THE DIXIE CHICKS and Corporate Censorship

SHUT UP AND SING

I never thought it could be possible for me to support a group such as the Dixie Chicks. But they now give us a perfect representation as to where this country is headed. That's right, straight for the trash heap. It is my beleif that at least 70% of Americans have been so badly indoctrinated, that we no longer know what democracy and freedom is!! So, you have a singing group like the Dixie Chicks who at one point in 2003 are topping the charts. Then, their lead singer, Natalie Maines says at a concert in London that she's ashamed Bush is from Texas. Well, that created such a backlash of hatred and censorship that congress and Senator John McCain had to step in and call some corporate propogandists before his panel for a little questioning.

The exchange went like this:

Enter Cumulus Media. After the Dixie Chicks spoke out, the radio company ordered them banned from its 42 country music stations and demanded a public apology. A Cumulus station in Louisiana even helped organize a rally to smash the group's CDs.
Cumulus Media's CEO Lewis Dickey (Cheif Executive Dick) soon found himself sitting before Commerce Chairman McCain who, despite his strong support for the war effort, was outraged by the corporate display of censorship.

MCCAIN: Did you or did you not order from corporate headquarters that the program managers not play the Dixie Chicks' music?

DICKEY: After a groundswell of response from our program directors…

MCCAIN: Why didn't you leave that up to the stations themselves if you're just a confederation of stations?

DICKEY: Well, sir, we did at the end of the day. We left it up to their decision…

MCCAIN: Oh, at the end of the day. But at the beginning, you ordered that the Dixie Chicks' music not be played.

DICKEY: Just to give you an example of how volatile this was…

MCCAIN: Did you make the decision or not?

DICKEY: Yes, we did make the decision based on their response.

MCCAIN: That's… what about… suppose, Mr. Dickey, that I or any member of the United States Senate said or did something that your program managers found incredibly offensive. Would you then make the decision that our name, that my name not be mentioned on your news programs because it was such a hue and cry?

DICKEY: No, sir, we wouldn't. That's…

MCCAIN: You wouldn't do that?

DICKEY: No, that's a…

MCCAIN: Then why would you do that to a group of entertainers?

And then, McCain zeroed in on what many see as the real danger of media consolidation.

MCCAIN: If the program managers themselves had made the decision it's one thing. But when it comes down from corporate headquarters then that, in my view, is an incredible, incredible act. And I was more offended or as offended as anyone was by the statement of the Dixie Chicks. But to restrain their trade, restrain their trade because they exercised their right of free speech to me is remarkable. It is remarkable. And it's an argument, it's a strong argument about what media concentration has the possibility of doing it.

Dickey got a scolding from Democrats as well…

BOXER: In this country every single day there's a hue and cry over something because this is America and there's a hue and cry everyday. That's what this country is about. A hue and a cry. It's a beautiful sound of freedom. And of all the places that shouldn't be crushing it, it's the radio business for God's sakes.

Between the rising rhetoric and the public outcry, the effort to overturn the FCC rule has gathered a remarkable momentum in Congress.
It is a stunning setback for President Bush. If the bill gets to the President's desk for his signature, he'll have to consider an action he's never taken before…a veto.

I'm of the opinion that Dickey and those who made corporate decisions should be massively fined for their actions. These weasels should be forced to pay massive reparations. But then it's just part of the anti-American fervor that the neoconservative Bush administration has created in this country. The biggest traitors to our consititution are those who swore Biblical oath to uphold it.