Superville Review

The Police triumphantly reunited, Mary J. Blige displayed why she is destined to be a legend, The Red Hot Chili Peppers are legends, Chris Brown can song and dance, James Brown will be sorely missed and after receiving public censure for anti-war and anti-George Bush remarks, the Dixie Chicks made a triumphant return to the spotlight winning several awards. This was the most important results in the 2007 Grammy Award show.

In a period where any criticism of American foreign or domestic policy was seen as anti-patriotic amidst the fear of terrorist threats at home and abroad The Dixie Chicks, one of the more popular groups in the country at the time used their right to free speech as American citizens living in a democracy, to criticize their President. Corporate fall-out, public fall-out led the Chicks down an isolated path of hate mail, decreased airplay and the resulting stress.

Once again, a country that is supposed to be framed on the tenet of public discourse and disagreement showed that we are not able to handle a truth we would rather not accept and those willing to issue their truth will be punished. It was good to see the Dixie Chicks receive several awards based on the excellence of their artistry and the truth within it. The good thing about living in a democracy is that even though one might here opinions that they furiously disagree with, they have a right to respond to it. Last night, in Los Angeles, California, the Dixie Chicks responded to the public beatdown they received by displaying the end result of perserverance.

Labels: Chris Brown, Democracy, Dixie Chicks, Grammy's, James Brown, Mary J. Blige, Terrorism, The Police

Presidential Candidate John Edwards recently discovered the trial by fire nature of the blogosphere. Melissa McEwan and Amanda Marcotte, hired by Edwards' staff came under scrutiny from Catholics and conservatives who asserted McEwan and Marcotte's opinions on the Church's stand on abortion and homosexuality as being anti-catholic. The ladies have since apologized for any misconceptions as to their beliefs, holding that they are not anti-Catholic.

The bottom line truth in this equation is that in America people have opinions and technology has allowed a quick and accessible expression of a multitude of views that will almost always be offensive to one or more of the diverse groupings that make up American society. Free speech is the life's blood of a healthy democracy seeking to be functional in regard to resident participation. For democracy to be more than theory people must be involved in its dissemination. Period. While the Catholic church and other conservative groups have every right to take offense to the statements of bloggers, traditional journalist's or "others" in general, I don't know how much effectiveness their is in berating McEwan and Marcotte into an apology. It seems the more effective action to take is to utilize their free speech and educate people on the nature of the church's stance on the hot button issues that are always ready to polarize a free society.

I like what I've heard from Edwards up until now, but this blog-debacle has me looking at him sideways. One, any candidate has to know who his campaign staff is hiring to represent them; particularly when those hires are coming from a cyberspace that has a blog outpost on every domain way station. Two, an apology from his bloggers is fine, but the truth is their opinions are their opinions and they are entitled to them. Disagreement is also part of the life's blood of democracy. Perhaps an apology about the way McEwen and Marcotte stated their opinions could have been in order, but politics as usual, in other words, a forced apology from these bloggers should mean very little. America has never been in total agreement about anything and never will be. To get to the greatest good we need to be aware of the ways, means and evils that provide obstacles on the path to it. For that to happen we need people to speak freely. Even if we disagree.

Labels: Amanda Marcotte, Catholic Church, Conservatives, Democracy, Free Speech, John Edwards, Melissa McEwan