Angsty Emo Outrage and Ducks

So Phil Robertson, who has one of the highest rated shows on cable, was asked a direct question concerning his personal religious beliefs and he gave an honest answer. Of course, honest religious opinions are not tolerated in America if they in any way hurt the feelings of statist control freaks, so the usual suspects had a come apart. A&E, being good at appeasement but bad at math, put Robertson on indefinite hiatus. Which means “we fired him, unless we wimp out at that too, and once we see which way the winds blow, we’ll bring him back.”

Here is the actual article that got the guy fired: http://www.gq.com/entertainment/television/201401/duck-dynasty-phil-robertson  We’ll go through the actual controversial statements in a bit, just to see how little it takes to make the lefty censors outrage spike. But you should read it, because as usual you will quickly discover that most of the outrage you’re getting off the internet is mostly nonsense. I warn you now, the article sucks. It is your usual breathless hyperbolic overstatement written by a typical man-child of a journalist who has never lived anywhere that is not completely paved and who considers Connecticut wild country. (oh my gosh, the ATV has seatbelts, but they are not used! I shot a .22 and a hit a bottle! I am a warrior!)

This is all over the internet right now, which is good, because people need to realize just how rigged the system is. The left in America simply cannot tolerate disagreement, deviation from group think is heresy, and when you piss them off, if they can’t dismiss you, they steamroll you. The actual topic is irrelevant. This particular one was homosexuality, but it just as easily could be guns, healthcare, or global warming. This event is just another example of the Liberal Arguing Checklist writ large: http://larrycorreia.wordpress.com/2013/09/20/the-internet-arguing-checklist/

Okay, to cover the basics of this case:

  1. Robertson was perfectly within his rights to answer the question truthfully according to his personal belief system. (we will look at his statement later and see just how horribly filled with hatey-hate-hatemongery it is, because you know, the left just can’t tolerate intolerance)
  2. A&E was perfectly within their rights to terminate their relationship with their employee for saying something they did not like. (even if it is incredibly stupid from a business sense, but that should just be an example to boards everywhere why you should only hire us heartless conservatives to run your companies)
  3. This is not an 1st Amendment issue, and don’t waste your time saying it is, because it isn’t the government punishing Robertson’s use of free speech, it is a private entity, and private entities are allowed to choose who they want to do business with (unless of course you are a Christian baker who doesn’t want to make gay wedding cakes because hate crime or something).

As somebody who is publically politically opinionated yet still makes his living as an entertainer I find this sort of thing fascinating. See, I’m right wing. I’m so right wing that when I buy Twix I throw the left one away. I was a gun rights activist long before I ever sold my first book. I still enjoy writing political blogs. I’ve been on FOX news. And even as somebody who now has books printed in seven languages around the world, the most widely read thing I’ve ever thing I’ve ever written is an Opinion on Gun Control.  http://larrycorreia.wordpress.com/2012/12/20/an-opinion-on-gun-control/

There are a lot of conservative people in entertainment, except since it is a field so incredibly dominated by left wingers most of us of us keep our heads down. Like any field that comes to be dominated by the left, if you say anything that goes against proper goodthink, they will attack your career. Luckily for me, I write for a publishing house that only cares if we’re good enough to make our fans happy. They employ everybody from ultra-libertarians, to fire breathing conservatives, to liberals, to an actual card carrying Trotskyite communist, and my publisher only cares that our books sell. However, just because Baen Books is one of the only houses that will actually publish out of the closet right wingers, the rest of the industry thinks of it as a right wing publishing house.  Anywhere else, you open your mouth and express conservative beliefs your writing career just committed ritual seppuku. And the thing is, this industry is so steeped in liberal values (and mostly lives in Manhattan) that they don’t even realize it, they’re just doing what’s good.

It is worse in Hollywood. There are a ton of conservative actors. I know a bunch of them now, but I can’t say who they are, because most of them can’t afford to be outed because they’ll be persecuted for their lifestyle choices (oh, the irony. It burns!). I’m friends with some outspoken conservative actors, but they’re usually at that point of their career where they are successful enough they just don’t give a crap anymore.

Because of this, actual entertainment that people can consume tends to lean overwhelmingly left. Of course, you ask the left part of the country if their entertainment is biased and they’ll say, no, it is just normal. Christians are all crazy bigots. All the smart, fun, witty people live on the coasts and think just like I do while Jesus freaks and the dad from Footloose live in flyover country. Guns are scary bad unless used by a proper hero of the state and let’s all learn a valuable lesson as some children are accidentally killed. Republicans are all dumb, hate science, and think the Earth is flat. Obviously.  You ask the right part of the country if their entertainment is biased and they’ll say “Holy shit, you morons actually think Honey Boo Boo is normal life here!?”

Now this has been getting better, because it can’t hardly not when you’ve got 300 channels, and it started with subversive programming sneaking in on cable. (God bless you Mike Rowe with your crazy ideas like working hard and improving yourself as opposed to living off of welfare or demanding $15 an hour to flip burgers!) I noticed this a few years ago with all the various cable shows where gun usage was being portrayed as normal life. (can’t have all these shows about Alaska without guns, because animals there will EAT YOU). The right half of America was all like, hey, look, shows where people like me aren’t being portrayed as complete whackadoos!”

Then along comes Duck Dynasty, where OH MY GOSH they’re actually really proud of their values, they’re unabashed capitalists, they’re super happy to be rednecks, they shoot stuff for fun, they think explosives are awesome, they fish and hunt and drive big trucks that give the finger to man-made global warming, they’re Southern without us having to listen to long tirades about how we should all have white guilt, I’m guessing none of them have ever used the words “cismale gendernormative fascism” in a conversation, they love football, soldiers, America, and even Jesus, and they have the audacity to pray on camera? Whoa. Mind blown.

Of course, the entertainment industry is still scratching their head about how come a show like that was popular. But these are the same brainiacs who couldn’t figure out why an action movie starring Jamie Foxx as a thinly veiled Barack Obama going all Die Hard in the White House against the evil military industrial complex and renegade veterans bombed with people who like action movies.

Now the main guy on Duck Dynasty grew up rough. He was a complete scumbag, and he admits it. He was a drinker, a womanizer, and was on a self-destructive path. He got religious and turned his life around. Now as much as it has become trendy for the left to hate religion, and think that all Christians are good for is to persecute them, but that whole repentance/forgiveness/turn the life around thing does happen a lot. So now Robertson is a devout Christian. Nobody should be shocked that he has Christian beliefs.

But Christian beliefs are not ever to be respected according to proper leftist goodthink. Everybody knows the only higher power that matters is the government. (as an experiment, you should go onto Twitter and say something about Christmas involving Jesus, then count how many evangelical atheists show up to call you stupid and tell you how much you must hate science, because that’s what I did for the last two days. It was hilarious).

So Robertson gets interviewed by GQ. Now most of the people who have their panties in a twist about Robertson’s hatemongery have not read the actual article in question. Even with a totally unbiased GQ reporter, it isn’t that bad, but you wouldn’t know it from all the caring liberal* outrage today.

Of course, the GQ reporter is such a complete pansy that it starts with this:

Let’s start with the crossbow, because the crossbow is huge. I’m sitting in the passenger seat of a camo-painted ATV, rumbling through the northern Louisiana backwoods with Phil Robertson, founder of the Duck Commander company, patriarch at the heart of A&E’s smash reality hit Duck Dynasty, and my tour guide for the afternoon. There are seat belts in this ATV, but it doesn’t look like they’ve ever been used. Phil is not wearing one. I am not wearing one, because I don’t want Phil to think I’m a pussy. (Too late!) The crossbow—a Barnett model equipped with a steel-tipped four-blade broadhead arrow—is perched on the dash between us. It looks like you could shoot through a goddamn mountain with it.

Wow. Just… Wow… So right out the gate we are dealing with a reporter who is comically terrified of an inanimate object. Of course a crossbow can shoot through mountains, just like my .50 caliber rifles are designed to shoot down airliners, all my pistols are full auto spray fire Glocks, and all my rifles are ultra deadly AK-47 assault rifles with shoulder things that go up, because liberal reporters know their weapons.

