What else (praytell) would anyone use it for?
Posted on 01/01/2014 7:42:20 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
Now that I’ve actually seen a few episodes, “Duck Dynasty” is relatively harmless entertainment. Whatever “reality TV” means, it’s definitely not that. It’s a semi-scripted sitcom, basically cornball self-parody. Think “Hee Haw” without the music. I find it utterly inane, but then I don’t watch TV with children.
The “tell” is the show’s women, cute Southern sorority girls turned mommies. In real life, no way would those women tolerate their “menfolk” running around looking like a truckload of ZZ-Top impersonators. They’re also not going on TV with hay in their hair like some Hollywood director’s idea of a country girl. Every comedy needs a straight man; on “Duck Dynasty” it’s the women.
But realism? Please. The beards, hair and overalls are costumes every bit as theatrical as the outfits the Rolling Stones wear onstage. In the rural Arkansas county where I live, you could hang around the feed store for a month without seeing anybody like “Duck Dynasty” “patriarch” (and head bigot) Phil Robertson. And if you did, his wife wouldn’t have any teeth.
The Robertsons are country-clubbers posing as rednecks. Duck hunting itself — requiring, as it does, quite a bit of expensive gear and pricey leases — is mainly a rich man’s pastime in the South. Deer hunting makes economic sense; duck hunting’s a luxury. It’s what doctors, lawyers and bankers do when the weather’s too lousy for golf. Bill Clinton used to go duck hunting once a year to prove he loved guns.
How long, I wonder, before the “Duck Dynasty” boys endorse the “Bad Boy” brand of riding mowers? Currently represented by a half-clothed model urging guys to “Get a Bad Boy, Baby!”, these machines have the magical capacity to convert a tax accountant mowing a suburban half-acre under his wife’s supervision to a daredevil NASCAR racer. Yee Haw!
But the laughter ended abruptly when “Duck Commander” Phil Robertson inserted himself into the nation’s vituperative culture wars. The whole thing looked like a publicity stunt gone wrong — possibly successful in the short run, but almost certain to prove destructive in the end.
Concerning which, a few thoughts:
First, Sarah Palin and Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal notwithstanding, nobody has a First Amendment right to appear on TV. Make controversial public pronouncements deeply offensive to your employers, and you’d better have a backup plan.
The creator and producer of “Duck Dynasty” is one Scott Gurney, who once appeared in a gay-themed film called “The Fluffer.” (Don’t ask.)
The guy helps make you rich and famous, and you denounce gays as evil? That’s appalling.
Second, it has nothing to do with Christianity. Robertson didn’t just say he’s against gay marriage, nor even that God is. He spoke in the coarsest possible terms about homosexuality, equating it with bestiality.
He’s also characterized gay men and women as “full of murder, envy, strife, hatred. They are insolent, arrogant, god-haters, they are heartless, they are faithless, they are senseless, they are ruthless, they invent ways of doing evil.”
Third, 10 years ago, many of the same people portraying Robertson as a martyr burned Dixie Chicks CDs and cheered their banishment from country radio stations for the terrible crime of saying they were embarrassed by George W. Bush before everybody was.
And those girls have genuine talent.
Fourth, as for the happy, singing darkies of Robertson’s Louisiana childhood, where are they on “Duck Dynasty”? Know what the African-American population of Monroe/West Monroe is? It’s roughly 60 percent. I’ve seen no black faces on the program.
Another prominent American from West Monroe is Boston Celtics great Bill Russell — a black man who’s been known to have strong opinions about race. Maybe Robertson ought to talk with him, although it wouldn’t be easy.
“Duck Dynasty” may be this month’s right wing cause celebre. Longer term, however, unapologetic bigots always fade into obscurity, basically because they embarrass people.
Sorority girls? I don’t think so.
I’ve never seen any of them wear overalls.
Another one here!
My guess is ole Gene is a big fan of “duck butter”
The guy helps make you rich and famous, and you denounce gays as evil? That’s appalling
Well have you screwed up. Robertson did no such thing. He basically stated what God has said in the Bible. So you then think that what God has spoken is appalling? Maybe you should take that up with Him........
This was never about Robertson. It was about perverts trying to force change our society.
Dude typed this whole article with one hand, guaranteed.
I would follow those bearded gods down a dirt road at midnight.
Him?
Probably end up following him into the ladies room.
Two word; Cruising, Crisco.
They’re beyond hot and I still ride a Harley.
;]
For the longest time, I thought he was a liberal kook flip-side of Michael Medved.
Turns out that Medved and Jeffrey are good friends, even though they disagree on politics.
But Jeff Lyons is a polite guy, who wouldn't write such completely uninformed trash, despite his liberal views.
He's been on Medved's show before, and I couldn't figure out WHY MM would have such a nutburger on.
I was wrong.
I was hating the wrong Lyons.
Lyons: The gullible, paranoid Tea Party
by Gene Lyons
http://www.arktimes.com/arkansas/the-gullible-paranoid-tea-party/Content?oid=3071654
I thought of that scene watching Sen. Ted Cruz and Sarah Palin outside the White House recently, protesting the very government shutdown they’d fiercely championed — a Confederate battle flag fluttering in the background, the emblem of disgruntled losers everywhere.
Is there no scam so transparently farcical that millions of American lunkheads won’t fall for it? Evidently not.
The point is what his other hand was doing.
Gene Lyons just makes himself look foolish by predicting the fading away of a personality who is far more well known than Lyons himself is. And, of course, eventually we all fade away, so why is predicting the inevitable so utterly prescient and savvy?
Think that’s bad? Look at this:
News I’d Like to See in 2014
http://blog.seattlepi.com/nealstarkman/2014/01/01/news-id-like-to-see-in-2014/
Pajama Boy 40 years from now.
Definitely NOT the Gene Lyons who used to write for Reader’s Digest.
Not in the same class, same decade, same planet.
That's a "glamour shot" of the old fart. Here is what he really looks like.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.