NBC Loves Bush, Hates the Dixie Chicks

I think that as usual, it is a shame that marketing needs to capitalize on controversy, not just with this story but with the ads themselves. There is a whole lot more to the film than what the ads point out, and it isn't all Bush-bashing. In fact, Maines' original comment and the "dumbf*ck" part are maybe the only real disparaging comments against the President in the whole thing.

I say let the hardcore Bush haters go see Death of a President this weekend (they may deserve the pointlessness of it) and let those who would rather have a really good documentary go see Shut Up and Sing.

Reply

NBC "Loves Bush"?! Don't blame Bush and the Conservatives for this shit. It was the Dumbass Liberals and "Moderate Republicans" that voted for and passed the Campaign Finance Reform act that limits political speech.

Speaking of which it was also the Dumbass Liberals on the Supreme Court who passed that bullshit eminent domain law that people are getting fucked over with. Somehow Conservatives get blamed for that one too.

Get yer' shit straight.

Reply

Isn't NBC in turn using their Freedom of Speech to not show the ad? How does that violate Weinstein's Freedom of Speech?

Reply

I'm literally starting to get nervous, blacklisted artisits...unpatirotic...This is the kind of stuff said during the MccArthy era. I feel like no one has guts anymore...Like no one understands the duty we have to ourselves and to America to stand up and say something when stuff like this happens...Also when NBC (supposedly one of the Big guns) gets a little scared of badmouthing our president...

Reply

My, such hilarious paranoia in this entry. Yes, I'm sure it's all a Rovian plot to keep NBC froma actually choosing what it wants to run on its network. Heck, Bushco caused 9/11 and Katrina, so why wouldn't they want to censor 3 mediocre musicians who had the stupid idea of criticizing the president on foreign soil during a time of war. What courage! Jane Fonda's proud, no doubt :)

Reply

P.S. Why is it that everytime you libs don't get your way or disagree with something, it's referred to as "hate"? Seriously. You have some misguided fascination with that word for some reason.

Reply

Our freedom of speech in The Constitution protects us from the government.The Dixie Chicks were not censored.Freedom of speech does not protect the Dixie Chicks or anyone else from pissed off citizens. Maybe NBC just doesn't want to run what amounts to a political add during an election season. Anyway shouldn't they be the Dixie Woman? Chicks, what's up with that?

Reply

NBC's freedom of speech (on the public airwaves)? OK, so let's admit that what they want to speak about is exclusively supporting Bush. They didn't have a problem airing swiftboaters political ads in 2004. Nor do all networks have a problem airing Bush press conferences that are nothing more than campaign speech - complete with "us vs them" rhetoric.
It's no surprise to me that GE and the rest of corporate media favor one side the powerful over the powerless. In a way is good to make this official. The term "liberal media" has been mercifuly phased out, now it's time for the "main stream" pretense to be shed. Once everyone knows the corporate media is a mouthpiece of this administration, the level of confusion will drop significantly.

Reply

As someone who has spent considerable time on constitutional law issues, I am amused by people who are more concerned about the rights of corporations than those of individuals, particularly as the sole enforcement mechanism of those rights has now been suspended without so much as a whimper. A right is of little value if you are prohibited from exercising it effectively and the trade off for the license to print money (which is what a broadcast license of the public airwaves is) is that the licensee should be required to promote public debate. If corporations are to have the rights of citizens (in point of fact, they enjoy more), surely they should share in the burdens as well.

And for anyone who sugggests that NBC was exercising sensitivity or taste in this instance, then what are they doing airing the despicable and libelous RNC ads?

Reply

I have no idea what Cath said.Does anyone?

Reply

I do understand perfectly what she said. Sorry it was above your head,jkmkay

Reply

And a comment from someone more articulate than me:
Since you do not seem eager to contemplate the reality before your own eyes, I’ll attempt to clarify for you.

