A <Patriotic> Apologia: The Transcendence of the Dixie Chicks

Abstract

In the mid 1980s, Union Carbide used the apologia strategy of transcendence with mixed results—repairing some relationship while harming others. Two decades later the Dixie Chicks's use of transcendence revealed a similar dichotomy. Using ideographic analysis, the author examines (1) why transcendence appeals to one audience while alienating another and (2) how social values are shaped in the process. Ultimately, the author argues that the Dixie Chicks's strategy of transcendence appealed to the ideograph <Patriotic> and in doing so constructed a concretized—and polarizing—definition of what it means to be a patriotic American during times of war.

Notes

¹I thank Sean Zdenek at Texas Tech University as well as RR reviewers Barry Brummett and Gregory Clark for the insightful comments and suggestions that significantly improved the clarity and focus of this essay.

²Ultimately, Ice recommends a multiple-publics model to manage the use of rhetorical strategies. While such a model is useful in managing rhetorical strategies in times of crisis, it does not provide a theoretical understanding of how and why transcendence can successfully draw in one audience while further alienating another.