I'm supporting the person who gave free books to 300.million children. But go off, everyone has to be perfect and no one is allowed to be more complex than a single one liner ideology. Got you.
TBF Dolly probably could have. Dolly doesn't seem like the kind of person who'd care about that, though. And you have to remember her husband passed less than 2 years ago at 82YO.
I like to believe that their love was so strong that she just didn't want to be without him anymore. RIP to a beautiful and wonderful person, inside and out.
Death is defeat for people like Trump who I’m sure would suck the world dry for another hour of life if they could. I take comfort in mortality as a limiting factor in those cases too.
They are unloved so they desperately cling to their miserable lives, hoping against hope to experience it. We who know love know what it means to let go.
Yeah the world around her was better for her actions and she got to always be surrounded by that world. The way I see it that's karma. When you do good things, good things keep happening where you are, sometimes others are even inspired to join in. When you do bad things, others are also often inspired to join in around you and people tend to like you less
I see this sentiment shared throughout the internet.
It's not going to stop once he dies, it's naive to believe so. Sure I'll pour some scotch older than he prefers his girls but he's just a useful idiot with zero empathy and zero shame that the party in power needs as the face and voice. The clown.
The players in power will remain, they're going to need a new useful idiot, sooner rather than later.
FYI, she released an album in 2023 called Rockstar. While it still has strong country influence, it leans more heavily towards rock and pop. Maybe it will be more to your taste. Plus, practically every track features an impressive collaboration.
I keep meaning to check out her version of Freebird. There are those who say it rivals the original, and that's not really possible IMO, but I'm willing to hear it out, and always meant to.
Welp, guess what... I have a baby who receives books from this and got a letter saying due to cuts it has been cancelled for my state. Republicans have ruined everything good
She didn’t pay for it all…. Im not even sure where you got that idea from anyway. She doesn’t pay for the books at all. Her foundation covers the program overhead, but all the funding to actually pay for the books and postage is from smaller local organizations.
The Imagination Library is made possible through funding shared by Dolly Parton and local communities. While Dolly and the Dollywood Foundation cover many overhead costs and administration needs, the local programs secure the funding for the cost of books and postage.
We partner with a local organization/affiliate that covers the book and mailing cost for a specific geographic area. All other administrative expenses (overhead, selection of books, database, publisher negotiations, and fulfillment of the over 2 million books mailed monthly into 5 countries) are covered by Dolly and the Foundation. By having the overhead expenses covered, all of the money raised locally goes straight back into the community and allows more children to receive books each month.
I was intentionally over-exaggerating for the bit of the comedy. The important thing of what I was trying to call attention to was that republican policy is not about fiscal stewardship, it is about abject cruelty.
LeVar Burton is already on that list for me too, love that he started up Reading Rainbow again as a podcast. It’s the library Dolly wanted, read read out loud
Lindsay Ellis good a recent video on Nebula analyzing her career in a way that really ends up working well as a post-mortem of Dolly's career. The conclusion is that Dolly Parton was a savvy business woman with good PR and a knack to stay out of politics, but she was also kind and charitable woman who could be the better person despite decades of boob jokes.
Lindsay even uploaded it to YouTube temporarily because she wants people who can't access Nebula to have access to her breakdown on Dolly's cultural context
I wouldn't be surprised if Dave Wiskus asked Lindsay to do that since Lindsay ended up creating a pretty good synopsis of Dolly Parton's career that won't get recreated to that quality for a week and this would be the perfect ad for Nebula.
Dixie is a term for the area of the south in the US that seceded from the union which led to the American Civil War. They seceded over slavery. There is a massive disinformation campaign from back then called the Lost Cause of the South (often just lost cause). People try to frame it as being about other things like states' rights, but we don't need to guess, the states that left the union said why in their letters of secession. They left over their "property" rights being violated. Property to what? People. The fugitive slave act specifically. Slave states in the south wanted to compell free states in the north to return escaped slaves.
So that's the primer on the civil war and lost cause movement, but you can see it's effects everywhere. It's hard to really describe to an outsider. It's hard to describe to people living in the south who grew up here who don't see it as political. You'll tell them things like "Isn't it fucked that Stone Mountain has the world's largest Confederate monument?" They'll respond "hey, I went to that fireworks and laser show there all the time as a kid, it was never about politics and I loved it!" Meanwhile completely ignoring that normalizing celebrations under a monument to the fallen heroes of the south (therefore ones defending slavery) is fucked.
Content wise, I never went to the Dixie Stampede, so I can't tell you exactly what it featured. But Stone Mountain in GA had a similar thing. I remember commercials for the Stampede when I visited Gatlinburg. They showed Union and Confederate troops on horses and mentioned how it played up the "friendly rivalry " with the north. Stone Mountain had a similar thing. It would show imagery of people fighting, but finally one of them puts their sword down and breaks it, representing peace. I think it was even a Confederate one who did. People who grew up in the south have just received a lot of stuff like this over the years and many don't see how problematic it is, even if they genuinely and truly are not racist. This is exactly what the Lost Cause movement has been about. They knew they could never outright convince people that things were good, but they just want to soften the edges. Get people to question it just a little bit.
Stone Mountain, once again, the world's largest Confederate monument, sat partially finished for a very long time. It was only after schools desegregated in the US (Brown v. board of Education) that it was finished. The wikipedia article has a better timeline with specifics. Literal members of the KKK were involved. It's not some goofy conspiracy theory. It's all very well documented. They said they were doing it because of schools being desegregated.
We see this a lot all over. Dixieland was another amusement park near me growing up. I think the best way to think about it is how a lot of times pioneers or cowboys can become a theme for amusement parks and similar attractions, Confederate troops became one. It likely began more racist and overt, but over time just became something that was normalized. Only around the 2010s did people really seem to wake up from their collective stupor and say "hey what the actual fuck are we doing?"
I'll be honest. Prior to her death, this was something I always brought up about her. I'd even say it made me suspicious of her. To be truthful, it was sort of a bit, the way some celebrities just feel to squeaky clean, but it did still upset me. I can't personally speak for when or if the content of the Stampede (formerly Dixie Stampede) show changed its content. Like I said, I've never been. The only commercial I remember about the "friendly rivalry" was from the Dixie Stampede name era.
