Thursday, December 19, 2013

Damn I Hate To Wade Into This!

Okay...

• I might not agree wholeheartedly with what Phil Robertson said, but I unconditionally support his right to say it. The First Amendment only matters when it stings.

• There is no Constitutional Amendment guaranteeing that you as an American citizen has a right not to be offended. Every time Michael Bloomberg opens his mouth, I want to puke. But I would fight any group who sought to deny Bloomberg his Constitutional right to speak, and I am a heck of a lot closer to Phil Robertson than I am to Michael Bloomberg.

• Exercise of any Constitutional right, including that of free speech, can and does have Real World consequences. The Dixie Chicks are a footnote in country music history because of their big mouths...consider Jim Zumbo and more recently Dick Metcalf.

• However, as a life-long libertarian (small "L") I believe ultimately in the market. The market, the people, will speak, and they will speak with authority. The Dixie Chicks sank without a trace because people simply stopped buying their records; the cleansing of our own ranks happened because we, the People of the Gun, refused to have people who were working against our interests in positions of power/authority in that selfsame culture. If after Phil's comments ratings for Duck Dynasty collapses, the market will have spoken. If Duck Dynasty remains the top cable show in history, the market will have spoken.

• If Phil had announced that he was a practicing a Louisiana version of paganism, and that he and the other guys would be sacrificing a young duck for the Solstice, after which they would dance nude around the haulbolli while being sprinkled with said duck's blood, there would be an outcry, but it would ALL be positive (well, maybe PETA might have an issue with the duck, but screw them). Phil would be congratulated for standing up for his religious beliefs in the face of the brainless masses who don't understand the joys of cultural relativity. If Phil had announced that he and the boys had become converted to a very strictly orthodox sect of Islam, which would require the women of Duck Dynasty to wear burquas and that mandates homosexuals be dealt with in the way prescribed by mullahs in Afghanistan and Iran — death — do you have any doubt that in no time at all they'd be on stage with Obama getting Medals of Freedom?

• The MSM and the dominant leftist culture in the United States are stridently and occasionally violently anti-Christian. This is a clear example of that bias. What Phil says is that judgement is not his province...amen to that! Phil and his family is being punished for their religious beliefs — and THAT is about as unAmerican as you can get!

I stand with my friend Willie and his family.