What a basic tool (and there’s a crossbow there also).

Okay, so we know right out the gate we’re dealing with a reporter from the left. So be prepared for massive overstatement of the mundane, emotional freak outs, and probably moving lots of quotes around and butchering them for maximum narrative impact.

For example, you know what’s coming when the reporter says this:

Out here in these woods, without any cameras around, Phil is free to say what he wants. Maybe a little too free.

Well, that’s a good little statist for you. Heaven forbid Americans become TOO FREE. They might drink large sodas, not like their health insurance costs doubling, or hold beliefs that differ from proper goodthink!

Yet EVEN THEN, this is hatey-hatemonger quote of all super dooper hate EVAR from Robertson:

“It seems like, to me, a vagina—as a man—would be more desirable than a man’s anus. That’s just me. I’m just thinking: There’s more there! She’s got more to offer. I mean, come on, dudes! You know what I’m saying? But hey, sin: It’s not logical, my man. It’s just not logical.”

Uh… Okay. So the guy who is almost 70, and been married to the same woman since he was a teenager does not see the logic of putting your dong in some other dude’s butt… HATE SPEECH!

Imagine if a gay actor got fired from his network because he made the comment that he thinks vaginas are gross. There would be outrage. And it would be understandable, because firing somebody for their personal sexual opinions is dumb (provided they aren’t a danger to society or the livestock, obviously).

Well, A&E and GLAAD, since only like 1-4% of America is gay, tops. I’m going to go out on a limb and say that most guys like vaginas. Crazy. I know.

Okay, here’s the thing. Personally, I don’t care who anybody shacks up with.  I’m not even against gay marriage. Yet I still don’t really want to put my equipment in some other dude either because I like women. I should be able to say that and it be okay! But as I’ve seen here before, it isn’t enough to tolerate somebody else’s lifestyle choices, if you call them a lifestyle choice, you’ll be attacked. I did a blog post about gay marriage back when that was the topic of the day, and I wrote it from the perspective of a religions person, and quickly discovered that my not being against it wasn’t enough. The comments were full of people saying that my personal belief that a homosexual lifestyle was a choice was offensive to them.  http://larrycorreia.wordpress.com/2013/03/27/this-one-will-probably-get-me-hate-mail-from-both-sides-gay-marriage/

The perpetually offended are always going to be offended, and they always need somebody to be the bad guy so they can play the victim card. Being a victim grants liberals super powers. So tolerance isn’t enough for the champions of tolerance, but we’ll get back to that.

So here is the money quote that got him fired. (sorry, indefinite suspension, which is what happens when you are fired by pansies)

“Everything is blurred on what’s right and what’s wrong,” he says. “Sin becomes fine.”

What, in your mind, is sinful?

“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,” he says. Then he paraphrases Corinthians: “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.”


Ooooh. Shocking. Now of course, if you read the whole article, you’ll also note that sinning doesn’t make gay folks special because Christians believe ALL PEOPLE ARE SINNERS. Including Robertson, because a big chunk of the article is him talking about his past and his own sins.

But of course the Infidelity, Slandering, and Fornication lobbies aren’t as powerful or didn’t bother to write A&E. Hell, he repeatedly condemned screwing around outside of marriage, and statistically that’s WAY more common, so where’s the manufactured outrage there?

In that blog post I linked above I wrote Christians are perfectly used to other people doing stuff that their God doesn’t approve of. That’s the thing. Just because somebody else believes that something you are doing is wrong, that doesn’t hurt you. News flash. Somewhere out there another human does not like what you are doing right now. Can you just feel their leering condescension? However will you survive?

Notice, no where in the article did Robertson urge persecution of gays in any way, shape, or form. He gave his honest answer about his personal religious belief. Disapproval of a particular behavior or choice should not be any skin off your nose. (you want to see real disapproval, be me and start talking about how Barack Obama has done a crappy job at a publishing industry dinner party in Manhattan. Good times.)

Of course, if you just listen to the internet and don’t read the article, you’d think the guy was in a white hood telling everybody to burn gay folks at the stake, but instead you get stuff like this:

“We’re Bible-thumpers who just happened to end up on television,” he tells me. “You put in your article that the Robertson family really believes strongly that if the human race loved each other and they loved God, we would just be better off. We ought to just be repentant, turn to God, and let’s get on with it, and everything will turn around.”

Or here is another quote from this vile hate monger.

“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 humanity. We would be better off if we loved God and loved each other.”

Feel the hate. How it burns. Won’t somebody stand up to this madman and his cismale gendernormative fascism!

I’m willing to bet that Phil Robertson is nicer and more tolerant of homosexuals than the caring liberals who keep sending me death threats because I’m an outspoken conservative are. Yet I still realize that the vast majority of liberals are normal people who aren’t having screaming freak outs even if they disagree with my choices, so you guys need to realize that the vast majority of Christians are normal people who aren’t having screaming freak out even if they disagree with your choices. Everybody is a victim of someone’s disapproval, so grow the fuck up.

So we’ve got a dude with the super controversial opinion that homosexuality is a sin, but we should still love gay people and treat them with respect. That’s so controversial that probably only half of America feels that way. You know who else feels that way?

Pope

Time Magazine’s Man of the Year. But of course, the media was so super happy to have a major religious figure recently say something vaguely anti-capitalist to help their narrative that they overlooked all his hatey-hatemongery.

You want to see really, hateful intolerance and bigotry? Follow a black conservative on Twitter and watch caring liberals spew the most vile, hateful, insults you’ve ever seen. But that’s totally cool, because that fits the narrative. Meanwhile, as Phil Robertson haunts the left’s nightmares for believing differently, our State Department is cutting deals with Iran, where gay people are loved and respected and totally not tortured and executed.

All that said, as a capitalist I think A&E can do whatever they want. GLAAD sent them a nasty letter about somebody on one of their shows hurting their feelings and they immediately caved to pressure. That’s their choice. But putting on my old accountant hat, I’m going to go out on a limb and guess that will turn out to be a really stupid decision. Remember that first part about all those millions of Americans happy to have TV shows where people like them aren’t marginalized and insulted? Yeah… They’re going to love this.

Meanwhile, look at Phil Robertson.

Robertson

Does that man strike you as the sort of person who gives a shit? He looks like somebody who would have hung out with Bubba Shackleford.

Do you know what people who get up in arms and boycott networks over people on TV shows having different religious beliefs look like? This guy.

pajama-boy

Now you know Phil Robertson does not give a shit what that guy thinks about anything. He will take his giant pile of money and happily go back to shooting ducks and eating squirrels while A&E scrambles to fill their programming with shows like The Littlest Polygamist, Amish Gold Miners, or Big Jersey Lesbians.

Obviously the execs at A&E have never read my Liberal Arguing Checklist, and they fell for #7 Concern Trolling, subcategory: Boycott.  See, us conservatives are used to being threatened by boycotts constantly for daring to deviate somehow from proper goodthink, only we laugh about it because we know the people contacting us are full of crap and probably are not fans anyway. I’m sure GLAAD members made up a HUGE part of Duck Dynasty’s viewership.

If I had been an A&E shareholder my response would have been, “Boycott us because one of our people holds a differing belief system? Holy shit! Yes! It’ll be like Chic-fil-A! Because Americans, even when they agree with their point, hate bullies. Please boycott us!”

To be fair I wouldn’t boycott Martin Bashir for being a creepy jackass either, nor can I fault his crappy network that nobody actually watches for firing him. That’s their business decision. Though I’m thinking Martin Bashir’s legion of fan won’t really make that much of a dent in MSNBC’s ratings juggernaut.

And since I know this post is going to get me attacked by the tolerant, for the record I also made fun of a publishing house for breaking their contract with a gay author, even while I said it was their (dumb) decision to make. http://larrycorreia.wordpress.com/2013/08/21/publisher-cancels-book-contract-because-the-writer-is-gay/ Because unlike the stereotypes about us Christians and our hatey-hate-hate, we are way the hell more tolerant of other’s beliefs than our left wing counterparts.