Dolly Parton seemed to love LGBTQ people and spoke up about it often. She did a lot of charity work in her local community too. I'm not trying to ignore that or cancel her or some shit. Without really digging deep on stuff about her, it felt like she tried to be outspoken but tried hard to not get labeled as political. I'm not sure that means she fought less. She fought hard enough that many people did say she was problematic for supporting queer people. I'm just rambling by this point trying to reconcile my views of her into something succinct, but I don't think I can. I guess the best way to put it is that I grew up in the south too and I got duped by these things as a young person. Some of my most fond memories of my early relationship with my now wife are from us doing stuff at Stone Mountain. I think the Unite the Right rally in 2017 was a big turning point in America. I think it's what finally snapped a lot of people out of their collective haze. Or if not that directly, the after effects of it. And I wonder if I was Dolly Parton's age, would I have realized how messed up things were around 2018 when she did? It's very likely. As a kid I was definitely conservative. I grew out of that, thankfully. But it's really hard to explain just how subtly the Lost Cause messaging can affect people.
My fifth grade teacher, who I have no reason to believe is a racist, very specifically told us that General Lee (the main general of the Confederacy) was a very honorable man. She spoke so poetically about him. About how he only sided with the south because it was his home. As if it were a burden of duty. Looking back, I have to wonder who her teacher taught her. The Daughters of the Confederacy (main people in the Lost Cause) would reject textbooks because they were "unfair to the south." it makes me wonder what bizarre slants she was told. Was her merely saying Lee was a "good man" a result of her deconstructing the lies she was told over decades? I don't know. It could be. And I'm not praising her, don't get me wrong, I'm just trying to help paint a picture of how successful the Lost Cause movement was. It's easy for people to say "well, it obviously wasn't successful, slavers are dumb" or something, but look at pictures of any remotely rural gathering from the 1980s or so in the south. Look at the number of Confederate flags. Today we get cagey when we see some, and they're mostly only the most remote of places (mostly), and the notable exceptions stick out like crazy. It wasn't so long ago that they were genuinely ubiquitous.
I could ramble more about this topic but I think this is enough of a primer and enough of my personal experience as someone born in 1991 in the south to get a picture of what it's been like for the non-American readers. Happy to yap more if anyone has questions.
Dixie is a term for the southeastern US, especially when they were in rebellion for the right to own slaves. The Dixie stampede was an equestrian performance that was civil war themed and IIRC involved treating the sides more like sports teams
I love Dolly also, but Dollywood and Dolly, Inc. was her monetizing herself so that she wouldn't be poor again. She was fiercely determined that the things done in her name were controlled by her... and she unapologetically monetized her name and image.
I can't imagine Dollywood becoming any more commercialized than it already is.
i think the concern is that half of Dollywood is owned by a charity foundation that Dolly set up to direct funds to people in need throughout Appalachia and the south, people Dolly saw their governments failing and knew first hand how awful it was to be that poor. You think Dollywood's commercial, just wait until you've experienced Busch Gardens or Disney World where environmental exploitation is done in the name of making a quick buck and performing brand synergies. Or what I'm scared of for Dollywood, private equity coming and squeezing all the value out like what happened to the nearby Great Wolf where all of the value to the people who benefitted from Dolly's stewardship of her brand get cut out entirely.
as good as what she tried to build was, she unfortunately followed an empire builder model. i fear her estate won't be as surehanded as she was, and the inheritor of her crown will squander all that was there and that it will all be left in ruins in 10 years
I see no issue with using your own image to monetize yourself and help people along the way. I see a problem when money starts to get hoarded by the ultra-rich and they rape the IP and destroy anything that was worth anything.
I had no idea about that, but I absolutely see it. A major part of the point of the show, especially early on, was subverting the expectations of a blonde cheerleader by having her be the strong chosen one, but also by having her have depth and agency without taking away from her being herself.
I wish the flags would fly at half mast for her instead of white supremacists. In these tough times it's really hard to lose a really good one like Dolly. I'm usually not that affected by celebrity news but this one hurts really bad. RIP Dolly.
Yeah, I don't like country music either. Just heard so many great things. If you really want to leave a legacy, you'd be hard pressed to do any better than she did.
My ex grew up as a dirt poor Appalachian and thus was a huge lover of Dolly especially for her working to help alleviate the poverty and lack of education in the area. The world is worse off without her, but I think we oughta try to bring a little of her with us into the future. She was kind to all and helped anyone who needed it.
Ach, crivens! Just yez remember that after yez die, all the spirits ye spilled are collected and yez drown'd in them, so I'd've picked another gif t'were me.
The Dolly Parton youtube rabbit hole is deep and satisfying. Every death before his is tragic, but this is worst than most. Of all the songs that will be sung that day I would've loved to have heard hers.
She wasn't a billionaire, and was pretty far back in line for the guillotine, but I'm inclined to agree. Quick search shows a net worth of around $650 million, apparently reconciling the absence of taxation with an organization that donates books to kids. So, her philanthropy still amounts to crumbs, and she still hoarded an obscene amount of wealth in the face of a staggering level of suffering induced by poverty.
She was among the best of the worst, but that doesn't make her good.
Being poor doesn't make you good, but hoarding wealth at that magnitude definitely makes you bad.
What have you done?
Dafuq does that matter here? This thread isn't about me. I could be an absolute shit stain of a human being, would that have any impact on your perception of Dolly Parton? Or any other hoarder of wealth?
If it actually is important to you, I've literally dedicated my life to bringing comfort and recovery to those suffering by dumping most of my waking hours into a career in nursing: I'll admit the past decade or so have turned me into a salty mofo... there's a lot of bullshit happening around us, locally and globally, and my idiot countrymen responded to that shitstorm by putting a pedophile Nazi in the Whitehouse... twice. So, I've lost a lot of respect for my community, but I still persist (for some fucking reason) with the mindset that doing good is actually worth striving for, so I keep showing up to wipe strangers' asses, cuz that's what they need.
