Fire the Boss

A few minutes ago I was subjected to a tearful display by the Dixie Chicks, who might possibly have lost a dime or two thanks to lead singer Natalie Maines' patter at a London concert a while back. Aw, did the poor babies get some bad press?

They said that they got some threats of a physical nature, which no decent person will condone. But they're going to have to learn that their careers are at the sufferance of the listening public, and they have plenty of competition from people who look, write and play better than they.

Then the news showed Bruce Springsteen's site, which contains the following:

The Dixie Chicks have taken a big hit lately for exercising their basic right to express themselves. To me, they're terrific American artists expressing American values by using their American right to free speech. For them to be banished wholesale from radio stations, and even entire radio networks, for speaking out is un-American.

The pressure coming from the government and big business to enforce conformity of thought concerning the war and politics goes against everything that this country is about - namely freedom. Right now, we are supposedly fighting to create freedom in Iraq, at the same time that some are trying to intimidate and punish people for using that same freedom here at home.

I don't know what happens next, but I do want to add my voice to those who think that the Dixie Chicks are getting a raw deal, and an un-American one to boot. I send them my support.

Right. Now tell me, Boss, do you feel the same way about, say, John Rocker? (nod to Jay Nordlinger).

Admit it, Boss, you defend this not because they spoke out. It's because you approve of their anti-Bush message, but you don't have the cojones to say it flat out yourself in the current environment of public approval for the President (thanks, Pejman). So you're hiding behind their skirts.

Come on out and say it. You won't have a mysterious accident with a truck or die under torture like dissenters against the recently deposed Saddam Hussein regime. You won't get locked in prison like perennial Hollywood favorite Fidel Castro's dissenters. You might even get some good press from the usual suspects.

But on the other hand, it might cost you some of those almighty bucks that pay for the makeup artists and PR guys who maintain your blue-collar facade. Horrors!

Yeah, everybody's pushing conformity of thought. That's why Enron and other companies got so much bad press, right? That's why the likes of Michael Moore can have a bestseller nowadays, right? Good grief.

Sorry, but I don't have any tears left for multimillionaires like you, fellow BS artist Barbra Streisand, Moore or the Dixie Chicks.

Now you'll have to excuse me while I listen to some old Springsteen albums and ask myself "was he always this clueless?"