Catch a Fire and The Dixie Clucks

I went to see the movie Catch a Fire today. Catch a Fire was written by Shawn Slovo, daughter of Joe Slovo and Ruth First. Slovo and First were big movers and shakers in fighting South Africa's racist Apartheid government. They were also top brass in the South Africa Communist Party. The movie is about the life of Patrick Chamusso, a man who becomes an insurgent in the African National Congress (ANC) after being falsely accused and tortured for a crime he didn't commit.

I'm not going to go on at end's length about the movie itself. Suffice to say Catch a Fire is beautifully made. Noyce is good at showing the humanity of all his characters. Even the bad guys aren't just two-dimensional stereotypes.

I've railed on against Communism before and I'll continue to do so. Communism has killed millions of people since the beginning of the 20th century. However, people living under a government where they are systematically denied the right to be recognized as human beings and afforded basic dignities aren't the same as pampered Hollywood liberals who seem to have an affinity for all things Communist (more on this momentarily).

When the people who claim to be Christians and lovers of justice and democracy, are using their faith to justify racist policies, it's understandable that people might look to another worldview. Even the term "kaffir", the South African, equivalant to the "N-word", means heathen or infidel.
One can see why Communism might be a more appealing option. I heartily disagree with Joe Slovo's and Ruth First's worldview and I don't believe that being head of the SACP makes them heroes. They've earned their place in the history books because they stood against a corrupt system at great risk to their personal safety and comfort. They were forced to leave South Africa and First was eventually assassinated by a mail bomb. It's also worth noting that later in life, Slovo questioned how well socialism really worked and criticized the excesses of Stalinism.

Now, back to Hollywood liberals. In a great twist of irony, the preview right before the movie began was for the upcoming documentary Shut Up and Sing. Apparantly Natalie Maines and the rest of the Dixie Clucks are finally screwing their courage to the sticking place and
coming out with the true story of their persecution at the hands of the idiot American public and President Bush. We all know by now how this debacle came to be. At a concert in London, they emphatically reassured their audience that they were ashamed that President Bush was from their home state of Texas. We all know how Texas is filled with peace-loving liberals just like them.

The documentary is about how terribly they’ve suffered for their courage and how the public was censoring them. They shamelessly pandered to a foreign audience on foreign soil. They knew they had a sympathetic crowd. That doesn’t take courage. That’s the antithesis of courage. If they really wanted to be bold, they would have said it in San Antonio or Houston. They haven’t been censored either. Censorship would constitute whisking them off in the dead of night and having government minders at every subsequent concert. They have a right to free speech. They’ve been prolific in their use of it. They don’t have a right a demand an adoring audience who will kiss their cute, little blonde asses while the Chicks insult their most cherished values. The radio stations and former fans that refuse to play their music are exercising their right to spend their hard-earned dollars as they choose. That’s the beauty of a free-market economy, something the Dixie Chicks are beneficiaries of, even as they deride the people and system that allowed them to pursue their dreams and reap the monetary benefits that come along with their fame.

For Natalie Maines to carry on about how persecuted she’s been minimizes the real suffering of people like Patrick Chamusso who spent year after agonizing year on Robben Island, Saddam Hussein’s prisons, the Gulags in the former Soviet Union, or the people who perished in Cambodia’s Killing Fields.

Next to Alexander Soltsynhitsen and others like him, Miss Maines is a spoiled little brat who’s screaming, holding her breath, and stamping her feet when her demands aren’t instantly met. This upcoming documentary will allow the Dixie Chicks to continue publicly wallowing in their own self-pity. Spend your money on Catch a Fire, don’t waste it on Shut Up and Sing.