I'm looking forward to the new season of Point/Counterpoint featuring the Dixie Chicks vs. Charlie Daniels.

--sean

It seems to me that Americans have been becoming more and more polarized since the 60's. Perhaps longer, but my historic view doesn't extend further.

The radical neo-con reaction to the 60's has strengthened the divide. And now social conflict is a way of life.

And I have been sucked in. It is a drag, but the asshole fuckwad right wingers have won. Their agenda is what we talk about. They frame the debate. And their divisions of good and evil control it all.

The kicker: when one of the people to whom Daniels sent this replied with a dissenting opinion, his publicist got her fired.

While I respect Mr. Daniels' right to have his own opinion, I think it's entirely unfair to portray everybody who is against war as pampered, pansy-ass movie stars. Certainly Hollywood stars and people like Penn and Streissand are among the anti war crowd, and those people are certainly unlikeable enough. It's perfectly acceptable for him to find such people repugnant.

But you know what? I find our own President repugnant for not coming through with promises to aid NYC firefighters after 9/11. I find it repugnant that our administration does not see fit to give any more aid to Afghanistan lately (that country is not signifigantly better off now than before the Taliban ouster). I am disgusted that our current President talked about not passing on duties to successors, and then hit us with a trillion-dollar deficit expected to last years and years. With this track record, I simply can't expect the President to follow through on his pie-in-the-sky promises of a democratic dominoe effect in the Middle East.

I might add that I know quite a few anti war folk who are not movie stars. Who are ordinary people. Some in debt from college education and unemployed. Are these people also just rich pansy idealists?

Wait - can someone remind me why we give a shit what some backwards-ass inbred country fuck thinks?

Dogz,
calling him a "backwards-ass inbred country fuck" just makes you look as bad as him. I'm sorry, but it's true. Like it or not, there are people who share his opinion. I'm not saying they're correct. What I am saying is that denigrating him like that doesn't earn me any respect for you, and if that's the best you can do than you're no more likely to convert anyone to your opinion that Daniels is.

Usually it's impossible to convince an extremist to convert. But if you argue rationally and don't degenerate into name-calling you just may convince a moderate.

Edited by author 03-16-2003 12:33 AM
Nougat, I agree...

But he's still a "backwards-ass inbred country fuck".

Here's what he had to say about 9/11 (from elsewhere on his site).

"Why has this happened? Why has a nation which has enjoyed the blessings of God for over two hundred years suddenly experienced such a catastrophe? We’ve shaken our fists in God’s face for far too long. We have ignored His laws, belittled His son, taken His name in vain until it’s almost a national slang word. We have allowed radical groups like the A.C.L.U. to all but remove the name and reverence for God from American society. We have murdered untold millions of unborn children and tolerated an immoral president in the name of a good economy. We have proclaimed that homosexuality is just another lifestyle when the Bible clearly states that it is an abomination to God. We have encouraged illegitimate birth, and condoned living together out of wedlock, practiced racial prejudice and child molestation, followed new age religions and harebrained spiritual leaders."

What a hick...guess I'm with him on the 'racial prejudice' thing, though.

Well, at least he left out titty bars and GTA. I agree with Dogzilla. Why should we give a shit what Charlie Daniels says, or Sarandon or Heston or Penn? But there you are. Celebrities have been legitimizing our choices in products and politics for as long as I can remember. We're a nation of starfuckers and this is what we get for it.

Ah guess we showed him a thinger or two, in the parking lot of the Dew Drop Inn.
See, he`s one of the "good ol` boys" now!

Are we rid of this insipid "Jesus" cult yet?
No?

sigh.

"Jesus cult" is right on the money. All these quasi-fundamentalists, including many in the executive branch, seem to have some specific vision of America. Sadly, that vision seems to only be about towing the fundamentalist and ultra-conservative lines or going hell (literally). Afterall, these guys know what a "Real 'Merican" looks like. All they have to do is look for the pro-life bumper sticker on your car and the color of your skin.

QUOTE:
"Why has this happened? Why has a nation which has enjoyed the blessings of God for over two hundred years suddenly experienced such a catastrophe? We’ve shaken our fists in God’s face for far too long. We have ignored His laws, belittled His son, taken His name in vain until it’s almost a national slang word. We have allowed radical groups like the A.C.L.U. to all but remove the name and reverence for God from American society. We have murdered untold millions of unborn children and tolerated an immoral president in the name of a good economy. We have proclaimed that homosexuality is just another lifestyle when the Bible clearly states that it is an abomination to God. We have encouraged illegitimate birth, and condoned living together out of wedlock, practiced racial prejudice and child molestation, followed new age religions and harebrained spiritual leaders."
UNQUOTE.

Like it or not this is all true.
WAKE UP!!!!!!

