Dixie Chicks Basher has a change of heart.

[AX10]

http://dixiechicks.msn.com/article.aspx?cp-documentid=5817958

"Andrea cried countless tears over the hard feelings she caused the Chicks. Time passed, but the weight of sadness and regret never diminished. She felt devastated to know that she made a fellow mother feel that way. Her only comfort was that she might inspire others to say, “I don’t want to be like that,” and choose a different path from the one she chose.

After being haunted by the “ugly” reflection of herself on the screen, Andrea vowed to set a positive example for her son that taught him to never judge, always accept others and treat people with respect. She invested a lot of time in becoming more aware of the world and learning to think for herself. In the ensuing months, she came to believe that the act of dissenting is as American as waving the flag. Above all, she no longer acted like a sheep.

For many months, there remained one task for Andrea that she could not accomplish: apologizing to the Dixie Chicks. She didn’t have an address for them, so she attempted to contact Oprah, NPR and other media outlets. Nobody would give her the platform to apologize."

[proud2BlibKansan]

1. Freepers heads are spinning

:)

[Seabiscuit]

35. There's that kind of hush... all over the world.

[Quixote1818]

2. Thats a great story

Shows people can change and their is hope for this world.

[babylonsister]

3. Wow! If the Chicks can forgive, we all can. Great story! Thanks! nt

[mzmolly]

4. Very nice, thanks for sharing.

*snif snif*

[JBoy]

5. Great story! Very encouraging!

K&R.

[Arugula Latte]

6. Great story. We need many more like this!

:thumbsup:

[never_get_over_it]

7. That is a fabulous story

and I needed some fabulous thanks for posting....

[HeeBGBz]

8. I'm glad to hear of this

Both for the woman and child and for the Chicks.

[judaspriestess]

9. Good for her

and especially her son. I need to watch the documentary.

[jonnyblitz]

10. and here it is on google video, the whole documentary.

:hi:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8145486016514085072&q=shut+up+and+sing&total=556&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=2

[Ishoutandscream2]

11. Thank you. I'm going to catch bits and pieces

Talented women. And great Texans!!

[jonnyblitz]

12. I was surprised to find this on google video. I had already seen

it before and I checked to see if it was there out of curiosity and there it was. it's a great documentary!

[judaspriestess]

18. Thank you for posting the link

[progressoid]

20. Yeah, thanks for that link.

I hadn't seen it yet.

[mmonk]

13. Thanks for posting.

I have the DVD Shut Up and Sing. I'm glad some people are coming to their senses.

[derby378]

14. One thing intrigues me about that report...

It looks like the Dixie Chicks, while apparently touched by Andrea's apology, never really accepted it. Once bitten, twice shy.

Seems like Andrea should have thought long and hard before teaching her child to hate. Here's hoping she's still learning the price of her neo-fascist folly. There's still hope, but she's got a long road ahead.

[mmonk]

15. The article is on one of their sites.

[HughMoran]

16. A sign of hope

Like to see this kind of thinking spread.

[proud patriot]

17. Beautiful

O8)

[fortyfeetunder]

19. One less "sheep"

We got a bunch more of Andrea's out there. Sheep, following their friends, not using critical thinking skills, saying what they think "feels good" and not one care whether it hurts someone on the receiving end.

I am glad Andrea got a clue in her late 20s. I hope she can use this to teach others it's wrong to hate people you do not agree with in principle, and even worse to pass on this value to younger people.

[Lindsey]

22. Wow...what a story...

The song and the documentary ae both excellent.

[pamela]

21. Thanks for posting this.

I always wondered what happened to that woman. When I watched the DVD, that was the part that stood out for me. I can honestly say, I never expected this outcome. She seemed like a hardcore hater.

