It’s a shame that homophobia, bigotry and hedonistic greed sells to such a large swath of people here in America, but ignorance abounds and the prospect of curbing its growth is sadly rather slim. Take the recent controversy surrounding Phil Robertson, the patriarch of the clan on A & E network’s wildly popular show, Duck Dynasty. Phil launched into an anti-gay and racist rant during a GQ magazine interview. The revelation of the contents of that interview initially touched off a wave of public condemnation that prompted the A & E network to suspend Phil from the show. However, Phil’s suspension caused an even louder uproar among fans of the show and supporters of Phil’s way of thinking, and so the A & E network reversed its prior decision and Phil’s tenure as a star on Duck Dynasty will continue. Money matters over principle, because the forces of ignorance and bigotry in America are far stronger than the forces reason and civility.
From 1962 to 1971, a television show, The Beverly Hillbillies enjoyed widespread popularity among America’s TV-viewing audience. The show featured hillbilly couple, Jed and Granny Clampet, who became millionaires overnight when Jed found oil on their property. The couple moved to California with their two young adult children and tried to assimilate with the jet-set crowd of Beverly Hills, with very limited success. The Clampet clan were the sixties version of Phil Robertson’s clan on Duck Dynasty, with one very critical difference – Jed and Granny were respectful to a fault of the people who surrounded them. Jed and Granny were loveable television characters because they maintained their simple, respectful values in a millionaire neighborhood awash in decadence and pretentious neighbors. They never denigrated people who were different from them. Their message was one of ‘live and let live’ inclusion. Jed frequently scratched his head and said that he didn’t understand a particular person’s behavior, but then he’d shrug his shoulders and treated the person as if they were part of his family. When somebody mocked Granny or her back woods manner, she ignored the insult and responded with a simple outpouring of generosity and neighborly concern. It never struck Jed or Granny to be cruel or judgmental. It wasn’t in their blood.
Sadly, Jed and Granny’s values are not honored in today’s Duck Dynasty culture, where non-judgmental civility is trampled by an angry hoard of people who insist that bigotry, racism and homophobia are a God-given right. I used to think that a majority of Americans were better than this, but now I see that I was wrong!
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