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The Duck that was sold as a Swan by Tantroo

So as I've been reading, and hearing about this whole Duck Dynasty incident from my unique position and getting a handful of different perspectives I think I finally got a bit of a handle of what exactly happened, why it happened, and more importantly what it says about society as a whole. In particular how media exaggeration of character can cause confusion and anger when the editor no longer has control of the puppets on the stage.

We as furrys are used to media false presentation projection. The difference is that we garner one that is opposite of those that the Duck Dynasty folks ended up getting. We're used to having the worst projected onto us, while people have to dig to learn the better parts of our group. It seems like the Dynasty was built upon the hiding of the extreme elements and the projection of the good bits. Or as Kage would put it: "Accentuating the positive while eliminating the negative". This is why many found the show so good and wholesome. The pasteurization was pasteurized. The societal controversial feelings of Phil were watered down into a more consumable form.

From what I heard though, when the show started out, the editors were putting in "faux censorship"(1) in order to try and garner tension where and shock value where there wasn't any. Sort of as the media does with the fandom and sex. At the same time they were purposefully lightening the religious fervor of the family (at least the elders of it) in order to make them more marketable.

I'd rather dislike a man for what he is, then like him for what he isn't. In this regard I respect Phil for his statement, because he was honest with how he felt about the subject matter, even if it cost him a television show. Those who don't think their family will survive or be happy without the television crews around don't understand their mindset all that well. I think they'll be happier with them gone. They'll certainly be freer. Freedom of speech does not mean freedom of celebrity, and any reasonable Republican should know this.

However, understanding this, I know Phil is also no fool. He probably knew this. He was probably getting sick of being made into something he was not. Like the minority sexual furry who gets angry when a more moderate furry goes "it's not about sex" and gets mad because to them, it is. Phil probably puts a lot of credit on his success to Jesus, and with A&E constantly lowering the fervor of his religious beliefs, the part of him he felt was important was not being shown. Like those that feel their sexual expression is being stomped, those who feel religiously oppressed will also sooner or later leak their feeling out or have them explode.

So my belief is this, Phil was getting sick of A&E, and his interview with GQ was his resignation letter. The drama surrounding it, it was pretty much planned, by an old man who was sick of being a puppet and instead decided to reverse the tug on the strings. To control the puppet master of the media, just as they tried to control him. And if this is true the respect I have for the man has faltered, because he wants to get conservatives angry at the gays, he wants them to go "Gays took our jobs!", and sadly like the puppets on their strings GLADD played their role perfectly by praising A&E's decision.

What I think the real "culture war" is here is not the gays versus the evangelicals, because that is the war the media wants to propagate. The real "culture war" is the one against "Reality media" and actual "reality". This is one those in media power don't want us to talk about. The transition from a generation where we are told stories of perfect homogenized quality from a wooden box to one where we see that people have flaws, real flaws, not just the ones created by staff members behind a camera.

What I can say is this: it is A&E's fault for getting people to like these folks without telling them everything about them that they may deem unlikable. They have no one to blame but themselves here. At the end of the day crazy conservatives will claim they're being attacked for who they are. Really A&E has set them free. Free from the box they had tried to put them in. They should also know that being who you are always will require sacrifice. A gay Christian will not be allowed access to some churches for being who they are. That is the real tyranny of man. We put up conceptual barriers for our own comforts rather than for our own safety, and we are quick to confuse the two.

(1) http://www.thewrap.com/duck-dynasty.....g-jesus-video/

The Duck that was sold as a Swan

Tantroo

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