[mogster]

23. The Dixie Chicks 'treatment' looks a lot like McCarthyism

McCarthyism was supported by a variety of groups, including the American Legion, Christian fundamentalists and various other anti-communist organizations. One core element of support was a variety of militantly anti-communist women's groups such as the American Public Relations Forum and the Minute Women of the U.S.A.. These organized tens of thousands of housewives into study groups, letter-writing networks, and patriotic clubs that coordinated efforts to identify and eradicate subversion.<36>

Although far-right radicals were the bedrock of support for McCarthyism, they were not alone. A broad "coalition of the aggrieved" found McCarthyism attractive, or at least politically useful. Common themes uniting the coalition were opposition to internationalism, particularly the United Nations; opposition to social welfare provisions, particularly the various programs established by the New Deal; and opposition to efforts to reduce inequalities in the social structure of the United States.<37>

One focus of popular McCarthyism concerned the provision of public health services, particularly vaccination, mental health care services and fluoridation, all of which were deemed by some to be communist plots to poison or brainwash the American people. This viewpoint led to major collisions between McCarthyite radicals and supporters of public health programs, most notably in the case of the Alaska Mental Health Bill controversy of 1956.<38>

Right-wing intellectuals found the decisiveness of McCarthyism refreshing. William F. Buckley, Jr., the founder of the influential conservative political magazine National Review, wrote a defense of McCarthy, McCarthy and his Enemies, in which he asserted that "McCarthyism ... is a movement around which men of good will and stern morality can close ranks."<37>

In addition, as Richard Rovere points out, many ordinary Americans became convinced that there must be "no smoke without fire" and lent their support to McCarthyism. In January 1954, a Gallup poll found that 50% of the American public supported McCarthy, while only 29% had an unfavorable opinion of the senator. Earl Warren, the Chief Justice of the United States, commented that if the United States Bill of Rights had been put to a vote it probably would have been defeated.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McCarthyism

[tandot]

24. Logged in just to K & R this story.

"Teaching children to hate perfect strangers" is what a lot of Republicans are so great in.

[tom_paine]

25. No easier way to be ignored by the toadying MSM than being anti-Bush

Such stories are simply not permitted to be discussed anywhere they might reach a million ears.

How do the Bushies get self-censorship only achieved previously by much more brutal methods such as those used in Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union?

Apparently very easily. Fear, intimidation, loss of livelihood, and more, I am sure.

What a cowardly nation we have become as we lick the boots of our Bushie Masters.

For every Andrea there are 100 dittoheads and apathetic followers. This story is heartening, I suppose, but to e the more important part of the story was that, even after they made this woman into a media icon, they would not allow her a microphone from which to espouse her mistake and apology.

Nope, not newsworthy that the woman who's video we used as emblematic of the BushReich now wants to apologize. What right has she to apologize to millions, after her mistaken hate was broadcast to millions?

In modern Imperial Amerika, none at all. None at all.

Even now, the fundamental rules of the Bush False Reality Bubble are as ironclad as they ever were.

This does not mean give up. I will never advocate that. The important thing is to go down fighting, even if the cause is hopeless, like the 1943 Warsaw Ghetto Uprising.

[texastoast]

51. Here's how

"How do the Bushies get self-censorship only achieved previously by much more brutal methods such as those used in Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union?"

Be best friends with the Chairman of Clear Channel, for starters.

http://www.clearchannel.com/Corporate/PressRelease.aspx?PressReleaseID=1446&p=hidden

"Mays is a close friend of and major fundraiser for both former President George H.W. Bush and current President George W. Bush. He was named to the Texas Technology Council when the younger Bush was the governor of Texas."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lowry_Mays


And get the laws changed in favor of media consolidation so there is ONE message from the ALMIGHTY wealthy.

http://www.projectcensored.org/publications/2004/17.html
http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=4808
http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1154682263147

And, when your shrubbie bud calls from the White House, say, "Yessir. We will hold some local 'Patriot' rallies so people can bulldoze over the CDs of that big-mouthed real Texas chick from Lubbock. . . . Yessir, I know she has balls."

[Libby2]

26. OMG! That made me cry!!

Thank you for posting this.

[Longhorn]

31. Me, too!

This article shows us exactly how mob mentality works and what happens when some people are confronted with the consequences of their behavior. Too bad some people are so defensive and filled with hate that they refuse to recognize their ugliness.