So in conclusion, Robertson, whether you agree or not, can say what he wants and that should be okay, because he’s not hurting anything other than your feelings. A&E can do what they want, but as usual being a goodthinking liberal and doing math prove to be mutually exclusive. Gay people, GLAAD is making you all look like a bunch of whiners. Stupid people, read the Bill of Rights, A&E isn’t the federal government. Liberal reporters, holy shit, you guys are a bunch of melodramatic wimps. America, somebody somewhere doesn’t like something you believe in, grow a pair.

 

*One quick note for all you whiny No-Labels types. I’m going to use the word LIBERAL to describe liberals acting like liberals. You’ll live. Obviously, not all liberals are in favor of squashing dissenting opinions or disallowing someone from holding personal religious beliefs, but everybody trying to squash dissenting beliefs about today’s topic is either a liberal, statist, communist, socialist, or just being a dick. So yes I know that YOU personally are a special snowflake different from said stereotype, but I’m too lazy to keep typing that out, and to use some helpful stereotypes to explain, I’m a greedy, right-wing capitalist 1%er who needs to get back to work writing more bestselling novels that promote violence against the differently-living. Save the hate mail. It gets really repetitive.  And when I use the term “caring liberal” it is for the special ones who keep threatening to murder me, because irony amuses me.

The Drowning Empire, Episode 41: With Dueling as a Pretext
In the spirit of two days of Twitter arguing with militant evangelical atheists who hate Christmas:

211 thoughts on “Angsty Emo Outrage and Ducks”

  1. I love how everyone is up in arms about him “comparing gay sex to bestiality,” and yet completely ignore the fact that he compared ALL promiscuity–including that practiced by straight people–to bestiality. And “compared” isn’t even the right word here, but it’s the one I keep seeing thrown around. Can these people even read?

    1. It was a list. ProtectedHappyGood was on the same list as BadThought. ergo, he is a heretic and must be purged for Thought Crime.

    2. I notice that by the same logic he also “compares” drunkenness and fornication (both of which he admits to doing when younger) with bestiality (and terrorism). It’s clearly quite silly.

    3. First amendment issues and private companies. The founders wanted to allow a maximum of diversity of opinion. Because public discussion is now almost limited to electronic media which has tremendous control over what we hear, there is a real problem. In one full swoop an electronic media giant can totally suppress any given point of view. In fact this is what has occurred in the last 30 years. You can argue that Phil’s issue is not first amendment (not government suppression) but it is most definitely a free speech issue. Also because electronic media are largely owned by a narrow elite characterized by it’s location in a group think bubble, there is little access to others even when some of the other are a majority. It is only in very exceptional situations that a non-elite viewpoint escapes into public space and widely seen. There is a real problem – free speech is being suppressed. Neither the government nor the private sectors are in a position to solve this problem and it is never discussed. Personally I believe that the government establishment is complicit in these developments (Just look at NPR programming for instance). Free speech is an ethic that needs to be rebuilt into our national psyche as well as true education that allows people to be exposed to the tremendous diversity in this country. Our educational “system” has failed and there is little free speech. I do not know the solution but I do see the problem.

  2. I’m for gay marriage. Not religious. Never watched Duck Dynasty. One look at this guy’s picture and I didn’t think for a minute he would be all about gay marriage. But I totally agree that this dude has the right to state his opinion, when asked and his words has been twisted till he was made out to be a complete asshole. He stated he saw sin as homosexuality, bestiality and ADULTERY as it was laid out by the Bible. I think the media is the single most destructive force to the cohesion of this country as it does not serve their purpose for anyone to get along.

  3. That is one of the best responses I have read to this ridiculousness. Watching on the news last night my husband and I were shocked that this was even news worthy…but you have to consider the sources. What exactly is wrong with being truthful about what you think? Newsflash: Homosexuality is still considered an alternative lifestyle choice by pretty much everyone who is not gay. Alternative means other. And since gay activists like to separate their comrades from everyone else and think that rather than being equal they need to be more equal–with special rights granted to them specifically for being gay, they keep this ridiculousness in the news when it is meaningless. We should be worried about what the hell is going on Washington, yesterday Veterans were dealt a severe blow, but what is everyone buzzing about in the interwebs??? This shit.

    Great article Larry, yet again you set out a reasonable argument, that the lefty loons are going to have chest pains while reading, because they can’t handle an argument backed up with crazy things like facts.

    1. It’s newsworthy because the Media is watching it’s messiah crash and burn and will do anything to turn attention away from the slow moving train wreck of ObamaCare…but they had no idea just how angry flyover country got over this stupidity…which is why Cracker Barrel and A&E rolled over and gave in…TO “HATE”. My understanding is that more and a million people contact CB to protest. After all 80% of their base clientel are rednecks. So, CB admitted that they had screwed up…just as A&E have.

      In this country, you don’t have the right to be offended by every little thing…but the professional victim class that has risen in the past 40 years thinks they do…f*ck ’em.

      I’m a religiously observant Jewish man and I firmly believe that homosexuality is a sin, just as adultery is…I don’t care what you really believe as long as you try and LIVE by what you believe. I do the best I can to follow my beliefs. I often fail, but then, I’m human. This guy is obviously trying to do the same, so I can’t fault him either.

      1. In this country, you don’t have the right to be offended by every little thing

        Actually, you do have that right. What you don’t have the right to do is to force other people to stop doing things just because they offend you.

  4. Larry, I normally agree with all your opinions but you have shocked and disappointed me: Who throws away the left twix? It’s way more liberally filled with caramel (or peanut butter).

      1. I only buy Twix from the right side of the box, and eat them both. I’ll admit, one of my Twix is more right than the other, but it gives me a bit of “roguish rule bending” along with the true blue taste I like as my foundation.

      2. It’s far more satisfying to eat the right twix, then say “Come to the dark side” while sliding the left one over.

        The twix’s tears of shame make the second taste even better.

  5. “action movie starring Jamie Foxx as a thinly veiled Barack Obama going all Die Hard in the White House against the evil military industrial complex and renegade veterans bombed with people who like action movies.”

    Someone made a movie out of that for real?

    bernie

    1. Yep. “White House Down.” Totally bombed, happily.
      The sad thing is, the producers probably don’t even realize their film failed due to its political content. They just shrug their shoulders and say, “Well, sometimes movies just fail. Oh well. On to the next Lefty fantasy disguised as an action film — this one will work!”

    2. I haven’t been to a theater in many years. So much of it’s crap, that I just wait for the DVD in the bargain bin, or to be free in Amazon Prime Video. By then, I can get honest reviews and recommendations.

      I’m enjoying my movies a lot more nowadays.

    3. It didn’t help that besides those problems, White House Down was pretty close in subject matter to Olympus Has Fallen, which came out 1-2 months before WHD. OHF was a much better action movie, without the asinine politicization.

    4. Yeah, they only make action movies with a hero president during Dem. administrations. Air Force One was during Clinton’s presidency (although then they at least had the decency to make the villains Islamist terrorists).

      1. Don’t forget Fighter Pilot Bill Clinton, highly decorated war combat veteran in Independence Day.

        In the book, the first lady thinks about how the right wing are all calling her husband a liar about having an affair, when she knows that a large part of her and their daughter’s love for him centers upon how he is utterly incapable of telling lies.

      2. I always thought the POTUS in ID4 was a Republican. There was a brief scene where a black character confesses to the First Lady that she’d voted for “the other guy.” Maybe I’m reading too much into that one line, but . . .

        Anyway FWIW I thoroughly enjoyed ID4, and frankly Thomas J Whitman came across as just the sort of President you’d like to have in office in the middle of an Alien Invasion. I personally think it’s a real shame you can’t elect fictional characters to office. -g-

  6. “So we’ve got a dude with the super controversial opinion that homosexuality is a sin, but we should still love gay people and treat them with respect. That’s so controversial that probably only half of America feels that way.”
    Nicely put. I want to add the point that this dude’s super unusual opinion is so unusual that it’s only been orthodox Christian doctrine since, oh, I don’t know, since before the birth of everyone currently alive on this planet.

    Also, I want to make some kind of “butthurt” joke but I can’t think of anything witty.

    1. Oh, it gets better.
      “Phil and his family claim to be Christian, but Phil’s lies about an entire community fly in the face of what true Christians believe,” said GLAAD spokesperson Wilson Cruz.

