Your Take: Polite Company

I prefer that politics be kept out of songs except in general terms – I don’t mind it being an implied theme, as in many good songs, but Boswell clearly crossed the line with his gay-baiting lines. He has the right to say and think whatever he wants, but, as they say, actions have consequences, and if he finds himself a pariah at outdoor festivals, he has only himself to blame.

The genre is not backwards, preachy and bigoted any more so than jazz,rock and hip-hop, but every genre (actually every walk of life and every political persuation) contains individuals that are backwards, preachy, and bigoted

Unfairly stereotyped, sure. But there’s a faulty premise there, Karlie: “Historically, country music …has been built upon conservative and religious foundations.” Religious, yes, but “conservative” is a bit misleading, at least with respect to politics and economics.

Even as a pretty fundamental Christian, the religious content in a lot of country music annoys me. I feel like the vast majority of mentions of God aren’t because the singer has any sort of a relationship with God, but because they hope people can identify. “He just said he prayed! Hey! I’ve prayed before! We’re the same! I love this song!”

I agree with the previous commenters, particularly about writing something original if you feel strongly about something. There’s a difference between social commentary and ideology, and between expressing something in cuulturally religious terms (for example, “If I could hear my Mother Pray Again” is about missing a dead parent, not theology) and “butterflies and teddy bears are from God” pap.

The same with politics…if you decide to share your fringe views (Right or Left) with your audience, be prepared for the reaction. This isn’t confined to country music…it is no more preachy and ignorant than other forms of music.

There are gay country singers and there is a gay country music organization – their sound tends to be too traditional for modern country radio, not that they would get played anyway

actually, during the 1980s country was “Reagan Democrat”

I don’t mind christian messages in songs, heck country has a tradition of christian messages in songs, along with the cheating and drinking songs

Speaking of polite company, King Rat Obama and his fellow democrat vermin in the U.S. House of Representatives (and one moronic republican in name only from New Orleans) opened the door for the US federal government to take over 1/6th of the US economy last night! In total violation of the Constitution (which democrats only value as a means to wipe their asses or start a fire) this nationalized “Obamacare” debacle is outright socialism/fascism at its worst. Obama and the democrats are doing their best to reduce the US to a third world banana republic and now that he’s taken control of most large banks, two of our major auto companies, and Wall Street, he’s now comandeered our health care industry to boot.

The primary goal is of course to massively increase the power and control the federal gov’t has over all aspects of our daily lives (i.e. Socialism). Also, can you Obamavoters not openly admit that the democrats are doing this partly to strengthen their grip on the poor and under-educated underclass voters consisting primarily of blacks and latinos? This is nothing more than “Health Care Welfare” for the poor whether you admit it or not. And yes all those illegal, undocumented future democrat voters will get Obamacare once he gives them blanket amnesty! These are the same types of government support dependent “useful idiot” peasant types that elected Hugo Chavez in Venezuela! Now we have Commandante Obama-Chavez right in our own white house thanks to everyone who votes for democrats.

What little still remains in force of our tattered Constitution will soon be shredded to bits when the Obamanation signs the Copenhagen Climate Treaty and effectively surrenders large portions of our nation’s sovereignty to the United Nations. The U.N. will gain the authority to “enforce” the terms of the treaty on the nations that ratified it including mandating taxes.

To all you folks who voted for Obama and the democrats in November 2008, all I can do is mimic Ernest Tubb. Thanks, thanks a lot. You’ve totally f’ed over America, that’s what we’ve got! You should all be ashamed, but I know you’re not. You’ve trashed our future, suckers, so goofy thanks a lot….

PS – If anyone is offended by my above comments, Good, you should be! People who voted for Obama in ignorance but who have since seen the error of their ways and repented will be forgiven, but only after they vote Republican in November 2010…

unfairly? no.. that’s what a lot of country is.

On a similar note, this “blog” I subscribe to hit the nail on the head: http://survivingtheworld.net/Lesson488.html

Rick: What part of the Constitution does universal health care violate?

george w, cheney, rumsfeld and palin – isn’t that a long enough line of losers for all times?

“Rick, you never answered the original question.”

Rick is a drive by poster…kind of like the stray dog that takes a dump in your front lawn then moves on to the next one. LOL!

Good post Rick, well said.

Kristofferson is hardly the first person to make that assertion. That has been kicked around academic circles since the 1930s, as both a response to the Great Depression and the New Deal.

Oh, and of course Merle Haggard wrote “The Fightin’ Side of Me.” And while I’m in a correcting mood, Jesus wasn’t technically the “founder” of Christianity. I’d give that to St. Paul.

I’ll give you the founder thing and apparently we are referencing different songs . I am referring to the Merle song currently in rotation called “Jesus Christ”.wriiten by Woody Guthrie in 1940.

Of course W.G. would never have expressed a political or religious point of view in a song …..just to bring the thread back to the point..

This discussion has been off the point since about the 4th post:

About a year and a half ago, we had a Your Take that focused on mixing politics and country music, so THIS TIME AROUND WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU ON A SLIGHTLY DIFFERENT QUESTION: Despite the examples above, do you think country music, as a genre, is unfairly stereotyped as being bigoted, backwards and preachy? [emphasis added]

I also return to my original post to restate that an artist that doesn’t offer material that someone might disagree with, is not truly an artist.

O.K. simple terms ..If the genre is sterotyped, it is because of lack of exposure for non conformist artists.

facepalm back at ya

So, is “In Color” pro- or anti-New Deal?

And that’s enough for you to say the song “features” politics and religion?

You speculate that the narrator of “In Color” would “most likely” be pro-New Deal because of one of the time periods in which the song takes place, and then say that the song “features” politics?!

…no, i just thought your question about it was kind of intriguing and tried to answer it by weighing the likelihoods. i don’t know any farmer who’d be against a programme that puts more money into his pocket. actually, i don’t know anybody at all who’d refuse more money. furthermore, i consider world war II an outstandingly political period in the history of mankind. by the way “features” is spelled correctly: features

I’d argue that World War II was outstandingly apolitical.

…fair point, chris n.

…before doing to much damage to your forehead, nm, you might consider this: “war is not merely a political act, but also a real political instrument, a continuation of political commerce, a carrying out of the same by other means” by carl von clausewitz in his 1832 publication “vom kriege”.