A&E Says We Must be Tolerant of Hate But Not of Gays, Gives Robertson his Job Back

So just as Jesus intended, Phil Robertson is back to work rewriting the gospel on his phony reality show on A&E, called Hate Dynasty, er…Duck Dynasty. Mea Culpa, as Caesar when he had ruthlessly invaded and subjugated the kingdom of Pontus in Asia Minor.

Oh wait, Caesar didn’t say that at all, did he? He said veni, vidi, vici, which means, I came, I saw, I conquered. Which is pretty much what Phil Robertson is saying now.

That wasn’t what Jesus intended at all, of course, but a bunch of bigoted aberrochristians think Jesus died so they could hate. I’d like to get a look at whatever Bible they’re reading – and whatever it is they’re smoking while they do it. Must be some good stuff.

Yes, A&E, as we all knew they would, caved to hate. It was simply a matter of time. About a week of purgatory is what hatred is worth these days. Here’s the spiel A&E wants you to swallow:

To get more stories like this, subscribe to our newsletter The Daily.

After discussions with the Robertson family, as well as consulting with numerous advocacy groups, A&E has decided to resume filming Duck Dynasty later this spring with the entire Robertson family.

If one reads “advocacy” as “hate” then the statement is essentially correct. But then hate has always been the operative word.

A&E rationalizes that,

While Phil’s comments made in the (GQ) interview reflect his personal views based on his own beliefs, and his own personal journey, he and his family have publicly stated they regret the ‘coarse language’ he used and the misinterpretation of his core beliefs based only on the article. He also made it clear he would ‘never incite or encourage hate.’

This even after Robertson told the Daily Mail that he stood by the words that got him suspended. He said he was just quoting the Bible (he was not, as has been frequently pointed out)

Robertson also said:

“I will not give or back off from my path. … We murder each other, and we steal from one another, sex and immorality goes ballistic,” he said during the West Monroe, Louisiana, Bible study, which he led. “All the diseases that just so happened to follow sexual mischief…boy there are some microbes running around now,” he said, adding, “Sexual sins are numerous and many. I have a few myself. So what is your safest course of action? If you’re a man, find yourself a woman, marry them and keep your sex right there.”

He continued: “Common sense says we are not going to procreate the human race unless we have a man and a woman.”

If you’re the result, Phil, I’m not sure procreation is such a great idea.

And so hate and dishonesty’s triumphed. Great jubilation ensued: Robertson loves his fellow haters, posting to Facebook, “We love our fans! Thank you so much for all of your support and love and prayers!”

FoxNews reports,

In an exclusive statement to FoxNews.com, the family said it was “excited to keep making a quality TV show for our dedicated fans, who have showed us wonderful support. We will continue to represent our faith and values in the most positive way through ‘Duck Dynasty’ and our many projects that we are currently working on.

“The outpouring of support and prayer has encouraged and emboldened us greatly.”

Well, nothing like emboldened hate and bigotry! Warms the cockles of my heart to see haters so in love with one another. A&E’s cockles were apparently pretty warm too, because those low-life’s also want you to believe that they’re sincere when they say they want to “use this moment” for promoting “unity, tolerance and acceptance among all people” – but specifically tolerance and acceptance of haters.

Don’t think for a moment that this acceptance and tolerance extends to gay people because if it did, A&E would not have ended Robertson’s suspension. This is an act which shows tacit approval of his anti-gay bigotry, not to say racism.

Yes, this is a great country. I bet 1939’s Time Man of the Year, Adolf Hitler would have gotten at least two weeks suspension, maybe three. Apparently, the only hope of stopping Phil Robertson is if he invades Poland.

Tolerance can be such a buzz kill, but like Jesus, it can be a weapon, too. In the name of tolerance we must tolerate haters. But why can’t we tolerate the people the haters hate? Isn’t there something wrong with that sort of thinking?

Sure there is. Just as there is with those 12 million viewers who feast on this phony reality show and its bigoted cast, and all the dollar signs they represent.

GLAAD responded to the lifting of Robertson’s suspension by saying,

Phil Robertson should look African American and gay people in the eyes and hear about the hurtful impact of praising Jim Crow laws and comparing gay people to terrorists. If dialogue with Phil is not part of next steps then A+E has chosen profits over African American and gay people – especially its employees and viewers.

The way this works then is that you demonize a segment of the population (your choice as long as it is not right-leaning), get suspended for your words, defend yourself by saying, “I meant what I said” and your employer then say, “Oh, well, in that case…” and gives you your job back. Neat, huh?

And to think Martin Bashir lost his job.

The real culprits are The Walt Disney Company and Hearst, who own A&E. To judge from this decision, the next Disney movie is sure to feature some nasty, nihilistic little bigot-princess who hates gays. She will be white, of course. And wear camouflage fatigues and rather than befriend ducks, murder them.

I see her looking a lot like Sarah Palin, being barely coherent, and not having a clue what she is talking about.

It will be a wild success among the Red State crowd, I’m sure.

Hrafnkell Haraldsson

Hrafnkell Haraldsson, a social liberal with leanings toward centrist politics has degrees in history and philosophy. His interests include, besides history and philosophy, human rights issues, freedom of choice, religion, and the precarious dichotomy of freedom of speech and intolerance. He brings a slightly different perspective to his writing, being that he is neither a follower of an Abrahamic faith nor an atheist but a polytheist, a modern-day Heathen who follows the customs and traditions of his Norse ancestors. He maintains his own blog, A Heathen’s Day, which deals with Heathen and Pagan matters, and Mos Maiorum Foundation www.mosmaiorum.org, dedicated to ethnic religion. He has also contributed to NewsJunkiePost, GodsOwnParty and Pagan+Politics.