I need to let you all in on a secret:
I have never watched an episode of Duck Dynasty.
I have no idea who these guys are, why they are famous and what would be remotely entertaining about watching them.
That being said, I have to admit that I truly dislike Reality TV and have only rarely watched any of these people who parade themselves in front of the world making claims about their wealth, their values, their love for family. I don't know an Atlanta Housewife from a Survivor and would not recognize Kim or Kanye if you hit me with either one.
What I have heard about the Duck Dynasty people is that they are fundamentalist Christians who hold to a theology of Sola Scriptura. I reject that as being a false theology and I am suspicious of anyone who holds to it because, inevitably, they will make some sort of snarky comment about the Catholic Church and how we (Catholics) are neither Christian NOR Biblical. Remembering that most of them do not even use a complete Bible and have absolutely no historical knowledge of what religious body GAVE the world the Bible, I have no problem dismissing these people as fools and going about my business.
I tell you also that I am a faithful Catholic, do not dispute any of the Teachings of Holy Mother Church, have dear friends and family members who are practicing homosexuals as well as dear friends (and a family member) who is a homosexual and a practicing Catholic - which means they are not engaging in homosexual sex. They have, like me, decided that sexual congress falls second to receiving Our Lord in the Eucharist. It is our choice to refrain from sexual activity outside the Sacrament of Marriage. My Catholic friends who are homosexual accept they cannot marry, just as I (a heterosexual) accept that I may not (now) engage in sexual activity. We offer our situations to the Lord and unite our sufferings (all our sufferings - not just the oh-gee-i-cannot-have-sex suffering) with Jesus on the cross and go about our business.
Now that I have established my bonafides, I will give you my opinion on whatever that guy with the beard said about homosexuals.
I don't care.
I don't care any more than I care about his opinion about my religion, which (btw) is negative.
What I am concerned about is that he has been suspended from a television show for voicing that opinion.
Rather than allowing the market to make the decision as to whether or not that man remains on television, a small segment of society has bullied the creators of the show to 'suspend' his participation.
Rather than letting people listen to his opinion and then vote with their remote control, we are allowing the Opinion Police to tell us what we can and cannot listen to or watch.
And what bothers me about the entire situation is this: if the people who are protesting were to voice an opinion on a television show that insulted heterosexuals, white males, Christians or women with brown eyes any of those groups would be told to 'suck it up' and not be overly sensitive - and that is assuming our protests would be acknowledged at all.
In fact, if you think about it, the only groups currently allowed to scare the hell out of people are LBGT and Muslims.
(Maybe soldiers can be thrown into the mix because we do tend to get riled up if someone insults soldiers - cutting their pensions is fine but don't insult them).
I do not expect things to change much but I do think it will be interesting when these two groups finally clash. It is going to happen. It is, after all, inevitable that the rights of one is going to smash directly into the beliefs of the other and I am not sure who is going to be the winner.
The only thing that could unite them is a hatred for orthodox Jews and orthodox Christians....
and that, my friends, will be one interesting alliance.
MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!
1 comment:
I have never liked reality TV either. I remember my family liked watching “Cops,” and I was blackmailed into watching it with them, you know, to keep the peace. I thought the same thing then as I do now. I have seen a lot of “reality,” both here and overseas. In fact, I would give a lot just to be able to “un-see” most of what I have seen. Why anyone would want to put themselves into the position of being a spectator in this family’s drama is beyond me.
My experience with Christian Fundamentalists is similar to yours. Everything is cordial until the attacks begin, most of which are easily fended off. When they discover I am not going to change, then they lose interest in the friendship, if there ever was one. But I agree with their right to express those beliefs, or answer questions about them. The “minority” you speak of are not interested in being treated as fellow citizens; they demand wholehearted belief and unwavering acceptance of their “lifestyle.” Anything less is regarded as an attack on their very existence, and by extension is considered hateful or at a minimum mean spirited and a threat to the social order. The similarity of these two disparate groups is astonishing and ironic. The Episcopalians taught me a lot about this kind of compassion and understanding. No wonder I ran into the arms of the Holy Catholic Church.
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