Praying for Rights After Making Anti-Gay Comments
“It is a messed up situation when Miley Cyrus gets a laugh, and Phil Robertson gets suspended.”
Throughout our lives, we are constantly talking to others about the hottest songs, newest movies, and the latest sports talk and when we do that we create a fandom with people. Media ethnographer Jokes Hermes argues that cultural citizenship and popular culture are related to one another in the sense that cultural citizenship is how a community is built over common likes and dislikes in popular culture. Hermes goes on to say that cultural citizenship is the “process of bonding and community building, and reflection on bonding” (10). Popular cultural also “allows us to fantasize about the ideals and hopes that we have for society, as well as to ponder what we fear” (3). In order to emphasize her point, she cites the work of other analysts in her book Re-Reading Popular Culture as well. John Mepham, a television theorist, argues that popular culture provides usable stories which are put to use in “development of individual personality” and in the “creation of social self-understanding” (11). A usable story helps us develop an individual personality by influencing a viewer’s actions and creates social-self understanding by helping the viewer’s understanding of their action and reactions to popular culture.
One of the qualities of citizenship that popular culture possesses is democracy. “Democracy is deliberation by many on the best life possible for all” (4). Hermes also states that such deliberation is an ongoing and unruly process that we learn from, that entertains us, and that provides ways and means to act in the real world. The Duck Dynasty controversy is an example of a deliberation in popular culture that was a hot topic. Duck Dynasty, a hit television show that airs on A&E network, is a reality television show that portrays the lives of the Robertson family who become wealthy from their family-operated business, Duck Commander. The Robertson men are known globally for their long beards and their Christian views. The show broke many rating records on A&E network and cable as a whole and it became one of the most watched nonfiction cable shows in history.
A few months ago the patriarch, Phil Robertson, was interviewed by GQ magazine and when he was asked what he thought was sinful he took a very hard, anti-gay stance. His exact words were: “Start with homosexual behavior and just morph out from there. Bestiality, sleeping around with this woman and that woman and that woman and those men…” He also went on to make vulgar statements about how he doesn’t understand that appeal of gay sex but following those statements he added, “That’s just me.” A&E network was quick to suspend Phil Robertson for the comments that he made in the interview and their comment back was, “His personal views in no way reflect those of A&E Networks, who have always been strong supports and champions of the LGBT community. The network has placed Phil under hiatus from filming indefinitely” (Rothman). The deliberation building from the interview between GQ and Phil Robertson is striving to do the work of cultural citizenship as it is focusing on giving the best life possible to everyone. With this controversy, there are two different opinions about what the best life possible may be. The two opinions are those who believe he was right and support freedom of speech, and those who believe he was wrong and support gay rights. Cultural citizenship is building between readerships with similar opinions.
Hermes says that popular culture “offers both the ground rules of interpretation and evaluation and the space to be excited, frightened, enthralled, or subject to any of the huge range of states of mind and feeling that we connect with the use of popular media” (10). With the controversy, the citizenship being built over the opinion that Phil Robertson was wrong for what he said, are frightened by the discrimination and strength of his words. Hermes also argues that popular culture allows us to envision the hopes that we have for society and also the fears. For many hearing such strong and discriminating words about a subject is something that is feared. An organization GLAAD (Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation) said, “it was some of the most extreme statements uttered against LGBT people in a mainstream publication. His quote was littered with outdated stereotypes and blatant misinformation” (Murray). Since A&E was quick to suspend Phil, it’s sending the message out that such hateful anti-gay comments are not acceptable in today’s society. A&E is doing their part to pass on that discrimination is neither a Christian nor an American faith. Through the lens of Hermes, democracy is a citizenship quality that popular culture possesses. The goal is the best life for all and organizations like GLAAD and people that are against Phil are looking for the best life for those who are homosexuals. We are giving them more freedom and accepting them more than ever as many states are legalizing gay marriage. However, with situations like Phil, we are no longer giving them the best possible life like democracy suggests.