What NBC’s position represents is not them exercising their “right to free speech”. First off, they are a steward of the broadcast airwaves and cable bandwidth that they transmit over, not the owners of it. That concept alone requires some substantial thought and understanding. Take the time to do so.

Secondly, their reasoning for not accepting the ad is censorship. Now, if the ad contained nudity, then they would be only abiding by law. If the ad was deceptive and meant to criminally harm NBC’s viewers, then they would have a moral leg to stand on. However, the reason that they are not allowing the ad to run is that it could cause people to have bad thoughts about mr. george w bush.

Understand that in its entirety. NBC is censoring information not because it is false, not because it is misleading, and not because it is obscene. No, NBC will not run it because it may cause you to have unpleasant thoughts about your president, whether they are justified or not.

If you do not see how this is an offense to every free thinker in the world then you are neither free nor a thinker. The next steps on this path to hell that NBC is leading you on involve thought police and ministries of accepted practices and the sorts. If it is your choice to follow NBC on this path, then I hope that you enjoy the journey because I can assure you that you will not enjoy the destination. But don’t expect company on your path and it is the action of a petulant child to criticize others for not being willing to make the same mistake as you. Good luck to you on that.

Reply

Oh come on, you honestly think this is about supporting Bush. NBC and all those other major networks (of course except Fox) aren't pro Bush. They are doing this because of money. They don't want to air this because the Dixie Chicks are way too controversial. They don't want to have anything to do with it so that when people start complaining and calling for boycotts, NBC can say we didn't air the ad for that movie. Whether or not it's really going to be the case is besides the question, NBC is just doing some preventive measures.

And haven't you ever read the signs on restaurants or stores saying "we reserve the right to refuse service to anyone." It isn't unconstitutional to refuse business service. If their reasoning is one that's racist or wrong to to you, then go ahead and protest. That's the greatness of this country. The government isn't allowed to tell us to shut up, but we can certainly tell each other. You don't have to listen, but we certainly will tell you that. We have our rights to free speech too you know. I for one thing believe in times of war, be a little more supportive of your government. But then as the great south parkers once said, the great thing about the US is our ability to say one thing and do another. So go ahead and scream whatever the heck you like. We are for you and against you every step of the way.

Reply

If anyone is curious, I think this is the ad being referred to: http://youtube.com/watch?v=nzpx0Ucf91A

Now, I loved the film and also have no political bias on this situation, but this is an awful ad and I wouldn't accept it either. If The Weinstein Co. sees what happened to the Chicks as being an example of not living in a free society, I'm not sure what their understanding of freedom is.

Reply

How did this get to be a matter of free speech? NBC, or anyone else, should take into consideration how the impact of presenting a person or group of persons will affect its viewership,its commercial sponsors, and the success of its company. We all have this free speech and NBC has the right to select who will exercise this freedom and who will not on its network.
The Dixie Chicks should have known that the country music audience does not like this kind of talk. Then, to make matters worse, they appeared on television crying about how they were sorry, and now they come out with an album saying the exact opposite.
They failed to consider the reactions of their core audience and now must pay the price. NBC is trying to take into consideration what its audience reactions
will be.

Reply

Dear Venmax There is no "eminent domain law" ...the supreme court does not create law....,and the court only ruled that "eminent domain" is a state power and only the State courts could decide on the validity of its application ( a viewpoint that is by definition conservative in nature).

NBC does not have freedom of speech... they operate on public airwaves under public regulation and are required by law to provide equal access.

Reply

Funny how both sides build this up into some right or left conspiracy. NBC was self-censoring out of fear, plain and simple. Political correctness is bad no matter which side you are on. But if one side is more culpable then venmax has it right.

I sure W is man enough to accept that the Dixie Chicks don't like him. But with Hillary gearing up to ban violent video games, liberals are much more willing to abandon freedom of speech to protect the children. It takes a village - you can't possibly expect parents to save their own kids from dangerous thoughts or ideas.

Reply