Posted on 12/19/2013 5:52:58 PM PST by Starman417
Oh my, it has hit the fan.
Phil Robertson ignited a firestorm of criticism that engulfed him following a GQ interview in which he spoke about his views on what he believes is immorality. That interview has resulted in his Robertson's suspension from the show "Duck Dynasty." A sample of what he said:
“It seems like, to me, a vagina—as a man—would be more desirable than a man’s anus. That’s just me. I’m just thinking: There’s more there! She’s got more to offer. I mean, come on, dudes! You know what I’m saying? But hey, sin: It’s not logical, my man. It’s just not logical.”
They take their religion seriously:
And then, of course, there is their faith, which plays no small role here. During the family’s initial negotiations about the show with A&E, Jase told me, “the three no-compromises were faith, betrayal of family members, and duck season.” That refusal to betray their faith or one another has been a staple of every media article about the Robertson family. It’s their elevator pitch, and it has made them into ideal Christian icons: beloved for staking out a bit of holy ground within the mostly secular, often downright sinful, pop culture of America.
And they're not shy about it
“We’re Bible-thumpers who just happened to end up on television,” he tells me. “You put in your article that the Robertson family really believes strongly that if the human race loved each other and they loved God, we would just be better off. We ought to just be repentant, turn to God, and let’s get on with it, and everything will turn around.”
The interviewer pushed on and asked Phil what he considered sinful and opened Pandora's box:
What, in your mind, is sinful?“Start with homosexual behavior and just morph out from there. Bestiality, sleeping around with this woman and that woman and that woman and those men,” he says. Then he paraphrases Corinthians: “Don’t be deceived. Neither the adulterers, the idolaters, the male prostitutes, the homosexual offenders, the greedy, the drunkards, the slanderers, the swindlers—they won’t inherit the kingdom of God. Don’t deceive yourself. It’s not right.”
Then he added something important and germane:
“We never, ever judge someone on who’s going to heaven, hell. That’s the Almighty’s job. We just love ’em, give ’em the good news about Jesus—whether they’re homosexuals, drunks, terrorists. We let God sort ’em out later, you see what I’m saying?”
Hang on to that.
The reactions were swift. Robertson was suspended from his show by the A&E network, something of such apparent import that even the NY Times took note. And here we'll being to examine how this event is being framed:
Mr. Robertson, who travels the country preaching, graphically denounced gay sex in the magazine and called it a sin.
They made it sound as though Robertson singled out homosexuality as a sin. He didn't.
There was outrage, complete with misrepresentation. From Eric Sasson at the WSJ:
After an interview appeared in GQ in which he equated homosexuality to bestiality, used a quote from Corinthians which likened gays to “drunkards” and “prostitutes,” and questioned the “logic” of gay sexual practices, Phil Robertson has been suspended indefinitely from A&E’s hit show, “Duck Dynasty.”
Other than Phil being suspended, none of that is true. There was soul searching:
I’m reminded of something Bill Maher said during the height of the Paula Deen controversy: “Do we always have to make people go away?” I think the question applies in this situation, too.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.
But that was only the beginning. Duck Dynasty is the most popular program in cable history and golly do people feel strongly about it. Duck Dynasty fans took to the interweb quickly. A "Boycott A&E" page was set up on Facebook and it has generated 750,000 "likes" as of last count.
(Excerpt) Read more at floppingaces.net...
I lost all respect for O’Reilly a long time ago. He is about as principled as whoever made the politically correct decision to can Phil Robertson.
“More people have supported Phil Robertson in the past 18 hours then have signed up for Obamacare. REAL AMERICANS”
You ought to make that your new tagline.
That is a nice statement.
(They won't because a) they are chicken and b) they know in the internet age, anyone can be located.
Brood of most foul smelling P.C. vipers hiding and shaking underneath a rock in fear!
If you cannot judge something as wrong, then there is no right or wrong. Therefore, any opinion - even Bibically based - is equally valid.
Oh, wait, liberals don’t have free speech unless you agree with them.
I didn’t find his comments coarse. I’ve often wondered why someone else hasn’t asked before. “What is the attraction some homosexuals have to another man’s anus?”
The anus is for fecal removal, not a receptacle for a penis. And if the penis is in there, it’s fellowshipping with fecal matter and that right there is entirely bad for everyone concerned!
You are right Bro. Phil, sin ain’t logical.
I emailed that O’Reilly character that obviously PHil gets it and O’Reilly does not.
Everyone needs to buy a Duck Commander Duck Caller.
You know how gays are always blowing their stupid whistles to silence anyone with an alternate view? Now we have a response.
Repost all of their You Tube videos and those of their Hollywood supporters with duck calls drowning out anything they say. Let’s see how they like constantly being silenced.
Good question. Let’s see who is really behind this...
Yes, that really made me angry I was screaming, read the article dummy.
I never watch him very often and this is why,
O’Reilly is just not the sharpest knife in the drawer. He comes up with the stupidest things.
Ditto.
Now we’re talking. Phil Robertson for president , Republican Party nominee.
I don’t think Paula Deen is a conservative. She’s good friends with Jimmy Carter.
O’Really is a complete weasel. Quoting scripture is judgmental so censorship is fine.
Pray America is Waking
If someone on the Left gets offended and decides to dislike you, that makes you a "conservative". At one time in her life (apparently) Paula Dean used the "n-word". WHAM! She's a hate-filled conservative.
“Judge not and thou shalt not be judged. Condemn not, and thy shalt not be condemned.”
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