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Thursday, December 19. 2013

The Duck Dynasty kerfuffle


In an interview, Phil Robertson paraphrased St. Paul, and then recklessly opined that an anus, in his view, held little charm.


I guess these are shocking statements, but it all seems fairly ordinary to me. 4 Reasons Why the Duck Dynasty Brouhaha Matters.


In a way, you have to laugh at the grievance-mongers and the bed-wetters, but it does matter. It doesn't matter to the Duck guys, but it matters to the ordinary person with an ordinary job.


And there's this: "lefties, give Phil Robertson a break. It's not like he said Santa was white."

Posted by The News Junkie in Hot News & Misc. Short Subjects at 15:45 | Comments (21) | Trackbacks (0)

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The best part about this is that you know, KNOW, there won't be any tearful apologies coming from Phil and hopefully any of the other family members. A&E might freak out and might even cancel the show, but so what, there'll be other networks that would love ride this gravy train.
#1 phil g on 2013-12-19 16:02 (Reply)
I could see the firestorm coming after the interview was published. The Left goes ape sh*t every time they hear even tangential criticism of deviant sexual behavior. They can't let a matter like this pass without savaging the messenger.

What is interesting is the movement to boycott A&E. It will be interesting to see if the Right has enough muscle to affect the ratings.

At the end of the day I believe A&E would rather lose the show than surrender to pressure from the Right. I don't believe ratings matter as much to A&E as towing the liberal line. Like CNN, PMSNBC, and the major networks, miniscule ratings are preferable to money making programs that are watched by large segments of the public. None of them want to confront the PC Police.
#2 feeblemind on 2013-12-19 17:26 (Reply)
DD members where on a late night show, where a celebrity refused to appear because he disagreed with them killing animals. And they didn't care, nor raise a fuss.

I liked #4 on the link, and have thought why we don't hear of Christians who believe like Phil that specifically hire gay people to make them do something they don't want to? Because it isn't Christlike to do so. It would be manipulative and devious and not a serious meeting of the minds that contract law requires.
#3 Becky on 2013-12-19 17:57 (Reply)
I doubt we can do anything about it personally, but those Nielsen viewers who love the show can stop watching everything else on A&E. And he didn't compare homosex with bestiality, other than both are against the rules.

Still, the professionally knicker-twisted...
#4 Sam L. on 2013-12-19 20:06 (Reply)
The performer's view is no surprise, and no big deal. He is a preacher, after all. But A&E's suspension of him is.

My take is that no employer should be allowed to fire or discipline anyone for political disagreement, or for the off-work expression of that view, unless it reasonably raises questions about whether the employee will do his job properly (for example, a company might very well need to fire an HR representative who doesn't support a discrimination law he's responsible for keeping you in compliance with).

As for a boycott, who would notice? There are so many specialized channels that nobody on the right watches A&E now, so a boycott would make no difference. At most, the show will wind up moving to Glenn Beck's "Blaze" channel (which is on the internet, so nobody can pull the plug on him as long as his fans support him).
#5 jdgalt on 2013-12-19 20:19 (Reply)
Actually, when you join a company and sign a contract, you agree to abide by certain rules regarding how that company is perceived.
If A&E feels his comments may have damaged their image with viewers, they are within their right to suspend him, as they did.

This is not a freedom of speech issue, it's a contractual issue. I don't necessarily agree with it, but it's legit.

On the other hand, if A&E was honest with itself about tolerance, then they would be better served by issuing a statement that his views do not reflect those of the company, but they respect his right to have his own opinions. That's how companies used to deal with this kind of thing, and it's the proper way to handle it, but in today's world, if you don't agree with the PC police, you get busted.
#5.1 Bulldog on 2013-12-19 23:19 (Reply)
It's not a freedom of speech issue in the sense of a First Amendment issue, but it speaks to the higher question of what kind of society we live in with regards to tolerance of different and sometimes oppositional ideas, beliefs, and opinions.

Freedom of speech doesn't mean much if society is allowed to selective shutdown certain points of view as "incorrect" or "inconvenient" or "hurtful". Intolerance of speech should never go beyond individuals choosing not to listen. If the LGBT community wants to boycott A&E, or Duck Dynasty, fine. Have at it. But to tell A&E they should somehow censor or punish Phil for his personal views is repugnant behavior, at many levels.
#5.1.1 ruralcounsel on 2013-12-20 12:23 (Reply)
"My take is that no employer should be allowed to fire or discipline anyone for political disagreement, or for the off-work expression of that view, unless it reasonably raises questions about whether the employee will do his job properly"

With such laws on the book, they'll just find an excuse to get rid of you anyway.
Like shoving you from one dead end job to another impossible deadline and then firing you for not "meeting performance targets", if you don't get the message and quit, or burn out and end up on medical disability.
Or the ever popular (especially with temp workers or others not on permanent employment) "we think you don't fit in our young and dynamic team".
#5.2 J.T. Wenting on 2013-12-20 07:03 (Reply)
He stated some facts and stated his opinion. Surely those who support/encourage homesexuality have done exactly the same thing. I vote for people to have a right to their opinion on either side of an arguement.
#6 GoneWithTheWind on 2013-12-19 20:52 (Reply)
I expect that A&E will lose the show over this. The family really does not need the money, they are already successful.

