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International News Title: Dixie Chicks manager, Simon Renshaw has a message for Freepers and George Bush I was recently reading General Wesley Clarks book "Winning Modern Wars," and the question was posed to him: "Who said freedom of speech was free?" I thought back to our illustrious leader (George II’s) remarks when asked for his thoughts on the Dixie Chick’s comments, to which he replied: "They shouldn’t have their feelings hurt because people don’t want to buy their records when they speak out. Freedom is a two-way street." While he didn’t directly address the issue of his feelings on the subject of resulting death threats and radio bans, it’s probably safe to assume that they too fell under the concept of "Freedom is a two way street." Certainly 2003 will always go down in my mind as the year that America was deceived into war, and that part of that deception was the putting on notice of any dissenting voice, to ensure that they understood – once and for all, that Freedom Of Speech is not free. The concept of "Shut Up & Sing" was borne. I learnt a great deal in 2003, after all I had started the year off managing a successful group who by the Spring of that year had not only swept the Grammies, sold out one of the biggest tours of the year in a day, but had also become A VERB! It was from now on possible to be: Dixie Chicked! I also learnt that there are many well organized groups of "right thinking" citizens, who will work selflessly to ensure that those who dare to speak up and dissent, are suitably Dixie Chicked. They make their views known from safety and anonymity of the Internet and radio talk shows. They meet in chat rooms and encourage each other to vote, call, cajole and threaten. They exchange information and tips on how to remain anonymous and to use multiple identities to create the illusion of size. They are determined to ensure that we understand once and for all that Freedom Of Speech is not free. Especially you! Hollywood! You music and movie celebrities, and all your left wing sycophantic handlers. You are all on notice, Shut Up And Sing, Act – Whatever! But always remember: Shut Up! I also learnt that we can count on America’s liberal media. Yeah - right!! Instead of asking the questions and encouraging debate, our new media conglomerates now issue corporate fatwas on those to be Dixie Chicked. Music networks ban your music, talk show networks vilify your personality, and what remains of this country’s so called news media trivializes it all into neat thirty second sound bites. And we all know that no one reads anymore. You may have Freedom Of Speech, but our media now seems designed to ensure that it will never be heard. This too is probably part of George II’s "Freedom is a two way street" concept. Against the background of Dixie Chicking, media fatwas, bans and vilification some of stewards of this nations air waves managed to find time to organize CD crushing and dumping rallies (apparently CD’s do not burn that well.) Other media giants organized "Rallies For America" to allow hundreds of "right thinking" Americans to show their support for George II, which of course received far more coverage than that of the hundreds of thousands of protesters who had taken to the streets around the world to protest our nation’s actions. Those that spoke out against these Rallies For America were promptly silenced, vilified or ignored. On a side note I must point out that everything that I have just described took place, and was activated, at the local level (from bans to crushings and rallies.) There were no corporate instructions issued, this was always the media acting locally in response to their local listeners and viewers requests. It proves that media deregulation has worked well (probably need more,) and that media conglomerates are honoring their contracts with respect to local programming and responsiveness. I think that this is a big part of the two way street thing! The scariest moment of all came in Munich Germany, when a well known German TV personality – returning from the States, where he had witnessed our media’s response to my clients words – told us "You know in my country our media would never allow this to happen again, they have still not forgotten what happened 70 years ago when they did." As record sales went from a torrent to a trickle, while airplay virtually disappeared overnight, and when many around us advocated everything from letters of apology, to a concerts for the troops, the only issue that Chicks wanted to address was how to make sure that their fans and their audience understood what had been said and why. To that end, they decided to adopt a decidedly low key PR strategy: By appearing naked on the cover of Entertainment Weekly, branded with the phrases and euphemisms that swirled around their name. So much for any notion of backing down! They would not shut up, and they would continue to sing. The Dixie Chicks like everyone in this room knows that Freedom Of Speech has never been free. Men have given their lives to foster and preserve that right for many years. The ACLU fights on a daily basis to preserve those rights here in America, and even today in the 21st century these rights are constantly under attack, both here and around the world. At least in America the price exacted from the speaker is only financial. Or at least it is for now... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... I would like to thank the Dixie Chicks: I am immensely proud of them for the stand they took and way they handled themselves through a moment in time that none of us will ever forget. I would like to thank them having the strength to say no, and for their insistence on always doing the right thing. Freedom of speech is not free and it never was. Freedom of speech is only important if it is exercised Celebrities should not shut up and sing, they should stand up and shout, and we must support them.
Poster Comment: "Dixie Chicks (tickets | music) - Shut Up and Sing," a documentary AGAINST BUSH AND FREEPERS posted 12 days ago by TLBSHOW HOLLYWOOD AND ROCK STARS AGAINST THE BUSH GOVT AND WAR THIS FALL COMING TO A MOVIE THEATER OR DVD NEAR YOU - FEATURING JOHN LENNON CSN&Y DIXIE CHICKS AND MORE posted 12 days ago by TLBSHOW
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#1. To: All (#0)
LMAO ok carry on - Gotta go~
TLBSHOW cannot, or will not, converse with them
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