# Disturbed that Duck Dynasty Phil's \*racism\* is getting overlooked **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 20, 2013, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disturbed-that-duck-dynasty-phils-racism-is-getting-overlooked/676788 "2013-12-20T02:10:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2013, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disturbed-that-duck-dynasty-phils-racism-is-getting-overlooked/676788/121 "2013-12-23T02:38:40Z")
[http://www.ajc.com/news/news/national/congressional-candidate-likens-duck-dynasty-star-r/ncRQM/](http://www.ajc.com/news/news/national/congressional-candidate-likens-duck-dynasty-star-r/ncRQM/) ---
**Author:** ![RandMcnally](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b782af/32.png) [@RandMcnally](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RandMcnally)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2013, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disturbed-that-duck-dynasty-phils-racism-is-getting-overlooked/676788/122 "2013-12-23T04:11:32Z")
> [@monstro](#): > > What’s with the smilie face, **carnivorousplant**? > > You have heard of [Rosewood](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosewood_massacre), right? And [Tulsa](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tulsa_race_riot)? And [DC riot of 1919](http://atlantablackstar.com/2013/12/04/8-successful-aspiring-black-communities-destroyed-white-neighbors/3/)? > I hope you have heard of these stories and that I am being severely whooshed. (S)he has. In fact, I specifically pointed two of those out before in post 127 of [this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=15317811). ---
**Author:** ![CarnalK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnalk/32/486_2.png) [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2013, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disturbed-that-duck-dynasty-phils-racism-is-getting-overlooked/676788/123 "2013-12-23T04:52:45Z")
> [@GusNSpot](#): > > How many posters in this thread are not white? By a casual glance, over 3? What number would prove whatever point you have? ---
**Author:** ![GusNSpot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gusnspot/32/436_2.png) [@GusNSpot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GusNSpot)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2013, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disturbed-that-duck-dynasty-phils-racism-is-getting-overlooked/676788/124 "2013-12-23T06:12:53Z")
> [@CarnalK](#): > > By a casual glance, over 3? What number would prove whatever point you have? Just curious, not trying to make a point, that is just your opinion which has no basis in fact. 😛 I do not know these posters color, not any posters really, unless I have seen them in person or have seen a picture to know what color is their skin. But this does reinforce my opinion that on the SDMB, there will always be those that make the most odious interpretation of any post from people they do not know. Yeah yeah, I know, that in itself is a form of racism … Bawahahaha ---
**Author:** ![yawuntz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/a5b964/32.png) [@yawuntz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yawuntz)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2013, 6:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disturbed-that-duck-dynasty-phils-racism-is-getting-overlooked/676788/125 "2013-12-23T06:56:03Z")
**"Pre-entitlement** , pre-welfare, you say: Were they happy? They were godly; they were happy; no one was singing the blues.” I’m wondering what’s this “entitlement” he refers to that American blacks were happy before they had it. The Civil Rights Act? Voting Rights Act? Human rights in general? Too bad Phil’s not here to expand on that, but I suppose we can work around it. But what does he mean? Before there was welfare, and the right to vote and various other rights, blacks were happy? So - what? - it wasn’t necessary to establish these rights because everybody was already happy anyway ? Or these “entitlements” somehow interfered with the happiness of blacks? ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2013, 8:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disturbed-that-duck-dynasty-phils-racism-is-getting-overlooked/676788/126 "2013-12-23T08:14:03Z")
I’m also shocked by his “no one was singing the blues” comment. It’s one thing to be racist, but it’s worse to be so ignorant of the history of American music. ---
**Author:** ![Doggo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/87869e/32.png) [@Doggo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doggo)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2013, 8:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disturbed-that-duck-dynasty-phils-racism-is-getting-overlooked/676788/127 "2013-12-23T08:48:44Z")
I’ve never watched it, but given the bits of it aired on the opinion shows I do watch, my only question is why does anyone watch it, let alone it being the most popular reality show on cable? My mind is boggled. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2013, 10:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disturbed-that-duck-dynasty-phils-racism-is-getting-overlooked/676788/128 "2013-12-23T10:12:01Z")
I blame the reporter. This was supposed to be a standard fluff piece about Phil. Ask him about his family, duck hunting, his duck call business. Thousands of these celebrity profiles are written and published each year. This dickwad waits until he’s got Phil away from A&E’s PR Rep to slip in his tabloid questions. Phil should have been smarter. He should have smiled and said, _next question please._ Don’t feed the troll Reporter’s tabloid questions. The Reporter knew its almost impossible for any 70 year old Southerner not to get tripped up. I think most of us have heard our grandparents say stuff that makes us cringe. It’s not from hate. These people grew up in the 40’s and 50’s. They were almost adults when the Civil Rights Movement \*began \*with Brown v Board of Education 1954. Segregation didn’t fully end in states like Louisiana until the very late 1950’s. Phil was about to enter college then. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2013, 10:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disturbed-that-duck-dynasty-phils-racism-is-getting-overlooked/676788/129 "2013-12-23T10:40:04Z")
