Yet more evidence of
sanity in the heartland yesterday as country music icon Merle Haggard,
famous until now for his pro-war, pro-America anthems, "Okie from
Muskogee" and "The Fightin Side of Me," blindsided the entertainment
industry with a radical new song titled, "That’s the News." Haggard seems
to have experienced "a turning of the heart" and, some would say,
enlightenment. His new song is characterized by implicit but definite and
strong criticism of the U.S. government's desert wars in Iraq and
Afghanistan and Big Media coverage of those wars. At his web site Haggard
defends the Dixie Chicks, writing: "I
don't even know the Dixie Chicks, but I find it an insult for all
men and women who fought and died in past wars when almost the majority of
America jumped down their throats for voicing an opinion. It was like a
verbal witch-hunt and lynching."
Haggard's is an American
story: After losing his father at age 9, the rebellious young Haggard was
in and out of reform school and eventually served time in San Quentin for
burglary before straightening out his life through his devotion to wife,
family, and a phenomenally successful career in country music that is
widely acknowledged to be the result of talent and hard work.
Haggard, with his string of 37 Top-Ten and 23 No.1 hits, was one of
the two or three most popular and successful male singer-songwriters in
country music in the 1960s, 70s, and 80s.
Now 66 years old, Haggard
seems to have a firm grasp of home truths that too many other Americans
who love to think of themselves as patriots quite evidently do not
understand:
Patriotism has very little to do with flag-waving jingoism. Any
blithering idiot can swallow an all-you-can-eat buffet of propaganda
whole, slap a flag decal on the car, truck, or SUV, and harbor a fearful
hatred for "the other" in his or her heart. And many do just that. It
takes gumption, time, effort and not a little courage to look beyond
superficial and biased Big Media news coverage and come to an
informed, thoughtful, and nuanced understanding of complex issues and
events. Some patriots go off to war to protect the rest of us,
while other patriots work with equal passion and at substantial risk to
find alternative solutions, to prevent and/or bring an end to war. The
wise among us respect the people and the rights of people on both sides of
these life-and-death issues. As Tennessee columnist and author David
Hunter has written: "If you think
it's the American way to shout down those who disagree with you and to
subject them to contempt and ridicule for standing up to be counted, you
were probably absent from school on the day your civics class studied the
truth and principles upon which this country was founded--or you just
weren't listening."
The Okie from Muskogee may have missed that early civics class, but it
seems that he ultimately found his way to a deeper understanding.
Merle Haggard gets it.
Does America?
