Now, because these outlandish claims were on Facebook and my guess was no one had read the actual GQ Interview, I went ahead and did my homework. And guess what I found out? Phil Robertson isn't too bright. But before I get ahead of myself, I want to go through the GQ article step by step.
The first, and possibly most, important thing Phil says in the interview is a quote that hopefully most people interested in the so called "scandal" have seen. It's the one about, without getting too anatomically specific, in what ways women are more desirable than men, and how illogical it would be to be homosexual.
“It seems like, to me, a vagina—as a man—would be more desirable than a man’s anus. That’s just me. I’m just thinking: There’s more there! She’s got more to offer. I mean, come on, dudes! You know what I’m saying? But hey, sin: It’s not logical, my man. It’s just not logical.”So there that is. It's not necessarily a pleasant comment, but it's not anywhere close to the anti-Semitic tirades that Mel Gibson went on. However, this comment was apparently unprompted. I'm not sure if it can be attributed to bad journalism on the part of the article's author, Drew Magary, or if Robertson just said it out of the blue. But this quote seems to be what people are risking their Facebook social lives on.
So the man is deeply Christian and just randomly decides to share his views on homosexuals. It's not anything we haven't heard before (certainly not the worst), and he has his right to his beliefs. Whta's most important is he's not mistreating anyone. And I know, it's this kind of writing that may have sparked the Facebook war in the first place, but come on. It's a gray area.
Ok, so on to the racism. Let's get right to the quote.
“I never, with my eyes, saw the mistreatment of any black person. Not once. Where we lived was all farmers. The blacks worked for the farmers. I hoed cotton with them. I’m with the blacks, because we’re white trash. We’re going across the field.... They’re singing and happy. I never heard one of them, one black person, say, ‘I tell you what: These doggone white people’—not a word!... Pre-entitlement, pre-welfare, you say: Were they happy? They were godly; they were happy; no one was singing the blues.”Again, people seem to be getting worked up over something that's not overtly offensive. Does he say that African Americans don't deserve rights and we should go back to a time where the white man cracked the whip? No. Does it feel like he's implying it? Yes. Now that could either be attributed to his deeply engrained racism (having grown up in the redneck south in a "different time"), or his lack of education- which in this case I suppose Paul Simon would agree it HAS hurt him some- has left him a man unable to clearly communicate his thoughts.
So, more or less, this is what was said. Along with completely misquoting the Bible (Genesis 9 is NOT when men just randomly became meat eaters) and misunderstanding how healthcare works, Phil Robertson just says what comes to mind and what he believes. The man admits to being a drunk and at one point dedicating his life to sex, drugs and rock and roll. But he says he eventually hit rock bottom, saw Jesus there, and turned his life around. Now, he shouldn't be upset that he lost his job because of what he said, because that's how it works. However, had the media not created a story where there wasn't one, he wouldn't have lost his job.
Let's talk about what people are hearing from the media. What they are talking about is how either Phil Robertson is a "gay/black hating redneck and deserved to lose his job for being so ignorant" (wrong). Or they say he is a great man, "for putting gays in their sinful place and leading the fight for free speech" (also wrong). Of course I'm paraphrasing, but it's not as far from what I saw as maybe it should be. The media, in their bountiful and endless wisdom, has attempted to create a story where there was not. And, as usual, they succeeded. Now Robertson has become a pivot point that people are using to express their own beliefs, and they're feuding with each other on the internet (just take a look at that GQ article's comment section, it's worse than YouTube comments)
Instead of reporting on something the people need to know, we're all wasting our time with worrying about our free speech. Yes, the government has made several steps over the past couple years to limit our free speech (free speech zones, attempting to outlaw speaking when the President speaks, etc.) but this is not one of those cases. So let's settle this. A&E is a private company who can legally hire and fire anyone for any reason as long as it's not discrimination against a protected class. So they can fire Phil for being homophobic, or being racist, even if he's not. As long as people think he is, they are well within their rights.
In short, we all have the rights to our opinion, no matter how wrong or ignorant they may seem. And in this case, Robertson said somethings that may be construed as racist or homophobic, but the man doesn't go out of his way to hurt these people. Robertson lost his job because A&E has the right to fire him on any grounds, it has nothing to do with free speech, which has to do with the government and not private entities. And finally, I would not usually write an article on something like this, but the media has turned this story into a monster that needs to be fought. I wish they'd start doing real stories and good ethical journalism; telling people what they need to hear. If they really wanted to make it about free speech, they should look into what happened to Brett Bursey. That's a Facebook feud I'd like to see. I'm tired of cleaning up after the media's messes (i.e. ABC's pink slime lies). Walter Cronkite is rolling over in his grave.
Thank you, it's nice to know someone else actually read the review.
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