The A&E Network’s suspension of Phil Robertson, star of the most popular reality show in the history of television, for espousing views on homosexuality identical to those found in the New Testament may not be the first PC lynching in the history of our country, but it is certainly now the most prominent. It is also a singular example of how political correctness, via cultural relativism, is used to undermine democracy and freedom of speech and is, at its core, fascistic.
Yes, I just used the f-word and quite deliberately. PC and cultural relativism are the godchildren of Martin Heidegger and Michel Foucault, the philosopher apologists, respectively, for those most totalitarian of leaders (and great supporters of homosexuality… yeah, right) Adolph Hitler and the Ayatollah Khomeini. I know this flies over the heads of A&E executives who are unlikely to have read much, if any, Heidegger or Foucault, or know anything of the philosophers’ relationships to those dictators, but they should know how their minds have been manipulated, because what they have done is outrageous and reactionary.
But before I go further, let me make clear where I am coming from, so my biases are on the table. I am not a Christian. In fact, I am not even religious in any conventional sense, vacillating between agnosticism and some vague inchoate theism of the “something must be out there” sort. Moreover, I have been a firm public supporter of gay marriage for well over a decade, far longer than our supposedly “progressive” president whose views on the subject “evolved,” if at a slightly slower pace than Joe Biden’s. On top of it all, although perhaps less significant, I have not watched more than five minutes of Duck Dynasty and couldn’t care less about the show.
So if someone like me finds A & E’s behavior abhorrent, there’s a good chance that it is. And the same goes for GLAAD, the Human Rights Campaign and other similar interest groups that sought to suppress the speech of others with whom they disagree. By suspending Phil Robertson, or urging that it be done, they are working in complete opposition to the Bill of Rights and the founding documents of our country and naively laying the grounds of their own demise when someone turns on them.
And if you dislike what Robertson is saying, why not engage him? You might even convert him. After all, the reality star was not casting personal aspersions toward gays or trashing individuals by name in the manner of Martin Bashir or Ed Schultz. He was being interviewed by GQ who sought his opinions, hopefully controversial ones, one would imagine, which he delivered in his folksy Bayou style.
In fact, GLAAD, the Human Rights Campaign and A&E owe apologies to Robertson, not the other way around, although one can imagine now that everyone’s lawyers are talking as the network, ravaged by bad publicity, looks for a way to save face and the dollars from its most highly rated show.
Indeed, this event may actually have helped Robertson, expanding his brand and, ironically, hurting the causes backed by GLAAD, etc. They should take note. The best response to your enemies, especially if their challenge is not violent and based on their own heartfelt beliefs, is to treat them with respect and try to make them see the errors of their ways. You may not be able to do it but it is, dare I say it, the Christian way.
Beyond all this, however, the Duck Dynasty group has such a large TVQ these days, they don’t need A&E or anybody else. They could go off and form their own network. And now maybe they will.
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