I just read the GQ article. When did GQ become a tabloid? The entire tone of this article is like the reporter went to Mars to observe the funny little aliens. The GQ magazines I read twenty-five years ago weren’t like this. When did reporters start cursing in their articles? Does he even know Phil is saying the basically the same thing as the Sierra Club? Theres nothing weird about loving the beauty of nature. This article was a hatchet job from the very start. > [@](#): > > As we drive out into the woods, past a sign that reads parish maintenance ends, Phil is telling me all about the land around us and how the animals are a glorious gift from God and how blowing their heads off is part of His plan for us. > > “Look at this,” he says, gesturing to the surrounding wilderness. “The Almighty gave us this. Genesis 9 is where the animals went wild, and God gave them wildness. After the flood, that’s when he made animals wild. Up until that time, everybody was vegetarian. After the flood, he said, ‘I’m giving you everything now. Animals are wild.’” > [@](#): > > He eventually sold half the company to his son Willie, now 41, and together they made a DVD series about the family’s duck hunts, which led to a show on the Outdoor Channel, which led to Duck Dynasty on A&E, which led to everything blowing right the fuck up. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2013, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disturbed-that-duck-dynasty-phils-racism-is-getting-overlooked/676788/130 "2013-12-23T12:39:42Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > I blame the reporter. \ The Reporter knew its almost impossible for any 70 year old Southerner not to get tripped up. A 70 year old Southerner would have been 19 or 20, IIRC, when MLK Jr. and his marchers were being attacked by dogs and with firehoses in Selma. And would have been in his teens for a ton of other scenes from the desegregation of the South, like when students needed a few battalions of soldiers to protect them from being victims of mob violence as they broke the color line. The 70 year old Southerner has to _choose_ to be unaware that it was different for blacks. > [@](#): > > Segregation didn’t fully end in states like Louisiana until the very late 1950’s. Phil was about to enter college then. Can’t speak to Louisiana specifically, but in “states like” Louisiana, it was more like the early to mid 1960s. Phil couldn’t have missed it. And even someone just entering college as segregation was brought to an end, it would have been impossible for him to miss. He has no excuse. Blaming the reporter is bullshit. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2013, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disturbed-that-duck-dynasty-phils-racism-is-getting-overlooked/676788/131 "2013-12-23T13:10:28Z")
Not everybody is that introspective. I gave the example of Jimmy Carter earlier. Carter spent a lot of time and thought reevaluating his childhood, the culture he lived in and what he could do to change it. He’s focused on poverty issues much of his career. He was a early leader for Habitat for Humanity. He made a point to change his life from the culture he grew up in. I’m not defending Phil. He’s just like my grandparents. A plain spoken man who probably has never really considered the world he grew up in. The guy spent most of his adult life in a shed building duck calls. From what I’ve read the Robertsons respect everybody. Willie adopted a biracial son and is an advocate for others doing the same. Phil screwed up that interview and was insensitive. He’s been taken to task for it and suspended. Which is appropriate. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2013, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disturbed-that-duck-dynasty-phils-racism-is-getting-overlooked/676788/132 "2013-12-23T13:20:09Z")
I can remember having to walk away when my grandparents said things that made me cringe. Was I going to tear apart our relationship by ripping into them? People in their seventies aren’t going to change. Yelling and arguing with them won’t change anything. It’s best to just love them and focus on the good things they do. Enjoy the pies and cakes grandmother bakes. It’s the younger generations that will reshape society. Forty years from now people in their twenties will be disgusted with opinions we hold today. Society will change and evolve for the better over time. ---
**Author:** ![Falchion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a88e57/32.png) [@Falchion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Falchion)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2013, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disturbed-that-duck-dynasty-phils-racism-is-getting-overlooked/676788/133 "2013-12-23T13:44:14Z")
> [@Ayatollah Yawuntz](#): > > **"Pre-entitlement** , pre-welfare, you say: Were they happy? They were godly; they were happy; no one was singing the blues.” > > I’m wondering what’s this “entitlement” he refers to that American blacks were happy before they had it. The Civil Rights Act? Voting Rights Act? Human rights in general? Too bad Phil’s not here to expand on that, but I suppose we can work around it. > > But what does he mean? Before there was welfare, and the right to vote and various other rights, blacks were happy? So - what? - it wasn’t necessary to establish these rights because everybody was already happy anyway ? Or these “entitlements” somehow interfered with the happiness of blacks? It’s funny. When people talk about “entitlements” or “entitlement spending” in polticial discourse, I had beleived that they were refering to social security, medicare, possibly things like food stamps, etc. It was not until this scandal that I realized that the talk of “entitlement reform” was about eliminating the Voting Rights Act or the Civil Rights Act. ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2013, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disturbed-that-duck-dynasty-phils-racism-is-getting-overlooked/676788/134 "2013-12-23T16:43:52Z")
