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Protesting the Dixie Chicks
By Matt Margolis | June 20, 2003
The Dixie Chicks protest was a lot of fun. The size of the group varied due to late comers and people who had to leave early, however there was a solid 12 of us there, and I believe possibly 15 in total.
Where to begin? Well, I guess it’s noteworthy that it was a sold out show at the FleetCenter in Boston. We gave our show outside by the entrance to the Green Line on Causeway Sreet. My brother Aaron and I went directly from work. We hadn’t met the other protesters in person before that night; I spoke to some online previously and coordinated this event through FreeRepublic.com.
The signs we display were diverse and many. Some were more serious than others. Some were just outright hilarious and meant to stir up reaction. It was all in good fun.
We came across all types of Dixie Chicks fans. Some stared at us bewildered. Some walked on disgusted. Others, and there were more of these types than I expected, actually cheered us for our efforts.
That’s right. Many people told us the only reason they were still going to the show was because they had bought their tickets before Natalie Maines made her big stupid statement.
We made a lot of cheers, we kept our voices going loud and strong toward the concertgoers.
“USA! USA! USA!”
“Support the President! Support the troops!”
“Burn Your Tickets – not the flag!”
“We have freedom of speech too!”
“George Bush 2004”
We sang “God Bless America” and others…
Sometimes, there was a concertgoer who made crude remarks to us. The most common remark being “Hey, freedom of speech!”
To which I’d shout back “Hey, we have freedom of speech too!”
One of my fellow protesters would also yell back “That’s right! That’s why we’re here.”
We kept coming up with new things to say, which amused ourselves, and got incredible reactions from the concertgoers. Some would even come up to us to tell us we were wrong for what we were doing. Some told us to get a life. We were called losers.
Hey, we were having a good time. Free speech at its best. Which it appears liberals don’t understand. To them, only they have the right to free speech – we didn’t. But that’s another topic for another blog entry.
Interestingly enough, we made it in the news. Several local stations videotaped us, and the
Boston Globe and the Boston Herald mentioned us in their music reviews of the concert.
The Boston Globe gave us a larger, yet somewhat inaccurate mention. In a review titled
“Dixie Chicks arrive to little dissent, and thrill their audience and thrill their fans. In fact, our protest kicked off the review:
The protesters looked lonely last night. There were only about six of them, clustered out front of the FleetCenter and holding signs with messages such as ”Deport the Dixie Twits” and ”Support President Bush and Our Troops.” And nearby were a couple of people staging a counter-protest; one held a sign saying, ”God bless freedom of speech.”
The whole thing was very tame, even though Dixie Chick Martie Maguire later told the sold-out FleetCenter crowd that ”we heard a brawl broke out” between the protesters and Chicks fans. A police officer said he had heard nothing about it, but it made for a provocative comment on stage. And it got more provocative when Maguire referenced the supposed brawl by saying, ”I think I would put my money down on your guys. . . . If there’s one thing I’ve learned since March 10, it’s that nobody tells you guys what to do.”
Inaccuracy #1: There were at least 12 of us when I arrived.
Inaccuracy #2: There was no counter-protest. Ron, who helped organized this protest, held the sign which read “God Bless Freedom of Speech”
Inaccuracy #3: There was no brawl.
It’s kind of incredible if you think about it. I’m sure some troll will read this and say “Only 12? That’s nothing.” Maybe it wasn’t a huge crowd, but we made enough of an impression to merit the Dixie Chicks mention us during their show. That says something.
We finished after a couple hours, once there weren’t any people coming into the FleetCenter. I’d write more, but I’m hoping to get some other people who attended the protest to write about it here, so I’ll post a few pictures for now, and see what happens.
We lined the passage to the FleetCenter entrance - here’s one side of us.
Here’s the other side.
My brother is the one on the right.
I’m the one in the middle. Like the sign?
Some signs are just priceless!
Here’s most of us. Some people had to leave early.
If you want to see more pics, click here.
Topics: Activism |
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June 20th, 2003 at 11:14 pm
That was pretty sad.
June 20th, 2003 at 11:24 pm
Sad for you. Your predictions were incorrect.
Roughly 15 people made it.
The Dixie Chicks cared enough they had to mention us during the show.
The protest was rather peaceful. No one spat at us. Many, many people actually cheered for us.
So sit down Um Yeah. How’s that foot taste?
June 21st, 2003 at 12:36 pm
Republican huh?! Well baby come on over here so I can plant a big fat kiss on ya!
June 21st, 2003 at 2:12 pm
Pathetic
June 21st, 2003 at 5:17 pm
As protests go it was a fun time. We got as many thumbs up as thumbs down, the opposition seemed to be a woman driven event, Kool Aid Drinkers. It seemed to me that the people went to hear the music even though they disapproved of the Chicks political views.
