As one of the best as well as smartest and wisest people I know responded to this segment of the Duck Dynasty doofus's remarks --"nobody could hear them singing from the colored only restrooms and restaurants"
Seems like everybody in America honed in on what the idiot, making millions from a reality show, expressed this week. But from my perspective I'd say that 75 percent of the responses I've seen only focus on the anti-homosexuality aspects of what was said in the "Gentleman Quarterly" stand up routine and then 24% only touch the tip of he iceberg on the dismissive racist commentary. So while we have to endure another news cycle or three of this quack, keep this in mind while responding.
We lose many a teachable moments by not focusing more on the comments regarding the views expressed about blacks prior to the civil rights movement. This is tantamount to former Senate majorly leader Trent Lott's comments to the effect of "we wouldn't have a lot of the problems we have today if Strom Thurmond had been elected president " referring to when the bicentennial Thurmond ran as a segregationist Dixiecrat. Sure we are taking about a reality television star, but one whose face is plastered on more coffee mugs, sleeveless t shirts and mesh hats than our current President of the United States. A fact that should not be lost in the shuffle. A far too high number of our population if polled would issue a higher approval rating to "uncle dumbass" or whatever his name may be than President Barack Obama.
I'm going to take a moment to pause my rant and say that I'm certainly glad that there is a lot of outrage being expressed by the public and media over the anti-homosexual comments. We have come a long way when not only is same sex marriage is being accepted but those that are using bigoted rhetoric to rally the troops against it are being condemned and facing consequences. Ten to fifteen years ago this would not have even been met by a blip on the radar of public outcry and issues that most Americans care deeply.
However, let's take a moment to consider these remarks
“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.”
The logical fallacies seem to begin before the statement even starts. This isn't just about personal beliefs or what can be debated by referring back to the bible. This is just offensive and wrong and dismissive of a just over 50 years old civil rights movement in which blacks were made to sit on the back of a bus, endure drinking from different colored water fountains, been forced to get food from behind a restaurant, been sprayed with hoses and dogs let loose while protesting (in my own city) and beaten while marching to ask for voting rights. Comments like these simply put are denying that any of that had to happen for black Americans to get the same rights as those of us that are white. Before they were "entitled" to what is constitutionally written and accepted now as unfathomable that anyone was denied. I certainly do not want to diminish the anti-gay rhetoric that was used, but let's just pause for a second and not let this become only a forum to debate same sex marriage. We have a long way to go on getting past racial hostilities and making progress in what is still a very racially segregated society. So when someone engages with you in a facebook, water cooler , twitter debate remember not to travel down the path of least resistance and let this turn into a simplistic debate over free speech and the "1st amendment'. As I have said on one post that took a turn toward " I don't think this guy is all that bad" ----and "god doesn't judge who you marry but he shouldn't be penalized or fired for speaking his mind" there are other issues with what you need to be armed to discuss. Don't miss an opportunity to turn this into an opportunity to show how truly offensive and harmful that the entirety of the comments and the fact that "many people are still singing the blues".