You'll notice I did neither. My take here isn't in the spirit of being jealous or mean, it is in support of those whose suffering is aggravated by the obscenely selfish ultra-rich.
This isn't some vendetta - it's an acknowledgement that humanity simply cannot afford people like that.
Man... Why'd you have to go and make this political.
Being rich doesn't automatically make you a terrible evil person. Dolly was one of the good gals. Can't we just mourn her for who she was as a person not the status of her bank account!
If not for her philanthropy it would have been well over a billion. Plus we have yet to see her Last Will and Testament. She's not done doing good yet.
Funny how people like you never post a source for their own claims.
Oh another thing I want to remind you. If you got a COVID vaccine or survived the pandemic because people around you got theirs, you owe a thank-you to Dolly. Her million-dollar early donation, when the First Trump Reich was still denying and stalling, jumpstarted the research and got other funds rolling in.
I hate to agree with you, but I do on one point: the $500 million charity estimate is sourced from a Facebook post. Their source could be their own arse for all we know.
Did Dolly Parton help fund charities and make sizable financial donations? Unquestionably. Did she donate $500M or more over her lifetime? Unknown as I can't find any legitimate sources that quantify her total charitable expenditures.
I can’t find any legitimate sources that quantify her total charitable expenditures
And you probably never will. I can speak anecdotally on that she gave us $3500 to get our truck fixed for our mutual aid project to keep delivering water to the southern coal fields of West Virginia. She didn't publicize it, and she didn't ask us to do anything one way or the other in terms of saying where they money came from. She just saw that we were helping people and helped us do it.
I think we can, and should, be critical of that the charity model she chose was less helpful than mutual aid models, but I certainly can't find it in my heart to say that she built her empire and put her money towards what she put it toward out of pure selfish greed. To my eyes she got enough money to always protect herself forever from the horrifying traumatic poverty she grew up in, and then looked around her lifeboat, saw other people drowning, and got to work not just pulling people into her lifeboat but helping others build their own.
Again. There are definite critiques to be made about how she went about doing that since I think she overshot her protection mark by a margin and didn't create durable mechanisms to survive her death, thus potentially creating a vacuum now that she's gone. But I don't think being a scold will help. I think trying to train the next abjectly impoverished person with some talent how to build out better than Dolly did will go a lot farther.
When you scold Dolly Parton, all the people who really got helped see is you saying that the person who inspired them to get to helping isn't worth drawing inspiration from. It's disheartening, and that's why that other poster is getting downvoted so hard I think. Instead of virtue signaling that we hate rich people, let's instead model that we help people, and use opportunities like Dolly's shortcomings as a dedicated helper to educate the next generation of helpers to be more robust, resilient, and daring than any of us ever dreamed was possible when we were struggling with poverty.
I feel bad for you. You don't know the kindness, acceptance, and encouragement that Dolly spread widely. On top of that, you're using money as a measurement of a person while completely ignorant of her contributions both financially and not. The more you learn about Dolly, the more you'll love her. Guaranteed.
164 Comments
Sanctus@anarchist.nexus · 257 pts · 8d
RIP, the world will be less without you but forever more for having had you.
nkat2112@sh.itjust.works · 34 pts · 8d
"but forever more for having had you" - those are such beautiful words. And they're very appropriate in describing Dolly. Thank you for sharing that.
Tolc@lemmy.world · 0 pts · 6d
Anarchist mourning a multi millionaire celeb who openly supported the american military? not surprised at all.
Sanctus@anarchist.nexus · 1 pts · 6d
I'm supporting the person who gave free books to 300.million children. But go off, everyone has to be perfect and no one is allowed to be more complex than a single one liner ideology. Got you.
Tolc@lemmy.world · 0 pts · 6d
300 million children in first world get books vs thousands of children in 3rd world gets massacred
Sanctus@anarchist.nexus · 1 pts · 6d
Alright bud grab your rifle and meet me on the tarmac at 0400 sharp. We'll put a stop to that.
Tolc@lemmy.world · -1 pts · 6d
Its fascinating how supposed leftist defends celebs - that too who are morally gray, like do you guys have any self respect?
Celebs are part of the bourgeosie, have some self respect dude.
Sanctus@anarchist.nexus · 1 pts · 6d
No man people aren't getting books. Its your vendetta. You and me together, we're gonna stamp this out. Come on, put your actions where your mouth is.
Tolc@lemmy.world · -1 pts · 6d
Is this all you have tp defend the bourgeoisie? Try harder
areakode@riskeratspizza.com · 231 pts · 8d
Damnit! Wrong 80 year old! Try again!
alekwithak@lemmy.world · 65 pts · 8d
Not every 80YO has access to experimental medications and the nation's Treasury.
raze2012@lemmy.world · 24 pts · 8d
TBF Dolly probably could have. Dolly doesn't seem like the kind of person who'd care about that, though. And you have to remember her husband passed less than 2 years ago at 82YO.
mellibird@feddit.online · 12 pts · 8d
I like to believe that their love was so strong that she just didn't want to be without him anymore. RIP to a beautiful and wonderful person, inside and out.
TheStaffmaster@lemmy.world · 46 pts · 8d
Hey, Death? Do you think you might need some glasses?
morriscox@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 8d
Discworld Death only handles the aftermath.
W98BSoD@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 20 pts · 8d
redwattlebird@thelemmy.club · 3 pts · 7d
They tried again and got Tim Curry 🙁
Suavevillain@lemmy.world · 114 pts · 8d
Damn not Ms Dolly. RIP to one of the few good famous people out there. Iconic and beloved by everyone.
TheStaffmaster@lemmy.world · 38 pts · 8d
If we had a normal world, we'd be having a National day of mourning here in the US.
Lost_My_Mind@lemmy.world · 14 pts · 8d
I still am.
hum4nchick3n@lemmy.zip · 108 pts · 8d
Donald Trump is RIGHT FUCKING THERE! How did you miss again, Death?!
shittydwarf@piefed.ca · 48 pts · 8d
Proof there is no karma
mirshafie@europe.pub · 28 pts · 8d
Death is not defeat. We're all going to die. The Sun will die, the atoms will die, the laws of physics as we know them will literally disintegrate.
