Welcome to this Sports Center Free Speech Special Edition - Im your host, Richard Cameron.
The non-televised free speech SuperBowl has already been played and free speech has taken the Lombardi trophy for 2014. You dont have to wait until January to know who kicked ass on Political Correctness it was Phil Robertson at QB and you on offense and defense. Phil Robertson, in a coup of a much more minor degree, is Blasted Fools Anti-Blasted Fool of 2013. For the uninitiated, an Anti-Blasted fool is the diametric opposite of a Blasted Fool. An Anti-Blasted Fool is a trusted, tested serum antidote to the poison of foolishness.
Brief confession. I dont have cable, and have never watched a single episode of Duck Dynasty. Now, Im interested though, I have to take a look. I like these people and share their beliefs. Ill sign up for Netflix if need be.
As always though, I knew that there was another shoe to drop with this story, and as is my wont, I withheld my comments, much as the Master Chef waits to brush the roasted Duck with glaze until about 7 minutes before he removes it from the 400 degree oven. In this case, however, you would replace the duck to be roasted with the executive management of the A&E Networks ahhhhhh, smells so good! Burning fascist flesh. Thats the one and the only animal which I prefer to taste the fear in the meat. Are you hungry yet? Were going to serve them for New Years. Oh, and the perfect accompaniment for Roasted A&E? A nice, chilled bottle of Cold Duck (Dynasty). The one thing that is not chilled is free speech. Non monsieur , we serve that hot. Free speech is how you say, pukey when it is chilled? That is why we take special effort to maintain the right temperature. It is the American Way, mon ami! Magnifique, magnifique.
Did any of you not see this coming? There was no way Phil Robertson was going and the rest of the Duck Dynasty clan staying behind. So what then? A&E was going to blow up an incredible money making machine to pacify GLAAD? Impossible. If Phil went over the cliff, at least one of the big wigs at A&E was going to have to jump with him. That wasnt going to happen. Money talks louder than Daddy Duck and it sure as hell talks louder than the whining chorus of twinkletoes on the GLAAD Gay Pride Parade Float.
Now there are some nuances to this that call for some subtle interpretation. A&E, in a follow up to their corporate disassociation / denunciation / disclaimer, has issued a follow up statement to accompany their statement to the press announcing that Duck Dynasty will remain intact:
As a global media content company, A+E Networks core values are centered around creativity, inclusion and mutual respect. We believe it is a privilege for our brands to be invited into peoples homes, and we operate with a strong sense of integrity and deep commitment to these principles. That is why we reacted so quickly and strongly to a recent interview with Phil Robertson. While Phils comments made in the interview reflect his personal views based on his own beliefs and his own personal journey, he and his family have publicly stated they regret the coarse language he used and the misinterpretation of his core beliefs based only on the article. He also made it clear he would never incite or encourage hate.
We at A+E Networks expressed our disappointment with his statements in the article and reiterate that they are not views we hold. But Duck Dynasty is not a show about one mans views. It resonates with a large audience because it is a show about family
a family that America has come to love. As you might have seen in many episodes, they come together to reflect and pray for unity, tolerance and forgiveness. These are three values that we at A+E Networks also feel strongly about. So after discussions with the Robertson family, as well as consulting with numerous advocacy groups, A&E has decided to resume filming Duck Dynasty later this spring with the entire Robertson family. We will also use this moment to launch a national public service campaign (PSA) promoting unity, tolerance and acceptance among all people, a message that supports our core values as a company and the values found in Duck Dynasty. These PSAs will air across our entire portfolio.
Oh, puke! This kind of insincere, situational ethics, forked tongue psychobabble is tired, weak and transparently opportunistic or it should be anyhow. Ironic, dont you think, that the Robertson family were the last in line to be granted tolerance from A&E, and only because they saw their Golden Geese (in this case, Golden Ducks), flying away?
