Forget James Brown, country music is the real "man's world."

[kellinator]

I'm probably going to get flamed for this. Ah, screw it.

http://www.cnn.com/2003/SHOWBIZ/Music/06/03/music.country.reut/index.html

Gist of the article: Now the Dixie Chicks are in trouble because Natalie Maines wore a shirt with the letters "F.U.T.K." to an awards show. Everyone interpreted this as "fuck you Toby Keith." Apparently the two have been in a feud since Maines criticized Keith's song "Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue (The Angry American)" (which for my money is a dreadful, embarrassing song, but that's not the point). Keith has therefore stated that Maines isn't nearly as good a songwriter as he is (of course not, he's a man), and has taken to "showing on big screens behind the stage [in his concerts] the doctored photo of Maines and Saddam Hussein."

Now, I'm not denying that the shirt stunt was just stupid, but it's so country music to criticize a woman for responding in kind to an accusation of treason. *slap* Now get in the kitchen and make me some pie!!

Stuff like this makes it embarrassing to be from the South. (You know why the South has started going heavy Republican? I'll tell you in one word: racism. And if you're Republican and you're offended by that, I'm sorry, but you're the ones who let Strom Thurmond, Jesse Helms, and Trent Lott speak for yourselves. Aren't you guys the ones who insist you're judged by the company you keep? If you want to be well thought-of, then it's up to you to take control of your party back from the "disagreement is treason" jingoists.)

Comments

[eudaimonia.livejournal.com]

Hear, hear. I never realized this so thoroughly till I moved to the South, myself. (shudders).

[39orangestreet.livejournal.com]

why do you think gender has anything to do with it? i mean, i'm a big defender of natalie (mostly because her father is a god to me) and a big hater of most mainsteram country music, but it hasn't been obvious to me that the fact that she's a dixie chick instead of a dixie dude has made her get treated worse through this whole thing...

[kellinator.livejournal.com]

I guess my "evidence" is based on living my entire life in the South and seeing the way that things go (not that I have any evidence that it's better elsewhere). Steve Earle got bitched at a little over "John Walker's Blues," but the relative size of the firestorm probably has more to do with his lack of mainstream exposure. But the whole attitude of this -- how dare she! and such foul language! she's not being very ladylike! -- is what I've been kicking against my whole life.

[39orangestreet.livejournal.com]

I can't really think of a comparable situation with a man, so it's hard for me to see if gender has something to do with it. Certainly the Martin Sheen's and Sean Penn's of the world are getting/got as much flack as the Janeane Garofalo's, which is why I think it's more of a anti-lefty-pinko-commie thing than an anti-woman thing. I guess I just haven't heard nearly as much of the "she's not being very ladylike" rhetoric as I have of the "She's not being a very good american".

(and i lived enough of my life in the south to have some credibility on the issue, even if i did manage to escape a couple years ago...)

[canela.livejournal.com]

She's not only not one of the "Good ol' boys" ....she's attacking one of them. It's getting a lot of people riled. I agree with kellinator, the South hates change. It is, after all, why the Civil War even happened...

Alot of women in the south are still seen as the "don't speak until spoken to", "get in the kitchen and get me a beer", can't do anything for themselves type of people by a good many men.

In Maines' case, she's also now been painted as unpatriotic and anti-American... which, is only adding reasons for people to hate her and the group.

Notice Toby didn't get any repercussions at all when he stooped to the childish levels of using the doctored photographs and stating that she wasn't of "his level" in talent. For as much as I liked his music, it is food for thought before buying another cd... Just my $.02

[kellinator.livejournal.com]

You said this so well. Thanks!

Uppity women-folk

[scarcrest.livejournal.com]

Yeah. If they were the Dixie Pricks, they'd be marginalized like Steve Earle is, but since they're women who dare to have opinions that differentiate themselves from the proverbial dishrags and prostitutes, well, they're just the asking for it. Gimme a fucking break...

[sirinek.livejournal.com]

Stuff like this makes it embarrassing to be from the South. (You know why the South has started going heavy Republican? I'll tell you in one word: racism. And if you're Republican and you're offended by that, I'm sorry, but you're the ones who let Strom Thurmond, Jesse Helms, and Trent Lott speak for yourselves. Aren't you guys the ones who insist you're judged by the company you keep? If you want to be well thought-of, then it's up to you to take control of your party back from the "disagreement is treason" jingoists.)


