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12-21-2013, 10:32 PM
Oh look at the spin.... (http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2013/12/20/duck-dynasty-cant-imagine-show-going-on-without-phil/?intcmp=latestnews)
The most popular reality show in cable television history has sparked a heated national debate, laying bare a national rift over gay rights and free speech and prompting politicians, entertainers and ordinary folks to enter the cultural fray.
Cultural fray?
What's that, may I ask? After all, it's perfectly ok to demand that Americans **t only tolerate but embrace both homo***uality and hard-core Muslims.
Never mind that the latter at least in theory proscribe the former and threaten to murder them.
(We won't talk about the fact that over in Afghanistan, where most native folks are hard-core Muslims, they seem to have this sport k**wn as bugger little boys despite that religious prohibition, will we? Think I'm kidding or being "unreasonable" in my criticism? Go ask someone who's served a tour or two over there.)
But **w we have a real interesting problem here, because suddenly it's considered worthy of international public excoriation -- or is it execution -- to read 1 Romans (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2526838/Is-end-Duck-Dynasty-Robertson-family-rallies-round-embattled-patriarch-anti-gay-rant-claim-imagine-going-forward-without-helm.html). You k**w, from that book called The Bible?
Yes, that book. It's considered utterly outrageous should I burn a Quoran, to the point that pressure was brought on a minister who intended to do exactly that with a copy he bought with his own money and thus owned (because, as he believed, it is "filth") and yet that very same act, in effect, is being demanded of the Duck Dynasty folks because Phil dared to read a piece of it in public in 2010 (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2526838/Is-end-Duck-Dynasty-Robertson-family-rallies-round-embattled-patriarch-anti-gay-rant-claim-imagine-going-forward-without-helm.html) and cited it for an interview in GQ!
I thought the entire point of religious freedom was that I get to choose how to worship, or whether to worship at all. I get to choose between the many thousand-year+ old books to read and believe in, or to choose **ne of them. If I want to choose to worship the divine spaghetti monster that's my business, **t yours. You don't have to agree with me; indeed, public debate on whether I'm an idiot or a prophet is perfectly fair, and choosing **t to associate with me because you think I'm stupid is fair too. You could (and some have) in the past argued that my personal religious election, commonly k**wn as Catholicism, celebrates ritual cannibalism every Sunday! So be it; you're free to think I'm crazy to ingest something handed to me with the words "the body of Christ" if you wish and I'm free to find communion in the same act.
That's what religious freedom is.
I will **te for the peanut gallery that are several thousand different religions in active practice, counting various sects and rites, and thouands more that have died out over the years for lack of practitioners. Most claim to be "right" and that all the others are "wrong" and it is clear that if that is true then your odds of picking the right one suck. And since **body seems to come back after death in a verifiable form and tell us which was the correct choice it all comes down to faith without proof or even anything that can be considered scientific evidence, doesn't it?
But in this case A&E, and the Gaystapo, was perfectly fine with Phil and rest of the clan being Christian right up to and until they actually recited from the very Bible that everyone knew damn well they believed was their inspiration. Indeed, they **t only thought it was fine they intentionally profited from the family's faith as displayed in each and every episode -- or are you going to conveniently forget that Duck Dynasty closes every episode with a prayer?
As soon as an actual citation from the Bible came out of Phil's mouth then, and only then, was it time to get out the **ose.
**te what Phil did **t do. He didn't call for anyone else to suffer a legal or illegal consequence as a result of choosing behavior that his religion calls "sin." He didn't tell anyone else they can't be homo***ual, or that they should be locked up, or that they have to become straight in order to avoid some sanction. He simply observed what he believes is "right" and **t as expressed by a religious path he and his family have chosen to follow of their own free will. Indeed, from the GQ article (http://www.gq.com/entertainment/television/201401/duck-dynasty-phil-robertson)he makes clear that he neither expects or sanctions any sort of bad act toward someone who believes differently -- or doesn't believe at all:
As far as Phil is concerned, he was literally born again. Old Phil—the guy with the booze and the pills—died a long time ago, and New Phil sees ** need to apologize for him: “We never, ever judge someone on who’s going to heaven, hell. That’s the Almighty’s job. We just love ’em, give ’em the good news about Jesus —whether they’re homo***uals, drunks, terrorists. We let God sort ’em out later, you see what I’m saying?”
So how do you declare that as hate, folks? Is Phil saying that if you choose to be a boozer you should be fired and excoriated for being drunk on your own time?
**pe.
In fact, quite the opposite.
To those on this bandwagon perhaps you can square your "outrage" with Iran locking up a Christian and threatening to behead him with what you're doing here. After all, isn't it really about the same thing? You demand that a family de**unce that which they have faith in lest they suffer your wrath, while over in Iran, **rth Korea and elsewhere statist assholes do exactly the same thing and demand the same tribute -- re**uncement of belief.
So what does that make you, America-in-faux-outrage? How do you separate yourself from Kim Jung-Un and Iran's clerics, both of whom have recently been rather punitive simply because of what someone believes is a Holy Book and is willing to live by?
Tolerance, eh? Rainbows, eh, you k**w, "every color under the sun?"
Yeah, every color except those you disagree with, right?
Those folks get tied up and burnt at the stake as you dance with glee.
Meanwhile Phil and his family are perfectly content to call it as they see it, but when it comes to whether or **t actual punishment is due in their view it's **t their call.
Or yours.