June 21st, 2003 at 6:20 pm
Either way man it was pretty damn sad.
June 21st, 2003 at 10:37 pm
I’m the one holdng the “i want the loud fat one” sign. i still can’t get over the fact that i’m on the internet! it was fun protest and you could tell the feeling was much more laid back than any of the peace rallies.
June 22nd, 2003 at 12:33 pm
you know, BostonianRight, there were a lot of Loud Fat Ones attending the concert… geez… some of them could use some SlimFast or something.
The protest was a heck of a lotta fun. You all should have joined us at the Fours afterwards…to I think we should have gone for some wings at Hooters.
June 22nd, 2003 at 3:59 pm
I only Count 7 .
June 22nd, 2003 at 4:32 pm
Um Yeah,
If you look at the first two photos, you will see there are 6 people on each side holding signs. Then if you include the photographer, that’s 13.
No more fuzzy math Um Yeah.
June 22nd, 2003 at 4:41 pm
Matt–
Um Yeah is praticing what we like to call “Math for Sociologists” in which you grosly inflate figures or make absurd points.
Examples (quotes from professors at my Univ.):
“A majority of this nation is against war in Iraq”—Which is why 70+ supported it, therefore, ~30% is a majority.
“We had 500 people at our rally” (when the local paper that covered it mentioned no more than 150 at any given time).
June 22nd, 2003 at 6:04 pm
Java, no more “fat, loud one” jokes. I are one… LOL.
June 22nd, 2003 at 11:38 pm
comment”We had 500 people at our rally” (when the local paper that covered it mentioned no more than 150 at any given time).
The most I count are 8 at any one time.
June 22nd, 2003 at 11:49 pm
Um Yeah,
He wasn’t talking about the protest I attended.
And second of all. There were 12 people shown within these pictures participating in the protest. Including the photographer makes 13. We also had two people show up halfway through. However, some people later had to leave early.
If you keep going on about the number of people at the protest I’ll just delete your posts because instead of debating that, you could atleast try to offer your opinions about issues.
If you’re coming here to give your left-wing opinion, fine. But you’re only doing liberals a disservice by repeatedly saying the same old ridiculous things.
June 22nd, 2003 at 11:53 pm
Who the *beep* cares how many people were there? I mean, do we really need to nit pick here… MOTHER.
PS: The “I want the loud fat one” sign kicked ass. You go!
June 23rd, 2003 at 12:29 pm
I only count 8 i guess you can throw in the photographer, but unless you count the people climbing the stairs in the background do you even get double digits.
June 23rd, 2003 at 12:35 pm
Alright, Um Yeah, do I need to post these photos over again numbering each protester? I shouldn’t have to do it, but clearly you don’t know how to count.
June 23rd, 2003 at 1:21 pm
At any one time, theres 8.
June 23rd, 2003 at 7:28 pm
thanks courtney.
Um Yeah, come up with valid arguments, talking points, and comments, or go back to your Hitlery loving commune.
June 23rd, 2003 at 10:45 pm
If you guys are for “freedom of speech” why in the hell is one of you guy holding a sign that says “DEPORT THE DIXIE TWITS?” Never mind I already know why like the liberals you criticize freedom of speech only applies to your side of the debate. What conservatives and liberals should do is campaign for a new amendment that subsumes the first amendment we can call it “the freedom to agrre with me”
June 24th, 2003 at 6:02 pm
If it wasn’t in Boston I would have been the “9th” person you had at any one time.
My sister had tickets for the show somewhere here in Wisconsin and our brother, her husband, and I were going to go and protest but it would’ve been too long of a drive.
I want the loud fat one!!! Ahh, that’s funny, I think I dripped reading that one.
June 24th, 2003 at 7:03 pm
Um yeah probably still thinks the earth is flat.
July 11th, 2003 at 2:58 pm
would anyone honestly bang any of them?
July 12th, 2003 at 5:30 pm
You guys ROCK!! You are the patriots of today! I salute you! Keep up the fight!
March 27th, 2004 at 10:28 pm
You guys need to leave these girls alone! People say and do dumb things all the time. It’s time to move on. I don’t care what she does or says. I just like good music. At least she has the nerve to express how she feels. Look at whats going on in this world.
March 28th, 2004 at 12:59 am
she can express what she feels… but she needs the balls to do it in the usa, not pussy out by saying that crap in europe.
November 19th, 2006 at 7:29 pm
Check it out:
http://www.ProtestingTheDixieChicks.com
November 30th, 2006 at 12:07 pm
The Dixie Chicks are great! Your loss.