Let's focus on the time we have when we are alive, and make the most of that, without trying to evade death.
a_postmodern_hat@lemmy.world · 9 pts · 8d
Well put and comforting to reflect on. Thank you.
Death is defeat for people like Trump who I’m sure would suck the world dry for another hour of life if they could. I take comfort in mortality as a limiting factor in those cases too.
mirshafie@europe.pub · 8 pts · 8d
They are unloved so they desperately cling to their miserable lives, hoping against hope to experience it. We who know love know what it means to let go.
mig@lemmy.world · 21 pts · 8d
Karma is, she is truly mourned. Imagine the party that will erupt when that other fucker drops dead.
bluesheep@sh.itjust.works · 4 pts · 8d
I will personally make sure that the street I live on will have the party of their lives the moment that fascist fuck is dead
RIP Dolly, you will be sorely missed
captainlezbian@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 8d
Yeah the world around her was better for her actions and she got to always be surrounded by that world. The way I see it that's karma. When you do good things, good things keep happening where you are, sometimes others are even inspired to join in. When you do bad things, others are also often inspired to join in around you and people tend to like you less
ironpangolin29@lemmy.ca · 10 pts · 8d
I see this sentiment shared throughout the internet.
It's not going to stop once he dies, it's naive to believe so. Sure I'll pour some scotch older than he prefers his girls but he's just a useful idiot with zero empathy and zero shame that the party in power needs as the face and voice. The clown.
The players in power will remain, they're going to need a new useful idiot, sooner rather than later.
daychilde@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 8d
still arguably some scotch in need of a bit more aging, but nevermindthatrightnow
SabinStargem@lemmy.today · 7 pts · 8d
Possibly a Dark Crystal situation. If one goes, their opposite number follows...
Mouselemming@sh.itjust.works · 5 pts · 8d
So the opposite of Dolly Parton... DEATH, ARE YOU LISTENING??
chahn.chris@piefed.social · 6 pts · 8d
Death likes DJT, he’s like an AI agent background tasking the killings.
It’s super helpful for Death’s workload.
Brickhead92@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 8d
That's a good point. Business has always been good for Death, and will only get better.
tmyakal@infosec.pub · 86 pts · 8d
Disappointing, but not surprising. Her husband of nearly 60 years died last year. Couples together that long tend not to last too well apart.
morriscox@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 8d
My experience has been that the year and a half mark is often when the surviving spouse dies, especially when the wife dies first.
Ertain@feddit.online · 77 pts · 8d
While I'm not a fan of country music, Dolly was a legend.
SaveTheTuaHawk@lemmy.ca · 68 pts · 8d
Her music was never my taste, but she was a legend of a person.
Dolly Parton COVID-19 Research Fund eventually developed the Moderna COVID19 vaccine.
"Vaccine..vaccine...VACIIIIIINE!"
Brickhead92@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 8d
You've got some talent kid!
Ever considered a career in the Country Music scene solely parodying Dolly Parton songs?
There's money to be made there!... Not much, but surely a couple of dollars.
anon_8675309@lemmy.world · 17 pts · 8d
Yeah I don’t like that style of music generally but I freaking love Dolly the person. And I can appreciate that she was very talented.
TrickDacy@lemmy.world · 13 pts · 8d
Same and same, but Jolene was a helluva song.
0ops@piefed.zip · 8 pts · 8d
Yeah, I was never a country person either... but Jolene is one of the very few exceptions
blargh513@sh.itjust.works · 6 pts · 8d
Her amusement park is also an absolute delight.
When it is closing time a recording of her wishing everyone a good night plays on the pa and it just feels good having her say good night.
spizzat2@lemmy.zip · 16 pts · 8d
FYI, she released an album in 2023 called Rockstar. While it still has strong country influence, it leans more heavily towards rock and pop. Maybe it will be more to your taste. Plus, practically every track features an impressive collaboration.
psycotica0@lemmy.ca · 16 pts · 8d
Jesus, she did a cover of Let it Be featuring Paul McCartney and Ringo? That's wild, what a life!
ChunkMcHorkle@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 8d
I keep meaning to check out her version of Freebird. There are those who say it rivals the original, and that's not really possible IMO, but I'm willing to hear it out, and always meant to.
IamSparticles@lemmy.zip · 1 pts · 7d
While her roots are obviously in country music, Dolly literally wrote and collaborated on thousands of songs across several genres.
MeatPilot@sh.itjust.works · 72 pts · 8d
Imagination Library, hope this keeps going!
mrmisses@lemmy.world · 58 pts · 8d
Welp, guess what... I have a baby who receives books from this and got a letter saying due to cuts it has been cancelled for my state. Republicans have ruined everything good
quill7513@anarchist.nexus · 25 pts · 8d
"i know this one rich nice lady already paid for all of it but… fuck you"
Earthwormjim91@lemmy.world · 22 pts · 8d
She didn’t pay for it all…. Im not even sure where you got that idea from anyway. She doesn’t pay for the books at all. Her foundation covers the program overhead, but all the funding to actually pay for the books and postage is from smaller local organizations.
https://support.imaginationlibrary.com/article/245-i-was-told-my-local-imagination-library-is-closing-because-of-lack-of-funds-why-doesn-t-dolly-do-something-about-this-or-just-give-them-the-money-they-need-to-keep-this-program-going
quill7513@anarchist.nexus · 22 pts · 8d
I was intentionally over-exaggerating for the bit of the comedy. The important thing of what I was trying to call attention to was that republican policy is not about fiscal stewardship, it is about abject cruelty.
Bytemeister@lemmy.world · 9 pts · 8d
I just donated to them (the IL, not the republicans), so hopefully you can get back on the program!
Fredselfish@lemmy.world · 66 pts · 8d
Why couldn't someone else who is also 80 not die? Why and not them fuck the universe.
CalemitousVariantK@lemmy.world · 35 pts · 8d
-Herman Melville
mojo_raisin@lemmy.world · 17 pts · 8d
Evil confers longevity, this should be obvious by now.