UPDATE: From Charles Cooke at National Review Online:
People attempting to justify the private removal of those who say things they dislike rely on a host of weasel words and the habitual laziness of the population at large. They say that we have to think about “standards,” and “values,” and “feelings,” and “inclusion” and, too, about what is “acceptable.” What does this actually mean in practice? Robertson made his comments in GQ, which evidently considered them acceptable enough to print. I am a non-Christian who disagrees with Robertson on the question of gay marriage. What do the censors think is going to happen to me if I come across Robertson’s interview. Will I die? Will I break out in lesions? Will I go bankrupt? Will I immediately start lynching homosexuals? What might my complaint be: “Well, strike me down. I can’t believe it. I was just minding my own business reading this magazine, and then this guy I don’t know who makes duck calls said something I don’t like, and then . . . ” — well, and then what?  
Here’s the thing: I’m in favor of gay marriage; Phil Robertson thinks homosexuality is a sin. So bloody what? I’m happy to listen to him. It is telling what we allow and what we don’t. Phil Robertson’s words quite literally affected nobody. They’re words. Meanwhile, Jennifer Lawrence argued that it should be illegal for Americans to call people “fat” on television: In other words, she actually advocated for her fellow citizens to be arrested for speaking. Robertson related what he believes; Lawrence, however mildly, called for the state to start punishing people for expressing themselves. The latter transgression is infinitely worse, but she will likely lose no work for having expressed it.  
Damn you to hell, A&E. I can still say that, right?
From Bryan Preston at PJ Tattler:
Nearly everyday it occurs to me that I am paying money to people who hate me and everything I stand for to pipe digital sewage into my home. Duck Dynasty is probably the only entertainment show on cable that doesn’t fit that description. It doesn’t depict Americans as foul-mouthed fools who bicker and fight among themselves all the time. It shows a family running a business together, which is built on their own inventions and hard work. It shows a part of America that the coastal elites like to believe doesn’t exist. It shows Christians having a good time. It shows men and women married to each other and raising their families. No one is sleeping around. No one is celebrated for their ability to fool or defraud someone else. It’s one of the few shows that doesn’t go out of its way to create embarrassing situations for parents, and which doesn’t overtly promote promiscuity, self-absorption and other destructive behavior. It’s not real — no reality show is fully real — but it’s about as real as reality TV gets. 
It’s tempting to write off everything but Duck Dynasty. But we can’t just up and quit. If we do, we are surrendering ground in the culture wars that will end up costing us ground in politics and, ultimately, our country.
...
If you’re out of the game, you’re out of the game. 
The other side will never quit. Ever.
Remember those words...the other side will never quit...ever. From Brandon Ambrosino, who is gay, writing in Time Magazine:
Why is our go-to political strategy for beating our opponents to silence them? Why do we dismiss, rather than engage them? One of the biggest pop culture icons of today just took center stage to “educate” us about sexuality. I see this as an opportunity to further the discussion, to challenge his limited understanding of human desire, to engage with him and his rather sizeable audience—most of whom, by the way, probably share his views—and to rise above the endless sea of tweet-hate to help move our LGBT conversations to where they need to go. 
GK Chesterton said that bigotry is “an incapacity to conceive seriously the alternative to a proposition.” If he is right—and he usually is—then I wonder if the Duck Dynasty fiasco says more about our bigotry than Phil’s.
From Andrew Sullivan on The Dish (and there's very Mr. Sullivan has said I agreed with):
Robertson is a character in a reality show. He’s not a spokesman for A&E any more than some soul-sucking social x-ray from the Real Housewives series is a spokeswoman for Bravo. Is he being fired for being out of character? Nah. He’s being fired for staying in character – a character A&E have nurtured and promoted and benefited from. Turning around and demanding a Duck Dynasty star suddenly become the equivalent of a Rachel Maddow guest is preposterous and unfair. 
What Phil Robertson has given A&E is a dose of redneck reality. Why on earth would they fire him for giving some more?

16 comments:

Anonymous said...

10 thumbs up!!!

KevinC said...

The dichotomy between the MSM's outrage over this and the gun culture's big ol' yawn over Chris Cheng coming out is fascinating to me.

One side is truly tolerant, one side uses the word "tolerance" as a club.

nj larry said...

The undeniable fact is that the gay movement has become part of a leftist ideology. An ideology that detests "us". Remember Obama talking about the "clingers" to their Bibles, and guns? He was talking about US. They hate our guts and what we believe in all across America.

This is just one of the instances of the left clubbing us like baby seals with the "hate speech" label. Shut us up. Remove us from society. Crush us.

If we don't want to disappear from this nation we need to stand up. As Tom Gresham says "a no shrug policy". Nothing just goes by without a response by us.

Trevor Shepherd said...

Well, I'm gay and I am NO leftist. So screw you, "nj larry", because you can't lump all of the gay Americans into one category just because it somehow suits your twisted idea of what reality could be.

And, as a gay American, I can say this: I want to know what people think and I am not some third-grader NYC Bloomberg Commie Pinko eyes-in-the-sky left winger who can't stand to hear unkind words thrown my way. I want to hear from people like this Duck dude and I need to hear what they say. I need to know who is for me and who is against me. It is part of what we call "threat assessment". I need to know, for my own safety, where people stand so I wholeheartedly oppose any effort to muzzle these people. I want them to speak and I want to hear what they say. Just so I know what I need to know to stay safe.

As far as I am concerned, this Phil Robertson guy reminds me of the old saying, which applies directly, squarely, completely to him: "Jesus Loves You. And, everyone else thinks you're an asshole." He is an asshole. But whatever, he has a right to be an asshole.

I agree with Michael completely. My freedom to be me and to live my life the way I want to live it and to not give a shit about people like Phil Robertson comes from the same set of theories of natural rights that give him the right to speak his mind.

Michael Bane said...

