Chixies and you blame it on FR
That's what it's all about

[demosthenes the elder]

I'll buy that.

[Buggman]

Woot! Another Sluggy fan! Remember the one about the U.N. inspectors trying to find and evict Bert?

Yours in Truth,

[Celtjew Libertarian]

Yeah... Somehow Torg doesn't normally seem like Jacques Chirac.... Nor Gwynn like George W., for that matter.

[demosthenes the elder]

Sluggy?
WTF???
never heard of this before this thread... what the hell is this, some kind of secret gastropod-worshipping cabal?

[demosthenes the elder]

"cute sci-fi chicks are cool"
"actually, I am a male of my species"
"awww, you think what you want... could you jump up and down for us, mister?"
this strip is killing me!

[AnAmericanMother]

[jawstenn1]

That's exactly what I thought the plan was.
1. Wait all these years for the brainless twit to say something stupid and offensive.
2. And wait
3. And wait
4. Get Bush to start a war
5. ShaZaam......Natalie opens her pie hole
6. VRC destroys her career

Mission accomplished....too bad our conspiracy to get Michael Jackson to sleep with little boys took so long to work.