Pop culture has always been the bane of many a conservative's existence, with everyone from Lady Gaga to Adam Lambert to the cast of GLEE receiving potshots for destroying American values. In the case of Gaga, she's threatening Middle East peace. In the case of Adam Lambert, he's teaching young children how to gyrate in sexually suggestive ways. In the case of GLEE, they're insulting Sarah Palin and mesmerizing children with Communist propaganda.
Not to be outdone, a writer for Big Hollywood is suggesting that Miley Cyrus might be trying to infiltrate country music, turning legions of young fans into Dixie Chick-supporting hippies who want to take all of your money and change the name of the United States to Venezuela II.
Cherry is pretty disgusted with Cyrus for taking risque photos, for suggesting that Christians have something to learn from other world religions like Buddhism, and for liking openly LGBT celebrities like RuPaul. Cherry concludes by saying that Miley Cyrus and her beliefs are inconsistent with the culture of country music.
Which just goes to show that Cherry doesn't really know country music as much as he thinks he does. Because if he did, he'd know that Cyrus is far from the only superstar to talk about progressive issues.
As we've noted before, some major country heavyweights have come down on the side of marriage equality, including Reba McEntire and Dolly Parton. Heck, Toby Keith is even a Democrat, and Martina McBride once said that she's raising her kids to be tolerant of people of all walks of life, including varying sexual orientations. And let's not forget that Willie Nelson and Garth Brooks have both written songs that touch on LGBT equality issues. (Even long among cowboys!)
Are they inconsistent with country music values, too?
No. In fact, if you look at the history of country music, it was actually developed as a means of bringing people of different races together. African American musician DeFord Bailey even helped launch the genre back in the 1920s.
So the next time you hear some homophobic columnist waxing on about how there's no place for equal rights in country music, just know that's a minority opinion.
Posted via web from Firesaw
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