      Because when Phil restates the doctrine of the New Testament, the Church Fathers, the Catholic Popes, the Protestant Reformers, and the Orthodox Patriarchs, he’s clearly contradicting the “true Christians” that exist where, exactly? Maybe Cruz means the spiritual-but-not-religious Unitarian he once encountered explaining how Jesus was secretly gay since he never married.

      Bubble. Bubble. What a very insular bubble these people live in.

      1. Especially amusing since Phil also said that he would love everyone regardless, because everyone was created by the Almighty. Of course, that doesn’t fit GLAAD’s narrative.

      2. Joe,
        There is reason to think that there may have also been at least some rape.

        Pa Kennedy did not raise his boys to be particularly scrupled about how they treated women.

  7. I’m sure that there is at least one network executive type who is getting on the phone with his accountant and saying “Whatever Mr. Robertson’s price is, add five percent.”

  8. While I think Phil’s comments were ugly, I certainly don’t think he should have gotten fired for them. In my eyes, its just as wrong as firing someone for being gay.

    As I said in someone elses facebook (it might have actually been yours) that having a belief that I think is disgusting doesn’t make someone disgusting. Orson Scott Card is a great example. He’s a wonderful author, whom i disagree with on his stance on homosexuality. I’d have LOVED to read his superman stories, but I’m disappointed that I will not be able to.

    1. Why couldn’t you read Orson Scott Card’s superman stories? Is there some reason you can’t read something you obviously want to by an author who holds opinions and beliefs that are contrary to your own? Does having a different opinion or belief actually necessitate a boycott?

      1. He can’t read them because a bunch of people got all outraged that DC would pay OSC to write Superman stories, so DC truckled to the professionally offended and cancelled the project.

      2. He can’t read them because people who preach “tolerance” are completely unable to “tolerate” those who actually disagree with them & had him silenced.

        Tolerance!

      3. Because exposure would cause the evil taint soaking the pages to reach out and massage his brain with the evil. Naturally he’d then be magically possessed by the demons of extra-dimensional zombie Republicanism and that’s just right out.

    2. So because you disagree with someone over something, you won’t buy their work? Holy crap dude, do you enjoy anything in life?

      If I did that, I would be restricted to a handful of authors, I would rarely watch movies, listen to music or play video games.

      Get over it.

      1. It’s not that he won’t, it’s that he can’t. DC scrubbed the project because of the “outrage” so he never got to write them. Hence, no one can read his Superman stories, no matter how much we might want to.

      2. As previously mentioned, he can’t read the OSC superman because it was never published, DC got a lot of backlash and caved to the pressure.

      3. Not to defend Leon, because I think he’s a little whiny, but I myself try to ‘vote with my wallet’ by not giving money to people who support people who hate me (see the cast of the “We’ll Obey Obama” video for some names). That doesn’t mean I haven’t bought any music/movies/books since the early ’80s; it just means I do my best not to buy them NEW. That way I can enjoy watching (say) Clerks 2 without putting a dime into Kevin ‘Red State’ Smith’s pocket.

    3. Yes, the comments were ugly… because he spoke accurately and truthfully about an ugly subject.

      You can’t pretty up an ugly subject without going straight for the doublethink.

  9. I agree, but I noticed one concept I’d like to steal: “victimhood super powers”. May I?

    Also, this concept looks to me like a comic one. Anybody here good at drawing and wants to collaborate?

    Thanks, Ori

  10. how are you a professional writer? this article is long, rambly, and contains at least 3 different thesises. your editors deserve a major cut of your earnings cause you are making them work for it

    1. BOOM! Classic #3! I love you Checklist! 😀

      How am I a professional writer? Why I’m glad you asked, oh majestic liberal. It is because lots of people provide me large sums of money in exchange for a product I provide. This is called capitalism. You should get good at something and then look into it.

      1. Ah, and I was going to write you to say that was a great article, well written too. Isn’t this a blog, which should be allowed to be stylistically informal and rambling if need be. My only other comment is yes this is not a first amendment issue, but I would like to point out that the same kind of thinking that it is ok to shut down Phil Robertson in the private sector flows into government positions, like congress and courts and that’s when the shit hits the fans, so to speak.

    2. No, see, Larry’s a professional writer because he gets paid ($BIG_NUM) for his books, and that’s his job. I’m not a professional writer (despite having a degree in writing), because I don’t get paid for my writing. I’m a professional systems administrator because I get paid for managing computer servers. That’s what professional means. But I guess that having that English/writing degree means that I know the meaning of polysyllabic words like ‘professional’. =)

    3. ” this article is long, rambly, and contains at least 3 different thesises.”

      I would say that you are one of those sad, pathetic English majors who got a Masters or Ph.D. in English Lit or something as asinine, wanted to be a writer and failed because all you do is produced crap, but considering your small paragraph has misspelled words and poor punctuation, you are just a sad little troll.

    4. Are you going to approach a point? This is called a blog post that addresses several things. Don’t like it? The STFU and go the hell away.

      I’m sick of pretending I really give a shit what mouth breathers like you think, especially when you never even come close to making any point except to insult someone who has made a butt load more money writing than you ever have. Hell, *I* probably have made more writing than you ever have, and I couldn’t even live off of my writing.

    5. @chicago way: I notice that your comment has three sentences with only one period and one questions mark. And no capital letters anywhere.

      At least the majority of your words are correctly spelled.

      You really need to work on the ‘shaming by example’ teaching method.

    6. “thesises”
      Whut?

      We hates the plural theses, precious, we does. Just like we hates nasssty, ssneaky capitalization.

    7. Amazingly, as he mentions, he’s got a bunch of books out that have been translated into 7 languages. He’s been at the top of the New York Times and Amazon lists, AND he has a faithful following. Where does your sanctimonious screed doubting him come from? This is not professional writing, this is his personal feelings; big difference bubba.

    8. The plural of thesis is theses, not thesises. I’m not even a native English speaker and I know this. I will be expecting a check in the mail for the editing services I have provided for your comment.

  11. I’m reasonably well informed, but not sure what “cismale” means. Pretty sure looking it up would be a waste of my time. “Low nutrition content” information…

    1. I was arguing with somebody on Twitter, typical lib-prog nonsense, and they called me a cismale gendernormative fascist. I had to look it up. Cismale, means a male that was born male and self identifies a male, as in most normal guys. And gendernormative means that you believe in the traditional genders of men and women as opposed to all the weird bullshit they’ve made up lately. Of course, they meant this as an insult, so ever since it has been one of my absolute favorite sayings. 🙂

      1. So they were 2/3 right, since your opinions against fascism are pretty clear from your writing.

        Perhaps “cismale gendernormative capitalist” might be more accurate, while maintaining the invective?

      2. Good for you Larry for taking back “cismale gendernormative fascist” for us all. For too long it’s been a sign of stigma and it’s empowering to reclaim what has always been our right!

      3. “So they were 2/3 right, since your opinions against fascism are pretty clear from your writing.”

        Except that for lefties “fascist” just means “I don’t like you”. If you present them with the actual policies of, say, fascist Italy, they’ll endorse something like 95% of them.

        So they don’t care that Larry’s against fascism; when they use the word they don’t mean the political system.

        (And when someone calls fascism — national socialism — “right wing”, remind them that the person who originally labeled it that was Stalin. It was “right wing deviation” from international communism. If they want to claim that Stalin represents their political center…)

      4. So…….99.99999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999% of all men who ever lived? And we have to have a word for that?

      5. “Cis-” defined:

        Latin prefix ‘on the side of’
        antonym of ‘trans’ meaning opposite.
        “Cismale” is the antonym of “Transgender male who identifies as a woman”

        Pronounciation Guide:

        Apparently “cis-” is pronounced like “Cheese” with the trailing ‘s’ cut off abruptly.

        http://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=File%3APl-cis.ogg

        on page:
        http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/cis#Latin

        International Phonetic Alphabet:
        IPA(key): [t͡ɕis]

        I just want to let everyone know what the d-bags mean when they call you a ‘cheese male”

      6. Damn. And every time I read “cis” on my the pages of my friends who are hurling themselves into this “social justice” crap I was pronouncing it as “sis,” as in short for sister.

