I’ve never been a fan of country music, but I bought Taking the Long Way, the new album from the Dixie Chicks. It’s good.

We Americans like to think that we stand up for those rebellious souls who dare to think for themselves, to say what they mean, and to stand their ground when powerful forces try to silence them.

As I said, we like to think we do that. But every few years, it seems, mobs gather across America to toss records into bonfires, or to run a steamroller over a pile of CDs. Every few years, it seems, a few big radio chains declare that they will no longer play some popular artist’s music because that artist said something unpopular. Every few years, it seems, groups pop up to declare a boycott not only of some rebellious soul’s work, but of any business that doesn’t join in banning that rebellious soul’s work.

And every few years, it seems, some of those who dare to speak their minds in America face death threats and worse.

Three years ago, when the Dixie Chicks criticized George W. Bush, the Iraq War had not yet begun. Bush was still saying that war was a last resort, but everyone could see that he wasn’t going to let anything stand in the way of his “cake walk” war.

The war was a popular idea then, and radio chains banned the Dixie Chicks for daring to think for themselves and say what they meant. CDs were plowed under. Death threats came in.

The past three years of the Iraq War and a long list of other Bush fumbles would seem to have validated the Dixie Chicks’ criticism, but many country music stations continue to ban the group from their airwaves.

The Dixie Chicks new album, Taking the Long Way, came out on May 23. Time magazine wrote:

Whether the Dixie Chicks recover their sales luster or not, Taking the Long Way’s existence is designed to thumb its nose at country’s intolerance for ideological hell raising, and buying it or cursing it reveals something about you and your politics — or at least your ability to put a grudge above your listening pleasure. And however you vote, it’s tough to deny that by gambling their careers, three Texas women have the biggest balls in American music.

The verdict is coming in. From Variety:

For the third time in their career, the Dixie Chicks roost on the top of The Billboard 200. The Columbia album “Taking the Long Way” tallied 526,000 copies in its first week of U.S. sales, according to Nielsen SoundScan, the trio’s best-selling week since 2002’s “Home” debuted with 780,000.

And while country radio has remained cool to the group in the wake of a 2003 boycott following comments group member Natalie Maines made about President Bush, “Taking the Long Way” also nabs the No. 1 spot on the Country Albums chart…

At this moment, the album is number 1 in music on Amazon.com, and is the top album in Apple’s iTunes Music Store.

Is it possible that this country is better than the boycotters and record burners?

I quoted Andy Rooney’s comments on Veteran’s Day:

There is more bravery at war than in peace, and it seems wrong that we have so often saved this virtue to use for our least noble activity - war.

Via Crooks and Liars: A 15-year-old named Ava Lowery has a website called Peace Takes Courage. And it does. After she posted this video, called What Would Jesus Do (go watch it!), she started getting hate mail (warning: strong language) and ominously threatening emails. One of the cleaner messages:

You are a TRAITOR to your country and should be executed for treason.

Nice, huh?

I used to believe that we should listen to and respect every person’s opinion. But when you’re trying to bully and intimidate a fifteen-year-old girl just for speaking out against injustice, I suspect even Jesus might lose patience with you.