Arne, I recommend silence in situations where good manners and decency are important, not in life and death situations. For instance, if your lady says, "does this outfit make me look fat?" you're probably better off not saying anything. But if your best friend is obviously drinking too much, you'll want to speak up and say, hey pal, gimme the keys.

I've always been amazed at news reports from people who say things like "I heard the screaming next door but I didn't want to get involved." Sure, in that instance you have a moral obligation to get your ass off the couch and call the police, or whatever you have to do.

But I don't think I have a moral obligation to tell a coworker he's an asshole, even if that's what I really think.

For me, as a performer, being in front of an audience requires some good manners and decency. I don't believe that Natalie Maines was trying to make a protest as much as she was trying to ingratiate herself to a foreign audience. If she truly wanted to talk about peace in our time, I think she could have done a much better job of it IF she had taken 2 seconds to think about it. A better choice of words could have been, "we don't support the course of action our country is taking."

Maybe she should borrow one of Sheryl Crow's t-shirts.