      7. To the collectivists, “fascist” simply means “you disagree with me, so you clearly believe in killing those who disagree with you, which is why I believe that you should be killed for disagreeing with me. Because I’m not a fascist like you.”

    2. For the peanut gallery, a “cismale” is a man who doesn’t think he’s a woman. It has an obvious counterpart in “cisfemale” (sometimes also “ciswoman”) and a less obvious one in “cis-bodied”, meaning a person who doesn’t want to be an amputee.

    1. Hey, it wouldn’t be a political post on the Monster Hunter Nation of some troll didn’t come on here and tell me what a shitty fiction writer I must be. 🙂

  12. It seems to me that a greedy capitalist pig (their words not mine although the term does apply to me) wouldn’t give a flying fart what your orientation is. Hes going to try to get your money by selling you something. OR selling something to somebody that is going to try to sell to you. Thats how capitalists work. GOOD capitalists have no social agenda except to maximize profit and expand market share where possible. Skin color nope dont care religion nope dont care. Gender nope sorry. We dont care except where it will make us more money is your money greenish or Is it Foreign and the only reason we care about that is what bank we can go to to change it into normal American money Or should we save it to when we go on vacation.

    1. That’s why a true free market is one of the best anti-discrimination forces on Earth. More government power means more opportunity for discrimination. Minimum wage laws, for example, were originally proposed to keep black people (who were often willing to work for less) out of the job market.

    2. That’s what amazes me about the pay equity types. So if the Monopoly Man can hire five women for what he’d have to pay three men, why would he hire any men at all in the first place?

      Some kind of disconnect in the way progressives think the market works. But they also think that capitalists think something’s icky about money from minorities and so they refuse to do business with them. In the interim, somebody appears to be selling merchandise to minorities, but apparently it isn’t evil capitalists.

      Liberals have an amazing ability to look right at something and see something that isn’t even there.

  13. Frankly, if I were any more “pro-gay right” (as a part of human rights) I’d have a boyfriend.

    But in my worldview “free speech” trumps. Yes, A&E is (or should be) allowed to fire someone who expresses views with which they disagree. I, OTOH, am allowed to mercilessly mock them for doing so, to avoid watching them, and to encourage others to do the same.

    Ain’t freedom grand?

      1. Can you imagine if Duck Dynasty moved to, say, the Outdoor channel? they might suddenly, you know, have real advertising money!

  14. I could not believe it when I saw this on the news this morning. While I am not gay I believe they should have the same rights as everyone else. I believe it to be a sin but it obviously wasn’t very high on the priority list or it would have made the Big Ten. In fact, Jesus Himself never addressed the issue in the New Testament. I have more than one family member that gay and their strength of character and faith are stronger than most people I know. Yet when you read my blog you will find it is very much affected by my love for my Lord Jesus Christ.

    All that being said Phil is one of my favorite TV personalities and he has as much right to express his opinions and his beliefs and should be protected from ridicule just as much as I believe that gays should be able to marry or by a house together etc.
    .
    I live in the north Georgia mountains and as you can tell by my picture that I, like Brother Phil, really don’t give a shit either. When I mentioned this to my brother, who does not watch DD, I said look at this man does he look like someone who would have a different opinion? He said well the first thing that came to his mind was the movie Deliverance! Damn….I didn’t see that coming.

    1. Adultery made the big ten, and it wasn’t differentiated by gender. Or lack thereof. Or should He have added “thou shalt not covet thy neighbor” to make it a little clearer? 🙂

      1. A close reading of the interview makes it clear that the relevant commandment was

        ‘Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s ass’

      1. Does that make you a hateful hate-filled hater full of hate? Or does opposing cismale/cisfemail heteronormitive acts bring you full into the graces of the politically correct?

      2. Joe,

        I dunno.

        I think very many people are bad people, who don’t care who it hurts as long as their buttons get pushed.

        Sex, being a powerful drive, is powerful at providing motivation for this.

        Sticking with ‘no justification for rape’, I don’t see any reason to be handing out my approval carelessly.

        There are many who don’t seem to do due diligence against the insanity, stupidity and evil that correlates with acting on the drive. I look at forethought and self restraint.

        Every society seems to have a fair amount of folks who have pederast grade willingness to avoid fulfilling their kinks when it is wrong to do so. These people would all be pederasts if they swung that way. As it is, how much they, and to some extent those the same to a lesser degree, hurt other people is purely dependent upon their ability and on the distribution of their preferences.

        How much special treatment am I giving out? How much would I have to give to be PC?

        Given that I think being easily convinced by people on these matters is a way of enabling predators, I guess it would depend on how tolerant the PC are of a wide definition of fornication.

      3. Help, Help! BobtheRegisterredFool is oppressing us!
        —————-

        Thanks for letting us know we need a position statement, BtRF

        For the record, the fornication lobby is only in favor of fornication between consenting adults, + teenagers of VERY similar ages old enough to know what they’re doing.

        Existing state laws concerning teen sex are acceptable to the Fornication Lobby. Any lobby members not liking their own state’s laws are encouraged to become politically active, or move.

        Pederasts, NAMBLA members & child rapists will be shot. (We do have standards).

      4. EH,
        I thought I had done a more careful job phrasing things than your reply indicates.

        I was trying to say that there are people, nominally adults, interested in consensual sex with adults of the opposite gender, who are loosely tied by scruples. In extreme cases, they wouldn’t blink at murder, if it got them out of a consequence they didn’t like. If they die before doing something really horrible to somebody, it may well be by chance rather than design.

        If anyone has spent any great amount of time in a good sized population, that have probably come across some such very bad people.

        I was not trying to say that all people, or all members of a particular group, were so horrible.

        NAMBLA members probably should not face capital penalties for that alone. Freedoms of speech and association and all that. Very bad people should still have the right to say horrible vile things.

        perlahqr,
        I meant to put in another response, with stuff that works better as quotes, and an invitation for you to quote them, but time and energy have not been very permissive. Mea culpa.

        Zaklog,

        Okay, maybe this fornication advocacy group wants to be inclusive of the adulterers.

        I’m fairly certain Clinton is a rapist.

        Fornication activists picking him as a spokesman would probably signify them making common cause with rape activists, supposing any of the latter actually exist. (Certainly, I have never come across any politically viable group that would admit to it under that name.)

        I had gathered that the idea was to exclude such?

        P.S. My reaction to Hillary is not ‘Oh, she stuck with him, and endured so much, how moe.’ I consider her an enabler, just as vile as the actual rapist.

  15. Well that’s pretty darn fine of ya Larry.

    Yet how typical: The libertarians and politically correct wankers will staunchly defend the rights of queers right up up to and including the point of excusing their lewd conduct at their pride parades and the perversions that go on in their bath houses. Get up on that high horse and flog it, morons. Don’t look now – but that nag is deader than a door nail!

    Just let me ask you this: now that you’ve high-fived yourselves and strutted around for standing up for the butt blasters – now that you’ve gotten them out of the closet and into their own bedrooms…and bathrooms, classrooms and courtrooms – where are your queer buddies now that the right to free speech is under assault? That’s crickets chirping, big fella.

    You are going to be shocked to learn that your queer buddies are all FOR censorship, unfair hate laws and double standards! Son of a bitch! Who woulda thunk it?!?! And who woulda seen THAT coming?!?!

    Hope you like the idea of pedophilia, dumbasses – because that is where these liberal and gay social engineers are headed next.

    You heard it here first…!!!

    1. Now that ladies and gentlemen, is how you sound like a complete moron. That comment was so many bad stereotypes rolled into one bag of dumb that I’m fairly sure this is either a plant to make all Christians look like idiots, or that special kind of rare nutball who is actually on our side, who you feverently hope keeps his idiot mouth shut while grown ups are talking.

      If A&E had fired this guy above, I don’t think anybody in America would have minded, but he seems to have missed all that love and respect stuff that most Christians, like Phil Robertson, grasp.

