News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
Right-wing talk show host Laura Ingraham really wouldn't like Steve Earle.
The author of the just-released "Shut Up and Sing: How Elites from Hollywood, Politics, and the UN are Subverting America" rails against cultural "elites" who, she says, "want America to be torn down, tradition by tradition."
That's left-wing "elites" of course. In Ingraham's primary-color world, politically active Hollywood conservatives like Arnold Schwarzenneger and Clint Eastwood aren't elites. A real, live, unabashed, fire-breathing leftist folk singer/rock-n-roller with an opinion and a microphone must send poor Laura into a tizzy.
Especially since no one can accuse Steve Earle of being a celebrity dilettante.
Earle, who will roll into Bend next week with his ace four-piece band The Dukes, is one of the finest songwriters of his generation. He is a true heir to the tradition of populist folk musicians like Joe Hill and Woody Guthrie who wrote and sang to rouse the rabble as well as to entertain. Like them, he has often been his own worst enemy, battling drug addiction (successfully) and his own outlaw nature (workin' on it).
He's long been an active death penalty abolitionist. Two of his most haunting songs deal with the death penalty -- "Billy Austin" from the point of view of a condemned man and "Ellis Unit One" from the point of view of the executioner.
In the best tradition of folk songs, Earle's songs illuminate big issues by focusing on small stories, the stories of people most of us never see and would even prefer to forget about.
On his most recent CD, "Jerusalem," he turned his pen and his raw and roughened voice to the post-September 11 American political scene.
His "John Walker's Blues" created a firestorm of controversy. Nashville radio talk show host Steve Gill accused Earle of being unpatriotic and called for a boycott. Pat Buchanan was predictably outraged.
What Earle did in that song was what he always does: step into the shoes of an outcast and tell his story. He didn't condone, but he didn't condemn. He made people think about the humanity of someone they'd rather not think about at all.
Art does that. Laura Ingraham doesn't like it. She wants entertainers to entertain. Don't go raisin' a ruckus.
Fortunately for America, citizens are starting to wake up from the trance induced by spin doctors.
They're starting to ask some tough questions. Where are those weapons of mass destruction? Where is Osama? Where is Saddam? Why are things going wrong in Iraq? Why don't we have a plan?
The people asking these questions aren't "elites." They are regular Americans, many of whom wanted to believe that their President and his advisors told them the truth.
Laura Ingraham can tell the "elites" to shut up all she wants. Steve Earle won't shut up.
Neither will the rising chorus of Americans who are looking around and asking: What the hell is going on?
Jim Cornelius is editor in chief of The Nugget and author of “Warriors of the Wildlands: True Tales of the Frontier Partisans.” A history buff, he explores frontier history across three centuries and several continents on his podcast, The Frontier Partisans. For more information visit www.frontierpartisans.com.
Reader Comments(0)