Duck Dynasty and Hate Speech

I have been asked my opinion on the whole Duck Dynasty issue and I was not going to put anything up. The more that I have heard people talking about it, the more confused I have become and I have felt compelled to comment. I have heard it called hate speech, and I have gotten lost somewhere as to what is appropriate and what is not appropriate and who is allowed to bash on people and who is not. 

Personally I believe that a lot of the anger I have heard recently is misplaced. It would appear that if you are a minority you can say what ever you want with no repercussions. If you are not a minority than you are lambasted for your opinion. Here is the example of what I mean, using the recent comments by one of the cast members of the A&E Network's show, Duck Dynasty and another man who was recently in the media spotlight as well for comments he made, Dan Savage.

Many people’s feelings have been hurt because a magazine called Gentleman’s Quarterly did an interview with a long-haired, large bearded self-proclaimed back woods redneck. He is also a very vocal Christian. Let's get this out of the way; I find it funny that GQ is interviewing a redneck who I would guess wears camouflage more often than tuxedos t and prefers to spend time in tree stands and duck blinds as opposed to the opera and ballet. I am just guessing this is how he is, as I don’t watch Duck Dynasty.

In this interview, he was asked, “What, in your opinion, is sinful.” He replied, “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. 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.”

Soon after the comments followed this statement from Phil Robertson, “I myself am a product of the 60s; I centered my life around sex, drugs and rock and roll until I hit rock bottom and accepted Jesus as my Savior. My mission today is to go forth and tell people about why I follow Christ and also what the bible teaches, and part of that teaching is that women and men are meant to be together. 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.”

I personally don’t see hate here. I see him stating his opinion, which he bases on his faith. In return he even discusses sins in his own life and what the Christian mission is. To this GLAAD has asked for his being removed from A&E. They actually said that his comments are some of “the vilest and most extreme.” In response to his comments, A&E suspended him indefinitely from their program (I just read that he was reinstated). This makes complete sense as A&E has the highest standards, with shows like Intervention, Hoarders as well as the Bonnie and Clyde series about a murderous couple that robbed banks.

Let us look at another man, Dan Savage. If you are not familiar with Dan, he is the founder of an anti-bullying project called, “It Gets Better” that was used by the Obama administration to combat bullying of LGBT children in schools. He goes into schools and speaks out against bullying. He is also a regular on Bill Mahr’s show. He is also gay. Recently he went off on an expletive laced tirade against Catholic priests and was lauded for it. It seems that the Catholics have gotten really bad press due to some of them being pedophiles. I can see his outrage and anger here and although I may not agree with how it was said can see some validity.

Unfortunately, he has a history of hate that should be pointed out. He also has said on the same show a couple of years previously about Republicans, “I wish they were all (f-bomb deleted) dead.” (FYI - I am not a Republican) On this same show he also said that he wanted to have hate sex with Rick Santorum and finished with, “let’s bone that Santorum boy.” I realize that this is a hack comedy show, but wrong is wrong and hate is hate I thought. (Did I mention that this non-bullying author called high school Christians that walked out of his presentation pansies from his microphone after he bashed Christians.) 

In his defense, he did ask to retract his statement. Dan said that he wanted to “apologize for wishing all Republicans dead. I don’t feel that way. I had a drink before the show.” No apologies for wanting to rape a man, which it would be given Rick’s feelings about homosexual relations. In his defense, someone earlier had said they would want to have rage and anger induced sex with Michelle Bachmann on the same show and he felt the need to join in the fray.

For some reason this was not splashed all over the media. No one rushed to have Dan taken off of the air. It was not the talk of Facebook and trending in the Twittersphere. We still have this guy on the air on Bill Mahr’s often hate induced show Real Time as well as still speaking in schools. Yet this show, Bill Mahr the  host and his frequent guest Dan Savage are on the air regularly. I guess that it is okay to talk about having sex with people against their will and wishing them dead but saying you believe something someone does is wrong disparages people. 

This is the problem we have currently in our country. We need to be concerned about the right thing. If stating disagreement with someone’s opinion makes you wish they were dead, that is hate speech. If you’re disagreeing with someone makes you say that what they are doing is not right, that is an opinion. Personally I am more offended by hate speech wishing people dead than I am stating an opinion that did not come with a "wish they were all dead." Where is the outrage?

If you were offended by Phil you should be fuming over Dan and that did not appear to be the reality of the situations. Instead, we have very little to no issue with Dan and are enraged over Phil. Why is this a big deal for one and not the other? Because one is considered a minority and the other is not. The majority cannot be vocal without getting called out for it as being hate speech and when a minority does it is fine and dandy. 

I really hope this trend changes, as it is making my head hurt. I believe that wrong is wrong no matter who does it. Why would you be outraged of one person saying something then tolerant of someone else saying something that is several degrees more hate-filled is beyond me. At least stay consistent, people.    

In closing, we as Christians are called to love our brother. I can love someone and still disagree with how they are living their lives. I love various family members even if I cannot stand some of their behaviors. I can separate between a person and their actions and behaviors. All I can do is make my life a living example: being in a committed relationship, not abusing drugs/alcohol, not cussing, being positive and helping those around me who are in need. Be salt and light for the world around you and deal hope and love to all you come in contact with. 

Thanks for listening to my little rant, and have a safe New Years!!