KneeTitts@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 8d
If he did, would we ever know? (see: Mitch McConnell - deceased but no one will admit it)
TheStaffmaster@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 8d
TBF, This might be collateral damage from trying to swing at McConnell.
spacegoat@lemmy.world · 65 pts · 8d
This woman was either a literal saint or had the best PR team the world has ever seen
MojoMcJojo@lemmy.world · 55 pts · 8d
In my opinion she's up there with Bob Ross, Steve Irwin and Mr. Rogers.
FordBeeblebrox@lemmy.world · 49 pts · 8d
LeVar Burton is already on that list for me too, love that he started up Reading Rainbow again as a podcast. It’s the library Dolly wanted, read read out loud
corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca · 5 pts · 8d
Wow. That's a great list, though.
corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca · 0 pts · 7d
And when Tim Curry drags himself in, he's 25 and gorgeous like we all remember.
HobbitFoot@thelemmy.club · 41 pts · 8d
Lindsay Ellis good a recent video on Nebula analyzing her career in a way that really ends up working well as a post-mortem of Dolly's career. The conclusion is that Dolly Parton was a savvy business woman with good PR and a knack to stay out of politics, but she was also kind and charitable woman who could be the better person despite decades of boob jokes.
eepydeeby@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 15 pts · 8d
Lindsay even uploaded it to YouTube temporarily because she wants people who can't access Nebula to have access to her breakdown on Dolly's cultural context
HobbitFoot@thelemmy.club · 5 pts · 8d
I wouldn't be surprised if Dave Wiskus asked Lindsay to do that since Lindsay ended up creating a pretty good synopsis of Dolly Parton's career that won't get recreated to that quality for a week and this would be the perfect ad for Nebula.
greenhorn@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 8d
Dollywood has had controversies, and ran the "Dixie Stampede" until 2018 when the name was changed but the content still romanticised the South.
Obi@sopuli.xyz · 6 pts · 8d
Can you give more context for us non-americans? What's a Dixie stampede and why is it problematic?
JackbyDev@programming.dev · 9 pts · 8d
Dixie is a term for the area of the south in the US that seceded from the union which led to the American Civil War. They seceded over slavery. There is a massive disinformation campaign from back then called the Lost Cause of the South (often just lost cause). People try to frame it as being about other things like states' rights, but we don't need to guess, the states that left the union said why in their letters of secession. They left over their "property" rights being violated. Property to what? People. The fugitive slave act specifically. Slave states in the south wanted to compell free states in the north to return escaped slaves.
So that's the primer on the civil war and lost cause movement, but you can see it's effects everywhere. It's hard to really describe to an outsider. It's hard to describe to people living in the south who grew up here who don't see it as political. You'll tell them things like "Isn't it fucked that Stone Mountain has the world's largest Confederate monument?" They'll respond "hey, I went to that fireworks and laser show there all the time as a kid, it was never about politics and I loved it!" Meanwhile completely ignoring that normalizing celebrations under a monument to the fallen heroes of the south (therefore ones defending slavery) is fucked.
Content wise, I never went to the Dixie Stampede, so I can't tell you exactly what it featured. But Stone Mountain in GA had a similar thing. I remember commercials for the Stampede when I visited Gatlinburg. They showed Union and Confederate troops on horses and mentioned how it played up the "friendly rivalry " with the north. Stone Mountain had a similar thing. It would show imagery of people fighting, but finally one of them puts their sword down and breaks it, representing peace. I think it was even a Confederate one who did. People who grew up in the south have just received a lot of stuff like this over the years and many don't see how problematic it is, even if they genuinely and truly are not racist. This is exactly what the Lost Cause movement has been about. They knew they could never outright convince people that things were good, but they just want to soften the edges. Get people to question it just a little bit.
Stone Mountain, once again, the world's largest Confederate monument, sat partially finished for a very long time. It was only after schools desegregated in the US (Brown v. board of Education) that it was finished. The wikipedia article has a better timeline with specifics. Literal members of the KKK were involved. It's not some goofy conspiracy theory. It's all very well documented. They said they were doing it because of schools being desegregated.
We see this a lot all over. Dixieland was another amusement park near me growing up. I think the best way to think about it is how a lot of times pioneers or cowboys can become a theme for amusement parks and similar attractions, Confederate troops became one. It likely began more racist and overt, but over time just became something that was normalized. Only around the 2010s did people really seem to wake up from their collective stupor and say "hey what the actual fuck are we doing?"
I'll be honest. Prior to her death, this was something I always brought up about her. I'd even say it made me suspicious of her. To be truthful, it was sort of a bit, the way some celebrities just feel to squeaky clean, but it did still upset me. I can't personally speak for when or if the content of the Stampede (formerly Dixie Stampede) show changed its content. Like I said, I've never been. The only commercial I remember about the "friendly rivalry" was from the Dixie Stampede name era.
Dolly Parton seemed to love LGBTQ people and spoke up about it often. She did a lot of charity work in her local community too. I'm not trying to ignore that or cancel her or some shit. Without really digging deep on stuff about her, it felt like she tried to be outspoken but tried hard to not get labeled as political. I'm not sure that means she fought less. She fought hard enough that many people did say she was problematic for supporting queer people. I'm just rambling by this point trying to reconcile my views of her into something succinct, but I don't think I can. I guess the best way to put it is that I grew up in the south too and I got duped by these things as a young person. Some of my most fond memories of my early relationship with my now wife are from us doing stuff at Stone Mountain. I think the Unite the Right rally in 2017 was a big turning point in America. I think it's what finally snapped a lot of people out of their collective haze. Or if not that directly, the after effects of it. And I wonder if I was Dolly Parton's age, would I have realized how messed up things were around 2018 when she did? It's very likely. As a kid I was definitely conservative. I grew out of that, thankfully. But it's really hard to explain just how subtly the Lost Cause messaging can affect people.
