Saying the words, “I was wrong!” is not easy.
I was wrong to have responded the way I did back in 2003. I was wrong to have judged a young woman for simply standing up for what she believed in and exercising her right to express an opinion in spite of its apparent unpopularity.
At the time of the incident their number one hit “Travelling Soldier” was dominating the charts. Natalie Maines, the lead singer of the then popular group Dixie Chicks made the following remark at one of their concerts held in Great Britain. She made the controversial comment just a short time before the 2003 invasion of Iraq:
"We don't want this war, this violence, and we're ashamed that the President of the United States (George W. Bush) is from Texas."
This comment set off a firestorm of protest back home among conservatives, eventually leading to a widespread ban of their music on many country music radio stations across America.
Now one may debate the wisdom of Maines having made such a statement on foreign soil even though it was reported to have received a very positive response from the audience. Perhaps Natalie Maines would have been wise to offer her vocal protest of the impending war while on her own home soil or been a bit more diplomatic in her choice of words (she was just mere teenager at the time).
But she didn’t and the rest is history.
Their public image was forever tarred and feathered forcing them to reroute their music career. Conservative radio talk show hosts crucified the Dixie Chicks for being unpatriotic and treasonous. Country Music radio stations across America refused to play their music. Former fans crushed their albums with a bulldozer in a display of anger over Maines’ remarks.
I supported this outrage against the Dixie Chicks (especially when Maines called their fans "rednecks" in response).
But Natalie Maines never backed down in the face of all this hostility towards them.
She never apologized in hopes of saving their career in Country Music. She and her cohorts simply shifted gears and started another career in Pop Music and Country Alternative and have done quite well in fact. Their body of work speaks for itself.
Well Natalie Maines is back in the news folks, this time calling out the Country Music radio stations for not responding to the incendiary comments of Presidential candidate Donald Trump regarding what the Second Amendment folks might do to Hillary Clinton if she's elected President of the Untied States.
The fiery little lead singer posted the following tweet in response to Trump’s comments:
“I get banned for not liking Bush and now Trump can practically put a hit out on Hillary and he’s still all over country radio! Hypocrites!”
This time I agree with Natalie Maines; I agree that the glaring hypocrisy among conservatives that blindly support Trump’s words is appalling. The lack of protest among Conservative Radio talk show hosts or within the Country Music establishment itself speaks volumes.
Instead explanations of what Trump really meant to say are offered.
Simply put Natalie Maines committed the sin of publically protesting a war that should have never been started in the first place while seemingly disrespecting a popular President at the time (at least popular among Conservatives).
You may disagree with the group’s politics and with Maines’ former activism but you cannot throw them under the bus while at the same time support a Presidential candidate that has verbally crossed the line more than once this past year:
From calling Obama the “father of ISIS” to encouraging Russia to hack into our Internet system to attacking a Gold Star family to suggesting (final straw?) what Second Amendment folks might do to Hillary once she’s elected: Where's the outrage now?
Natalie Maines’ 2003 comments about President Bush seem so lame in today’s world of politics and if spoken today I would assume they would go largely unnoticed.
Well this time I will not be wrong about Natalie Maines.
Truth telling can be a tough business as she and her band know full well. It often creates painful consequences. It can damage one’s reputation and in today’s world can deplete one’s social media friend’s list.
So be it.
Natalie Maines was right both times. She was right in 2003 and she is right in 2016.
I was wrong to judge her in 2003.
I am sorry Natalie, I was wrong!
I won’t be wrong in 2016!
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