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Toby Keith reviewed by PIRAO5 Toby Keith as an Agent of Patriarchy and Imperialism The new album of Toby Keith "Shock'n y'all" is not really shocking but rather an absolutely predictable and unabashed apology for Amerikkan imperialism by a representative of the rural white labor aristocracy. As much as we are trying to avoid stereotyping, Toby Keith simply makes it impossible not to make a mental connection between what is being said and who is the speaker. On the cover of the album, there is a white man wearing a cowboy hat on the background of July 4th fireworks. At first sight, there is nothing political about this picture. We know, however, that the historical development of the United States betrayed the principles of the American revolution and turned this country into an international gendarme and oppressor. Since Amerikan Independence became a source of oppression for the rest of world, just depicting Independence Day fireworks is already a very reactionary message. Also, the title "Shock'n y'all" with it's attempt to imitate the colloquial style of the labor aristocracy, suggests that the author is going to express views dear to the labor aristocracy's heart, which is, as we know, not the most advanced and internationalist population (see MIM Theory on Labor Aristocracy). In other words, the reactionary cover of the album strongly suggested that the contents are going to be reactionary as well. Inspite of this, we thought it wouldn't be fair to dismiss Toby Keith right away. Maybe he really has something progressive to say; maybe he is a talented musician who is not responsible for the marketing efforts of his agents. Well, we were wrong. The contents of the album were as awfully reactionary as the cover. Musically, the album is traditional country with some rock influences, nothing especially exciting, but tolerable. The most interesting part is the lyrics. In lyrics, Toby Keith proudly presents himself as a "country boy," who is also a male supremacist, an openly individualist anti-intellectual and a supporter of imperialism. With a baseball cap with an Amerikan flag on it and that image of a cute, but aggressive looking dog with obvious fangs, reminding us of Toby himself, the album's inside jacket emphasizes the point. The opening song in the album is "I Love This Bar" -- a self-explanatory title. Toby loves the bar more than anything else, even more than his girlfriend who, as well as his truck, only deserves to be "liked." Certainly, in Mr. Keith's scale of values, the girlfriend is not comparable to the bar, but stuck somewhere near the truck. Bad enough, but in "Sweet," Mr. Keith continues with this theme of women as objects, and makes it even worse. This time objects are consumable as well, like "peach" or "cup of sugar." Its becomes obvious that designating women in such a way is not just an awkward poetic expression, but rather a political line. The song describes how a "country boy" picks up in the bar a quite delicious "Georgian peach," who immediately suggests a one-night stand--the dream of patriarchy come true. The "Peach" must be independent and liberated enough to attend the bar, make sexual suggestions and not to care much if tomorrow another "peach" will be picked up with the same "southern ease." It does add to the excitement of Mr.Keith. Also, a "peach" also must be a little "rough," and it's important for a "peach" to choose whiskey over more moderate drinks. After all, this is Mr.Keith's preference. He "likes'em (peaches) rough." ("Whiskey Girl") So much for the "southern gentleman." (Keith is from Oklahoma.) In the next, rather nostalgic song, "Nights I Can't Remember, Friends I'll Never Forget," while looking back at his youth, Mr. Keith makes it clear that even though he attended college, he never managed to graduate, and it is a good thing. It makes him a real man, because he made it "his way." To believe that one can "make it" just on one's persynal efforts is typical individualistic thinking characteristic of the Amerikan labor aristocracy. The roots of such thinking could be traced back to the frontier-conquering-wild-West mentality. Decades later, the labor aristocracy still fails to understand that "making it" in Amerika becomes possible only because of affirmative action extended to all Amerikan citizens at the expense of the rest of world. We agree with Mr. Keith that it is not necessary in this country to graduate from college in order to enjoy a relatively high living standard. However, if people like Mr. Keith paid less attention to pornography and bars and spent more time reading and studying, maybe, just maybe, they would have less disdain for intellectuals and a better understanding of what is going on outside of Amerikan borders. Maybe they would even start questioning Amerikan neo-colonial foreign "policies," remember quite recent events which took place in Vietnam and stop glamorizing the military the way Mr. Keith