My fifth grade teacher, who I have no reason to believe is a racist, very specifically told us that General Lee (the main general of the Confederacy) was a very honorable man. She spoke so poetically about him. About how he only sided with the south because it was his home. As if it were a burden of duty. Looking back, I have to wonder who her teacher taught her. The Daughters of the Confederacy (main people in the Lost Cause) would reject textbooks because they were "unfair to the south." it makes me wonder what bizarre slants she was told. Was her merely saying Lee was a "good man" a result of her deconstructing the lies she was told over decades? I don't know. It could be. And I'm not praising her, don't get me wrong, I'm just trying to help paint a picture of how successful the Lost Cause movement was. It's easy for people to say "well, it obviously wasn't successful, slavers are dumb" or something, but look at pictures of any remotely rural gathering from the 1980s or so in the south. Look at the number of Confederate flags. Today we get cagey when we see some, and they're mostly only the most remote of places (mostly), and the notable exceptions stick out like crazy. It wasn't so long ago that they were genuinely ubiquitous.
I could ramble more about this topic but I think this is enough of a primer and enough of my personal experience as someone born in 1991 in the south to get a picture of what it's been like for the non-American readers. Happy to yap more if anyone has questions.
Obi@sopuli.xyz · 2 pts · 7d
Damn I like to think I have above average knowledge of the US but a lot of that was still new information, thanks for that.
captainlezbian@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 8d
Dixie is a term for the southeastern US, especially when they were in rebellion for the right to own slaves. The Dixie stampede was an equestrian performance that was civil war themed and IIRC involved treating the sides more like sports teams
spacegoat@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 8d
Ah I hadn’t thought about that. Which is surprising because I’m a Sherman poster
halezinflames@lemmus.org · 46 pts · 8d
Holy shit. RIP to an absolute legend.
PissMissile@lemmy.world · 43 pts · 8d
I love Dolly. Went to Dollywood back in April. I would hate to see her estate picked apart and monetized, but you and I both know where this leads.
Bob_Robertson_IX@discuss.tchncs.de · 16 pts · 8d
I love Dolly also, but Dollywood and Dolly, Inc. was her monetizing herself so that she wouldn't be poor again. She was fiercely determined that the things done in her name were controlled by her... and she unapologetically monetized her name and image.
I can't imagine Dollywood becoming any more commercialized than it already is.
quill7513@anarchist.nexus · 9 pts · 8d
i think the concern is that half of Dollywood is owned by a charity foundation that Dolly set up to direct funds to people in need throughout Appalachia and the south, people Dolly saw their governments failing and knew first hand how awful it was to be that poor. You think Dollywood's commercial, just wait until you've experienced Busch Gardens or Disney World where environmental exploitation is done in the name of making a quick buck and performing brand synergies. Or what I'm scared of for Dollywood, private equity coming and squeezing all the value out like what happened to the nearby Great Wolf where all of the value to the people who benefitted from Dolly's stewardship of her brand get cut out entirely.
as good as what she tried to build was, she unfortunately followed an empire builder model. i fear her estate won't be as surehanded as she was, and the inheritor of her crown will squander all that was there and that it will all be left in ruins in 10 years
PissMissile@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 7d
I see no issue with using your own image to monetize yourself and help people along the way. I see a problem when money starts to get hoarded by the ultra-rich and they rape the IP and destroy anything that was worth anything.
sirico@feddit.uk · 39 pts · 8d
We were talking about her last night after finding out she produced Buffy the Vampire Slayer
One of my favorite videos of her true icon https://youtu.be/Y3ardckySYY
pelespirit@sh.itjust.works · 7 pts · 8d
Shine: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8e-Ip9RagkU
captainlezbian@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 8d
I had no idea about that, but I absolutely see it. A major part of the point of the show, especially early on, was subverting the expectations of a blonde cheerleader by having her be the strong chosen one, but also by having her have depth and agency without taking away from her being herself.
WanderWisley@lemmy.world · 37 pts · 8d
SwissArmyKazoo@lemmy.world · 33 pts · 8d
What a truly powerful and talented musician with an angelic voice and a urge to soul heartedly defend LGBTQ rights.
What a country goddess.
RIP "It should've been Trump!!!!!!! (or Unknown Hinson!!!!!!)"
FordBeeblebrox@lemmy.world · 31 pts · 8d
Damn. Donate to your local Imagination Library, GNU Dolly
deacon@lemmy.world · 27 pts · 8d
This one hurts. Bad.
troglodytis@lemmy.world · 25 pts · 8d
She was a shining example of what a human could be. A life well lived.
Tonight, I raise a glass of red to you, Dolly, and drink it for all of us still here making the best of whatever scraps we got!
Professorozone@lemmy.world · 23 pts · 8d
I wish the flags would fly at half mast for her instead of white supremacists. In these tough times it's really hard to lose a really good one like Dolly. I'm usually not that affected by celebrity news but this one hurts really bad. RIP Dolly.
Hathaway@lemmy.zip · 5 pts · 8d
They are at half mast.
Professorozone@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 7d
Yeah, I saw that just after posting. I can't believe that felon did something I can actually agree with.
yakko@feddit.uk · 2 pts · 8d
Same. I never was much into her music, I only know her by her works and her wonderful personality. I'm grieving.
Professorozone@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 7d
Yeah, I don't like country music either. Just heard so many great things. If you really want to leave a legacy, you'd be hard pressed to do any better than she did.
tetris11@feddit.uk · 20 pts · 8d
Someone who really tried to do good in this world. She will be missed
DarkFuture@lemmy.world · 20 pts · 8d
An angel has left Earth and returned from whence she came.
A truly good person in a world that desperately needs more.
Mouselemming@sh.itjust.works · 6 pts · 8d
If anyone is going to Heaven, it's Dolly
quill7513@anarchist.nexus · 4 pts · 8d
first saint in agnostic heaven. we don't have rules so we can make them up
deacon@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 8d
I think if you’re a humanist, a saint is just a really good human who it is important to remember and emulate.
So I think it works.
tigermountain@lemmy.world · 16 pts · 8d
RIP Dolly. What a caring and kind person she was. The world is a lesser place without her in it.
captainlezbian@lemmy.world · 16 pts · 8d
My ex grew up as a dirt poor Appalachian and thus was a huge lover of Dolly especially for her working to help alleviate the poverty and lack of education in the area. The world is worse off without her, but I think we oughta try to bring a little of her with us into the future. She was kind to all and helped anyone who needed it.