Ahh, thanks for the smile. I'm not from the south, but I agree entirely. I've even got a couple people on my friends list that were throwing around the treason crap, though they've piped down considerably since the "war" ended. Really makes my blood boil. Aside from that, I'm also really tired of:

• "Freedom" in place of "French". Leave the fucking French alone already.
  
• The Dixie Chicks. So they criticized the President. Boo fucking hoo. Go cry in your milk you pussies.
  
• That moronic, mis-attributed and butchered up quote about Tiger and Eminem. It was from CHRIS ROCK, and he didn't say a goddamn thing about the Germans, French, or the President and Vice President.
  

I'm sure I'll think of 5 or 6 more after I hit "submit"

Yay!

[printemps.livejournal.com]

Yay you!! I am awfully tired of everyone picking on the French, too. And in fact, I have had a few comments recently (again, moreso when the war was going on) such as, "Well, I guess you don't want to go live in France anymore, huh?"(it's better than having to put up with ignorant people like you, sir) and "I bet you wish you'd majored in Italian now, don't you?"(not for a million dollars, thanks) and the inexplicable (upon learning I had lived in France for a brief period of time), "Wasn't it scary to live among American-hating, Communist people?" (ummm.....I was speechless)

[ga-sunshine.livejournal.com]

hear hear, you roar on, girlfriend!

[legolastn.livejournal.com]

Keith has therefore stated that Maines isn't nearly as good a songwriter as he is (of course not, he's a man), and has taken to "showing on big screens behind the stage [in his concerts] the doctored photo of Maines and Saddam Hussein."

Wow, he's such a fine example of a Southern gentleman. :P I used to like Toby Keith back when I listened to country regularly. For shame.

[jerseygirl1.livejournal.com]

Isn't this the same man that was arrested for beating his wife about 5-10 years ago?

Yeah, he's such an awesome example!

Re:

[legolastn.livejournal.com]

No, or at least I don't think so. I think you're thinking of Tracy Lawrence.

[jerseygirl1.livejournal.com]

Actually, I think he was also... that was one of the reasons that Peter Jennings used to not use his "boot in the Ass" song...

Hehehe... Tracy Lawrence, Toby Keith... I wonder how many other stars have a record for beating women. *shakes head*

*puts his foot down*

[the-yellow-king.livejournal.com]

The reason the South is turning heavily Republican is NOT because of racism.
History, as a matter of fact, states otherwise.
Allow me to use the WayBack machine and go back to just before the Civil War.

Just before the Civil War, when the Congress of the time was talking about state's rights and slavery and what not, there was also this HUGE debate on cotton taxes. Summary: Northern politicos were in favor of taxation, the Southerners were not.
When the legislation came down in favor of cotton taxation, this added a ton of fuel to the North/South difference issues.
So, if you ask historians, you will find that that Civil War was mainly about state's rights and taxation, with slavery as a sidebar issue.

Flash-forward to the Reconstruction period.
The South is under martial law, and the political entities being established were primarily Republican in nature - Lincoln's party. These were the carpetbaggers.
Since the Republicans were liberals at the time, the Southerners [when able to] began to vote again for the conservatives of the day - the Democratic party. The Democratic party at the time also DID NOT favor taxation; their platform on economics was similar to the Republican party of today

Flash-forward to the New Deal.
With the introduction of FDR on the side of the Democratic party and the creating of the ABC programs, the Democratic party became increasingly more prone to taxation and government intervention in business.
The Republican party, of course, began to swing the opposite way, and eventually became the friend of Big Business.
The Southern Democrats remained conservative, because that's what their constituents were. Also, the remaining bitterness of the South towards the Republican party kept the people from voting for Republicans.
This led to the well-known rift in the Democratic party, where it was generally regarded that a Democratic senator from GA held the same beliefs as a Republican senator from MA - and this was mostly true.

Flash-forward to NOW.
With the influx of Westerners and Yankees to the South, and the decrease in the whole Southern bitterness towards the Republican Party, the constituents are now showing their colors.
They were and are in favor of less taxation and less government intervention - especially in the rural areas, which composes 85% of the South.
Thus they vote for the Republican party, as the Democratic party as a whole does not represent their interests.

The entire racial thing is wholly beside the point.
As a matter of fact, the North, on average is more racist than the South ever was.
Why?
Look at the pattern of where race riots have occurred, and in what frequency.
Look at the Yankee habit of segregating Caucasians in neighborhoods by their former nationality, instead of the general integration found in the South.
If you require more information, check this article here (http://www.etymonline.com/cw/northrace.htm).

As it is, you do make an excellent point about the extremists in the Republican party. I should also point out that those same extremists exist in the Democratic party.