The Duck Hunters

 

Of all the things I am totally sick of, and there are too many to count at this point, the media set-ups and all the corresponding drama has got to be near the top of the list.

Today it is the Duck Dynasty debacle.  I have never seen the show and nothing I’ve seen on the news makes me want to change that fact.  I do not know the name of the long bearded, head banded, Willie Nelson look alike they’ve shown on the web today.  He has also shown up in my email on “support whatshisname” posters for a couple of days now.  He is the latest in a long line of victims in the media shooting gallery…I don’t envy him.

What is the media “shooting gallery” you might ask?  It is the entertainment/news hybrid that now passes for news/information in our society.   This machine selects candidates from a long list of people who are ‘out there’ in the public eye.  The stronger they are in their belief systems, the better target they make.

Enter the long bearded, head banded, Willie Nelson look alike that produces duck calls somewhere in the Deep South.  He and his clan (from what I’ve gleaned only in passing) are very wealthy, very hairy, and very opinionated.  In this instance, I gather they are born again Christians who make no apologies for their beliefs.  The clan is promoted in a reality TV show that showcases their ability to grow hair and produce duck calls…all wrapped up in their box of family values with a big red religious bow on top.

Now….here comes the fun part!!  You get the long bearded leader an interview with one of the hip and sophisticated writers of a trendy magazine.  Can you feel the fun beginning to build??   The bearded man is who he is, and the cagey interviewer knows exactly who he is talking to.  It doesn’t take a lot of figuring to know if you ask this man a direct question he will give you a direct answer.  After all, you’ve gone to their home to make fun of them and show everyone what these plain talking, backwoods hicks look like, right?  This is your opportunity to create something bigger than just a one-time interview, so you ask direct questions you know this man cannot (and will not) back away from.   It’s a short walk to use that answer to stir up a big old controversy that will sell magazines, fill news casts, enrage and outrage a good segment of the population, and make even more Americans afraid to answer a direct question honestly.

These set ups are manufactured by a drama hungry media that has no respect, no sympathy and no conscience.  They love to create these tempests in a tea pot to fill air time and print space.  It really doesn’t matter if the storm is about race, sexual orientation, politics or something else…it all sells.

It’s sad to say, but with each one of these we lose a little more freedom of speech and a little more control over our lives.  We could all do well to live our lives with more dignity and fewer “my way or the highway” thoughts about our fellow man.  I am completely disinterested in what the bearded fellow had to say about his religious beliefs (to which he is entitled, by the way) but I am dismayed by the fact that he is being punished for saying it. 

There will always be disagreements about religion…there will always be rights to fight for and changes that need to be made in this and every society.  Our precious freedom of speech has already been fought and paid for with the blood of our ancestors.  That right gives any bone head, whether he/she is gay, straight, white, black, Christian or atheist, the right to speak out and speak up.  It’s a double edged sword…but it is a righteous one.  

This country desperately needs a hero; someone who can promote the dialog between groups without seeking the spotlight or worrying about producing advertising revenues.  I haven’t seen anyone like that in a long, long time.     

                     In the worlds of the late Rodney King, “Why can’t we all just get along?”