Freedom ain't free

Jackie Corr sends along this link about the perils of celebrity political activism. This sort of thing doesn't seem to bother mtpolitics, but it makes me nervous.

I would never argue that anybody should be forced to listen to any particular music, watch any movie or read any book (unless you are taking one of my classes). If you can't stand the Dixie Chicks, for whatever reason, fine.

Just remember that the whole concept of self rule is built around the principle that people who disagree on politics can still get along in everyday life. When I get my car repaired, I don't ask the mechanic his position on the war. When I buy a hamburger, I don't check first to see how the patty flipper voted on Cobb Field. None of my business, and it makes no difference.

Increasingly, however, it seems that people want to punish those they disagree with. People don't want to just criticize the Dixie Chicks' politics, they want to keep the Dixie Chicks from ever working again. That makes no sense to me.

If we're going to start choosing artists on the basis of their presidential politics, where does it end? Do I boycott Bob Dylan because he stole records from his friends when he was a kid? Hank Williams because he was a drunk? Frank Zappa because he gave his daughter a funny name?

I figure that if I am going to tolerate Ezra Pound and Leni Riefenstahl, which I do, then there really is no place to draw a line, so I don't.

Obviously, this is an issue with personal implications. I'm no artist, and certainly no celebrity, but as a newspaper publisher I know what it's like to lose business because you print something somebody doesn't like.

In one memorable case, an advertiser told us he wouldn't do business with The Outpost because we were too liberal. Our alert ad rep pointed out that he bought ads from The Gazette and asked if it wasn't too liberal for his tastes. It was, the advertiser said, but The Gazette is owned by an out-of-state corporation. He was willing to let the corporate drones off the hook, but he was determined to punish a local business he disagreed with.

It may not be easy to be a politically active celebrity these days, but it isn't easy being the little guy either.