> [@Falchion](#): > > … It was not until this scandal that I realized that the talk of “entitlement reform” was about eliminating the Voting Rights Act or the Civil Rights Act. Missed this then, > [@](#): > > ``` > [JUSTICE SCALIA:](http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2013/02/27/1646891/scalia-voting-rights-act-is-perpetuation-of-racial-entitlement/) Well, maybe it was making that judgment, Mr. Verrilli. But that’s — that’s a problem that I have. This Court doesn’t like to get involved in — in racial questions such as this one. It’s something that can be left — left to Congress. > > The problem here, however, is suggested by the comment I made earlier, that the initial enactment of this legislation in a — in a time when the need for it was so much more abundantly clear was — in the Senate, there — it was double-digits against it. And that was only a 5-year term. > > Then, it is reenacted 5 years later, again for a 5-year term. Double-digits against it in the Senate. Then it was reenacted for 7 years. Single digits against it. Then enacted for 25 years, 8 Senate votes against it. And this last enactment, not a single vote in the Senate against it. And the House is pretty much the same. Now, I don’t think that’s attributable to the fact that it is so much clearer now that we need this. I think it is attributable, very likely attributable, to a phenomenon that is called perpetuation of racial entitlement. It’s been written about. Whenever a society adopts racial entitlements, it is very difficult to get out of them through the normal political processes. > > I don’t think there is anything to be gained by any Senator to vote against continuation of this act. And I am fairly confident it will be reenacted in perpetuity unless — unless a court can say it does not comport with the Constitution. You have to show, when you are treating different States differently, that there’s a good reason for it. > > That’s the — that’s the concern that those of us who — who have some questions about this statute have. It’s — it’s a concern that this is not the kind of a question you can leave to Congress. There are certain districts in the House that are black districts by law just about now. And even the Virginia Senators, they have no interest in voting against this. The State government is not their government, and they are going to lose — they are going to lose votes if they do not reenact the Voting Rights Act. > > Even the name of it is wonderful: The Voting Rights Act. Who is going to vote against that in the future? > > ``` CMC ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2013, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disturbed-that-duck-dynasty-phils-racism-is-getting-overlooked/676788/135 "2013-12-23T17:02:13Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > You’re right. I’ll bet Louisiana’s racial attitudes during Robertson’s youth were totally healed from that earlier history. If the author wishes to make that point then the author can show facts which prove it. ---
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2013, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disturbed-that-duck-dynasty-phils-racism-is-getting-overlooked/676788/136 "2013-12-23T17:52:08Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > A 70 year old Southerner would have been 19 or 20, IIRC, when MLK Jr. and his marchers were being attacked by dogs and with firehoses in Selma. But don’tcha know, according to that Republican running for Congress in Illinois, Phil is the new Rosa Parks! :smack: ---
**Author:** ![GusNSpot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gusnspot/32/436_2.png) [@GusNSpot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GusNSpot)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2013, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disturbed-that-duck-dynasty-phils-racism-is-getting-overlooked/676788/137 "2013-12-23T19:05:31Z")
At any point where I want to pick a side, in **these** kinds of situations, 99% of the time it will be against the reporter/interviewer. All this sound & fury over what a newly minted TV Star, who is an old man from the hills, is just silly. Who is going to change their beliefs over his words? Those that believe that way already are not going to change. All the super informed, politically correct, highly educated, worldly and articulate here are not going to change their minds. But I wonder why a lot of the folks here have the lynch mob mentality of joy and satisfaction over the penalties he has received. For me, his actions through his life, past & present, means immeasurably more to me than some words said in an interview. Especially how ‘that’ interview was conducted. Much ado about nothing IMO. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2013, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disturbed-that-duck-dynasty-phils-racism-is-getting-overlooked/676788/138 "2013-12-23T19:15:31Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > Not everybody is that introspective. How introspective did you have to be back in 1964 or whichever year they turned the Pettus Bridge into a battleground, to notice what was going on? ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2013, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disturbed-that-duck-dynasty-phils-racism-is-getting-overlooked/676788/139 "2013-12-23T19:18:51Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > If the author wishes to make that point then the author can show facts which prove it. Not gonna waste my time proving water is wet, that the sun rises in the east, or that Thanksgiving usually falls on Thursday. This needs to be proven one more time about as much as it needs to be proven one more time that the Civil War was about slavery. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2013, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disturbed-that-duck-dynasty-phils-racism-is-getting-overlooked/676788/140 "2013-12-23T21:39:39Z")
> [@GusNSpot](#): > > But I wonder why a lot of the folks here have the lynch mob mentality of joy and satisfaction over the penalties he has received. To be clear, a lynch mob is not what you’re seeing here. Here you’re seeing a bunch of people glad that a bigot is being publicly called out for his bigotry. A lynch mob is what John Jones saw in Louisiana in 1946, or what Deputy O’Neal Moore saw in Louisiana in 1965, as their final sights–although I’m sure they weren’t saying anything about those doggone white people as they were being murdered. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disturbed-that-duck-dynasty-phils-racism-is-getting-overlooked/676788.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disturbed-that-duck-dynasty-phils-racism-is-getting-overlooked/676788.md?page=8)