This (A&Es capitulation), is a statement of a loser at the end of the game. The A&E team got whomped on both sides of the ball offense and defense. The gay advocacy groups also got a taste of Red State smashmouth football as well. It was a slaughter. Did you watch the whole game? If you did, you have a nasty streak you need to go get that checked out. When was it over? Pretty much in the first quarter, when lovers of the 1st Amendment went crazy on A&E, intolerant liberals and the homosexual political agenda. In fact, some of the assumed members of the PC Special Teams squad, refused to get in the game and handed back their helmets and uniforms. Feminist Camille Paglia, told radio talk show host Laura Ingraham the move is utterly fascist and utterly Stalinist, the Daily Caller reported. Additionally she made the following observations:
I speak with authority here, because I was openly gay before the Stonewall rebellion, when it cost you something to be so. And I personally feel as a libertarian that people have the right to free thought and free speech, she said.
In a democratic country, people have the right to be homophobic as well as they have the right to support homosexuality as I one hundred percent do. If people are basing their views against gays on the Bible, again they have a right of religious freedom there, she added.
She was by no means the only of that lifestyle to defend free speech, there were a surprising number of others, but I dont think anyone summed up the state of affairs with more precision than Paglia:
I think that this intolerance by gay activists toward the full spectrum of human beliefs is a sign of immaturity, juvenility, she said. This is not the mark of a true intellectual life. This is why there is no cultural life now in the U.S. Why nothing is of interest coming from the major media in terms of cultural criticism. Why the graduates of the Ivy League with their A, A, A+ grades are complete cultural illiterates, etc. is because they are not being educated in any way to give respect to opposing view points.
I would also observe that the thing that put the bee in the bonnet of the homosexual political machine was not principally Mr. Robertsons quotation of scripture, which was troublesome enough. No indeed, it was the audacity of him describing the favored and most common sexual act of gay men sodomy. Why? Its simple, really. The gay movement has been strenuous in its efforts to draw attention away from gay sexual behavior. They have endeavored to condition the thinking of a generation towards a mental image of gay men smooching their partners and holding hands and hugging and maybe giving each other back massages. To them, their work in this vein, has been entirely scuttled by just a paragraph of Daddy Duck describing the actual disgusting act of a man inserting his penis in another mans rectum. Sorry, but Phil has hit on a winning tactic and were going to have to adopt it if we want to pull our society out of the gutter. Take the high road if you wish, but no ones fighting up there.
A gravitational affinity for the companionship of another human of the same sex, is something you can finesse from a PR standpoint, but the actual sex act? The image is abhorrent to a large segment of the population. Everything theyve achieved in getting us to feign acceptance of their orientation goes out the window, when we consider the stripped down reality of homosexuality. Actually, in terms of sexual practices in the gay community, Phil just scratched the surface. Were we to detail some of the rest of it here, Id have to first warn you to grab a bag to vomit into. So I wont.
One other writer covering the Duck Dynasty fiasco made an interesting point. According to a study by the folks at Pew Research, at least 45 to 50 percent of Americans believe that homosexuality is a sin. So, even though the 1st Amendment doesnt protect their free speech in the workplace would it be possible, practical or even desirable to fire half of the workforce because they dont conform to political correctness? Even Bill Maher knows what side of his bread is buttered:
That really bothers me. I never hear Rush Limbaugh, unless a guy in the next truck at a stop light has it on. It would be arrogant for me to say he has to disappear and deprive the people who do listen to him of what they like. We all have different tastes and different opinions, that America.
That is America, and Bill Maher, having pushed manifold offensive buttons, realizes probably from some of the scrapes hes got himself in, that you cant have a different set of rules for one side or the other in the freedom of expression game.
So, my comrades in arms we got a big win. The biggest win in all of it is that Phil Robertson didnt knuckle under. I salute him for that, big time. Its remarkable because it almost never happens. But dont declare permanent victory. This is only our first triumph in a long war to come. Corporate America with their fanatical partners in speech censorship, will cliff anyone that we dont strongly defend. You can also give yourself a big pat on the back for coming to the defense of Phil Robertson and the Duck Dynasty tribe.
Oh, what the heck go ahead - tear the goalposts down. Well get back to two a days in January.
Writer's note: - for more similar caustic and knife edged commentary, please visit me at:
http://blastedfools.wordpress.com/