So we can have a better understanding of the inner workings of my mind, let me lay down a few basics:
1. I don't watch Duck Dynasty. This revelation is probably not a shock if you know me. I don't like being dirty, I don't hunt, I can't grow a beard, and I'm not particularly fond of reclusive Louisiana rednecks who get paid $200,000 per episode to do ignorant shit. Have I judged the book by it's cover? Probably. But I paid for the TV and I'll watch what I want, my reasons be damned.
2. I believe in God and consider myself a Christian, but I am also intelligent. I don't regularly (read: ever) attend church. My absence is not out of any malice or anger with the Lord; I simply hate the subjectivity of the human beings who are interpreting scripture for me. I love the church, but I despise hypocrisy. Unfortunately, the two go hand-in-hand much too often. Also, most Sunday mornings I'm lucky to find the floor, let alone a clean suit and my car keys. And YES...you wear a suit to church. You just fucking do.
3. I am familiar with the subject matter. This important point has been left out far too often. I wonder how many people who have taken the time to post their support of Phil Robertson on Facebook or their condemnation of A&E on Twitter have taken the time to actually read the interview that was published in GQ Magazine. If you haven't done so, you should. You can find the article here. In addition to the article, I have read many of the surrounding stories and watched Phil Robertson's public speaking engagements and interviews on YouTube. You should do that, too.
Go ahead, take a break and do that. I'll wait.
This is the conclusion that I have come to: Phil Robertson is a religious zealot, but he wouldn't hurt a fly. Unless the fly was on a duck. Then he would shoot the living dogshit out of it.
I don't agree with half of the stuff that Phil pipes up about. I am totally unconcerned about the sexual preferences of others (barring anything involving minors or non-consenting third parties), I have seen black people mistreated simply for being black, and I need some health care here on Earth since the health care he's selling doesn't kick in until I kick it. However, I think he's right about some stuff, too. You should love everyone (well...kinda). You should let adversity roll off your back. And you should develop a relationship with your Lord, if you choose to believe in one, and live your life with a goal of doing more good than bad.
Aside from being a zealot, Phil is a redneck backwoods Bible-thumper who only knows what he knows. I don't think he hates gay people or black people or any other people, but I know that he wants to convert other people...every other person...to his way of thinking. Hey, he's an American...we have a long history of trying to do that. And a religious American...shit, you're basically required to knock the neighbors' doors down to tell them The Good News (it's in the handbook). He is steadfast in his convictions, not simply because he is so firmly convinced by his rebirth in Christ Jesus, but also because he is, well, simple. This "simple" fact ("pun intended," to quote Phil) helped get him suspended from his television show.
Note that I called Phil "simple," not "stupid." The man is not dumb; he holds a Master's degree in education and owns a successful multi-million dollar company. However, he has chosen a simple life with simple things and simple thoughts, and that simply caught up with him out here in the real complicated world.
Guys, Phil didn't get suspended because he doesn't like homosexuality. It wasn't because he equated it to bestiality or terrorism, and it wasn't because he said that "pre-civil rights era black people...were happy...they weren't singing the blues." It wasn't for his faith, it wasn't for his beliefs, and it had nothing to do with his goddamn First Amendment rights. You people who argue that point are the dumbest of them all---which means that Jesus loves you the most :-).
Phil got suspended because he works for somebody. That somebody is A&E. Without a doubt, in order to get money for services rendered, Phil has a contract with his employer. In said contract, there is a morality clause. There is also a clause that says something to the effect of "thou shalt not do or say shit that's bad for the people who pay you." A&E believed, and correctly so, that Phil did some shit detrimental to them while he was under contract with their network. Look at the GLAAD and the NAACP responses to what Phil said publically. Are they right to be throwing a fit? Hell no. Phil wasn't gay bashing or cutting eye holes in bed sheets, but he said things that caused problems (read: things that were detrimental) for his employer.
Everybody reading this works for somebody. Go out in public, in a place where people know who you work for and where you hold yourself out to represent that employer, and say to a million onlookers, "Homosexuals are the same as people who fuck goats. They can't go to my God's heaven because they are like terrorists who blow up buildings. Oh, and being black in the South in the 1840s was fine, and all that whining was bullshit." See if you get suspended from your job.
Go ahead, give it a shot; I'll wait.
