Reading through the A.V. Club's inventory of twenty-one hilariously hyperbolic pro-America songs, I can't help but remember when a number of these songs came out. I think it's important for people to remember that our nation was extremely sensitive post-9/11, but it's also important to remember how crazy a very vocal segment of the population thought as well.
Probably the most eye-rolling I did a few years ago was when people were calling the oldies radio station I worked at to never play the Dixie Chicks on the air. Keep in mind, this was an oldies station. Not a country oldies station or a station that played contemporary songs. After watching Shut Up and Sing, I have reason to believe the people who called were lemmings led by a special interest group who thought a scorched-earth approach would work. Yeah, that really worked.
Couple those calls with the few I received saying we should never play Creedence Clearwater Revival because John Fogerty criticized George W. Bush on his new album. Keep in mind, we were playing songs written by Fogerty long before Bush was in office and did not play anything from Fogerty's new album. Still, people who live their lives by steep slippery slopes thought we were anti-American.
I'm sure if I knew these people personally I'd have a different perspective. If I called these people out now on this pseudo-witchhunt-masquerading-as-patriotism, they'd probably make light of what they said. I say there's a difference between serious and super-serious that you might do something you will really regret. Judging by what I heard, these people were the latter. Now all we have are memories and a number of lines in Revenge of the Sith that seem very Bush-like. In my mind, this is the stuff that shouldn't be forgotten, like McCarthyism.
Probably the most eye-rolling I did a few years ago was when people were calling the oldies radio station I worked at to never play the Dixie Chicks on the air. Keep in mind, this was an oldies station. Not a country oldies station or a station that played contemporary songs. After watching Shut Up and Sing, I have reason to believe the people who called were lemmings led by a special interest group who thought a scorched-earth approach would work. Yeah, that really worked.
Couple those calls with the few I received saying we should never play Creedence Clearwater Revival because John Fogerty criticized George W. Bush on his new album. Keep in mind, we were playing songs written by Fogerty long before Bush was in office and did not play anything from Fogerty's new album. Still, people who live their lives by steep slippery slopes thought we were anti-American.
I'm sure if I knew these people personally I'd have a different perspective. If I called these people out now on this pseudo-witchhunt-masquerading-as-patriotism, they'd probably make light of what they said. I say there's a difference between serious and super-serious that you might do something you will really regret. Judging by what I heard, these people were the latter. Now all we have are memories and a number of lines in Revenge of the Sith that seem very Bush-like. In my mind, this is the stuff that shouldn't be forgotten, like McCarthyism.
Comments