Phil Robertson is a lot of things.
He’s the patriarch of the Duck Dynasty family of hunters, fishermen and reality TV.
He also now is a foreign policy expert. Fox News Channel had ol’ Phil on one of its talk shows and asked him how he thinks the United States should deal with the ISIL terrorists.
“We should convert or kill them,” Robertson said … in part.
There you go. Convert the Islamic extremist terrorists to Christianity or kill them dead, according to the Robertson Doctrine.
Well, what’s interesting is that the Obama administration is sort of following that doctrine, only without the conversion part. The Pentagon has unleashed our nation’s air power against ISIL killers in Iraq and it may start similar missions in Syria, where ISIL has beheaded two American journalists in a horrific display of human indecency.
It’s worth asking, though: Is this what the media have come to, asking reality TV characters for their view on international crises that are killing innocent Americans?
OK, I know. I’ve been bloviating in this space about ISIL as well. I’m not an “expert” either on how to resolve this crisis. I’m just a guy with some opinions on the matter. Am I qualified to offer my views on issues of the world? Technically, no. My platform, though, isn’t as far-reaching as the Fox News Channel.
My preference, though, is for the TV talkers to rely on actual experts to comment on these life-and-death matters. It might be the foreign policy experts would echo the Robertson Doctrine. Let them do so. As for ol’ Phil, let him talk about matters that he knows — like hunting and fishing.
That is frightening.
Phil Robertson’s remarks hearken back to the attitudes prevalent during the Crusades. Back then, it was considered a just punishment to draw and quarter an individual if he was deemed a heretic. They were tortured with disembowelment, burned in fires constructed with damp wood to prolong the suffering, and oftentimes then drawn and quartered. This was done to Muslims, Protestants, and Catholics depending on which faction was in possession of the heretic. At least Phil only wants to kill them.
I think.
Who knows?
Maybe he wants to behead a few of them. Or roll back to the Middle Ages and use some more imaginative methods. Might be a waste of time and resources to try to convert them. Could be more efficient just to kill all the Muslims on sight. And throw in a few Episcopalians and Mormons. They’re all different from Phil.
Or just take out the terrorists. My essential point is that Duck Dynasty Man isn’t an expert on anything other than how to make money doing whatever it is he does.
I get your point. One might say the same thing about Sarah Palin.