At this point, you're either too thick to understand my point or you're purposely ignoring it. Either way, I've nothing left to say.

 

**** it.

What do i win?

 

You’re completely contradicting yourselves. You sit there and say that I’m ignorant for not liking what the Dicksy Chix are gabbing about and in the same breath do to me what I’ve done to them. Sorry for being pro American. I like America, I was born here and feel very connected to it, I served in the armed forces. I enjoy celebrating this fact. Now before your little fingers start flying away at the keyboard telling me that I’m ignorant again…I’m not saying you don’t love America. You live here after all. That, in itself, says a lot, and I'm sure this 4th of July you'll be watching fire works just like the rest of us.

I’ve been around the world, I’ve seen most of it (yes even the little 3rd world countries). I’ve met a lot of people from many different places. I’m at an age where I’m not afraid to tell it like it is or express my opinion like so many others do (who haven‘t “been there or done that“).

Anyway, for what it’s worth, I don’t listen to country music, nor could I identify a song by these opportunistic gals if I had to. Yes, I do think they’re opportunistic. It’s a well known tactic by all celebs to try and nab some lime light by getting all political. I guess they were feeling left out. In fact, it worked very well for them. Before they said anything, I had no idea who they were. Now I do….damn me for being so easily manipulated.

 

No, I said your statements that you would be pleased if they were hit by the proverbial bus were ignorant. You feel they should be ostracized, exiled, or censored for saying what they think.

I didn't take any of that as suggesting I am anti-american, but you're not defending yourself agaisnt what I criticized you for. Your patriotism its not in question, I just think that most people should take a harder look at the country they profess to love before blindly proclaiming its superiority. After years of trying to understand politics, society, and sort out the myriad conflicts people manage to generate, to me it seems that the root of all of them is simple greed (as in, you have, I want, gimme) or intolerance and ignorance, which is characterized by the assumption one makes that their view(s) are essentially correct and therefore need no further exploration or justification to one's self.

Continue to express your opinions, I am the last person to suggest otherwise to anyone, and that's my point. Form your opinions, be as vocal as you feel comfortable with, but always allow yourself the ability to change them as you grow and learn more things. Most important, don't fall victim to thinking that your stance on a given subject is "right" and therefore others are wrong. Life is an essay question, not True/False.

Choosing not to listen to "country music" is not ignorant or intolerant. Perfectly understandable. It's the claim that all of it sucks and the implication of superiority over those who do that is. Intolerance is the belief that a view that is not in line with one's own is different, and therefore one or the other must be superior. With music, it just irks me that people who otherwise consider themselves intelligent and non-judgemental will form opinions about music they've never heard. It makes it difficult to believe that individual can be truly open-minded and fair when presented with new ideas if they can't even do so with something as simple as pop music. I personally dislike "rap" music because of the values often- but not always- put forth by those artists. I don't like chauvinism in particular. But, as there are plenty of examples of "rap" songs without these values that I do like as music, I would be ignorant to say "all rap sucks." I honestly think that a person who says an entire genre of music hasn't got a single exception that they would enjoy has not taken the time to evaluate enough of the music to find some. It's different for someone to say "I've never heard a rap song I liked" than to say that and add "so it must all suck completely."

For the record, they were beyond famous before they opened their mouths. Their second record sold somewhere around 12 million copies. They have actually lost millions of dollars in record sales and more importantly, ticket sales since they started speaking their minds publicly. However, it was their fame which put them in that position, and I'm as annoyed by celebrities who do that as you are. The difference, I wanted them to shut up and sing, and now that they have I give the music a chance to be good on its own merits. Not buying their album because I disagree with their politics is dumber than people buying Britney Spear's music because she was hot.

Vocal disagreement with people should be encouraged. It's just that everybody wants to talk and nobody wants to listen. Americans are ignorant in that way, and I feel that's the single biggest danger to our society.