Phil Robertson is an Odd Duck


I don’t watch Duck Dynasty.  It was recommended to me; I tried and didn’t last 5 minutes.   My idea of, “reality” television means real writing, real dialogue, real acting and real production values.  The venue of the program does not bother me.  While I certainly won’t be out in the cold, itchy, buggy wilds to bring down a duck, I will eat all of them you want to bring home.  In fact, if you will do the messy gutting and plucking I will cook the bird, all side dishes, provide the wine and clean up afterwards.  Yup, I’m a city girl, no apologies offered.  

That being said, I simply do not get the angry response to Phil’s interview in GQ.  First of all, GQ wanted this interview to fill a certain niche.  If Phil had come off as a closet liberal who simply likes to go to a vanilla flavored church they would have shelved the whole interview.  They wanted him to say something that rings bells, and, clever business man that he is, he not only rang a bell, he applied a mallet to a gong.  Mr. Robertson is happy; GQ is happy; everyone who markets Duck Dynasty material is happy.  I suspect even the LGBT community is happy, too.  They get to hop on their soap box, an opportunity never missed.

Robertson is wide-ranging and specific in his paraphrasing of Corinthians’ list of who is on God’s, “naughty” list.  He includes not just homosexuals, but also adulterers, idolaters, the greedy, drunkards, slanderers or swindlers.  None of these, he says, will be granted the Kingdom of Heaven.  He considers all of these actions to be sins.  But he then goes on to say, “However, I would never treat anyone with disrespect just because they are different from me.  We are all created by the Almighty and like Him, I love all of humanity.  We would all be better off if we loved God and loved each other.”

This makes it abundantly clear that his condemnation of homosexuality along with the laundry list of others discretions he gave does not refer to a temporal, but ecclesiastical attitude.  He is allowed his opinion on this.  I don’t hear the capitalists decrying him for naming greed as a sin.  I don’t even hear career politicians taking umbrage at Robertson’s reference to swindlers (appropriate), or their campaign staffers for the venial sin of slander.  The man has made a religious reference, which is protected free speech. 

Robertson is frank about his misspent youth as a devotee of sex, drugs and rock-n-roll.  Evidently he operated as his own moral authority for a while and it landed him in a nasty dark hole—usually does.  Like many recovering abusers, he simply replaced a destructive addiction (alcohol/drugs) for the much more positive mental and emotional attachment to religion.  He has become a successful business owner, provides employment for many, supports his family and is staying out of trouble.  All of that is a good thing.

Whether or not you like his feelings about homosexuality, none of it is more offensive than Melissa Harris-Perry wearing tampons for earrings.  I found that cheap trick mightily offensive, but I didn’t ask for her to be fired.   While I do believe there are some things a woman keeps private, I don’t want little Melissa out of work and on the dole.  To those who are sure that Phil Robertson should be vilified for holding a religious belief which they don’t agree with—get over it.  You do not have to share his beliefs. 

Support religious freedom, and keep the faith.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Witches in Georgia, Nuts in Texas

Some time ago a woman in Georgia won a restraining order against a man who had been stalking her for months.   She had met him when he answered her advertisement in a singles column.   In the ad she described herself as a, “wiccan” priestess—a witch!   She was then shocked that she didn’t attract an intelligent, emotionally mature male.   Instead she got a weird, obsessive stalker.   Whom did she think she was going to get? I realize that I am probably not being as tolerant as the times require, but it seems to me that any adult who calls herself a witch should not be expected to be taken seriously.   Do adults have to be told that there are no such things as witches?   Didn’t we learn that sometime between the Salem Witch Trials and the dawning of the nuclear age?   What seems to be going on here is that the mantra of tolerance which rightly began as a way to combat institutionalized prejudice has been carried to an extreme that says we can n...
Read more

Is Obama One of Our Four Best Presidents?

My default setting for a good book is a biography, add a penchant for American history and you have someone who reads a lot of Presidential biographies.   I am up to 13 so far, and plan on covering every President before I die, God willing.   Naturally, it caught my attention when President Obama said he would put his administration up with the top four Presidents.                 President Obama was clearly one of those children who were constantly told by his parents and grandparents that he was, “special.”   He was a special person; his parents were special people and everybody else, particularly people who didn’t think he was special, were wrong, jealous and possibly evil.   Such children grow up with an exaggerated sense of self.   We usually only see this syndrome in athletes or Hollywood stars, because politicians have to come up the hard way and there are lots of people to let them know ju...
Read more

Chris Christie and the Young Vampires of the Tea Party

The Tea Party has given this nation a much needed fiscal intervention, but they are like young vampires.   I can best explain this discord with an analogy of Stephanie Meyers’ excellent books advocating teenage chastity.   Meyers wrote the Twilight series of novels about vegetarian vampires who are under siege from vampires who want traditional vampire values.   Traditional vampires want to kill humans by sucking them dry (which is what Democrats feel about successful business people).    Our vegetarian vampires want to live at peace with everyone while simply being left alone to enjoy whatever vampire-like existence they choose (much like Americans in general).    But complicating things to the max are an army of young vampires.   Young vampires are undisciplined, emotional and ready to kill everything, including each other.   Enter the Tea Party.   New to the game, new to the town, and obeying only one overpowering and all con...
Read more