With their origins as bouffant-haired ingénues playing bluegrass music long forgotten, the Chicks are in Miami to attend a Sony BMG conference, where their new album, Taking the Long Way, is high on the corporate agenda.cough cough sellout cough cough.
But it gets even sillier as the author describes the "incident" involving Natalie Maines:
It's their first release since the group weathered the storm of outrage triggered by Maines's expression of shame that President Bush was from her home state of Texas.
Umm... that statement was made in a country not her home.
So, of course, she completely lacks comprehension and says so eloquently:
"The entire country may disagree with me, but I don't understand the necessity for patriotism," Maines resumes, through gritted teeth. "Why do you have to be a patriot? About what? This land is our land? Why? You can like where you live and like your life, but as for loving the whole country… I don't see why people care about patriotism."
Natalie, this is for you:
Where do I begin?
First, you charming and delightful musician, it is obvious you are ill-bred, or you would not have aired our nation's linens in another country's house. Would you have sat in the home of a complete stranger and complained about grandpa's incontinence, or the fact that Granny puts her teeth in a cup by her plate when she eats supper with the family? Would you tell people you never met about how your brother spends hours in the bathroom with girlie magazines? NO. At least, not if you were raised right. The same holds true about talking national politics in an international setting. It's our business, not that of France, Germany, or even our genuine allies in Great Britain. If you have a problem with one of us, keep it with us, don't go blabbing all over creation about how embarrassed you are. When you act in such a manner, you make us ashamed to know you.
And, that is why all those "apoplectic rednecks crushed piles of their CDs with tractors," as the article describes. You were an embarrassment to your family.
As to why patriotism -- It isn't about the land,
or the language(s) or the foods or the music or the art or the culture. Well, actually it is, but only in small part. Patriotism is love of what makes a country what it is. It's about the ideas. Apparently, you're not big on those. Well, this particular country has enough very big ideas that it even has room for ninnies like you to trash talk it.
For example, we have these things called the Declaration of Independence, and the Bill of Rights, and the Monroe Doctrine, and the Emancipation Proclamation, to name but a few. Funny, I know, but they were pretty novel in their time, and they still seem to hold up well as guidelines for civilized society. So far, no other country has managed to equal these, for innovation and daring.
And then we have a history in which people died to make others free.
Wait -- that's not just history. We're still doing it, as a nation, when our troops stand beside others in Afghanistan and Iraq, when we continue to protect innocents in Eastern Europe and as we send our military out to serve aid to countries hit my earthquakes, tsunamis, and other natural disasters, as well as the man-made disasters. So long as we help people get back on their feet quickly, there is less likelihood that they will fall prey to despotism and mass murder the likes of which seem to occur all the time in some of your favored countries. As it stands, there is only one other country I can think of with a humanitarian record as consistent and straightforward as ours, and that is our strong ally and close friend, England. Neither country is perfect, but both are darned good. You should try reading a few history books, from time to time, instead of just listening to your leftist pals in show biz. Take a look at the documents and dreams which make us what we are, and read about how hard it was to defend them.
By the way, have you noticed? we have the freedom in this country to insult our leaders and not be sent to jail. Did you genuinely feel threatened by President Bush after you made your stupid little declaration? Did you really think the country, the courts, the Constitution would all allow for you to be jailed or killed merely because you were gauche? No, of course not. But the pity party was great for marketing, wasn't it? You had the oportunity to shed your airheaded redneck skin for an airhead hollywood one. And that brought you whole new horizons, didn't it? Instead of being limited to the NASCAR belt, your sales went through the roof among potheads and hippies and nihilists and gay porn stars and all sorts of other people who could have sworn they didn't like bluegrass, but, by damn, anybody who hates Bush has to be talented, right? The United States of America are, in their unity, varied enough by their very nature that even silly little twits can sell cds by the millions. And you can rake in foreign royalties, as well. Pretty keen, huh? (You may want to point that out to your pal, Emily, too, since she seems to think that it's wrong to cash in by insulting somebody. Offer her a mirror, from me, and tell her I asked if you gals were ready to make nice, yet?)
The joy in all of this is that it comes from being a part of a damnedly diverse group of people who keep a vast nation running and who will live and die for the ideals which created the country in the first place. Some of them will even lay down their lives for the likes of you.
So, between the ideas and the people who spread them, I'd say we have a pretty good reason for being patriotic.
Please note the buildings in the background. What's wrong with more recent pictures?
Even when somebody like you claims it as home.
Not that I expect you to understand.
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