"The Eternal Irony of the Community": Prophecy, Patriotism, and the Dixie Chicks

This essay returns to the Dixie Chicks "incident" in order to reexamine the backlash against them. Their critics claim that patriotism and their contract with country music are at stake; I argue that the backlash is old-fashioned misogyny. My examination considers the concepts of prayer, patriotism, and the American Pledge of Allegiance. These words, though used loosely, are part of the central criticism of the Dixie Chicks actions. To accomplish my task, I turn, on the one hand, to Levinas and Heschel, and on the other to Hegel's reading of Antigone.