[GoneOffShore]

27. There IS hope, after all.

[Javaman]

28. Here's the telling line: "learning to think for herself"...

funny how that works, huh?

[momophile]

29. way to go, Andrea!

now let's teach the children to love and respect.

[I Have A Dream]

30. Wow! What a great story.

:)

[meowomon]

32. Yep

I was an anti-Bushie when it wasn't cool. My right-wing dad now has nothing good to say about George Bush. This is quite a turn around for a man who is proud of the autographed picture of himself posing with Oliver North on his refrigerator.

[SaveAmerica]

33. She now protests against the war

This is about Andrea and her son Connor:

"The two are still exercising their fundamental right to free speech. She told me they’ve been to many protests because they “like to open their mouths.” Only this time, they aren’t trashing the Dixie Chicks.

In January, Andrea and Connor proudly marched in Washington, D.C., to call for an end to the war.

On their way to and from the march, Andrea and Connor blasted their car stereo and sang along to the songs of the Dixie Chicks."

[calimary]

34. Souls CAN be saved.

I think I need to keep this thread bookmarked to remind myself of this. The last couple of weeks of repeatedly spineless Dems put me in a very dark, pessimistic mood. This is one little bit of relief.

[AX10]

36. kick

[Old Smokey]

37. Excellent Story

[ronnykmarshall]

38. When will the RW hate mail start?

[Vektor]

39. What a great story - glad she saw the light...and that she realized that

acting that way really does make one look "like 'pure white trash — uneducated, illiterate, overweight and judgmental.'

If only they all could see video of themselves in all their Freeper glory.

I'm glad this young lady has seen the error of her ways, and has grown as a person. Good for her!

[Botany]

40. Merry Christmas .... The Chicks are ready to make nice

I loves me some Dixie Chicks

[mamameow]

41. forgiveness and apologies

sorry andrea but you cannot get off that easy. you owe an apology to all of us. your hatefulness was about all of us even though you directed to the chicks. all your freeper allies need to apologize to the rest of us who warned over and over about bush and war. now because of your hatred, we all have to suffer for your blindness. i just hope it is not too late!!!!

[Patiod]

54. Hey - Rbt Byrd could put his KKK past behind him and grow

Why can't this person? We've all done things we weren't proud of - it takes a bigger person to be able to grow past them. Very inspiring story.

[shaniqua6392]

42. Happy to give you rec #60 on your post.

Thank you so much for posting this. It warms my heart to know that people can change.

[Danieljay]

43. I call I can say is "Wow". n/t

[Catamount]

44. Cool!

[DFW]

45. Read the article: there is an important message here

And it isn't hard to grasp:

The radical hate-filled right in our country feeds off of mob-frenzy type
anger, instilled in people who often have no clear grasp of whom they hate,
or why. They just get swept up in something, and are caught in the act of
being something that they by nature are not. This is the modern story of
crowds extending their hands and shouting either "Duce!" or "Sieg Heil"
depending on whether they were south or north of the Alps. Some knew exactly
what they were doing, plenty did not. Their awakening was often far more rude
than Andrea's. I hope Andrea's story becomes more the norm than that of the
European fascist supporters of the 1930s or the Bush/Limbaugh/Hannity supporters
of this decade.

I hope it, but I doubt it. I shout "brava!" to Andrea not because she is the start
of a positive trend, but because she is nearly alone in bucking one on her own.

[Aristus]

46. Great story. Reminds me of another, but fictional, story of redemption.

It was an episode of ER, a long time ago. There was this burly bearded tattooed white guy, and Gloria Reuben's character was trying to treat him. The treatment required that he take off his shirt. He kept refusing, and demanding another doctor. Gloria Reuben's character thought it was because she was black. In a moment of frustration, she rips his shirt off and see it: the red disc and white Maltese cross of the KKK tattoed on his chest. She looks at him in shock, and his eyes fill with tears.

"I didn't want you to see that." He says. "That's not who I am anymore. I used to hate, but I don't anymore. I've accepted Jesus into my heart and I've rejected racism. I kept that {the tattoo} as a reminder of who I used to be."


