Dynasty of the Duck

You got a purty mouth.

Well, of course i have an opinion on the Duck Dynasty boondoggle, why wouldn't i?  And this is it.  Look, i'm as liberal as the next lib, but i also have thick skin and nothing this guy says is going to "offend" me.   People are more interesting when they are allowed to speak their minds.  So let Phil be Phil.  Let Eminem be Eminem.  Let Stern be Stern.  Let Carlin be Carlin.  And let's live with it, okay?  I'm tired of living in a culture where we're supposed to be "shocked and appalled" at every salty thing that every bearded weirdo mutters. 

Let it be, man.  A&E should hire Phil back.  And let him do what he wants.  Heck, if he wants to march around in Klan robes and hurl empty whiskey bottles at the TV every time Adam Lambert appears onscreen, let him.

It would make the show more interesting.

You know what does offend me?

That the insecure white man brigade is using this to fluff themselves up and stroke their persecution complex yet again.  And that is always offensive.  Look, if it were the other way around -- if a gay reality star was being suspending for saying he couldn't understand why people go to church, people must be gross and dumb to do that -- then these same people would say "hey, this has nothing to do with persecution.  This is just a PRIVATE company exercising their right to promote whom they want on their network.  The fact that this guy is trying to make it about all gay people is just sad and wrong." 

But if it's one of THEIR guys?  Well, it's all about persecution from a shadowy force.  Just listen to this slop from Pat Archbold, who found the angle to maximize his audience's feelings of injustice and rage...

"This is what happened.  The whole idea of the show was to parade these nouveau riche Christian hillbillies around so that we could laugh at them. "Look at them," we were supposed to say.  "Look how backward they are!  Look what they believe!  Can you believe they really live this way and believe this stuff?  See how they don't fit in? HAHAHA."  They tried to get the Robertson's to tone down their Christianity, but to their eternal credit they refused.  They tried to add fake cussin' to the show by inserting bleeps where no cussword was uttered.  At best, they wanted to make the Robertson's look like crass buffoons. At worst they wanted them to look like hypocrites.  They desperately wanted us to laugh at the Robertsons.  Instead, we loved them.  A&E wanted us to point fingers at them and laugh at them.  But something else happened entirely.  Millions upon millions of people tuned in, not to laugh at them, but to laugh with them. And then we pointed at them.  We pointed at them and said things like, "I wish my family was more like them.  I wish we prayed together as a family.  I wish we were together like the Robertsons."  By the time this all happened, A&E had a conundrum.  They knew who the Robertsons were and what they believe and they still held it in disdain.  But they really liked the money.  Really liked the money. So they lived with it.  But the progressives whose bank accounts were not growing fatter because of these backward rubes were never inclined to look the other way.  They hate the show and they really hate the response to the show.  They want it destroyed."

 ....what a load.

Notice how he starts with "this is what happened?"  He does that because he's telling us what he wants to have happened.  Notice that there's no anonymous network source here, no quotes, no evidence of any sort.  Nah, he just assures you, sans evidence, that this is a case of honest, awesome folks who became unexpectedly successful ('coz God loves 'em) and are now being set upon and hounded by a few bizarre, shrunken demons in suits who cannot tolerate their essential goodness.  How does he know what the "whole idea" of the show was?  How does he know that it changed?  How does he know that "progressives" are in charge of A&E's department of development?  How does he know it's not a case of normal businesspeople trying to rein in their star before he damages their fluffy, family-friendly brand, because they default position of any capitalist enterprise these days is "offend nobody?"

He doesn't.  He's just guessing. 

The important thing is, the Duck lovers out there get to feel nice and persecuted.  This isn't about ONE guy saying dumb things, this isn't about ONE man who has to be accountable to his bosses' demands or else lose his job -- this is about a hatred for THEIR way of life and ALL of them.

Group politics.  When gay people, or black people, or women, or any other group of people think this way, it's wrong.  When they do it?  They don't mind it at all.  

Lame.

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LinkedIn.

This is what happened. The whole idea of the show was to parade these nouveau riche Christian hillbillies around so that we could laugh at them. “Look at them,” we were supposed to say. “Look how backward they are! Look what they believe! Can you believe they really live this way and believe this stuff? See how they don’t fit in? HAHAHA” When the producers saw the way the show was shaping up, different than they envisioned it, they tried to change course. They tried to get the Robertson’s to tone down their Christianity, but to their eternal credit they refused. They tried to add fake cussin’ to the show by inserting bleeps where no cussword was uttered. At best, they wanted to make the Robertson’s look like crass buffoons. At worst they wanted them to look like hypocrites.
They desperately wanted us to laugh at the Robertsons. Instead, we loved them.
A&E wanted us to point fingers at them and laugh at them. But something else happened entirely. Millions upon millions of people tuned in, not to laugh at them, but to laugh with them.
And then we pointed at them. We pointed at them and said things like, “I wish my family was more like them. I wish we prayed together as a family. I wish we were together like the Robertsons.”
By the time this all happened, A&E had a conundrum. They knew who the Robertsons were and what they believe and they still held it in disdain. But they really liked the money. Really liked the money. So they lived with it.
But the progressives whose bank accounts were not growing fatter because of these backward rubes were never inclined to look the other way. They hate the show and they really hate the response to the show. They want it destroyed.
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