      You’ll note though that of all the comments on here, most of them from Christains who agree at least somewhat with Robertson, they’ve all managed to talk about their personal beliefs without turning into morons. So congratulations everyone, now next time when you’re having a discussion with somebody who doesn’t share your belief in God or maybe even trying to share the gospel, and the non-believer starts talking about rude, pushy, obnoxious stupid Christians, you now know exactly who they’re thinking of while they’re saying that.

      1. Oh stuff it, and spare me the sanctimonious crap. You condemn the politically correct platitudes even as you spout them yourself! Do you read some of the dreck you write? Suck or blow, Larry, but you can’t do both! Those stereotypes arose for a reason. Tell me this, hotshot: how many THOUSANDS of rancid, shrieking queers at a pride parade do you need to see before you admit those stereotypes are valid? I would be happy to just see a couple show up at one of those trying to assure me that most queers aren’t like the bath house butt blasters and floppy titted topless bull dykes that dominate those events There are exceptions to every rule – but they ARE the exception. And look at AIDS… maybe God doesn’t hate faggots – but Darwin sure as hell does. You can judge people by the kinds of problems they have.

        So I ask the same question again a different way: how many of your queers have come out and openly denounced A&E, Larry? Camilla Page “came out” – in favour of free speech, that is – anyone else? Where are all these exceptions to the stereotype?

        You can polish this turd all you want but I am not buying it.

        1. For the rest of you, remember earlier when I mentioned most Christians understood that whole love your brother despite their sins bit? Yeah… I struggle with that, as you’ll see here rather quickly.

          To the dumbass above:

          The only stereotype I was talking about was you, making my side look like mouth breathers, you ignorant twatwaffle. You are every bad example of how an idiot can mistake dumb and loud for brave and righteous, all rolled into one ball of odd homoerotic fixation. So how about a nice warm cup of shut the fuck up?

          I missed the part where I said I expected anybody else to stand up for anything. This here is my opinion page. Go annoy somebody who gives a shit what some anonymous internet pussy, submoronic troglodyte thinks. Stormfront is that way. In other words, FUCK OFF.

  16. I think it’s a little absurd to act as though the right is just super accepting of differing opinions. Yeah, the left has its issues too, but getting all “something something SOCIALISTS HATE PEOPLE WHO THINK DIFFERENTLY” while ignoring the fact that Rush Limbaugh and Sarah Palin bitched out Pope Francis for saying maybe we shouldn’t be dicks to poor people is kinda ridiculous. Or that the political wing who’s entirely responsible for wanting to ban gay marriage because they think it skeeves out Jesus (not saying you feel that way, but Republicans and conservatives in both Congress and state legislatures are the ones voting for their religion to become law) is somehow more tolerant than the wing who thinks that’s stupid.

    That said, I’m more or less with you on this. I think the guy’s an idiot about this particular topic, sure, and A&E has every right to fire him if they want, but the whole thing just makes me think “Okay, so, an older Southern guy isn’t big on gay marriage. And?…” It’d be like being surprised that your average 20-something from San Francisco favors gun control.

    1. A) I’m not seeing in the material Larry quotes, anything specifically addressing gay ‘marriage’.
      B) The problem with Francis isn’t that he hopes to help the poor, it is that he is naively optimistic about the utility of certain mechanisms for doing so.
      C) Re: How reasonable the left and right are in their positions. If two adults in agreement can define ‘marriage’ however they like, why shouldn’t two adults in agreement be about to define ’employment’ however they like? From this perspective, Republicans favoring certain definitions of marriage are little different from Democrats favoring, oh, minimum wage, labor laws, and the department of labor. Or, for that matter, Obamacare.

    2. “Republicans and conservatives in both Congress and state legislatures are the ones voting for their religion to become law”

      Really? Democrats *NEVER* try to make their religion become law? Environmentalism? Their bizarre faith that central control will make for a free and vibrant society?

      1. He didn’t say they don’t. In fact they do all the time. But so do republicans. What you just did is called deflection. It’s a bad debate tactic. Don’t do it.

    3. “something something SOCIALISTS HATE PEOPLE WHO THINK DIFFERENTLY” while ignoring the fact that Rush Limbaugh and Sarah Palin bitched out Pope Francis for saying maybe we shouldn’t be dicks to poor people is kinda ridiculous”

      – Now that little bit right there is some artful arranging of straw.

      And you listened to Rush and Palin’s response to the Pope? It was “bitching out” as opposed to having a discussion on how capitalism is one of the best things that’s ever come along to improve the human condition? And the pope’s statement was entirely we shouldn’t be dicks to poor people, except for those bits about capitalism versus socialism, which even the Vatican quickly tried to backtrack and issued clarifying statements on. So way to take a complex statement and a responding multi-hour long monologue about divergent political systems and reduce it down to some soundbytes, sort of like how Phil Robertson totally said gay sex leads to beastiality and terrorism.

      As for socialists hate people who think differently, pretty much. Those of us who think differently get to see it all the time. See my note with the * at the end of the blog post above if you’re one of those special snowflakes who isn’t that way. Goody for you.

      1. Governments have tried to cure poverty by the use of socialism for nearly a century now.

        It hasn’t worked, and makes things worse for the poor people.

        Thus, if more socialism is what the pope is advocating, then he, sad to say, is the one “being a dick to the poor”.

      2. To be fair to the Pope, as a native Argentinian he has little or no experience with actual capitalism or the free market. All he’s seen in action was crony capitalism.

        Generally people who condemn “unrestrained capitalism” are unaware that it has never actually existed. It’s the political and economic equivalent to a frictionless surface or a perfect vacuum.

  17. I’m thinking t-shirts. There were so many awesome lines in this post that I would love to buy shirts for my right wing family. Of course, I’d probably need a bulletproof vest to wear them in California.

    “Everybody is a victim of someone’s disapproval, so grow the fuck up.” Can I have it in rainbow colors?

    “America, somebody somewhere doesn’t like something you believe in, grow a pair.” So true it hurts.

    I still, to this day, crack up about your description of Obama’s “lavender scented feelings”. Pure brilliance.

    Thank you, Larry!

  18. Reblogged this on SonWorshiper and commented:
    IF you haven’t gotten sick of thoughts about Phil Robertson’s comments about homosexuality, read this. It’s lengthy but imho absolutely spot on… since my short rant didn’t completely express how I feel.

  19. Bless you Larry Corriea, You managed to stretch out my enjoyment of the whole A&E event. Laughed my ass off! I’m sure Glen Beck has some Prime time space the Duck Men could use! Oh this is sooo much fun.

  20. I read the entire GQ article. I didn’t find a single thing wrong with the reporter or how the article was written. Drew Magary seemed to me to be very fair and unbiased. He freely admits he is out of his element and seemed genuinely envious and humbled by the experience. So I have a hard time hating on him or GQ. Different people are different.

    As to the controversial statement, he said a bit more later on. I suspect that A&E took issue with all of it rather than just the bit quoted above. Not that that’s not still stupid on their part. It is. But hey… they have an idea of what image they want to craft for their show, and that wasn’t part of it. Cest le vie.

    Finally, as to the show itself, it’s ultimately no better than Keeping Up With The Kardashians. Both shows are two sides of the same coin; a mindless spectacle put on in order to grab your eyeballs. So when the Kardashians or Snooki and JWOWW have their shows cancelled, everyone should be sure to be outraged about that too.

    1. ah, clearly you have your bias goggles firmly affixed. I read the article, and was struck by the staggering amount of Snark, Smug, and Sneer.

      Writer did everything short of walking up and pissing in Robertson’s face.

      1. I wonder how much of the writing style was due to the author playing to his audience. I can’t read it without imagining a “nudge nudge, wink wink” in every line.

    2. ” I suspect that A&E took issue with all of it rather than just the bit quoted above.”

      I suspect you’re right. Of course, I suspect that A&E is run by pinheads who knew exactly what they were getting with the Robertsons but didn’t care because one of their original purposes was to point and laugh at the rednecks. The problem A&E has now is that those rednecks don’t care what A&E or GLAAD think of them, and will be happy to take their millions of fans that allow A&E to make money selling ads and go elsewhere. And there’s lots of elsewhere to go to.