And I doubt that the rest of the family would be OK with any one of them being thrown off the show. Especially as the views on religion are probably fairly consistent among all of the family members.

It kind of boils down to whether A&E hates Christians more than they love money.
#7 steve on 2013-12-19 21:40 (Reply)
He is not anti-gay
He is pro vagina
#8 Jed on 2013-12-19 22:16 (Reply)
This is just homosexuals bullying those who disagree with their lifestyle.

There's nothing to see here folks. Just move along and don't look at the hypocritical intolerant gays.
#9 Dave on 2013-12-20 00:20 (Reply)
"...and don't look at the hypocritical intolerant gays."

Yep.
#9.1 backhoe on 2013-12-20 04:43 (Reply)
As a heterosexual male, I find homosexual sex acts between two (or more) men repulsive - just as I'm sure they may find sex with a female repulsive. As Phil noted, that doesn't mean that I find the actors repulsive, just the acts. I find the taste of grilled liver repulsive as well.

The bigger point is how the left and right differ on their tolerance of free speech. The pundits on the right have pointed out my argument above, that Phil was simply expressing his belief and specifically pointed out that while he found the acts disagreeable, he tolerated and loved the actors. The pundits on the left refuse to tolerate anyone who holds a belief at odds with them. Indeed, they not only don't tolerate the beliefs of the actor, they don't tolerate the existence of the actor. Instead they demonize the actor personally and call him names.
#10 Mike M on 2013-12-20 00:56 (Reply)
Pretty revealing when other celebs can utter opinions and outrageous behavours (Alec Baldwin, anybody? Bill Maher? etc ) and nay a word in protest is uttered, but let a questions answer rub their notions, and there is volcanic response.

Franky, I could care less either way.... just the faux-drama is revealing how far our society has become gossamer as a fog bank, and as strong as a spider's web...
#10.1 fred zeppelin on 2013-12-20 08:18 (Reply)
I think it is all a problem because Barbara Walters said the Robertsons were more interesting than Obama when asked why Obama wasn't on her list this year. Watch the video to just hear Barbara WaWa go "quack"
#11 JKB on 2013-12-20 01:11 (Reply)
This actually makes sense as ole Phil looks a lot more like the Messiah than Obama does and apparently Bawbwa is desperately looking for her personal Jesus.
#11.1 phil g on 2013-12-20 09:20 (Reply)
At least ol' Phil had the sense to not say that he could not understand why some folks think that feces in the sigmoid colon is an aphrodisiac.
#12 Sven Svenson on 2013-12-20 08:53 (Reply)
All you can honestly say about his remarks is that they might have been a bit impolite in terms of the dominant cultural view. To say he was wrong is to say Christianity is wrong and to say he should be disciplined is to hold Christianity, strictly understood, as subject to discipline and unfit for public expression. In a truly tolerant culture he should at most have been subjected to debate from those who disagreed.

Me thinks the GLBT community and their fans doth protest a bit much. It strikes me that they are desperately trying to suppress the truth of their perverse ways that they are subjecting onto the broader culture.
#13 phil g on 2013-12-20 09:15 (Reply)
Quite humorous, when 2-3% of the population (per the Census) can hold the rest of the Nation at bay, since they get their nickers in a wad over someone's views. Question asked, answer given - don't like it, ignore it and move on.

You'd think any other culture (say, Islam, Communism, etc) would be any more placid with their outbursts of discontent to appease their bruised feelings. More likely, being hung from a crane or taken to a desolate patch of woods, never to emerge.

Time was, you srugged off comments and ignored words you didn't agree with. Now, its a thought-Jihad to get everyone 'right and in-line' - our own version of Gleichschaltung...
#13.1 fred zeppelin on 2013-12-20 11:16 (Reply)
TERRY BRADSHAW: That guy with that beard kept me on the bench for two years. He was the starting quarterback at Tech. I was his backup. Now seriously, he was good. And I couldn't complain. I never complained about being his backup because he was just that good. And then he just quit one day…He didn’t want to do it. I asked him while we were there at Tech the other day, I said, and he said, "I knew you were committed to football and I was committed to shooting ducks and squirrels and deer." And he said, "I just went my way and you went yours, and mine turned out good, and yours turned out good, and God bless you." […]

Read more: http://newsbusters.org/blogs/noel-sheppard/2013/12/20/terry-bradshaw-duck-dynasty-s-robertson-guy-kept-me-bench-two-years#ixzz2o24h2YbA
#14 feeblemind on 2013-12-20 11:23 (Reply)

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