Dolly Parton says disrespecting the Earth is “like being ugly to your mama”
Parton spoke to National Geographic about climate change and Tennessee's Great Smoky Mountains
Music Features Dolly Parton
Dolly Parton, country music star, collaborative mystery novelist, and covert Buffy The Vampire Slayer producer, has a way with words. When she received her first dose of the COVID vaccine (the development of which she helped fund), she told those who didn’t want to get the shot not to act like “such a chickensquat” about it. When asked in the summer of 2020 about Black Lives Matter, Parton said: “Of course Black lives matter. Do you think our little white asses are the only ones that matter? No!” When she was nominated for induction into The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame, she asked to be taken off the ballot, stating that she doesn’t “feel that I have earned that right.”
Basically, if Dolly Parton is asked to give her opinion about something, she will always put it in very memorable terms. This remains the case in a recent National Geographic article that sees Parton discussing the beauty of her home state and comparing climate change to “being ugly to your mama.”
The piece centers on Parton’s relationship with Tennessee’s Great Smoky Mountains, the area where she was raised—and which she sang about in 1972's “My Tennessee Mountain Home.” Parton calls the Great Smoky Mountains “one of the most beautiful places in the world,” saying “we got the most radiant flowers, the biggest assortment of trees,” and that “the Smokies have a heart of their own.”
It also mentions that Parton’s Dollywood is the biggest corporate sponsor of the American Eagle Foundation, which “rescues and rehabilitates injured and orphaned bald eagles, owls, vultures, and other birds,” and cites her thoughts on climate change.
“We should pay more attention,” she says. “We’re just mistreating Mother Nature—that’s like being ugly to your mama.” Parton concludes her point by saying that “we need to take better care of the things that God gave us freely. And that we’re so freely messing up.”
Read the rest of the profile over at National Geographic or just take Parton’s reminder to heart: It’s never good to be ugly to your mama.
[via Consequence]
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17 Comments
She’s just the best.
Reason 4,987 to love this woman.
Or cats.
Cats are assholes. But I still love them.
I’m curious how much of Dolly Parton Dolly Parton thinks is her cultivated persona versus what comes naturally these days.Love her, and think her sincerity and attitude are pretty genuine, which is impressive after all so many years. I liked her bedtime story sessions she did during the pandemic.But I wonder if I sat down with her at dinner…if she’d word things in such a constantly colorful way. It doesn’t really matter either way, mostly just I’m just braindead on a Thursday.
Listen to Dolly Parton’s America on NPR. I implore you… you will not be disappointed.
But I wonder if I sat down with her at dinner…if she’d word things in such a constantly colorful way. I know what you mean, and I know you’re not trying to diss her (because you’re not stupid) but… I think she is that colorful in her regular life. We’ll never know, of course, but I’ve been a fan of hers since her days on tv with Porter Wagoner. If you or I were at dinner with her I believe she would be as charming, genuine, funny and sweet as she ever is in interviews.The only way to prove me wrong would be for me to have dinner with Dolly. No problem.
The Great Smoky Mountains belong to North Carolina as much as they belong to Tennessee.
And people say she’s just a big pair of tits
The poor woman, all the good she’s done in her life and yet every time I see a news article about her, that is my first thought.
I… I don’t think that anyone with any sense has said that for many, many years. Dolly has always been chill, and ever since the first time I saw her interviewed on 60 Minutes it was clear that she was shrewd, sharp, kind, generous, and just a genuine person. Can’t say I’m a fan of country music at all, but I am a HUGE Dolly Parton fan- she’s definitely invited to the cookout.
It’s a David Brent line
I’m sorry the joke missed me. Now I truly feel old.
Yeah, I’ll keep recycling, composting, only using the car when I need to, etc. but I know people who still don’t, big corporations don’t care, and governments still treat this like a debate. Then to top it all off, I just saw yet another news story saying it’s critical we do something right now. … And no changes happened.
I have no reason to believe humans will fix this. Much as I think Dolly is a legend, her nice words are straight into the void at this point. But hey, it keeps writers and convention centers in business so silver lining and all that.
I understand the sentiment, but this attitude (while difficult to avoid given the state of things) plays right into the hands of the people and corporations doing the polluting. The nihilism over being unable to really affect individual change serves no other purpose than to excuse the largest polluters and effectively let them continue unopposed. Dolly is using her influence to try to get more people to understand the necessity that something needs to be done, for better or for worse. Saying it’s pointless for her – a person who has more power than you or I to influence things, certainly – to speak out about an important cause is just playing into the entities who profit most of maintaining the status quo.
Well stir my grits, if climate change ain’t just the most important lil issue facing society today!She can’t turn it off, even for National Geographic.