    3. I don’t know if you have seen it or not, but the specific A&E exec who decided to suspend Pat took issue with the “comparison” of homosexuality to bestiality.
      Even though no such comparison was made, that was what the exec heard, and what GLADD was complaining about.
      This whole controversy is over a statement the offend party _thinks_ they heard, rather than what was actually said.

  21. And am I the only one who has noticed a reselemblance between Obama Pajama Guy and Mikey from “Teenage Strangler”?

    1. No. They aren’t discriminating against him for being a Christian. They are discriminating against him for acting like a Christian.

    2. Somebody finally points this out. Under a normal employment relationship, which may not apply here because of the nature of television and performers, etc, individuals are protected BY LAW from discrimination in employment based on their religion. Whether or not these laws should exist is a separate question, one that Larry has already weighed in on obliquely. The fact is they DO exist, and the folks who like to take credit for them are the very same liberals who are charging forth calling for Robertson’s head.

      They hypocrisy would be stunning if it weren’t so tediously mundane over the last 30 years. In Lefty/Liberal World, the principle that you can’t be fired for your beliefs only applies as long as your beliefs line up with Lefty/Liberal Worldview.

      1. I’m betting since it is entertainment I’d be surprised if the contract wasn’t written in such a way for A&E to avoid any actual civil rights violation. They may be bad at math, but I’m assuming they had decent lawyers draw up the contracts. 🙂

        And even if there was, I don’t think I’d hold my breath for the Holder Justice Department to swoop in and investiage.

      2. “I don’t think I’d hold my breath for the Holder Justice Department to swoop in and investigate.”

        Doesn’t matter; the Robertsons are now in a position to do to GLAAD and A&E what GLAAD likes to do to others: file a lawsuit where the process is the punishment and force both GLAAD and A&E to spend lots of money proving A&E’s lawyers did a good job drawing up the contracts.

        Larry, this is why your point#3 in the basics of the case is no longer true: when the government sets up a legal regime where any private entity can conduct lawfare against another private entity and use the government as a weapon, everything is a First Amendment question.

  22. “We are all created by the Almighty and like Him, I love all humanity. We would be better off if we loved God and loved each other.”

    Sounds like a ’60s hippy. We all know how hate-filled those folks were.

  23. Larry,
    Once again I was about to chime in on this issue on my own platform, when along you come and pen a piece which renders my feeble scratchings pointless….thanks for nothing you eeeevil capitalist overachiever….in protest I will simply link your article……
    You neailed it !

  24. As someone who lives in Uruguay, i got the news like this: “Phil Robertson Duck Dynasty star, get banned form Show for saying beeing gay leads to bestiality and terrorisim..” I kid you not. I had watch the Duck Dynasty a cuple of times and i liked the family values that it shows. So i was a little shock when i read the news. But after a little web search i came to the same conclusion Larry did.

    I consider myself an Agnostic and a live and let live kind of guy. But this is bullshit, the man only said what he believes (you can agree or not and that is just fine) and they treat him like the worst kind of scumbag? Man sometimes i don’t get people…

    BTW Larry i love your books and the way you stand your ground for what you believe in even when sometimes i don’t totally agree with you.

  25. The Lavender Mafia don’t have to have a well-founded philosophical basis. They rely upon force and intimidation as much as any other group of thugs. This makes them no less dangerous.

  26. Honestly it bugs me more that some folks are already labeling him racist. I looked at his statement on working during the depression and although it strikes me as a little naive, it was based off a personal experience where he works side by side with people of all colors. Instead, we’re already getting folks who take his statements regarding welfare and twisting them to mean he opposed the civil rights movement. Never mind the fact the article goes on to mention him having an biracial grandchild, that axe isn’t going to grind itself.

    1. Once again, it’s call skimming until offended. Phil mentioned back in his youth he used to work in the cotton fields (hey, he was poor) with black field hands, and they were happy. That is until the government and their subsidy machine got a hold of them. That’s what’s call racist.

      1. That’s my point I read that and put it into context, other people aren’t. If you misunderstood me before, I’m sorry.

  27. Larry,

    I have to disagree with this: “This is not an 1st Amendment issue”, IN PRINCIPLE.

    What do I mean by that? I mean that the 1st Amendment is MORE than simply a Constitutional element. It is the codification and application to GOVERNMENT of a constituting element of our society. It is one of the foundational principles by which we Americans live with one another.

    You are being incredibly obtuse in your dismissal of the 1st Amendment, all the while that you invoke the very principles underlying it. Freedom of religion? Check. Freedom of Speech? Check. Freedom of Association? Check. There’s 3 elements of the 1st.

    While it IS sloppy usage that conflates the 1st Amendment as a theoretical (sadly) limitation on government, it is slop that is as much rooted in rhetorical shorthand as it is in sloppy thinking. A&E is violating 2 of the principles encapsulated in the 1st Amendment, while clearly exercising a third. Engage the principles while linking them back to the 1st. (btw, doing so allows drive-by hammer blows against the NM and OR ass-hattery.)

    Frankly, I’d love to see Robertson bring an EEOC suit against A&E, which brings the government right into it. It would be a joy to see the Lefties squirm upon the hoist of their own petard. In a rational world, such a suit would result in A&E winning, and the entire creaky EE regime disallowed. The prospect of seeing one of their favorite bureaucratic bludgeons annihilated would distress them greatly.

    And nothing would sound better to my ears than the lamentations of their girly-men.

    1. I think it’s really much more about property rights than 1st Amendment rights. The right to use your own property the way you want.

      A&E has a right to express their opinion by exercising their right to NOT have to say things they don’t want to on their TV network.

      McDonald’s has a right to fire any employee who recommends to customers that they leave and buy lunch at Burger King.

      Or your right to remove from your own front lawn, campaign signs for dirtbag politicians you hate.

      It’s A&E’s network, McDonald’s store and employee pay, and your front lawn.

      1A is about the *government* shutting you up. E.g. the IRS selectively auditing conservative political organizations, their officers, and donors to shut them up and/or damage them.

      1. And then, a few years from now, this precident is used when some Fudd get fired from a gun rag for advocating more ‘reasonable restrictions’ on guns.

        Let’s keep the government out of this, hmmm?

      2. In this we differ slightly. As far as I’m concerned, employment is ALWAYS a freedom of association issue first and foremost. I do understand your perspective though, and certainly wouldn’t be averse to it actually be applied equally.

      3. Remember, the First Amendment doesn’t grant you your right to free speech, it protects your rights from the government. A&E is absolutely infringing on Mr. Robertson’s freedom of expression. This is a case where A&E’s freedom of association conflicts with Roberson’s freedom of expression.

        Personally, I’d prefer a society where you can’t get fired for something you say outside of an official position. An employer can be just as crushing of the dissent necessary for a properly-functioning democracy as the government.

      4. Jeff, see my comment to Larry above:

        “Larry, this is why your point#3 in the basics of the case is no longer true: when the government sets up a legal regime where any private entity can conduct lawfare against another private entity and use the government as a weapon, everything is a First Amendment question.”

        The government IS shutting you up. When such as GLAAD can use the courts and various government agencies to enforce what it can’t enforce itself, that is nothing but the government shutting you up. And when they can force a business to fire you because otherwise the government will be after them, that’s 1st Amendment blackletter.

  28. “Meanwhile, look at Phil Robertson.

    [pic]

    Does that man strike you as the sort of person who gives a shit? He looks like somebody who would have hung out with Bubba Shackleford.”

    Hung out with? I thought that WAS Bubba Shackleford!

  29. So my question is what is wrong with poligamoy? Three people that love each other, OK four, Ok they don’t have to be of different sexs? Why is marrage between two people? That’s just narrow minded? I want to start a hate blog! I love the Mormans in Texas

    Honestly even if I could have more than one wife I wouldn’t. If you read your Bible you’ll find any man that had more than one wife had nothing but trouble. That said the penility for poligimy is two Mmother-in-laws.

    Really, this whole thing is stupid and I hope the Robertsons move their program to FOX.

    I had a bumper sticker on my car. Somebody distroyed it. I wish I knew who did it so I could thank them for proving my point. It said,” Liberals preach tolerance and diversity but pratice neither when faced with opinions different from their own”.