As an American citizen and a human being, there was nothing wrong with what Phil said. It's his opinion, no better and no worse than mine, and he has a God-given, Constitutionally-protected right to speak it. But he has no God-given, Constitutionally-protected right to work for A&E. Phil's guaranteed right to free speech means that the government will not come accost, arrest, or jail him for saying anything he damn well pleases. But, friends, for those of you who were busy listening to your daddy bitch about the government trying to take away your guns instead of attending your Constitutional Law course, the Constitution protects you against THE GOVERNMENT, not A&E. He has no "right to free speech" as far as his boss is concerned: he simply has the right to shut the fuck up and go to work, or, as an alternative, he can run his mouth and hit the street.
Should Phil Robertson be suspended? I don't know, and I don't care. I have no ownership interest in the network, and I'll never watch the damn show either way. But I won't not watch it any less because of Phil's comments. If you don't agree with it, don't watch that network. There are plenty more to choose from, with lots more exciting shows than the "I-got-a-TV-show-because-I-made-a-kazoo-sound-like-a-duck" program so many people seem to love. Pick a different channel. Go back to buying your box wine, and leave the Duck Dynasty pink moscato by the door at Wal-Mart. Do whatever you gotta do...just don't throw a fit when A&E does what they gotta do, too.
***
This blog and all writings contained within reflect only my personal views and opinions. In no way is anything contained in "Blitherings from the Blind Bat" reflective of the views or beliefs of my family, employer, friends, neighbors, strangers, the waiter at County Grill, my blind cat Fuzzy, or anyone else. I am solely and individually responsible for all content contained herein.
Guys, Phil didn't get suspended because he doesn't like homosexuality. It wasn't because he equated it to bestiality or terrorism, and it wasn't because he said that "pre-civil rights era black people...were happy...they weren't singing the blues." It wasn't for his faith, it wasn't for his beliefs, and it had nothing to do with his goddamn First Amendment rights. You people who argue that point are the dumbest of them all---which means that Jesus loves you the most :-).
Phil got suspended because he works for somebody. That somebody is A&E. Without a doubt, in order to get money for services rendered, Phil has a contract with his employer. In said contract, there is a morality clause. There is also a clause that says something to the effect of "thou shalt not do or say shit that's bad for the people who pay you." A&E believed, and correctly so, that Phil did some shit detrimental to them while he was under contract with their network. Look at the GLAAD and the NAACP responses to what Phil said publically. Are they right to be throwing a fit? Hell no. Phil wasn't gay bashing or cutting eye holes in bed sheets, but he said things that caused problems (read: things that were detrimental) for his employer.
Everybody reading this works for somebody. Go out in public, in a place where people know who you work for and where you hold yourself out to represent that employer, and say to a million onlookers, "Homosexuals are the same as people who fuck goats. They can't go to my God's heaven because they are like terrorists who blow up buildings. Oh, and being black in the South in the 1840s was fine, and all that whining was bullshit." See if you get suspended from your job.
Go ahead, give it a shot; I'll wait.
As an American citizen and a human being, there was nothing wrong with what Phil said. It's his opinion, no better and no worse than mine, and he has a God-given, Constitutionally-protected right to speak it. But he has no God-given, Constitutionally-protected right to work for A&E. Phil's guaranteed right to free speech means that the government will not come accost, arrest, or jail him for saying anything he damn well pleases. But, friends, for those of you who were busy listening to your daddy bitch about the government trying to take away your guns instead of attending your Constitutional Law course, the Constitution protects you against THE GOVERNMENT, not A&E. He has no "right to free speech" as far as his boss is concerned: he simply has the right to shut the fuck up and go to work, or, as an alternative, he can run his mouth and hit the street.
Should Phil Robertson be suspended? I don't know, and I don't care. I have no ownership interest in the network, and I'll never watch the damn show either way. But I won't not watch it any less because of Phil's comments. If you don't agree with it, don't watch that network. There are plenty more to choose from, with lots more exciting shows than the "I-got-a-TV-show-because-I-made-a-kazoo-sound-like-a-duck" program so many people seem to love. Pick a different channel. Go back to buying your box wine, and leave the Duck Dynasty pink moscato by the door at Wal-Mart. Do whatever you gotta do...just don't throw a fit when A&E does what they gotta do, too.
***
This blog and all writings contained within reflect only my personal views and opinions. In no way is anything contained in "Blitherings from the Blind Bat" reflective of the views or beliefs of my family, employer, friends, neighbors, strangers, the waiter at County Grill, my blind cat Fuzzy, or anyone else. I am solely and individually responsible for all content contained herein.
