Lessons in life from the Dixie Chicks

I have loved the Dixie Chicks since the first day I heard "Wide Open Spaces" the summer after my freshmen year of college. Their first album said exactly how I felt about going to college "finding a place out West and making my big mistakes". I remember my dad saying about that song, "we'd rather you not make mistakes."
Their second album was angry and man-hating, it got me through every break up with songs like "Earl has to Die." I loved it. I ran to it at the gym every day and lost the freshmen 15.
The third album was softer and I remember listening to it on the first day I bought it and crying on my way to work because it was so good. I remember sitting at their concert later that year and watching them flash pictures of people running over their CD's with steam rollers and picketing about them outside of radio stations and concerts. All of that because Natalie said she didn't like the president.
Their latest album came out this summer, 3 years after the incident with Natalie. I love it. I love that it is angry. I think they have the right to be angry. I think that I would be angry too. I think that this nation is all about free speech and everyone has the right to an opinion. Natalie apologized after the incident saying,
"As a concerned American citizen, I apologize to President Bush because my remark was disrespectful. I feel that whoever holds that office should be treated with the utmost respect."

However, after the backlash, including the death threats that she received, Natalie remains angry. Does she bomb a building? no. Does she steam roll over other people's cd's? No. Does she make death threats against people she doesn't like? no. She writes songs, she sings, she expresses her opinion. People don't have to buy her CD. I did. I don't agree with all of her political views but I do agree with her line from "I'm not Ready to Make Nice"...

"Its a sad sad story when a mother will teach her daughter that she ought to hate a perfect stranger..."

People HATE the Dixie Chicks. It isn't right. It goes against what we belive as Americans. I love them. I want to teach my daughters that they do not have the right to hate a perfect stranger. They have the right to disagree but not to hate. And, never worry too much about what a movie star or a singer says. They probably only have a high school education at most. Just enjoy their art for what it is.