  30. I have never watched an episode. Anyone watching television isn’t spending time reading and learning about how our country is about to fall. Homosexuality is a BIG part of that. I’m not religious. People who believe in imaginary sky-gods watching their every ‘sin’ is also a BIG part of it. Gone are the days of picket fences, sock-hops, hot-rods, and fishing trips with dad to the local watering hole. NOW, people are concerning themselves with whether or not two disgusting degenerates are allowed to ‘marry’. Just keep squirting out the babies. Who cares if you can feed ’em? Sorry, OT, I know. At least so-called ‘Christians’ have some sense of right and wrong, whereas, Libs, not so much.

  31. This I’d The Best Article I’ve Read In A Long, Long Time! Thank You For Putting Some Perspective Out There- Hilarious!

  32. First disclaimer-English is my 3rd language so although I am fluent my grammar and punctuation sucks.

    USA is supposed to be a place of tolerance for individual as long as that
    individual does not infringe on liberties of others.By that standard Mr.Robertson expressed his own beliefs which do not at any point cross in to “hate speech”.
    I hope this conservative/liberal divide gets a dose of common sense in near future before all citizens are morphed into “voting blocks” and “consumers”.
    Place I am from went through vile civil war under guise of religious strife
    with no purpose in it except to cement power and privilege of ruling class -those with “good blood”.God willing no one here sees first hand what that means.

  33. I just a gay liberal tell my that discrimination against rednecks isn’t a “real problem.” That rednecks don’t suffer “social repercussions for being who they are.” That rednecks choose to act that way.

    Aren’t most rednecks born that way?

  34. I honestly don’t understand what the fuss is about. He was asked his opinion, he gave it. Done. Liberal/Conservative, Gay/Straight, who cares? I think people just like to get outraged.

  35. Love your stuff, Larry, but speaking of *really* repetitive, I suspect the vast majority of your blog readers already know you’re a “bestselling novelist.” 😉

    1. Considering repeating something which less then 1/1000000 achieve I wish i could parrot Larry’s achievement.Best I can do is have 11 years of school after high school and have not comminuted single felony in last 15 years since I came to USA .Also trying to be a citizen who contributes to country which gave me everything with only demand to leave dirt of old life/country/war behind while working to become citizen.So Larry ,You are best selling author and I hope to keep hearing same fact till day I kick bucket and join rest of family which went before me.Best of wishes to You(Larry)and to your family.I am MD and i can truly say you brought more good in life’s of more ppl then any 3 Mds combined.We know how to help ppl one by one ,You know how to without preaching teach what it means to be a good man.With respect
      Boris

  36. My last 2$45 cents in.
    Sin or lack of,including repentance is part of christianinty and has nothing to do with legal system.Only with personal conscience and person remaining in fellowship(Church) of ppl w like beliefs.
    Constitution is law of land along with Ammandments,first 10 being “Bill of Rights”.It is open to interpretation only to SCOUS or change through state vide national referendum.Problem is that Constitution and ammendments are being ignored or perverted without due process and
    We The People are becoming “consumers”.
    Worst comes to worst Ill become ritch by writing “Socialisam sourvival guide”,hope to rope in Larry and Mike to do writing part,Ill do rest of heavy lifting.

  37. Dear Larry,
    Great blog, thanks so much for writing it. I am going to shamelessly repeat the line about throwing away the left-side twix. So will I have to pay you royalities on that? So you can build another palatial mansion and sleep on huge piles of hundred dollar bills? 🙂

    1. Actually, the whole left/right Twix thing is based on a set of commercials for the candy bar, where you have competing factories with such biases, even apparent termination (possibly in more than one meaning) if you eat the other side’s bar…

  38. We’re all of you this outraged over Alec Baldwin loosing his show over the comments he made? Or does one have to hide behind Bronze Age mythology in in order to be excused for bigotry?

    1. Are you kidding? I was majorly bummed they fired Alec Baldwin. I was so excited, looking forward to his inevitable on air freak out/melt down!

    2. “We’re” = Were.
      “loosing” = losing.
      “Bronze Age”= Roman Empire, which-depending on the dating scheme you favor- is either ca. 600 or 1200 years later.

      If you’re going to claim some kind of intellectual superiority out of your bigoted athiesm (but I repeat myself), it might help if you actually knew how to spell common words and had a clue about real history.

  39. “Perpetually offended?” That rings a bell. I’ve been describing them as “perpetually indignant” for years and years now. 🙂

  40. I’ve never heard of cisnale gender normative whatever. And I was in an English Ph.D program. Odd.

    How about the comments about godly blacks who had an okay life under segregation? And the other part of the quotation after the benign bit about the anus, because you’re correct, most men think the idea of putting penis in another man’s anus is quite repellent. That’s a very normal straight male’s view, even one as pro-LGBT and “straight ally” as they come? It’s fine to write an article where you close read a passage–in fact, a lost art in our illiterate age–but it’s not persuasive when you cite only those passages which make your point.

    The second part of the anus passage was far more vicious/hateful and then of course the bit about blacks. Yet you didn’t cite that, though I do acknowledge you for not having made it a First Amendment issue, given this is not the government persecuting him for the statement of his religious views.

  41. So, here’s one little thing extra bit I suspect drove A&E to make what is looking like a horrible decision.

    My guess is that A&E management is so in the bubble that they thought their viewers saw things just like A&E did and were going to demand an apology from Phil. A&E probably figured they were really smart to get ahead of this.

    I imagine that they also expected that Phil was so desperate to stay on TV that he would immediately prostrate himself on the altar of PC. Because isn’t that what you do if you accidentally say something politically verboten?

    Wrong on both counts.

  42. From the article: “3.This is not an 1st Amendment issue, and don’t waste your time saying it is, because it isn’t the government punishing Robertson’s use of free speech, it is a private entity, and private entities are allowed to choose who they want to do business with (unless of course you are a Christian baker who doesn’t want to make gay wedding cakes because hate crime or something).”

    Correia is right that this isn’t a 1st Amendment issue, but if businesses could choose who to do business with it would still be legal for lunch counters to put up “No Blacks” signs and the baker would be perfectly within his rights to refuse service to gays. Those days went away with passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Title VII of the Act prohibits discrimination by covered employers on the basis of race, color, religion, sex or national origin. Firing someone.. err, okay ‘indefinitely suspending someone’ because you don’t like their religious beliefs treads very close to violation of the Civil Rights Act.

    A&E would be within their rights to edit out any such comments made for their cameras, but firing Phil Robertson.. err, ‘indefinitely suspending him’ for expressing his religious beliefs in someone else’s forum? He ought to sue….

  43. “I missed the part where I said I expected anybody else to stand up for anything. This here is my opinion page. Go annoy somebody who gives a shit what some anonymous internet pussy, submoronic troglodyte thinks. Stormfront is that way. In other words, FUCK OFF.”

    I think I’m in love, Larry. 😀

    A thousand thanks to Instapundit for directing me here.

    Great post, too, by the way.

  44. This whole story is one big squirrel to get people to talk about anything but the real story of the day … The explosion of Obamacare on the launch pad. If you really want to piss off liberals, change the subject to why so many millions MORE people are going into the new year uninsured than were uninsured last year.

  45. Doggone it! I really do not have the time to read all your novels, but now I’m going to have to read them, since I’m not about to buy books and not read them.

    You write well.

  46. Julie Frost, Larry Correia will never be a “real” writer until he writes a series about telepathic vegan polysexual cat-whales who oppose fascism and un-green living.

    Oh, and who were abused as children.

    By some kind of priest.

    Invading their planet for resources.

  47. I’d wager the Executive staff at A&E demanded an apology because they have much more in common with GLAAD than they do with fly over country.

    The interesting question is whether A&E will stand by their dogma and throw away a major revenue source or will they find a way to climb down.

    If they do climb down, will they sabotage the show? Slowly, over a year. Perhaps have it edited by people who love GLAAD more than they love their neighbor?

  48. ” I don’t like your *&(( *%$^ed Religion!” Is fairly common and inspired the establishment clause and free practice clause in article I of the Bill of Rights. Too bad the sissies just ignore it.

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