That makes me melt when I think of it. Nobody is beyond redemption...

[Spiffarino]

47. I didn't buy any Dixie Chicks CDs

That is, until Natalie Maines came out that she was embarrassed by Duhbya. That turned me on to them, and now I'm a fan. They kick ass, and I wouldn't have known it until the Freepers started bitching.

So to all you Freepers who brought the Chicks to my attention:

Nice work, assholes!

[defendandprotect]

48. The Dixie Chicks are to be congratulated again for the way they handled all of this!!!

And I imagine it was very difficult for the mother to face what she recognized as her own error -- but she also has done it well and is to be congratulated.

[ejbr]

49. There is hope! Although this mom was never a hardcore fascist.

Nevertheless, I was deeply moved upon reading Natalie's response to the apology. Thanks for sharing!

[nachoproblem]

50. I bet that at least 50 percent

of people at rallies like that one are "sheep" who don't really know what's going on and may or may not even care. That, plus the media's penchant for tempests in teacups (be it one singer expressing an opinion off the cuff, or a random shot of mother with child that is supposed to symbolize a massive outcry) keep creating impressions like the idea that the American public is against free speech, that cast such a pall of darkness over these times and make America look like this ugly brute of an ignorant, bellicose nation to the rest of the world. And it's all bullshit. :grr:

This is not the end, or even the beginning of the end, but it may be the end of the beginning.

[Breeze54]

52. Now to get the Mom who made death threats against the Chicks to apologize.

Glad that this chick saw the light though.

One down and 32% of the voters to go!!!

[qanda]

53. That story gave me chills

Good for her.

[CraftyGal]

55. Wow...

um, here in Canada we didn't have the Anti-Dixie Chicks stuff as the States. I am glad to see this mom deal with what she did. No one is an island unto themselves. Our behavior, our words, our judgments, our opinions, directly and indirectly affect one another.

Crafty

[Downtown Hound]

56. If the woman behind one of the iconic images of the pro war movement

can be made to change her mind, then there just might be hope for this country after all. Still, there's a bitter part of me that's kind of like, "Great, you apologized to the chicks. How about the Iraqi people now? They've only lost one million of their people thanks to those of you that cheered this war. Could you maybe spare a thought for them too?"

Maybe that anger in me is misplaced, I don't know. But I'd be lying if I said it wasn't still there, and still burning strong in me. Still, stories like this are a good start, but the pro-war folks have a lot more to do than apologize to Natalie Maines before they're fully forgiven by me.

[Jim Lane]

59. She hasn't merely apologized; she attended an anti-war rally

She's done more than the vast majority of Americans who (now) oppose the war.

I'm ready to forgive her and welcome her to our side.

[treestar]

57. Nice Story

Somehow it is better that she just realized she was only following before, and thinking for herself now.

[goodgd_yall]

58. Thanks for sharing this

I read the whole article. Nice story. Something to feel good about for a change.

[graywarrior]

60. Great story.

[caligirl]

61. and in 2009 this story will come full circle, hope the dixie chicks have a new song for it. nt.

[Swamp Rat]

62. Beautiful!

:)

[MindMatter]

63. We are all stupid sometimes

We don't always get the chance to correct our mistakes.

Great story.

[upi402]

64. Republicans will come to hate the mirror

Neonons and P-nacsters will continue on, with all the conscience of a Ted Bundy.

[cboy4]

65. Thank you Andrea....and thatta boy Connnor!

[Sancho]

66. Great post!

:applause:

[Maestro]

67. I was "stumbling" the Internets and found this

at the Dixie Chicks site. Great story. I guess there is hope for some. Glad the mom was smart enough to see the error of her ways.

[madrchsod]

68. i remember her from the movie

it is called redemption

[The Witch]

69. zomg! :sobbing: that's great.

That is a beautiful, human story. i'm so touched.

we all have such potential to love and grow and change in this life.

Andrea if you are out there, thank you for reaffirming my belief in humankind.

[DeSwiss]

70. Its so good when a lost sheep finds its way back home....