Jesus also flew to heaven on a pink cloud after he had died.

I *AM* AWAKE!!!

Come back, L. Ron... all is forgiven...

Jeff Wall's response is a top-drawer rant:

---------

Open letter to Charlie Daniels,

What happened to the loveable fat man I used to worship in my youth? The one that took Nashville's Channel 5 anchorman Chris Clark to task for his exposé of *alleged* marijuana use at Nashville concerts? The one who campaigned for Jimmy Carter for President? The same guy who shows had just as many people soliciting donations for NORML (National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws) as he did security guards for his Volunteer Jam concerts at the Municipal Auditorium?

Charlie, you remember that album cover you did for the Way Down Yonder record? Where y'all had a picture of a picnic table at a roadside park and the table was covered with beer cans, liquor bottles, and even a roach or two could be found? What about songs like "Land of opportunity?" with the line "In This Land of Opportunity, If You're rich then you can buy immunity, if you're poor you better write your eulogy, if you want one, cause it's all you'll ever have" Or "Searching for my Mary Jane". Remember, at the time Mary Jane was also a euphemism for marijuana. Then there was "Uneasy Rider", and "Long Haired Country Boy" where you taught us it was okay for us to be longhaired, reefer stanking, peace-loving kids. I ain't reefer stanking anymore, and I haven't had a drink in over 18 years. But when I was young, you were one of my heroes. You were a rebel who sang protest songs about the right wing excesses of the Federal Government. After reading your Soapbox article, I'm starting to feel that my teenage years were all a lie.

I don't know if it's because you appeared one time too many on the Pat Robertson show, and he was finally able to convert you to the dark side. Or maybe you just got old and your juices done all dried up. I'm against a war in Iraq. There ain't no proof that Saddam was behind the 9/11 stuff. My recommendation would be to leave him alone, and just write him a note that tells him that we're watching his ass and that if he fucks up, even just a little bit, then we're gonna start dropping Wal-Marts and Blockbuster Videos on him and that Lee Greenwood will be at every Grand Opening & Ribbon Cutting Ceremony singing that damned song of his. I'm a lot more scared of North Korea than I am of Iraq. And I'm even more scared of President Bush and John Ashcroft than I am of North Korea and Iraq combined.

You used to be for the little man. How about, Instead of spending a couple million on a Tomahawk, lets spend that money to help fight rural poverty. Maybe create some manufacturing jobs in the rural south that NAFTA took away. Or we could use some of that money to figure out a way to beat AIDS, or fight crack addiction, curb teenage pregnancy, or get all the crazy homeless folks off the street and get them some mental health assistance and some job training. Shouldn't take but a couple three Tomahawks to put a major dent in all of that.

Before you brand me a coward, I guess I should tell you that I been to war. I helped to blow up little brown people in Beirut. I helped to blow up little brown people in Kosovo. I helped to blow up little brown people in the Red Sea. I spent 20 years of my life floating around in circles, listening to your music and blowing up little brown people. Hell, I'm surprised that there's even any little brown people left to blow up. I did all that just so some knucklehead that used to screw Madonna and ain't had a decent acting gig in years can get his name in the press by flying to Iraq and having a private screening of Blue's Clues with Saddam. Let all them Hollywood folks fly over there and meet with Saddam. What are they hurting? Does anyone really think that Sean Penn is held in such a high regard that his opinion alone would cause all of America to reconsider?

Let them protest. Let them visit Iraq. They haven't put anyone's lives in danger by doing so. Their visiting Iraq is not hurting the morale of our troops. Let them do their thing. That's why we live here in America. That why a bunch of my friends died while trying to blow up little brown people. People who died in uniform, and left behind orphans and widows. Just so that we would all have the freedom to say how we feel. Whether that be you ranting about Iraq, or me saying that I wouldn't feel comfortable letting George Bush lead a newspaper recycling drive, much less a war.

I'm not a panty waist liberal. But I'm not a right wing whacko either. I'm just a middle of the road, old half crippled, fat guy doing his best to feed his family, love his kids and keep the lights turned on. As for your statement of "You're either with us, or you're against us", well all I can say to that is fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck yoooooooooooooooooou Charlie. Here in America, I got just as much a right to say I think war with Iraq is wrong. Hell, it ain't even a right, It's a responsibility. And you dishonor my dead shipmates by saying otherwise. Feel free to disagree with me.

I served 20 years to give you that right. My shipmates died for it.

Jeff Wall - Twangzine

Here's another example of hillbilly patriotism...

http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/news/31403_local_rodeofight.html

Boy, there are more of these inbred hicks lyin' around than I thought!

Inbred hicks, the last sanctioned racial slur. May it never die. It gives me hope that one day we can again say chinks, beaners, towelheads and the rest. It's heart healthy!