does in his famous hit "Amerikan Soldier." Toby Keith is totally wrong in saying that the Amerikan soldier "doesn't do it (serve in military) for money," but rather has altruistic motivations. The Amerikan military, as well as the rest of Amerikan society, certainly does have economic interests in maintaining a military presence in many parts of the world, and "liberty in jeopardy" ("American Soldier") has nothing to do with it. The reason for the existence of the Amerikan military is that Amerikan economy simply cannot function the way it does now without access to cheap labor and natural resources provided by the Third World. In the long run, however, such a system may backfire and lead to total nuclear Holocaust. Clearly, Mr. Keith prefers not to consider this reality and to promote the idea that expansionism and neo-colonialism are matters of honor and "doing the right thing." However, imperialism and honor are not compatible. Regardless of what Mr. Keith thinks, people of honor do not make a living on the suffering of whole nations and do not bomb countries which cannot bomb them in return. Even medieval knights were not supposed to fight those who could not fight back. It was considered absolutely dishonorable. Sir Walter Scott provided a lot of references on this issue. In this sense, the Amerikan sense of honor, contaminated by capitalism, is a step back even from the Middle Ages. By becoming an international oppressor, as Rev. Al Sharpton pointed out once in a rally in DC, Amerika lost it's honor long ago. [Then Amerika wonders why its dishonorable acts result in "terrorist" retaliation--mim3.] However, as reactionary as "Amerikan Soldier" is, the award for reactionary thinking goes, of course, to the "The Taliban Song." This song is such a perfect expression of disdain of the world combined with typical Amerikan ignorance, that it really stands out even in an album as awful as "Shock'n y'all." In this song, Mr. Keith expresses the very popular view that people in the Third World must be grateful for Amerikan bombings, because otherwise Third World people are doomed to remain in conditions of cultural backwardness. Bombings bring civilization Keith fans think. By the way, the same view is often expressed not only by male supremacists as Mr. Keith, but by pseudo-feminists as well: since women in Afghanistan and Iraq are now allowed to show their faces in public and Amerikan-produced pornography is widely distributed amongst the population, the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq are more than justified. Nothing could be further from the truth. First of all, the spread of pornography is not a progress, and second, the goal of Amerikan imperialism is not to bring what is progressive, even by it's own definitions, to the rest of the world, but to oppress it politically and economically. Countries are being attacked by imperialism neither because of cultural differences, nor because they presumably harbor terrorists. The reason why Mr. Bush attacked Afghanistan and Iraq is very simple: the pursuit of the ultimate neo-colonialist goal of subjugating the world and the assumption that it's possible to do so with impunity. Toby Keith denies these reasons and suggests that Amerikan imperialism acted in, rather than against, the interests of people of Afghanistan. Despite of these false concerns about the well-being of the Afghan people, it's not that Mr. Keith cared too much about them. In fact, he has a hard time trying to tell Afghanistan from "Palestine or maybe Turkmenistan" (or maybe Pakistan? Kazachstan? Azerbaijan?) Mr. Keith certainly pushed his knowledge of geography to the very limits by including so many foreign countries (3!) in just one song. He sort of got confused though, and included Turkmenistan in the list of Middle-Eastern countries, but it's understandable. Since many people here learn geography through the process of Amerikan invasions, once Amerikan aircraft start dropping bombs on Turkmenistan, Mr.Keith's knowledge of geography will probably be updated. Until then, maybe Mr. Keith should go back to college. (For those readers who do not know and care to find out: Turkmenistan and Afghanistan are NOT part of Middle East. These countries are located in Central Asia). Mr.Keith's concern for other nations should be called more correctly cultural chauvinism. Thus, the final suggestion for our readers: beware of cowboy hats, especially if individuals sporting them play country music. Most likely you will find a male supremacist, intellectual-bashing, chauvinistic, imperialism-supporting persona underneath.
Notes: MIM has explained that one might even "like" this music while knowing rationally that there is something wrong with it, maybe even profoundly wrong and evil. Being a Maoist means being a revolutionary scientist and that means having the ability to question everything that we like.
See MIM Theory on feminism and gender issues.
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