April 7, 2003
FREE SPEECH MEETS THE FREE MARKET:
THE NEW POLITICAL CORRECTNESS (Richard Reeves, 4/03/03)This is the way Machiavelli, the cynical Florentine philosopher of politics and power, put it in "The Prince" in 1513:"Everyone sees what you seem to be, few perceive what you are; and those few don't dare oppose the general opinion, which has the majesty of the government backing it up. ... The masses are always impressed by appearances and by the outcome of an event -- and in the world there are only masses. The few have no place there when the many crowd together."
Few dare to oppose now, almost 500 years later. Even a clever descendant of Machiavelli's people, Madonna, herself a philosopher of daring, has decided the risk of opposition or the appearance of opposition is just too risky with American troops in the field. Last Tuesday, demonstrating that she is no Dixie Chick, the former Madonna Louise Ciccone announced that she was withdrawing an anti-war video to promote her song "American Life."
"It was filmed before the war started, and I do not believe it is appropriate to air it at this time," she said. "Due to the volatile state of the world and out of sensitivity and respect for our armed forces, who I support and pray for, I do not want to risk offending anyone who might misinterpret the meaning of this video."
Political correctness has turned sharply right, hasn't it? I'm sure Madonna was not at all influenced by the ongoing radio boycott of the Dixie Chicks, whose lead singer, Natalie Maines, had said she was ashamed to be from the same state as President Bush. That would be Texas. The chick quickly apologized, but it may have been too late. The new PC warriors are taking names.
Life offers few more enjoyable spectacles than a nationally syndicated columnists opining that a dark pall of censorship has descended on America because people can't say...well, all the things he goes on to repeat in his column. Mr. Reeves might have noticed that no one said Madonna and the Dixie Chicks--and Michael Moore and Susan Sarandon and Pearl Jam and all the rest--couldn't say what they did. Rather, the consumer marketplace, where 70%+ of people support the war, said that if this is how you feel about our country and our president then perhaps I can do without patronizing you. Now, if these folks have the courage of their convictions, it should be an honor to discard their careers and livelihoods for what they believe in. If, instead, they choose to shut up and try to make money, well, it isn't an honorable choice, but it's sensible. Posted by Orrin Judd at April 7, 2003 12:04 AM
He didn't even get it straight about Maines,
who has not apologized but said she was,
you know, proving her patriotism by exercising
her, you know, American right to speak her
mind.
The other chiclets supported her.
It may be that they are the only complainants
about Bush to have shown any gumption. Only
ones I've heard about, anyway.
"if they choose to shut-up and make money..."
People in this same group have whined about Reagan's "decade of greed." Who's greedy the person who has a job and makes a good living or the one who gets paid a king's ransom for one movie and then snorts someone's annual salary up their nose?"
Interesting.
The first time Madonna has to play Truth or Dare in earnest, she loses....
(But shy couldn't this all have happened *before* that awful remake of "American Pie"?....)
Political correctness has turned sharply to the right? Richard reeves is a true moron,IMHO. An entertainer displays a level of political, shall we say, superficiality and their fans are disapointed. The assumptions made by the fans regarding their heros are dashed and they are no longer fans. It's all very personal, pop culture after all.
The silliest thing about all of this is, of course, the artists lack of a platform from which to pontificate without their ability to sing or play a tambourine. Hubris is deadly.
I have yet to hear the disappointed fans speak about sensitivity exercises for for these opinionated artistes, of course that's more the method of the R. Reeves of the world.They seem to be more than happy to leave them alone. Surely one is not obligated to buy the records, books or movies of people you profoundly disagree with.
What's next? Could Mr. Reeves and his bretheren make it a hate crime to boycott a self-indulgent rock-star? If you take his reasoning to its logical conclusion...