2003-03-14 - 5:25 p.m.

Who'd have thought it would be the Dixie Chicks that set off my latest anti-war rant?

I knew there was a reason I don't listen to country music. As of today, I can officially say that the majority of country music fans are acting like morons.

Apparently, the lead singer for the Dixie Chicks made some statements criticizing Bush. It seems that in response to a huge listener outcry, many country music stations have pulled the Chicks from their playlist. Here's a direct quote from the above-linked article.

Station managers said their decisions were prompted by calls from irate listeners who thought criticism of the president was unpatriotic.

Let me say something that I feel very deeply. (And I'll try to use small words that aforementioned majority of country music fans.)

Criticizing the government for doing stupid, unjust things is. Not. UNPATRIOTIC! *Not* criticizing the government for doing stupid, unjust things is what's unpatriotic.

Maybe everyone needs to go back to Civics 101 here, but see, the root and primary strength of Democracy is that the people have a voice. If the government brooked no dissension, we'd be living in an Oligarchy, if not a completely totalitarian system.

Dammit, people. The president is not always right. If you know he's being a damn fool, not only is it not unpatriotic to tell him so, it's your fucking duty as a citizen of this country.

I...I...I'm just beside myself. I'm completely at a loss. I'm slowly coming to terms with the fact that despite all my personal efforts to tell my congress people that this war is fucking dumb, and the efforts of *millions* around the country to do the same, and the obvious anti-war sentiment over the *entire* fucking world, and all common sense, that despite all that, our nation is sleep-walking into an unjust war with potentially terrifying ramifications. I'm almost to the point that the thought doesn't set my teeth on edge. Call it resignation, call it giving up, call it what you want.

But I'll tell you this, I understand people who are getting tired of throwing themselves in front of the "The world thinks our country is an arrogant hegemon, so let's prove them right" war machine.

But the people up there riding that machine, blindly waving their blood-soaked flags?

They can bite my ass.

If I had any disposable income, I'd go out and buy every single Dixie Chicks album.

Twice.