The bigger problem in America surrounding the Duck Dynasty hysteria [View all]

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Back in the 2008 campaign, Obama got a lot of flak for his comment about working-class Americans: "They get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations." You could tell how correct he was by how annoyed the right wingers got.

Reading the meltdown in the comments section at the Variety.com report about the Duck Dynasty cast member being suspended makes me wonder. These armchair patriots whose idea of American values is masturbating to Duck Dynasty and "I can typing" FREESPEECHFREESPEECHFREESPEECH in any comments section regarding a controversy over racism, homophobia, etc. are really annoying and clueless and full of cognitive dissonance.

These pseudo-patriotic zombies say "let the free market decide" in decrying things like Obamacare or business regulations.

And then when the A&E channel (which abandoned its original mission as a cable version of PBS what, 10 years ago?) decides to follow what the free market would go and discipline Phil Robertson, these same zombies go argleblargleblegh IT'S A LIBERAL CONSPIRACY TO SILENCE THE CHRISTIANS AND TAKE AWAY THEIR FREE SPEECH!!!!!111!!!!!!

Oh yeah, don't forget the JAQing off of "WHERE'S THE LIBS' TOLERANCE FOR US?"...they expect their bigotry to be tolerated too without understanding what tolerance means. They can't admit they believe that gay people are inferior to straight people, so they have no choice but cloak it in concern trolling.

The brutal truth is? Ignorance and being narrow-minded are "patriotic" American values.

Sigh. Why couldn't the South have just seceded back in the 1860s so the Yankees could build a nation based on Enlightenment values while the Confederates could have a big theocracy all to themselves?

But really. What we're seeing here is a freakin' BRAIN DRAIN. You've heard of the nickname "idiot box" for television, right? Well, add the Duck Dynasty fans' hysteria as a contextual example in the idiom dictionary.

Remember. The Texas Republican Party actually OPPOSES higher-order thinking being taught in public schools. I'm not talking about Chuck Baldwin's loony fringe party, I'm talking about the party of mainstream politicians like Ted Cruz, Steve Stockman, and Rick Perry. And Bobby Jindal, the governor of the Duck Dynasty boys' home state of Louisiana, is alright with intelligent design being taught in his state's public schools.

The thing is that modern Americans are actively afraid of even thinking about other points of view and weighing the evidence other than what they've been indoctrinated in. That is why homophobia, creationism, and other forms of bigotry and crankery thrive. Do you know why websites like Campus Reform exist to whine about "liberal professors"? Do you know why Duck Dynasty fans are cool with Phil Robertson's "othering" of gays? Do you know why right wingers are so afraid of education? I think you do now.