I finally got around to seeing Shut Up & Sing, the documentary about the Dixie Chicks after the singer made some anti-Bush comments just before the Iraq war started. Not a fan of that music really, though I do think they're all very talented (and I'm a sucker for a woman with any string instrument).
First off, I really liked the movie and the persistence of the group through all of the controversy. Even better, they managed to beat the industry I once loved, radio, and showed that you can sell records without them. I particularly loved the scene where Sen. John McCain starts blasting a record exec in an ownership limits hearing. (Lifting ownership limits of radio, a practice long and rightfully justified by the scarcity of radio bandwidth and a need to preserve local needs served by radio, was the biggest mistake ever made and the thing that killed commercial radio.)
What I found frightening is just how much Americans turned off their brains in 2003. 9/11 instilled so much fear and hate in people that it became unpatriotic to question the actions of your own country, ironically one of the most fundamental values the United States was founded on in the first place. The terrorists got what they wanted in that respect, and we played right into it.
The optimist in me would like to think that at least in politics there is potential for more open discussion on real issues. I'm hoping that the YouTube generation is watching and thinking. The next presidential election could be a real spark for hope, or it could be politics as usual and the disenchanted could care even less. I would like to have a real, bona fide choice next time instead of having to pick between people I dislike, one less than the other. I guess we'll soon find out.