Nate Dunn, an author of a blog who wrote about the issue says that he understands why people would defend him since he was saying that the Bible is against gay rights. However, he says that his comments on sexuality have very little to do with what the Bible says. He only manages to use to word “sin” once and he cannot directly connect his comments to the Bible. Instead his comments were immature and more along the lines of something a teenage boy would say. In turn, he says that for A&E television network put a family on reality television giving them the freedom and encouraging them to speak their minds and live their daily lives. However, then he speaks his mind in the GQ interview and gets suspended for doing so. This is causing a bunch of confusion for society and what exactly is accepted (Dunn).
The other cultural citizenship, built of those who believe that Phil had a right to speak his mind and his beliefs are sticking by him. The fans of his show have developed a dedication for this piece of popular culture. Hermes talks about how an aspect of citizenship qualities that popular culture possesses is fascination because they allow us to fantasize about the ideals in our society (3). Over the many seasons that the show has been airing, many people have a developed respect for these hillbillies who don’t flaunt their money and have made a living off of a family-oriented business. The fame that they have acquired has not split up their family and at the end of each day they gather around the table and say a prayer. We have been taught that we are allowed freedom of speech, and many believe that Phil was just speaking his mind and stating what he knew was right through his Christian beliefs. Since the family is so family-oriented they did not want to proceed with the show without Phil who was the one who started it all in the first place. The family told CNN that, “While some of Phil’s unfiltered comments to the reporter were coarse, his beliefs are grounded in the teachings of the Bible…Phil would never incite or encourage hate.” He has told many that he understands that there are people who are different then him in the world and who have different beliefs, however like his family stated, his choice of words could have been better.
There are many people that aren’t looking beyond the choice of words and the way he said it and saw the language of a bigot. Sue Dimaio, who is gay herself, posted on CNN’s Facebook page saying how she isn’t offended by Phil Robertson and understands that everyone has different beliefs. She goes on to say “our freedom of speech is slowly being taken away from us, when it was once considered a huge part of the foundation of this country.” On the topic of freedom of speech, Louisiana’s Governor, Bobby Jindal, acknowledges that this is a free country and Phil, or anyone else, has a right to his or her own views and opinions. At one point television networks believed in the First Amendment and now it is slowly diminishing and being forgotten. Jindal says, “It is a messed up situation when Miley Cyrus gets a laugh, and Phil Robertson gets suspended.” In the other citizenships point of view, they believe that “you cannot hide behind ‘it’s my religious beliefs’ as a justification for bad behavior” (Hare). Because of that we are trapped with, what is considered right or wrong, and what sort of action should be taken in a case like this. One citizenships idea of what constitutes an opinion, or value system, is another citizenships idea of hateful discrimination.
In a wider aspect, issues such as the Duck Dynasty one are happening around the world. American Evangelists have a large influence on Uganda’s anti-gay laws. People who follow the Christian beliefs that homosexuality is a sin are still commonly active the United States and globally. We have spent a lot of time arguing about Phil Robertson and if he was right or wrong where American Evangelists are in Uganda helping with execution of homosexuals. An article by Marguerite Ward states that the “rising evidence suggests that the American export of extreme evangelist beliefs may have tipped the scale in Uganda towards violence and against equality” (Ward). Americans are turning to less developed countries to help get rid of homosexuals. However, giving someone the death penalty for being a homosexual was outraged and the bill’s legislators changed it to years behind bars.
In terms of Hermes, the concept of democracy and how “it is deliberation by many on the best life possible for all,” this controversy fits. However, we are unaware of what the best life possible may be and how exactly we can have a utopian society. Do we suspend Phil to emphasize you can’t discriminate against gays publically or do we let it go because we have freedom of speech and he, along with everyone, has a right to his own views and opinions? It’s safe to say that we do strive for a utopian society and we want to make it a comfortable society for all whether you are gay, black, Christian, etc. but also allow freedom of speech. The struggle is how to accommodate all those, and honestly, we may never be able to and controversies like these will continue to happen. Opinions will continue to differ and those who are “like-minded” and have similar one’s will have something to bond over and will create cultural citizenships.
