Robertson vs A&E; Is It Reality Or No?
Enbattled Duck Hunters
Duck Dynasty Gets Both Barbells After GQ Article
There probably hasn't’ been as big a culmination to a clash in American ideologies since John Brown seized the armory at Harper's Ferry in 1859. A&E has suspended Phil Robertson in the hit series Ducky Dynasty for an indefinite period of time.
Phil Robertson may have finally gotten his wish. He may be a long time coming out of the woods. A&E may have all but killed their most golden goose.
It all happened because The Robertson family, star of one of the greatest reality shows in history maintains two pretty hard rules: (1) Don’t short sell Jesus and (2) Stay accessible to your fans. The Roberson’s have been faithful to both charges. Now there is a price to pay.
We have grown accustomed to ambushes from the liberal left against the conservative right coming from easily recognizable branded sources such as MSNBC and the New York Times. This time the attack began with a flank movement by GQ Magazine and a writer named Drew Magary. But the liberals cried foul (without a w) and gay rights activists led the charge to the river banks.
Let the record show that it was an impressive piece of writing in a fine urban oriented magazine. However, Preacher Robertson probably had no idea he was about to be swallowed by a whale. It may be a long time before we truly learn if Robertson was accurately quoted, but I would guess that if not dead-nuts-on, the article was so close in content that he could not—nor would want to-- dispute its content.You can read the entire article at http://www.gq.com/entertainment/television/201401/duck-dynasty-phil-robertson
Nor can Robertson be charged with slander or libel. His backhand slap were against ALL the following:
- Adulterers
- Idolaters
- Male Prostitutes
- Homosexual offenders
- The greedy
- The drunkards
- The slanderers
- The swindlers
This was done as neatly and compactly as possible by quoting the biggest best seller in American history, The Holy Bible. He said simply that any of the above could NOT inherit the kingdom of heaven. Most of us could now, or formerly have been, included in that group.
A couple of other things Phil Robertson told the reporter further deepened the hole he was digging. He clumsily commented on .the mating processes in both a male-female and male-male hook up. It was so clumsy it made me wonder if his brother Si had explained it to him.
That one set off the protest whistles at A&E.
Onward Christian Soldier
Ironically the one statement he made that seems to be getting less TV exposure was one big step for Jesus and an uppercut to non-Christian religions. He said:
“For the sake of the Gospel, it was worth it,” Phil tells me. “All you have to do is look at any society where there is no Jesus. I’ll give you four: Nazis, no Jesus. Look at their record. Uh, Shintos? They started this thing in Pearl Harbor. Any Jesus among them? None. Communists? None. Islamists? Zero. That’s eighty years of ideologies that have popped up where no Jesus was allowed among those four groups. Just look at the records as far as murder goes among those four groups.”
The statement was tempered by Magary. He said he looked it up and found it may not be true.
“ For what it’s worth—and since I actually looked it up—the violent-crime rate here in America has plummeted since 1990, even as church attendance has stayed the same. And, of course, Phil is conveniently ignoring centuries upon centuries of war, bloodshed, and human enslavement committed in the name of Christ. But I doubt any of that would sway Phil.”
(For the record, Robertson also came down against bestiality. I did not see, as was reported in the media, that he linked it to homosexuality. So far no record has been made of A&E receiving complaints from barnyard animals but it might one day make a good after primetime reality show.)
So The War Begins
As I mentioned in the beginning of this Hub this current eruption is mindful of the collision between the abolitionists and the mostly southern practice of slavery.
The Civil War was fought over slavery. No doubt about it. It had been a long time coming. There were other tensions. Commodity traders and money changers in the Northeast had beat the price of cotton down to nothing while they sold it overseas at far larger prices. This tension had raised the distrust of the south before the abolitionist got their game on.
Today the tension has increased to a dangerous pitch between those like Phil Robertson who is a true believer in Jesus Christ and those who are atheists and agnostics. While the vast percentage of both groups would probably prefer to have their say and go on living their lives as they see fit, there is a small vocal minority on both sides which will not be happy until their opponents are crushed.
Add to those tensions produced by the aforementioned with some of the following:
- Pro life versus abortion advocates
- Work force versus welfare
- Obama care versus proponents of the same
- Homosexual rights versus traditional marriage
- Gun control versus gun rights
- Massive government and corporate spying
- Big government versus controlled government
- Democrat versus Republican
- Rural versus urban
- Blue State versus Red State
- White, Hispanic and Black racial tensions
- Radical Islam vs Christianity
- International wildfires: Pakistan, Syria ,Egypt, Iran
- War in Afghanistan
None of these are small battles but the accumulating tension is becoming too much for a nation to endure without some major political eruption occurring.
Will Duck Dynasty Start A War?
So is Ducky Dynasty the catalyst that will lead to a national conflagration.
Let’s hope not. While we have all been suckered into the debate we need to turn to more words from the Prophet Robertson. After all it is really a debate about who has the right to express an opinion on a TV reality show. Is it (1) the network owner who is making a killing on the ads the show sells (2) The $200,000 per episode the Robertson family gets for writing and performing skits for 14 million viewers?
Yep. Skits. It ain’t really reality. I turn to the words of Robertson in the disputed GQ article:
“It’s a funny, family-friendly show, with “skits that we come up with,”
It could even be a well-thought-out but badly executed PR stunt for all we really know. After all Phil is just suspended but A&E intends to show his reruns and the next few skits he has already recorded for next season..
If Phil gets too hard to control, they could always trade him to the PTL network as if he were a baseball player. I’m sure Jim Bakker is ready for a comeback and would welcome 14 million new viewers.