Jump to content

Dixie Chicks and Freedom of Speech


yall

Recommended Posts

  • Replies 109
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

I'm surprised you caught the reference, seeing as it was in a film from the Leftist bastion that is Hollywood. Those jokes about Harris and his relationship with Jesus only furthered the movie studio's clear liberal agenda, right Rk?

 

You are entitled to your views, I respect them as much my own or anyone else's. I don't pretend to have all of the answers and am always fairly open-minded. I don't post in PPP that often because, frankly, a lot of the 'issues' that are brought up, I don't consider to be issues at all (like the Dixie Chicks or macaca or crap like that.) I like when people link to articles that I wouldn't find elsewhere on my own, and that's usually how I spend my time here.

 

Immediately dividing every single issue into left vs. right in post #3 of the thread (like you seem to do) forces a division into sides, promotes arguing and name calling, and limits open-mindedness and true discussion. Every thread turns into a blame game where your side is wrong and my side is correct, and it's my observation that you have a lot to do with steering the threads that way.

 

For a dude who "smokes and jokes", you sure are uptight.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Particularly since the free advertising sent their CD, concert, and merchandise sales through the !@#$ing roof. They're such victims... :unsure:

 

I think that was only in Canada though. I think their stateside sales of merch, cd's, and tix went down siginificantly. What was funny was their audience got a slight augmentation from people who hated the President, but normally wouldn't touch country.

 

I also recall them having some feud with the "Ford Truck Man".

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think that was only in Canada though. I think their stateside sales of merch, cd's, and tix went down siginificantly. What was funny was their audience got a slight augmentation from people who hated the President, but normally wouldn't touch country.

 

I also recall them having some feud with the "Ford Truck Man".

 

 

I thought I head that nearly every American concert of theirs sold out - usually rapidly.

 

Now I have to see if I can confirm that. As though I hadn't wasted enough time on this topic today...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I thought I head that nearly every American concert of theirs sold out - usually rapidly.

 

Now I have to see if I can confirm that. As though I hadn't wasted enough time on this topic today...

 

I'll help ya... (Man, I'm REALLY bored today... :unsure: )

 

http://www.cbc.ca/arts/story/2006/06/10/di...tour.html?print

 

The Dixie Chicks' Natalie Maines in New York in 2003. Maines's anti-Bush remark has had an effect on the band's concert sales in some cities.

(AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)

"This time around, we are willingly feeling our way through unchartered territory," said the statement. "Things don't come as easy as they might have come in the past, and it makes each accomplishment more exciting and appreciated. We will go where the fans are with great anticipation and no regrets."

 

The group's spokesman is also quoted in a Saturday Los Angeles Times article as saying there has been "some reshuffling of dates" and additions to the itinerary.

 

The Dixie Chicks' latest album, Taking the Long Way, opened in the No. 1 spot on the U.S. charts, selling 526,000 copies in seven days.

 

Continue Article

 

Industry reports say ticket sales are sluggish in Republican states because of the prolonged backlash to a 2003 comment by singer Natalie Maines at a British concert. She had said the group is ashamed to come from the same state, Texas, as President George W. Bush.

 

"Basically, they're having to rethink the entire tour at this point," Gary Bongiovanni of the concert industry magazine Pollstar told Reuters.

 

Concert schedule changes

 

Bongiovanni says dates in Memphis, Tennessee, Oklahoma City, Indianapolis, Houston and Fresno, Calif., might have to be dropped from the tour. An extra date has already been added in Toronto."

Link to comment
Share on other sites

As far as Cumulus and Clear Channel goes, it definitely was censorship and a federal crime I think. Clear Channel ordered all of their program directors to completely stop playing the Chicks records, and since that crossed state lines, it became a federal issue. That's not company policy, that's censorship.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

As far as Clear Channel goes, it definitely was censorship and a federal crime I think. Clear Channel ordered all of their program directors to completely stop playing the Chicks records, and since that crossed state lines, it became a federal issue. That's not company policy, that's censorship.

 

Huh?

 

What exactly about that is a criminal act?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Huh?

 

What exactly about that is a criminal act?

