We aren’t paying enough attention, and we are self-centered, complacent, and shamefully lacking in perspective, compassion, or the connections we ought to feel with our fellow believers. It’s horrendous, and it’s appalling, and it should be and have been the topic of prayers in every church meeting across the land for a long time now. I don’t have enough hydration in me to supply all the tears this article deserves, and I didn’t even read it all. They have been upset that the whole Duck Dynasty thing is as popular as it is from the start- they’ve been trying to mess with it from the beginning (‘bleeping’ comments without cause to spice it up, asking them to drop the prayers, etc). (Incidentally, in a different kind of wag the dog issue, I don’t believe A&E gives a flying flip about what Phil said. By doing so, the lesser-significant event is catapulted into the limelight, drowning proper attention to what was originally the more important issue.” Wag the dog: “To ‘wag the dog’ means to purposely divert attention from what would otherwise be of greater importance, to something else of lesser significance. This basically sums up the wag the dog point of view: In no particularly organized fashion, because the Grandbabies and Nod have been here for 24 hours and 3 days, respectively, and they like to bang on things, to put it mildly… Er, what was I saying? I think every coherent thought I’ve had has been exploded by sudden loud bangs as by cannonfire. I am just pulling together some thoughts from various friends, relations, and total strangers with whom I have nothing much in common but the fact that we are part of the same species. This is in no way intended to be comprehensive. In fact, I think that just that- the wide range of areas that could be discussed in this context- is the reason why conversations and arguments about it are so pervasive. But we won’t say everything there is to be said.
We could talk about free speech, freedom of religion, social standards, media, entertainment, what gets called bigotry vs what actually is bigotry, words and what they mean and how they are sued to marginalize and demonize opposition, our misplaced priorities etc.
We could talk about a wag the dog political tool. It touches on issues of culture, politics, and religion, which is pretty broad. There are a lot of things one could (and probably did) say about the whole Phil Robertson, Duck Dynasty, A&E, “Anti-Gay” brouhaha.