Posted on 10/07/2006 1:04:19 PM PDT by kristinn
It's hard to believe this petite, well-mannered Texan - sitting opposite in a Sydney harbourside hotel - caused the kind of stir the music industry has not seen since John Lennon sang about being crucified in 1969.
It's the day before the band's first Australian concert on their Accidents and Accusations world tour.
Maines looks younger than her 31 years.
SNIP
Aware she may sound "bizarre", the 31-year-old believes the vitriol directed at The Dixie Chicks was part of a right-wing conspiracy.
An organised group known as the Free Republic set out to bring the band down.
The organisation's power, she says, comes through the internet. The site has thousands of subscribers, all of whom were encouraged to destroy the band's music and boycott the radio stations that played it.
"It's scary how much power they do have," she says. "They can take down someone singlehandedly and I don't think Americans are aware of that.
"It's the same group that went after (former US president) Bill Clinton and (gay actress) Ellen DeGeneres."
In the beginning, Maines says, they tried to fight their detractors. Their management tried to alert radio station programmers to what was happening.
"But they weren't open to it and just thought we were grasping at straws to try and salvage something," she says.
"It was just bigger than we could fight and we weren't willing to put ourselves out there to be made to look stupid if people weren't willing to investigate this thing and be open to it."
SNIP
"For the Free Republic we were a dream come true; they made it their mission to take us down. Apparently we were not supposed to think like this because we play country music."
(Excerpt) Read more at news.com.au ...
LOL! Love the AYBBTU bucks!
Proud to be a member "of the group known as Free Republic" since Feb. 8 1999, thank you very much......
should have kept her (multiple)pie-hole shut....so much talent....so little brain
I think she is confusing Ellen Degeneres with Whoopi Goldberg who called Bush a few 4 letter words at a Kerry fundraiser and was canned the next day as a Slim Fast spokesperson.
Also, since someone with the chicks apparently reads FR, my suggestion is that at your next concert, Maines should say "It may surprise you, but we are ashamed John Howard is from Australia"
check this out
http://www.kxan.com/Global/story.asp?S=5485850&nav=menu73_2_13
I like the one person who "cancelled chemotherapy to be here"
It means that Free Republic is doing its job.
Who else? Always use an expert I say...
Yes. I believe this is the power of the people all my leftist professors in school bragged about that would (in their opinion) bring down capitalism and big corporations and change America to a socialist/communist country. Apparently this unified behavior is only acceptable when it is used in a treasonous way toward our American society and leaders but when it is everyday people coming together to boycott a product--it is scary and dangerous to these lunes.
Haha. It is called grassroots organizing (another lefty description) or just American people uniting in action who share common values.
Just as we regular everyday people came out in droves to support Bush when Gore protested the results of the election, the left can't STAND that we unite and effect change that coincides with our value system. How dare we!!
According to these libs we go from everyday people fighting for change (this description is used when it is their own liberals fighting for/against something) to being called the mass right wing conspiracy.
These people are whining victims that are whacked. Get over your small self Natalie. We have.
We don't care about your opinions, Natalie.
If FR had the power that your paranoia insists it does, you'd be sleeping in an alley, servicing toothless drunks to scrounge your next meal.
Grow up, little girl.
ROFLMAO!
I didn't give a warm pail of s[p]it about the Dixie Sluts before their Bush-bashing escapade, so it was no effort for me to boycott them...... but what their feeble brains can't grasp is that they were not only ridiculing our President before a foreign audience just as troops were about to go into harm's way, but they were also ridiculing all of their (former) fans who did not agree with them..... they did not merely express an opinion, however, foolish, they said they were "ashamed" of Pres. Bush and by implication "ashamed" of everyone who supported him.
As has become clear since in their derision toward tens of millions of country music fans, the Dixie Sluts are immature, arrogant, snivelling twits who despise most of their (former) fans -- why should they be surprised when people start to reciprocate such contempt?
It was their own lack of class in behavior, but it's always easier to blame someone else instead of looking in the mirror.
i am an aussie who read the article in my paper, which eventually led me to this site. i agree with the girls, God forbid anyone dare question your president. you go on about the "ditsy chicks", have you recently looked closely at g. dubya??? not the sharpest tool in the shed, however still a tool nonetheless. and as i registered for this site, i checked my hotmail for the password to get in, there was no mail from FR... hotmail classed it as junk mail... how very true.
Thank you, MaryFromMichigan! If the Dixie Chicks' popularity is waning, they can only blame themselves. Their own words did them in.
"They can take down someone singlehandedly and I don't think Americans are aware of that."
Which is the worst hyperbole? Comparing Maines impact on the music industry to John Lennon's or claiming that the careers of a few public figures can be ruined "singlehandedly" by a Web site that the average American probably has never heard of.
FR didn't destroy the Dixie Chicks, Ellen Degeneres, Bill Clinton or Dan Rather. They did it all by themselves. BTW, I like Ellen. Her show went to shi'ite when she came out and decided to make it the lebian sit-com. She's much better now that she does what she does best--tell jokes.
So the Dixie Chicks should take a hint from Ellen and the title of their own movie and shut up and sing.
With as much of her foot as Maines can fit in her mouth, it's amazing she isn't starring in smut flicks.
Give her time.
True, with desperation on the level that 'band' has...
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