# 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:** 7\ **Page:** 9
**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 28, 2013, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disturbed-that-duck-dynasty-phils-racism-is-getting-overlooked/676788/161 "2013-12-28T21:58:55Z")
> [@DigitalC](#): > > Like hell i can’t. Word to that, and also what **BigT** said just above. > [@LawMonkey](#): > > The Slate Culture Gabfest did a [segment](http://www.slate.com/articles/podcasts/culturegabfest/2012/12/the_hobbit_duck_dynasty_and_the_myers_briggs_type_indicator_slate_s_culture.html) on the show ages ago, before they’d annoyed me into giving up on them by being simultaneously too pretentious and too lowbrow. As I recall, they all admitted that they could see the appeal–that it was a good show, depicting a real family with the usual dynamics and love and blah blah, and specifically that it would appeal to a certain demo. Based on their impressions, I felt that I could see the appeal as well (though I felt no need to actually watch the thing). Are you also a listener of Pop Culture Happy Hour? I enjoy both (though I do get what you are saying); and it was PCHH that talked about Duck Dynasty months ago, with SCG doing so much more recently. PCHH, I thought, treated them with kid gloves, not wanting, it seemed, to sound like snobs. SCG was much more willing to sneer at the show, I thought. > [@Bijou\_Drains](#): > > People expected these guys to be something other than far right wing? I’ve heard versions of this defense repeatedly (another corollary is “he’s from the Deep South, what did you expect?”). First of all, what I expect from a nationally televised entertainer, whose gig is not ordinarily based around being a “shock jock” or politically polarising figure like Rush, is that they keep views that any halfwit would know are going to offend huge swaths of the public to themselves or a close circle. (Had this been surreptitiously recorded in a more private setting, I would see it differently.) Secondly, though, there is an implicit premise, or rather two closely related premises, behind these defenses that I think are worth unpacking and examining: (1) People on the far right wing are all bigots. (2) People from the South, at least white older men from the Deep South, are all bigots. I feel pretty comfortable with those premises, admittedly; but I feel like if I had asserted those on their own, I would have gotten plenty of pushback. On the first, from Ayn Rand fans and others who would point to figures like Allan West; on the second, from Deep South residents (like those I’ve heard from before on IMHO threads) insisting I was painting with too broad a brush. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2013, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disturbed-that-duck-dynasty-phils-racism-is-getting-overlooked/676788/162 "2013-12-29T02:35:41Z")
> [@Baker](#): > > I live in Topeka, Kansas and often drive down 12th Street, where the Westboro Baptist Church compound is located. > > They have a sign, with a message they change every week or so, on the northeast corner of the property. > > This week it’s saying \*“DUCK DYNASTY’S PHIL ROBERTSON IS RIGHT! SODOMY IS A SIN! QUACK! X-MAS IS A SIN!” \* > > Not sure what that last clause has to do with the rest of it, it’s probably a holdover from last week, in which Christmas was called pagan idolatry. I didn’t think the WBC would ever agree with _anybody_. ---
**Author:** ![OurLordPeace](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/e8c25b/32.png) [@OurLordPeace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OurLordPeace)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2013, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disturbed-that-duck-dynasty-phils-racism-is-getting-overlooked/676788/163 "2013-12-29T03:19:20Z")
Thanks to the poster who mentioned the historical ignorance being disseminated by revisionists regarding the Civil War, race relations in general, feminism, etc. That makes me wonder why nobody mentioned the other deeply ignorant statements made by Robinson regarding history. The Nazis were mostly not atheists. The vast majority of them were either Lutheran or Catholic, with a few pagans and atheists among them. Also, who defeated the Nazis, and their mostly Catholic Fascist cronies from other countries? The godless Soviets (and other atheist Reds from other countries, like Tito and Hoxha), whom Robinson also lambastes. I can’t let that kind of thing go. As for free speech, for the millionth time, he wasn’t suppressed by the state. That would be a 1st Amendment violation. I am under no obligation to tolerate bigotry, and towards that end I endorse the points of unity of [Anti-Racist Action:](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-Racist_Action) Anti-Racist Action has four points of unity to which all chapters must agree. 1. We go where they go. Whenever fascists are organizing or active in public, we’re there. We don’t believe in ignoring them or staying away from them. Never let the Nazis have the street! 2. We don’t rely on the cops or courts to do our work for us. This doesn’t mean we never go to court, but the cops uphold white supremacy and the status quo. They attack us and everyone who resists oppression. We must rely on ourselves to protect ourselves and stop the fascists. 3. Non-sectarian defense of other anti-fascists. In ARA, we have a lot of different groups and individuals. We don’t agree about everything and we have a right to differ openly. But in this movement an attack on one is an attack on us all. We stand behind each other. 4. We support abortion rights and reproductive freedom. ARA intends to do the hard work necessary to build a broad, strong movement against racism, sexism, anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, homophobia, transphobia, discrimination against the disabled, the oldest, the youngest, and the most oppressed people. We want a classless, free society. We intend to win! My only disagreement is with the reference to Islamophobia. Somewhere above somebody mentioned not tolerating negative stances towards religious minorities. Religion is not inborn. It’s a choice, unlike race/ethnicity/sexual orientation/sex/gender/disability/etc., and should be fair game. I don’t think it’s a tangent at all, considering how Robinson and his supporters hide behind religion. ---
**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 30, 2013, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disturbed-that-duck-dynasty-phils-racism-is-getting-overlooked/676788/164 "2013-12-30T01:42:14Z")
Great post, OLP, including specifically the last part. ---
**Author:** ![medstar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f07891/32.png) [@medstar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/medstar)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2013, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disturbed-that-duck-dynasty-phils-racism-is-getting-overlooked/676788/165 "2013-12-31T02:13:27Z")
In this case, I think A&E should hire a couple of gay comedians to go on the show and comment on Phil’s statements, going more for humor. I believe that a funny retort inflicts more damage on the bigot instead of the target of the bigot’s comments. It would be interesting to see the fallout if this would occur. What say you all? ---
**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:** [January 2, 2014, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disturbed-that-duck-dynasty-phils-racism-is-getting-overlooked/676788/166 "2014-01-02T16:24:42Z")
That idea could have some potential, depending on how it was executed. ---
**Author:** ![LawMonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d6d6ee/32.png) [@LawMonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LawMonkey)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2014, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disturbed-that-duck-dynasty-phils-racism-is-getting-overlooked/676788/167 "2014-01-02T20:04:32Z")
> [@SlackerInc](#): > > Are you also a listener of Pop Culture Happy Hour? I enjoy both (though I do get what you are saying); and it was PCHH that talked about Duck Dynasty months ago, with SCG doing so much more recently. PCHH, I thought, treated them with kid gloves, not wanting, it seemed, to sound like snobs. SCG was much more willing to sneer at the show, I thought. Ah yes, I do listen to both, so it’s quite possible I’ve confused them. I may lift the SCG ban long enough to hear them sneer at DD. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/disturbed-that-duck-dynasty-phils-racism-is-getting-overlooked/676788.md?page=8)