EmpathicVagrant@lemmy.world · 16 pts · 8d
My sweet beloved now and forever, rest in peace. We love you.
CorrectAlias@piefed.blahaj.zone · 16 pts · 8d
Damn, sucks to lose such a bright light especially now.
jontree255@lemmy.world · 16 pts · 8d
Damn.
daychilde@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 8d
Ach, crivens! Just yez remember that after yez die, all the spirits ye spilled are collected and yez drown'd in them, so I'd've picked another gif t'were me.
Lithops@lemmy.world · 12 pts · 8d
Oh no, the world has just gotten a little worse. RIP
WanderWisley@lemmy.world · 12 pts · 8d
RIP to our Queen 🩷
likebudda@reddthat.com · 12 pts · 8d
The Dolly Parton youtube rabbit hole is deep and satisfying. Every death before his is tragic, but this is worst than most. Of all the songs that will be sung that day I would've loved to have heard hers.
Adderbox76@lemmy.ca · 11 pts · 8d
This timeline can seriously just fuck right off.
Blibly@lemmy.world · 11 pts · 8d
She was all heart and class. A truly great woman. RIP to the queen.
panda_abyss@lemmy.ca · 10 pts · 8d
RIP, Dolly Parton was an excellent person in all of the most important ways.
She was kind, generous, caring, bold, insanely talented, and a great feminist.
This is a sad day.
BigMacHole@thelemmy.club · 9 pts · 8d
People are MOURNING her? A RICH Person? NOT celebrating? HOW do we Copy this? HOW HOW HOW!
-Billionaires who will CONTINUE Destroying our Planet Education Future Goods Services and General Lives!
zbyte64@awful.systems · 17 pts · 8d
A billionaire never gave my kids free books. She was a millionaire and while she wasn't a socialist she didn't forget she was working class.
Murse@slrpnk.net · 5 pts · 8d
She wasn't a billionaire, and was pretty far back in line for the guillotine, but I'm inclined to agree. Quick search shows a net worth of around $650 million, apparently reconciling the absence of taxation with an organization that donates books to kids. So, her philanthropy still amounts to crumbs, and she still hoarded an obscene amount of wealth in the face of a staggering level of suffering induced by poverty.
She was among the best of the worst, but that doesn't make her good.
blargh513@sh.itjust.works · 7 pts · 8d
Being poor doesn't make you good. Doing meaningful things does and she did a lot of them.
What have you done?
Murse@slrpnk.net · 1 pts · 8d
Being poor doesn't make you good, but hoarding wealth at that magnitude definitely makes you bad.
Dafuq does that matter here? This thread isn't about me. I could be an absolute shit stain of a human being, would that have any impact on your perception of Dolly Parton? Or any other hoarder of wealth?
If it actually is important to you, I've literally dedicated my life to bringing comfort and recovery to those suffering by dumping most of my waking hours into a career in nursing: I'll admit the past decade or so have turned me into a salty mofo... there's a lot of bullshit happening around us, locally and globally, and my idiot countrymen responded to that shitstorm by putting a pedophile Nazi in the Whitehouse... twice. So, I've lost a lot of respect for my community, but I still persist (for some fucking reason) with the mindset that doing good is actually worth striving for, so I keep showing up to wipe strangers' asses, cuz that's what they need.
...how about you?
blargh513@sh.itjust.works · 1 pts · 8d
I have made it a point not to be jealous of others and say mean things about them when they're dead.
Murse@slrpnk.net · 1 pts · 7d
You'll notice I did neither. My take here isn't in the spirit of being jealous or mean, it is in support of those whose suffering is aggravated by the obscenely selfish ultra-rich.
This isn't some vendetta - it's an acknowledgement that humanity simply cannot afford people like that.
mechoman444@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 8d
Man... Why'd you have to go and make this political.
Being rich doesn't automatically make you a terrible evil person. Dolly was one of the good gals. Can't we just mourn her for who she was as a person not the status of her bank account!
anarchy79@lemmy.world · 9 pts · 8d
I knew this day would come. Only a few people of humanity evoke my most profound sympathy and love.
God bless, Dolly. Thank you for your love. In memoriam.
Edit: oh no now I know who the third one will be.
anarchy79@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 8d
Meum profundissimum dolorem tibi oferum.
TrickDacy@lemmy.world · 8 pts · 8d
She was pretty great. And this podcast series about her is one of the greatest as far as podcasts go: https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/dolly-partons-america
Highly recommend that one. Seriously, it's about her but it's bigger than that also.
ToiletFlushShowerScream@piefed.world · 8 pts · 8d
NOOOOO!!!! No No No No!
TheStaffmaster@lemmy.world · 7 pts · 8d
Breaking: Angel Returns to heaven, World heartbroken.
Blackmist@feddit.uk · 6 pts · 8d
Well that's the last horseman riding in. Harambe, Farage survives plane crash, Trump elected, Dolly.
Might as well cash that pension in now...
ZC3rr0r@piefed.ca · 3 pts · 8d
Huh, TIL about the Farage crash. Great irony too, crashing the plane flying the UKIP banner.
tomatolung@lemmy.world · 6 pts · 8d
Awwww... 😢 Good heart, great woman.
Witchfire@lemmy.world · 6 pts · 8d
A true icon, RIP
NOT_RICK@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 8d
I am sad
MehBlah@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 8d
Well shit.
HeronHouseHamilton@lemmy.zip · 5 pts · 8d
I want to kick 2026 right in the balls
a_postmodern_hat@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 8d
Thank you Dolly for your generosity and courage.
RIP legend.