It was an act of censorship and first amendment violation. They held Senate hearings on it over the media consolidation issue and this case was one of the major elements of it. In fact, even though I hate John McCain he did something extraordinary in those hearings for a guy I know, and McCain was the strongest critic of Cumulus and Clear Channel. he was the one that brought up the federal crime issue. Cumulus later lifted their ban. And now Clear Channel is selling off stations. This is not specifically related to the Dixie Chicks (the Clear Channel thing) but somewhat is, since that is what McCain was complaining about. That they had a monopoly on the marketplace, and then used that monopoly for censorship.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It was an act of censorship and first amendment violation. They held Senate hearings on it over the media consolidation issue and this case was one of the major elements of it. In fact, even though I hate John McCain he did something extraordinary in those hearings for a guy I know, and McCain was the strongest critic of Cumulus and Clear Channel. he was the one that brought up the federal crime issue. Cumulus later lifted their ban. And now Clear Channel is selling off stations. This is not specifically related to the Dixie Chicks (the Clear Channel thing) but somewhat is, since that is what McCain was complaining about. That they had a monopoly on the marketplace, and then used that monopoly for censorship.

 

But wasn't the criminal issue related to their monopoly, and not what they chose to play? Granted the two are related in that CC had to much power in that they controlled too much, but there is no crime in what they choose to play or not play.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

As far as Cumulus and Clear Channel goes, it definitely was censorship and a federal crime I think. Clear Channel ordered all of their program directors to completely stop playing the Chicks records, and since that crossed state lines, it became a federal issue. That's not company policy, that's censorship.

 

 

Uhhhh...no. There is no FCC regulation saying that a private, multi-state broadcast corporation must play the Dixie Chicks. :unsure:

 

 

Seriously...within the guidelines the FCC sets (i.e. decency standards, none of the "seven dirty words", all that nonsense), Clear Channel is well within their rights to set the playlists of their radio stations however they see fit. It may be censorship (one could also call it a freedom of speech issue protected by the First Amendment - specifically, Clear Channel's First Amendment right to decide themselves what they will and will not allow to be said on the radio), but it is company policy, and manifestly NOT a federal crime.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It was an act of censorship and first amendment violation. They held Senate hearings on it over the media consolidation issue and this case was one of the major elements of it. In fact, even though I hate John McCain he did something extraordinary in those hearings for a guy I know, and McCain was the strongest critic of Cumulus and Clear Channel. he was the one that brought up the federal crime issue. Cumulus later lifted their ban. And now Clear Channel is selling off stations. This is not specifically related to the Dixie Chicks (the Clear Channel thing) but somewhat is, since that is what McCain was complaining about. That they had a monopoly on the marketplace, and then used that monopoly for censorship.

 

 

Is the federal "crime" a First Amendment violation, or an anti-trust violation?

 

Either way, it's bull sh--, as there's no federal law requiring the Dixie Chicks get air time. But let's at least be clear if our accusation is illegal censorship, or an anti-trust violation, shall we?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Uhhhh...no. There is no FCC regulation saying that a private, multi-state broadcast corporation must play the Dixie Chicks. :unsure:

Seriously...within the guidelines the FCC sets (i.e. decency standards, none of the "seven dirty words", all that nonsense), Clear Channel is well within their rights to set the playlists of their radio stations however they see fit. It may be censorship (one could also call it a freedom of speech issue protected by the First Amendment - specifically, Clear Channel's First Amendment right to decide themselves what they will and will not allow to be said on the radio), but it is company policy, and manifestly NOT a federal crime.

That's why they held two Senate hearings on the issue, to see if they had violated the first amendment. And while Cumulus and Clear Channel were not officially charged with a federal crime, that is where it was headed. And now they are selling off some of their stations. The article linked doesn't refer to the specific exchange I am referring to, but during the hearings McCain got Renshaw to talk about the ban, and then brought up the crossing state lines issues, which would make it a federal crime. That's how McCain got the whole Dixie Chicks issue into the hearings.

 

http://foi.missouri.edu/firstamendment/radio.html

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Is the federal "crime" a First Amendment violation, or an anti-trust violation?

 

Either way, it's bull sh--, as there's no federal law requiring the Dixie Chicks get air time. But let's at least be clear if our accusation is illegal censorship, or an anti-trust violation, shall we?

 

 

well a company having a monopoly and deciding the products it sells IS an anti trust violation. They use their monopoly to sell what they want to sell and not what the market 'd buy, this is a clear anti-trust violation.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Is the federal "crime" a First Amendment violation, or an anti-trust violation?

 

Either way, it's bull sh--, as there's no federal law requiring the Dixie Chicks get air time. But let's at least be clear if our accusation is illegal censorship, or an anti-trust violation, shall we?

McCain (I can't believe I am sticking up for the bastard but he was great in this) called it a first amendment issue I believe. Perhaps both.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

×
×
  • Create New...