Bob Rucho, Duck Dynasty & the fascist speech police
I try to avoid the whole TMZ-reality show-Kardashian worship thing. But the recent crack-down on comments that “offend” certain approved victim groups has dragged me in. Lefties like to lecture us about freedom of speech, freedom of speech, freedom of choice, etc. etc ad nauseum. But just try to say something that offends one of their sacred cows.
Paula Deen — the cooking show maven who raised money for Obama and had Michelle-O on the air with her — got raked over the coals because she said the notorious “n-word” a couple of decades ago. The liberal jerk Alec Baldwin has repeatedly used anti-gay profanities. It cost him his MSNBC show. But who was watching that anyway?
State senator Bob Rucho is getting raked over the coals for committing a double-foul (bashing ObamaCare AND equating ObamaCare implementation to stuff the Nazis did). State GOP HQ even jumped into the fray demanding an apology from Rucho. To the senator’s credit, he told Pope & co. to stuff it.
Former state senator Doug Berger (D) compared 2012 marriage amendment proponents to the Nazis, and the silence from the lefty speech police was deafening.
Now, one of the stars of the wildly popular “Duck Dynasty” reality show is being pummeled for his comments in a GQ interview. His real mistake was doing an interview with GQ and saying stuff the gays wouldn’t like. Doing that in the pages of GQ is like going on BET and repeatedly screaming the “n-word.” In both cases, you are seriously antagonizing the target audience.
Now, it looks like Phil Robertson is going to take a financial and PR hit:
A&E has indefinitely suspended “Duck Dynasty” patriarch Phil Robertson after anti-gay comments he made in the January 2014 issue of GQ magazine.
Robertson, outspoken about his Christian faith, equated homosexuality with bestiality and called the lifestyle a sin.
“We are extremely disappointed to have read Phil Robertson’s comments in GQ, which are based on his own personal beliefs and are not reflected in the series ‘Duck Dynasty’,” A&E said in a statement on Wednesday.
“His personal views in no way reflect those of A&E Networks, who have always been strong supporters and champions of the LGBT community. The network has placed Phil under hiatus from filming indefinitely.”
The Hollywood Reporter said that Robertson will likely appear in the new season, which begins Jan. 15, since production is nearly finished.
In the GQ interview, Robertson goes on record with comments about the sinfulness of gays and black people under Jim Crow.
In the profile, an unedited Robertson sounds off on what’s ailing the country during a trip through the Louisiana backwoods.
“Start with homosexual behavior and just morph out from there. Bestiality, sleeping around with this woman and that woman and that woman and those men,” he tells reporter Drew Magary. “Don’t be deceived. Neither the adulterers, the idolaters, the male prostitutes, the homosexual offenders, the greedy, the drunkards, the slanderers, the swindlers—they won’t inherit the kingdom of God. Don’t deceive yourself. It’s not right.”
He also muses about his own sexual orientation: “It seems like, to me, a vagina—as a man—would be more desirable than a man’s anus. That’s just me. I’m just thinking: There’s more there! She’s got more to offer. I mean, come on, dudes! You know what I’m saying? But hey, sin: It’s not logical, my man. It’s just not logical.”
Well, Robertson walked right into the trap. It’s what these people were looking for. Though, I’ll have to say it is interesting that the free speech crowd is so eager to shut somebody down, have them fired, and just plain ruin them if they dare to step off the liberal plantation. I don’t think MSNBC should have fired Martin Bashir or Alec Baldwin. I think A&E overreacted here. As long as you’re not saying any of George Carlin’s “Seven Dirty Words” or communicating a specific threat or slandering someone, what’s the problem?
The late Tim Russert once told me and a few others over breakfast in DC about how he reads stuff from the left AND the right — stuff he agrees with AND disagrees with — because it makes him a better-informed, more well-rounded person. Instead of shoving GLAAD’s propaganda down viewers’ and readers’ throats 24-7-365, why not give other perspectives on homosexuality a fair shake?
Threatening people — or shouting them down — because they dare to divert from the official party line is the kind of stuff you saw in Hitler’s Germany, The Soviet Union, Mussolini’s Italy, and in modern-day Cuba, North Korea and Iran. It’s not what we should be seeing and experiencing in The United States.
I’m still angry with Bob Rucho and his role with the redistricting debacle. That being said he is slowly redeeming himself. Could it be that he grew a backbone and refused to do as he was told and started to do what was right?Either way, I do appreciate his recent efforts to stand up for the people.
As for Duck Dynasty, watching social media, it appears they might just have the last laugh. The people are standing in support of them. I don’t know about you, but #ISupportPhil
In what way do you consider it a debacle? Granted, I detest what they did to my county in the re-districting process but State-wide, I thought it was generally considered a success.
That said, I have to say a few things about Bob Rucho. First, he embodies the expression “karma is a b&@^%”. Just ask Brad Miller about that.
Second, he seems to be one of the few GOP politicians who understand the nature and threat we face from the left and he gets the need to strike back hard. In that regard, he reminds me a little of the late Lee Atwater (a genius who Karl Rove can only wish he could measure up to).
Third, he seems to have more initiative and imagination than most of the other “conservatives” we have in the State house, as witness his on-going efforts to totally eliminate the State income tax.
The left has made shut-uppery and Alinsky tactics part of their game plan. They have no high-gound… none, zip, nada, zero, to lecture anyone on free speech.
Someone like Alec Baldwin is a clown hired to do clownish things, so firing him for being a loon is questionable. Martin Bashir on the other hand should have been fired immediately not because of any deserved backlash or outrage but rather because no employer should find what he did acceptable. .
I can’t believe I beat Raphael to the comments. And where is Ham Biscuit?
Happy Holidays everyone! (note the political correctness).
We live in a world rife with double standards, political correctness, corruption and greed. These ingredients in almost daily increments are the recipe for our undoing. Nobody respects the constitution, nobody follows the rules, nobody has integrity. We are steps away from the thought police, permanent government control, and loss of democracy.
Actions like these make the preppers and survivalists seem more credible each day.
I have always said it’s the people preaching tolerance who lack it. Just like affirmative action is paying attention to race, not disregarding it.
I like the George Carlin reference; I think I remember them all in order. But those are outdated now. Somewhere, somehow it became almost criminal to alude to NAZI at all, even if it made sense. Sometime, somehow certain groups were bestowed ownership of words, which is even worse. Instead of nobody getting to use the words, some can and you can’t. I wonder if real Nazis feel outsiders shouldn’t use their word?
So to recap…
we have a list of words which exist in our mind, exist in our culture, exist in dictionaries, exist in history, and have their own history, but are not usable. I will cloak them with * and numerical code so as to not offend anyone. Feel free to add to the list. Some are
n****r (aka n-word #1)
n**i (aka n-word #2)
h***sexual (aka h-word)
c*** (aka c-word)
b***h (aka b-word)
a** (aka a-word)
okay help me out, there’s still plenty of code letters left in the alphabet. See how silly it all is? We talk in code, but we still say it? I’ll bet you got them all correct. Post your score if you like. Nothing to be proud of, but proves a point.
I suspect that many Christians will now shun A&E, and they will face a worse boycott, even if informal, than they would have from the homosexuals. It servers them right!