And the quacking goes on

Timothy Kincaid

December 28th, 2013


For weeks we’ve been subjected to the duck war.

On one side are those whose argument seems to me to be, “How dare Phil Robertson have vile homophobic opinions? He should not have access to the public airways with opinions like that!” And, yes, his opinions are homophobic. And also racist. And more than a little ignorant.

On the other are those who are screaming about censorship (it’s not) about religious freedom (which does not include the unquestionable right to be on television) and about the horrible horrible homosexuals.

In a nation that values free speech, even odious speech has a right to compete in the marketplace of ideas (right up there with the “ideas” of Honey Boo Boo, Sarah Palin, and Perez Hilton). And in a capitalist economy, television producers can decide what ideas with which they want to be associated.

But this isn’t really much about ideas. I suspect that most of those “supporting Phil” have no idea what he actually said or why it is that gay people are offended. They are just emotionally connecting a fear that in a rapidly changing world, their ability to practice their faith openly may be further curtailed.

And GLAAD and other gay supporters failed in articulating the concerns we had with his speech, missed that part of it was a paraphrase of a scripture, and lost the opportunity to distinguish between religious position and hate speech.

This is little more than a replay of the Chic-fil-A squabble. It’s people supporting “their side”.

The vast majority of pro-gay people really are not looking to silence and censor and ban all of those who are religious, even those who are conservatively religious and have beliefs which include the idea that homosexual acts are sinful. And the vast majority of religious people really do not think that gay people are like terrorists or that homosexuality and bestiality are in any way comparable. It’s just the stupid pointless Culture War.

And now A&E has announced that taping of Duck Dynasty – including Phil Robertson – will resume this spring. And the quacking from ‘family’ activists has resumed with vigor.

But maybe now this whole thing will soon be over.

Lucrece

December 28th, 2013

Don Imus calls some basketball players “nappy-headed ho’s”, he loses his job. Firestorm happens with few people coming to his defense.

Similarly aged,also redneck Robertson compares gay people to prostitutes and drunks, and people wave it off as “it’s an old white guy from the South”.

It will be a long, long time before homophobia actually becomes taboo.

shofixti

December 28th, 2013

I wouldn’t be surprised if the network had run focus groups that revealed that marginal viewers of DD indicated they would be more interested in watching if they knew that the figurehead of the show had been targeted by “cultural Marxists”.

The whole thing reeks of being manufactured – especially as Robertson appears in YouTube videos saying pretty much the same thing.

Priya Lynn

December 28th, 2013

“And GLAAD and other gay supporters failed in articulating the concerns we had with his speech, missed that part of it was a paraphrase of a scripture, and lost the opportunity to distinguish between religious position and hate speech.”.

That part of scripture is hate speech.

Joseph Singer

December 28th, 2013

Free speech gives you the right to say what you want. It does not negate that you may suffer consequences of using that speech like being removed from a program by your employer. Much more is involved here though. A&E decided to let Robertson back on the program but not because they had a change of heart, but more so that they see that they can monetize this incident to make more eyeballs view the “reality” programming. Please don’t be fooled that A&E gives two rat turds about nasty comments by Robertson. What you should believe is that they care about ratings and $$$ and that’s all. This whole dust up is about exposure and money.

Richard Rush

December 28th, 2013

A&E thinking: “We at A&E have a golden opportunity to reap massive profits by excusing Robertson for simply expressing his virulently degrading view of homos, and now those homos refuse to put their selfish interests aside and shut-up. For homos, tolerance is obviously a one-way street.”

jerry

December 29th, 2013

The only reason I could be tempted to view the program is to see who is advertising on the show and if I want to continue spending my money on their products if I currently buy their stuff.

homer

December 29th, 2013

Read the Facebook comments on the Duck Dynasty page. Interesting to see just how many people plainly hate gay people. Not just hate, they want us put in prison or killed. Or burn in hell.

I also suspect this “controversy” was drummed up by A & E to increase the ratings of this fake show.

Richard Rush

December 29th, 2013

TV reality shows are a lot like Phil Robertson’s fundamentalist religion: Both are largely fakery presented as if they were reality. Now I understand why Robertson takes to that TV show like a duck to water.

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