Each post in this blogwill begin with a fractal image I created: they have little or nothing to do with the text: I just thought you all deserved a "cybercookie" for wading through my deathless prose. This one is called Arabic Square 5: I picked it because of the Valentine colors and lacy look. Hope you enjoy it.
So here I am re-visiting stuff that has very likely already been talked to death but I think all three subjects are strangely connected. Read for yourself and see what you think . . .
Yesterday morning (February 14) in my local newspaper (the Orange County Register if you're curious) I came across an article stating that Country fans are up in arms over the five Grammy's the Dixie Chicks won earlier in the week. "If anything," it said (paraphrasing here) "it'll make Country Radio even less likely to play their music rather than more. " It seems Country Fans find this recognition offensive to their delicate sensibilities.
Even after all this time Country fans aren't "ready to make nice," aren't "ready to back down." They're still "mad as hell" and they "don't have time to go 'round and 'round and 'round. It's too late to back down" (They probably wouldn't if they could--but that's why I'm writing this.) Even after all this time they're still as up-in-arms as the day Natalie Maines said those words. (I don't have the exact quote handy so I won't even try to paraphrase them here--but, remember, it was exactly one sentance.)
Even after all this time I find the situation completely disturbing: our nation has had a long tradition of Freedom of Expression--and that should be respected. You don't have to agree with everything that is said but you must respect an individuals right to say (or in this case sing) it. When did it become a requirement that we agree with a performer's political sentiemts in order to enjoy their works? Banning (and worse burning) their records is far worse than anything the artust might have said. When did it become a bad thing to hold a different opinion in this country? And here's the ultimate irony: what Natalie Maines said way back then wasn't popular at all but now a lot more people are coming around to her view. ("Isn't it ironic, don't you think? A little too ironic--yeah I really do think!" No wait, that's Alannis Morisette . . .)
Natalie Maines dared to criticize the President and the Iraq war--and now we're all seeing what a huge mess that has become--which brings me to the second link in my chain. One week ago today I heard a brief news item that literally dropped my jaw. It seems that as much as eight billion (yes billion, that's not a misprint) dollars earmarked for the reconstruction of Iraq has simply vanished! (Why can't I make an eight billion dollar accounting mistake and have it go unnoticed.?) Nobody really knows where all this money has gone but three Army Reserve Officers are being prosecuted. (It seems that some of the money made its way back to the United States in bricks of hundred dollas bills.) Can somebody please tell me why this isn't bigger news? why more people aren't up-in-arms over something so completely and utterly outrageous and why this doesn't get more reportage in our media?
I can tell you one big reason: this story hit the same day Anna Nicole Smith died--and since then it's been all Anna Nicole all the time. (This story is doing wonders for the cable news channel ratings and Hollywood "infotainment" shows like Entertainment Tonight.) What is it about this woman that fascinated us so? She was no beauty of the ages: she was no towering intellect and God knows she was no great talent. Sadly, her death has little or no meaning in the grand scale of things, Anna Nicole Smith was a tawdry cautionary tale of epic proportions, the Poster Girl for "don't try this at home", a human train wreck waiting to happen--and the American Public just had to watch. In life she was a sad spectacle and in death she's become a sideshow.
And what does that say about us as a population? Are we ostritches burying our collective heads in the sand so we don't have to look at the real world or are we just glad this wasn't us? I don't have the answers--and to be completely honest I'm not sure I want them. (I fear that knowing would make me even sadder than I already am.)
But now I've come to the end of my chain. It would be poetic if I could find a way to link Anna Nicole Smith back to the Dixie Chicks--thus making this rant a perfect circle. Sadly, I can't: maybe I'm typing too early in the morning or maybe I just haven't had enough coffee. . . No, wait! I just got it! The Dixie Chicks are from Texas and Anna Nicole Smith was born and raised in Arkansas--so I guess that makes her a Dixie chick too . . .
1 comment:
Ron, as ever, your artistic fractal images are most breathtakingly beautiful. Thank you for sharing your gifts. It will be interesting to read your blogs, so let us know when you repost.
Mary Jean Iron wrote: "Normal day. Let me be aware of the treasure you are. Let me learn from you, love you, bless you before you depart. Let me not pass you by in quest of some rare and perfect tomorrow. Let me hold you while I may, for it may not always be so. One day, I shall dig my nails into the earth, or bury my face in the pillow, or stretch my self taunt, or raise my hands to the sky, and want more than all the world, your return."
In the aftermath of Anna Nicole Smith's death, I had this thought.
We have gone to the wailing wall so often that it becomes ordinary for us to be there. Our sons have been sacrified to war and strife. And goodness knows, at times it is simply too much to bear the weight of scorn and loss. Death, the grand destroyer comes then, and we are finally released from the chaos and burdens we can no longer bear to carry.
Anne Nicole had her l5 minutes of fame and glory and whether her life had meaning...
Namaste my friend,
Running Water
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