Let me make a point here. Jeff Soyer from ALPHECCA (http://www.alphecca.com) has been on the forefront of RKBA for years...he's gay...so what?

At the landmark NSSF Media Education seminars we worked extensively with instructors from the Pink Pistols (http://www.pinkpistols.org)...they were gay...so what?

I recently got a call from a dear friend of mine who told me that he and his (same sex) partner of 37 years —37 YEARS!— had gotten married. I teared up, because I honor him and his partner and their caring relationship.

"Judge not, that ye be not judged."

mb

kmitch200 said...

I need to know who is for me and who is against me

Trevor, there's a third group.
The one I'm in.
The "Who Cares?" group.

I'm neither "for you" or "against you" because I really don't give a shit one way or another.

Anonymous said...

TREVOR....I'll pass on the invitation. To deny the LGBT community being co-opted by the radical left? Then your also blind. As for Jeff ... I've read him since day one. Hell I 've even helped him out with money issues. And I'm the bad guy? I 'm an asshole like Phil because I'm a Christian.

Anonymous said...

FYI - Jim Zumbo is back on the pages of Outdoor Life...

http://gunmartblog.com/2013/11/18/good-news-metcalf-outdoor-life-still-hearts-jim-zumbo/

DamDoc said...

That's because Jim learned the lesson (now likes AR15s, and understands we all need to stand together).. most do not learn from their mistakes, he did..

Anonymous said...

Phil Robertson merely said evil was taking over our country. A&E proved him correct.

Anonymous said...

Just now, on Fox News, Tamara Holder, Democrat Strategist, said that "the Democrats have the black and gay votes." Trevor, if that's true, where do you stand? It's importtant to us to know that here, in this "community".

Life member

Anonymous said...

Fyi ... the 5:39 anon is me. Android messes up on web stuff ....
nj larry

KevinC said...

Rob Long, a conservative who was the show-runner on Cheers for a long time and has two shows on TV right now, weighs in on things.

http://ricochet.com/main-feed/Ten-Things-to-Consider-about-the-Business-of-Duck-Dynasty

nj larry said...

WOW...I just read the GQ profile on Phil Robertson. How in the name of god did this get so twisted up? The article is actually very fair. These comments on sin were delivered to the reporter in a freaking ATV while they were driving around the DD property ! From the context they were directed DIRECTLY AT THE REPORTER who was in conversation with Phil. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND you read the whole thing yourself...

http://www.gq.com/entertainment/television/201401/duck-dynasty-phil-robertson?&currentPage=1

Anonymous said...

nj larry,

You're spot-on, as usual.

Most people that are commenting on the story and even quoting Phil have not even read any part of the interview let alone the whole thing. But, why should that matter to the cannibalistic press, or to the real extremist groups?

Yesterday (Friday, December 20, 2013), Bill O'Reilly had Bernard Goldberg and Howard Kurtz on to discuss the Phil Robertson story and I would bet that none of them actually read any part of it either. They just proceeded to pontificate.

In this case, I DO NOT AGREE WITH OLD BILL!

As you've suggested, I recommend that everyone take a deep breath and go back to "square-one" and read the whole thing, then proceed to formulate an opinion. Then take your stance.

Life Member

P. S.: The Tamara Holder, Democrat Party Strategist vignette is getting a lot of play. As I reported in an earlier post, she said that "The democrats have the black and gay votes in the bag". How could someone sell their own freedom under the false belief that they are getting freedom? My people did that in Russia after the Bolshevic Revolution and they were exterminated, right after their usefulness was "used-up".

nj larry said...

Here I am watching some lame football. So I 's turn to the web. Surf surf surf....nothing of interest.....then FREAKING BINGO !!! Totally unrelated to above topic but I thought everyone could use a break from heated social issues debate. I thought MB could relate to this since his recent African trip. This my friends is why Cape Buffalo are called the most dangerous animal in Africa. Warning it is violent. But no more so than David Attenborugh stuff...

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/video/video-1077182/VIDEO-Lion-sent-FLYING-air-turning-Buffaloes.html

Nj larry