Posted on 12/20/2013 2:50:28 PM PST by A Cyrenian
gq published the story. No one put a gun to their head.
Why isn't the interviewer having to answer questions?
Weren't they the ones holding the weapon?
Anyone with that beard and dresses like that is a hick!
Are you kidding?
GQ and A&E are laughing all the way to the bank.
They couldn’t afford to buy the amount of free publicity they are getting. The 24/7 newsies, talk radio, publications are all talking about this faux issue.
Even the WH is appreciating the distraction from the continuing problems with healthcare.gov.
hick[ hik ]
offensive term: an offensive term that deliberately insults somebody’s rural residence or background and his or her intelligence and level of sophistication
rural, rustic, and unsophisticated: remote from big cities and regarded as lacking in sophistication
From wikipedia:
His family rarely went into town to buy groceries, and instead lived off the land - fruits and vegetables they grew in their garden, the meat from deer, squirrels, fish and other game they hunted and fished, and the pigs, chickens, and cattle they raised.
In his book, Happy, Happy, Happy, Robertson recalls that “It was the 1950s when I was a young boy, but we lived like it was the 1850s...but we were always happy, happy, happy no matter the circumstances.”[1]
As an athlete in high school, Robertson was all-state in football, baseball, and track, which afforded him the opportunity to attend Louisiana Tech University in Ruston on a football scholarship in the late 1960s.[3] There he played first-string quarterback for the Bulldogs, ahead of Pro Football Hall of Famer Terry Bradshaw,[4][5] the first overall pick in the 1970 NFL Draft. When he arrived at Tech in 1966, Bradshaw caused a media frenzy on account of his reputation of being a football sensation from nearby Shreveport.[6][7] Robertson was a year ahead of Bradshaw, and was the starter for two seasons in 1966 and 1967, and chose not to play in 1968.[8] It was thought he had the potential for a pro career, but his mind was elsewhere.[3] In an interview with ESPN, Robertson stated that:
“One time a bunch of geese came over and I was over there with the coach and talking about techniques or whatever, a big skull session on the practice field. I heard these geese. Remember we were practicing in the fall of the year — and the grand passage as we call it — the ducks and geese were coming from Canada. I heard these blues and snow geese coming over and I sort of fell into a trance. Of course I had my headgear next to my chest and I’m looking toward the sky and finally one of them coaches looked around, and he started cursing at me, “What are you doing son? Get over here! What are you looking up at?” I said, “A bunch of them geese, Coach. Boy they pretty, ain’t they?” He said, “Get your butt over here.”[3]
And this was most certainly not a secret; even Bradshaw claimed that:
“The quarterback playing ahead of me, Phil Robertson, loved hunting more than he loved football. He’d come to practice directly from the woods, squirrel tails hanging out of his pockets, duck feathers on his clothes. Clearly he was a fine shot, so no one complained too much.”[9]
When Paul Harvey confronted Robertson with a recruitment to play professionally for the Washington Redskins, he declined because football conflicted with his hunting. Besides, football was only about holding up his scholarship to him, while Bradshaw practically lived and breathed the sport.[7] Robertson put it in this way: “Terry went for the bucks, and I chased after the ducks.”[3]
Degrees and first jobs
After receiving his bachelor’s degree in physical education and a master’s in education, Robertson spent several years teaching. He said while his students claim he was an excellent teacher, spending time in a classroom brought him to the conclusion that his time and talents would be better spent in the woods.[10]
Early career and founding of Duck Commander
Career, decline, and salvation
Robertson initially supported his family as a teacher, also finding income as a commercial fisherman. In the 1970s, his marriage became strained. Robertson, now running a bar, was falling prey to alcohol, and at times would kick his wife and children out of the house. He began to commit many crimes, and would hide out in the woods for weeks at a time to avoid the authorities. His wife, Kay, put the whole scene in this way:
But he thought he was looking for his freedom...I told our kids, I said, ‘The devil is in your dad now. Your dad is made from God. He has a good heart and is a good man, but right now Satan is occupying him and his mind. Don’t hate your dad. You hate Satan and the forces beyond him.’
The only thing that kept Kay in the marriage was the quote, “One man, one wife, for one life”.[11]
In 1975, while Robertson was running a bar, his sister, Jan, asked a fellow Christian man to go to the bar with her to discuss the gospel with Robertson and hand out Bibles to the patrons. Robertson forced the man to leave, but allowed Jan to continue handing out Bibles and warned the patrons of the bar not to harm her. After a series of distressing incidents and a period of time spent away from his wife and children, Robertson returned and found the man who had come to the bar with his sister. They discussed Robertson’s life, and Robertson eventually agreed to be baptized in the presence of his wife and children. He was 28 at the time.[12]
Duck Commander
Duck Commander Logo
An avid hunter, Robertson was “in the know” about everything related to hunting, especially that of duck hunting, and was extremely unsatisfied with the condition of duck calls of that day. He began to experiment with making a call that would produce the exact sound of a duck. He aimed at making a call for duck killers, not professional callers. He claimed that “No duck would even place in a duck calling contest.” He invented his first Duck Commander call in 1972. He received a patent for this call and the Duck Commander Company was incorporated in 1973.[10] Today, the company of Duck Commander is a multi-million dollar empire, headed by his son, Willie Robertson.[13]
He may be a “hick” to you, but to me he is an American hero. He is man enough to stand up for his Christian beliefs. Wish we had a lot more like him.
Strangest thread of the day
You say that like being a hick is a bad thing.
Someone I sure wouldn’t associate with!
Dale, you really ought to take a few minutes and read up on who this man is, and what he's made of. He exemplifies the very best of American manhood.
Probably because most Americans are like me and thought that CQ went broke and out of business many, many moons ago.
Or a member of ZZ Top.
Why would they catch hell? They asked questions, that’s their job. If somebody should catch hell it’s A&Es handler that setup the interview without including a nice list of “that which shall not be asked”, he probably got a nice pink slip for Christmas.
Then you haven’t read the actual article. It was actually decent. It was well-written and fair and had no “gotcha” intent. It was interesting for what it was.
A few lines were taken from it (that had nothing wrong with them to begin with) for fake homo outrage. GQ did nothing wrong. They actually got it right for publishing a decent article and keeping Phil’s words in complete context.
Homo-loving A&E is trying to stir up controversy where none exists.
i’m a conservative 5th generation Southern Californian and nothing could make me live in your so called hartland let alone anywhere else in the US and I’ve seen most of it being a private pilot.
Thank you for the good post.
Please stay in Southern California. You’re not welcome in the Free Untied States.
evidently I don’t watch enough television. I don’t know who either one of those people are.
Southern California. Explains it.
“let alone anywhere else in the US “
The Northeast is where it’s at.
.
Flyover country, right?
And we’re all very happy about that! lol
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