Who's really the bigot here?
أكثر... (http://market-ticker.denninger.net/akcs-www?post=226982)
The most popular reality show in cable television history has sparked a heated national debate, laying bare a national rift over gay rights and free speech and prompting politicians, entertainers and ordinary folks to enter the cultural fray.
Cultural fray?
What's that, may I ask? After all, it's perfectly ok to demand that Americans **t only tolerate but embrace both homo***uality and hard-core Muslims.
Never mind that the latter at least in theory proscribe the former and threaten to murder them.
(We won't talk about the fact that over in Afghanistan, where most native folks are hard-core Muslims, they seem to have this sport k**wn as bugger little boys despite that religious prohibition, will we? Think I'm kidding or being "unreasonable" in my criticism? Go ask someone who's served a tour or two over there.)
But **w we have a real interesting problem here, because suddenly it's considered worthy of international public excoriation -- or is it execution -- to read 1 Romans (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2526838/Is-end-Duck-Dynasty-Robertson-family-rallies-round-embattled-patriarch-anti-gay-rant-claim-imagine-going-forward-without-helm.html). You k**w, from that book called The Bible?
Yes, that book. It's considered utterly outrageous should I burn a Quoran, to the point that pressure was brought on a minister who intended to do exactly that with a copy he bought with his own money and thus owned (because, as he believed, it is "filth") and yet that very same act, in effect, is being demanded of the Duck Dynasty folks because Phil dared to read a piece of it in public in 2010 (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2526838/Is-end-Duck-Dynasty-Robertson-family-rallies-round-embattled-patriarch-anti-gay-rant-claim-imagine-going-forward-without-helm.html) and cited it for an interview in GQ!
I thought the entire point of religious freedom was that I get to choose how to worship, or whether to worship at all. I get to choose between the many thousand-year+ old books to read and believe in, or to choose **ne of them. If I want to choose to worship the divine spaghetti monster that's my business, **t yours. You don't have to agree with me; indeed, public debate on whether I'm an idiot or a prophet is perfectly fair, and choosing **t to associate with me because you think I'm stupid is fair too. You could (and some have) in the past argued that my personal religious election, commonly k**wn as Catholicism, celebrates ritual cannibalism every Sunday! So be it; you're free to think I'm crazy to ingest something handed to me with the words "the body of Christ" if you wish and I'm free to find communion in the same act.
That's what religious freedom is.
I will **te for the peanut gallery that are several thousand different religions in active practice, counting various sects and rites, and thouands more that have died out over the years for lack of practitioners. Most claim to be "right" and that all the others are "wrong" and it is clear that if that is true then your odds of picking the right one suck. And since **body seems to come back after death in a verifiable form and tell us which was the correct choice it all comes down to faith without proof or even anything that can be considered scientific evidence, doesn't it?
But in this case A&E, and the Gaystapo, was perfectly fine with Phil and rest of the clan being Christian right up to and until they actually recited from the very Bible that everyone knew damn well they believed was their inspiration. Indeed, they **t only thought it was fine they intentionally profited from the family's faith as displayed in each and every episode -- or are you going to conveniently forget that Duck Dynasty closes every episode with a prayer?
As soon as an actual citation from the Bible came out of Phil's mouth then, and only then, was it time to get out the **ose.
**te what Phil did **t do. He didn't call for anyone else to suffer a legal or illegal consequence as a result of choosing behavior that his religion calls "sin." He didn't tell anyone else they can't be homo***ual, or that they should be locked up, or that they have to become straight in order to avoid some sanction. He simply observed what he believes is "right" and **t as expressed by a religious path he and his family have chosen to follow of their own free will. Indeed, from the GQ article (http://www.gq.com/entertainment/television/201401/duck-dynasty-phil-robertson)he makes clear that he neither expects or sanctions any sort of bad act toward someone who believes differently -- or doesn't believe at all:
As far as Phil is concerned, he was literally born again. Old Phil—the guy with the booze and the pills—died a long time ago, and New Phil sees ** need to apologize for him: “We never, ever judge someone on who’s going to heaven, hell. That’s the Almighty’s job. We just love ’em, give ’em the good news about Jesus —whether they’re homo***uals, drunks, terrorists. We let God sort ’em out later, you see what I’m saying?”
So how do you declare that as hate, folks? Is Phil saying that if you choose to be a boozer you should be fired and excoriated for being drunk on your own time?
**pe.
In fact, quite the opposite.
To those on this bandwagon perhaps you can square your "outrage" with Iran locking up a Christian and threatening to behead him with what you're doing here. After all, isn't it really about the same thing? You demand that a family de**unce that which they have faith in lest they suffer your wrath, while over in Iran, **rth Korea and elsewhere statist assholes do exactly the same thing and demand the same tribute -- re**uncement of belief.
So what does that make you, America-in-faux-outrage? How do you separate yourself from Kim Jung-Un and Iran's clerics, both of whom have recently been rather punitive simply because of what someone believes is a Holy Book and is willing to live by?
Tolerance, eh? Rainbows, eh, you k**w, "every color under the sun?"
Yeah, every color except those you disagree with, right?
Those folks get tied up and burnt at the stake as you dance with glee.
Meanwhile Phil and his family are perfectly content to call it as they see it, but when it comes to whether or **t actual punishment is due in their view it's **t their call.
Or yours.
Who's really the bigot here?
أكثر... (http://market-ticker.denninger.net/akcs-www?post=226982)