After a token suspension lasting the week of Christmas, A & E has put profit ahead of principle and reinstated Phil Robertson of “Duck Dynasty.” http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/tv/showtracker/la-et-st-duck-dynasty-phil-robertson-to-return-to-show-20131227,0,7212096.story#axzz2olcnJP4c Robertson attracted notoriety for comments published in GQ which crudely stigmatized gay people and made light of Jim Crow racism in the Old South. A & E’s short-lived decision to suspend Robertson crumbled under pressure from right-wing politicians like Sarah Palin and Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal and a petition drive through Change.org.
This latest development in the controversy over Robertson indicates the unevenness of recent advances in LGBT equality. While marriage equality now reigns in 18 states, the anti-gay right-wing has stepped up its blasts of homophobia. This unrepentant hostility toward the LGBT community reflects continuing strident opposition toward the equality movement from tens of millions of Americans. Consider that, apart from soccer, no American professional sport has any openly gay athletes among its active participants. Homophobia still nails closet doors shut.
Some have blithely suggested that the LGBT civil rights movement is on the verge of making itself obsolete in light of recent advances. But the wins tell only half the story. Vocal homophobia is as shrill as ever and may proliferate freely under the shelter of the First Amendment. While hate speech is constitutionally protected, its role in motivating persistent anti-LGBT violence suggests that we have not evolved as far as fulsome self-congratulations for America’s growing enlightenment suggest.
Hate retains its market appeal in much of America. And A & E’s cave-in to the extreme right proves that all is not settled but for the hoped-for Supreme Court ruling legalizing same-sex marriage across the US. In many areas there is more tolerance for homophobia than openly LGBT people.
His views are terrible, but I don’t know nor care about the opinions of those I expect to entertain me. He also expressed his views in a forum other than the show itself.
Honestly, I never really knew the show beyond hearing it by name before this controversy. I looked it up to see what it was about and I find it hard to believe anyone watches it controversy or not. It does not seem the least bit appealing to me.
Is there any line that a public figure could cross that would cause you to want that figure off the air? I don’t mean censored by government action, I mean forced off the air by public disgust and by the market forces that accompany that disgust.
Let me offer a for-instance:
Would you be OK with the same broadcaster offering airtime to David Duke (former head of the KKK)?
Here are some choice quotes:
I don’t know about you, but I don’t think such racist garbage has a place in public discourse, even if marketed as “entertainment”. In my view, there is a line — and both David Duke and Phil Robertson cross it.
Where is your line?
I couldn’t easily boycott the show myself since I wasn’t watching anyway. I tend to be of the view that the way to fight free speech is with more free speech. David Duke has run for office in the past and if a candidate should be allowed to air his views, but those views will likely be the rope with which he hangs himself. To be clear I’m not complaining if market forces push someone out and I’ve watched with some glee as sponsors have dropped Rush Limbaugh like a hot potato this year. I just think there are more important things to worry about than some “reality” show star running his mouth.
And we have a right to boycott A&E. I think they really shat on themselves with this one myself.
But I stand by the censoring power of a private corporation over a public spokesperson for its views, A&E had a right to suspend and it has a right to reinstate and it will suffer the consequences.
Since I never watch it at all, it will be tough to not watch it more, but I will do my best. The reason I never watch it at all is because it’s full of crap like Duck Dynasty. I remember when it was known as :the war channel,” because it was full military shows. Now they have The Military Channel for that, but are starting to put classic military shows like Bible Secrets Revealed on it. Then there’s The History Channel(s), which are full of great historical education shows like Ancient Aliens and Pawn Stars. This must be the Golden Era for garbage TV.
Not being a television watcher, I was wondering, “What is on A&E?” Today, you can watch Duck Dynasty shows one after another from 6:30 pm to 4:00 am.
That must be very compelling television!
It’s mostly reality TV. American Hoggers. Storage Wars Texas, which is about people who bid on storage lockers. There was a scandal with the California version because they were planting good stuff for people to find in the lockers they purchased.
Longmire isn’t bad for a traditional television mystery show. It’s staid enough for regular network TV.
I watched some of that CA show, and it was pretty obvious that most, if not all of the good “finds” were planted. I’d be surprised if ANY of those storage hunter shows didn’t do that. Similarly, many of the “customers” on Pawn Stars are paid actors, and a lot of the items that “just walked in the door” are recruited by the producers. In particular, there was a guitar that someone found on the web as having been sold by the shop that supplied both the “expert” and the “customer” for the episode where Rick supposedly bought the thing.
I’ve reached the point where I assume that everything that happens in almost all of the “reality” shows is actually scripted fiction. Maybe not North Woods Law, but most everything else.
People are shocked, just shocked, to discover that the “amateurs” in most adult porn aren’t. That the “random woman on the street” who does what they do in such material is a paid model. The “voyeur” genre where the audience is supposed to avoid asking how the camera could move around the scene without the knowledge of the subjects.
The adult industry paved the way for almost all of what is now mainstream in media and technology. This is just another example.
And remember when A&E tried to be the ‘PBS of Cable” with Biography, Jack Perkins hosting the Boston Pops, Brunching with the Arts, etc.
I also remember when TLC stood for the Learning Channel 😀
when you give an entertainer license to verbally gaybash vs. when one might extol the virtues of National Socialism. I don’t think the latter would be tolerated to the point of getting a TV show, so the take-away is that homophobic rhetoric is more energetically supported in our society.
My concern with hate speech is the impact it has on LGBTQ teens just coming to terms with who they are. I know from experience that defamation of LGBTQ people contributes to gay self-hatred and a sense of worthlessness–very dangerous notions for anyone, but particularly adolescents.
My absolute favorite is the NSFW CultOfDusty video. Dusty shrewdly suggests that the A&E firing could be as much a publicity stunt as anything and correctly predicts Robertson’s return. Dusty also brings up this fun excerpt from I Corinthians chapter 11:
Columns by Ta Nehisi-Coates and Charles Blow on the treatment of African-Americans in Louisiana: chilling in particular are the many lynchings and the sign “commemorating” a racist massacre that still stands in Colfax, LA as if it were a good thing.
Is there reason to wonder why African Americans might have tried very hard to always appear “happy” in front of white people?
Finally, there are pictures of the A&E cast before the TV show that make Robertson’s and friends’ appearances look more like costumes they’ve assumed that how they really appear.