PlantDadManGuy@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 8d
RIP Saint Dolly. Fs in the chat
Bluefalcon@discuss.tchncs.de · 4 pts · 8d
Last time I got a tat, Ozzy died. Now Dolly! Rip to my volunteer.
daychilde@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 8d
Stop getting tats? :P lol
Bluefalcon@discuss.tchncs.de · 3 pts · 7d
Curry is not on me! However, it looks like I take out all time greats of music. Paul, I'm watching you!
daychilde@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 7d
Well, stop watching then! lol
expatriado@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 8d
oh no, rip, i went with family to Dollywood 2 weeks ago, we talked about her quite a bit recently
njm1314@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 8d
There really is no light left in the world
Poem_for_your_sprog@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 8d
I went outside to check and the sun is still there
Sam_Bass@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 8d
time stops for nobody. when your's is done, so are you.
Knock_Knock_Lemmy_In@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 8d
Noooo. I wanted her to be President!
breadsmasher@lemmy.world · -28 pts · 8d
SatansMaggotyCumFart@piefed.world · 20 pts · 8d
This is just disrespectful to a woman who dedicated her life to making the world a better place.
You should feel sad.
Tolc@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 6d
making the world a better place by being a multi millionaire and supporting US military? wow.
SatansMaggotyCumFart@piefed.world · 1 pts · 6d
Tolc@lemmy.world · 0 pts · 6d
you seem to be hurt by hearing the truth
SatansMaggotyCumFart@piefed.world · 0 pts · 6d
That's even lower quality than the first one.
breadsmasher@lemmy.world · -18 pts · 8d
how much did she spend helping people vs how much did she take to the grave?
SatansMaggotyCumFart@piefed.world · 19 pts · 8d
More than you.
breadsmasher@lemmy.world · -17 pts · 8d
percentage wise? doubt it.
SatansMaggotyCumFart@piefed.world · 17 pts · 8d
And there goes the goalposts.
breadsmasher@lemmy.world · -13 pts · 8d
nope. same goal posts.
died with over half a billion.
donated a couple mil.
same goal posts.
SatansMaggotyCumFart@piefed.world · 16 pts · 8d
It's actually over a half billion.
Blibly@lemmy.world · 18 pts · 8d
Yeah you did call it we all rightfully hate you, congrats
lol idiot is replying but your ass is blocked, dumbass
breadsmasher@lemmy.world · -15 pts · 8d
hate me all you want. she still died with over half a billion dollars.
TheStaffmaster@lemmy.world · 15 pts · 8d
She was a recording artist and a popular one at that. Unlike most of the rich people who exist, she really DID earn that herself. You can SRTFU.
breadsmasher@lemmy.world · -11 pts · 8d
Mouselemming@sh.itjust.works · 11 pts · 8d
If not for her philanthropy it would have been well over a billion. Plus we have yet to see her Last Will and Testament. She's not done doing good yet.
breadsmasher@lemmy.world · -8 pts · 8d
Mouselemming@sh.itjust.works · 6 pts · 8d
Funny how people like you never post a source for their own claims.
Oh another thing I want to remind you. If you got a COVID vaccine or survived the pandemic because people around you got theirs, you owe a thank-you to Dolly. Her million-dollar early donation, when the First Trump Reich was still denying and stalling, jumpstarted the research and got other funds rolling in.
breadsmasher@lemmy.world · -7 pts · 8d
typical assuming everyone is american. im not.
what do I need to cite?
Mouselemming@sh.itjust.works · 7 pts · 8d
I didn't assume you are American. The results of her COVID vaccine research funding didn't just benefit the US.
You made claims she didn't donate much. Prove it.
StupidBrotherInLaw@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 8d
I hate to agree with you, but I do on one point: the $500 million charity estimate is sourced from a Facebook post. Their source could be their own arse for all we know.
https://www.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=872015621886912&id=NirfoxOfficial
Did Dolly Parton help fund charities and make sizable financial donations? Unquestionably. Did she donate $500M or more over her lifetime? Unknown as I can't find any legitimate sources that quantify her total charitable expenditures.
quill7513@anarchist.nexus · 2 pts · 8d
And you probably never will. I can speak anecdotally on that she gave us $3500 to get our truck fixed for our mutual aid project to keep delivering water to the southern coal fields of West Virginia. She didn't publicize it, and she didn't ask us to do anything one way or the other in terms of saying where they money came from. She just saw that we were helping people and helped us do it.
I think we can, and should, be critical of that the charity model she chose was less helpful than mutual aid models, but I certainly can't find it in my heart to say that she built her empire and put her money towards what she put it toward out of pure selfish greed. To my eyes she got enough money to always protect herself forever from the horrifying traumatic poverty she grew up in, and then looked around her lifeboat, saw other people drowning, and got to work not just pulling people into her lifeboat but helping others build their own.
Again. There are definite critiques to be made about how she went about doing that since I think she overshot her protection mark by a margin and didn't create durable mechanisms to survive her death, thus potentially creating a vacuum now that she's gone. But I don't think being a scold will help. I think trying to train the next abjectly impoverished person with some talent how to build out better than Dolly did will go a lot farther.
When you scold Dolly Parton, all the people who really got helped see is you saying that the person who inspired them to get to helping isn't worth drawing inspiration from. It's disheartening, and that's why that other poster is getting downvoted so hard I think. Instead of virtue signaling that we hate rich people, let's instead model that we help people, and use opportunities like Dolly's shortcomings as a dedicated helper to educate the next generation of helpers to be more robust, resilient, and daring than any of us ever dreamed was possible when we were struggling with poverty.
Mobiuthuselah@mander.xyz · 3 pts · 8d
I feel bad for you. You don't know the kindness, acceptance, and encouragement that Dolly spread widely. On top of that, you're using money as a measurement of a person while completely ignorant of her contributions both financially and not. The more you learn about Dolly, the more you'll love her. Guaranteed.
Chozo@fedia.io · 9 pts · 8d
Brother you know you done fucked up when you get ratio'd by SMCF.
breadsmasher@lemmy.world · -4 pts · 8d
Chozo@fedia.io · 8 pts · 8d
You should, honestly. A bit of reflection might do ya some good right about now, chief.
breadsmasher@lemmy.world · -6 pts · 8d
no one has shown im wrong
Chozo@fedia.io · 9 pts · 8d
Nobody's obligated to. You, however, have yet to show that you're right.