Tag Archives: Duck Dynasty

International news, political news

Fox turns to 'expert' on Middle East policy

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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.

 

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Phil back on ‘Duck Dynasty,’ curiosity aroused

Having declared that I’ve never watched “Duck Dynasty,” I now might — let me reiterate might — catch an episode or two now that Duck daddy Phil is back in the game.

http://dallasmorningviewsblog.dallasnews.com/2013/12/that-phil-guy-is-back-on-duck-dynasty-so-do-i-have-to-watch-it-now.html/

A&E lifted Phil Robertson’s short-lived suspension after the 67-year-old guy said some things to GQ magazine about how he believes homosexuality is a sin, according to the Bible. His comments raised an uproar with the LGBT community and with folks who were offended that someone known to be a devout Christian actually would say what he believes.

A&E knew what it was getting when it hired the Robertson clan to do this show, which I guess features them huntin’ and fishin’ and living in the great outdoors, aka the Louisiana swamp.

A&E made the wrong call, in my view, in suspending ol’ man Phil. It’s not that agree with the way he expressed himself. He spoke crudely to GQ, but that’s part of his shtick, or so I’ve been led to believe.

And the network knew all that.

All he did was encourage the audience that is drawn to the show. Those who Robertson offended aren’t going to watch anyway.

As for those of us out here who only have read about the show and followed the kerfuffle created by Duck Daddy’s remarks, many of us are quite likely now to watch just to see what all the fuss has been about.

I’m giving this some serious thought. I’ll let you know what I learn.

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Duck Dynasty guy’s remarks: All Obama’s fault

I lied.

I said I wouldn’t say any more about Phil Robertson, the Duck Dynasty dude who got suspended for his views on homosexuality, blacks and other issues that have nothing to do with his reality A&E TV show.

Then we hear from Mike Huckabee, the Fox News Channel commentator, Baptist preacher, former Arkansas governor, former presidential candidate and possible future candidate for president.

He did what I kind of figured would happen. He somehow linked Robertson’s remarks to President Obama and inferring, if only obliquely, that Barack Obama is somehow caught in the middle of this media maelstrom.

http://thinkprogress.org/home/2013/12/22/3098711/mike-huckabee-drags-obama-duck-dynasty-controversey/

Here’s part of what Huckabee said today on Fox News Sunday:

“I think it has come to a point in our culture where political correctness has made it so if you want to take a point of view, it is traditional. It holds to steadfast old fashioned biblical principles, that you’re supposed to just shut up and keep that to yourself. There is a new level of bullying on the part of these militant activist groups, who if anyone says something that holds to the same position that Barack Obama held in 2008 when he was at the Saddleback Church with John McCain made it clear very clear that he opposed same sex marriage, and he said he did so because he was a Christian and because of his biblical views.”

Huckabee didn’t say Obama should be blamed for anything Robertson said. It’s just curious that he would introduce the president into an argument that has inflamed folks on both sides, as if Barack Obama needs any more bad press.

There. I sort of kept my vow of silence henceforth on Robertson’s remarks. I just thought it a bit strange for one leading Republican to tie this controversy to a president who’s spending some quality Christmas vacation time with his family.

There’s no escape, Mr. President.

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Duck Dynasty dad … one more time

OK, this will be my final comment on Phil Robertson, the Duck Dynasty daddy who got suspended because he told a magazine interviewer he thinks homosexuality is a sin.

Robertson is the 67-year-old patriarch of a family that’s featured on the A&E television network. A&E suspended Robertson from the show after his interview in GQ magazine appeared. He cited Scripture as informing his views on homosexuality, which I have to believe was well-known by the brass at A&E when they hired the Robertson clan on to do the “Duck Dynasty” reality series.

My question of the day is this: If A&E knew Robertson to be a deeply devout Christian who believes in the words written in the Holy Bible, why did it have to suspend him for speaking his mind about an issue related to his faith?

Did he surprise the high command at A&E with this revelation?

I’m wondering now whether Robertson violated some agreement that prohibited him or anyone in his family from being interviewed by other media outlets — and that is why the network took him off the show.

I haven’t heard that one.

A&E has stepped in it with this suspension. As the saying goes, you get what you pay for. In this case, the network should have known what it was buying when it signed the Robertson family on for this gig. My hunch is that it knew all along.

There. I’m done now.

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‘Duck Dynasty’ patriarch gets slapped … why?

I’ll have to stipulate right up front that I have not watched a single nano-second of the “Duck Dynasty” TV series. All I really know about this family is what I’ve read.

Lately, it’s been a lot and most of it has been about Phil Robertson, the 67-year-old patriarch of the Louisiana family that apparently likes to go huntin’ and fishin’ … a lot.

With that said, I have read about the GQ article in which Daddy Phil was asked what he considers to be “sinful.”

He said: “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.”

For that and some other things he said along those lines he has been suspended from his A&E TV network show. The family, I guess, will continue on without dear old dad.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/religion/phil-robertsons-suspension-from-duck-dynasty-sends-fans-rallying-to-his-side/2013/12/19/eb1c427e-68f8-11e3-997b-9213b17dac97_story.html

What do I think of the suspension and of the reaction from the gay community over what he said?

I accept that he is a deeply religious man, a devout Christian who adheres to Scriptures’ teaching that sex should only be between married partners, and that marriage should only involve a man and a woman. He believes it as an article of his faith.

That is where I believe he bases his comments. I read more later of what he said and I do not interpret what he said as being “anti-gay.” As a straight man, perhaps I do not quite have the same sensitivity to perceived anti-gay slurs as a gay individual.

What is more troubling to me, though, has been the reaction from supposedly “progressive” groups who on most days promote the notion of tolerance and diversity. I’m totally fine with that. What is striking is that they are quite intolerant of the views of a man whose devotion to Christianity apparently is well-known around the nation.

A magazine interviewer asked him what he considered to be “sinful,” and he answered from his heart. He said homosexuality is a sin, according to Scripture. Did he equate homosexuality with bestiality and adultery? Only in the sense that Scripture tells him that all sins are equal in God’s eyes.

That’s what I got out of it.

Maybe someone should ask the GQ reporter what he intended with the question. Was it of the “gotcha” variety? If it was, then ol’ Phil got “got.”

The Washington Post talked to an openly gay Christian, Brandon Ambrosino, who doesn’t think Robertson should have been suspended. Ambrosino told the Post, “Whether or not I think his understanding of desire is primitive and brute, there are lot of people in America who hold his opinion. Dismissing an idea is not engaging a debate; that is not even entering into one.”

None of this has piqued my interest in “Duck Dynasty.” I do hope, though, that A&E reinstates the old fella.