Duck Dynasty, Continued

[Content Note: Homophobia; racism. Previously.]

Duck Dynasty patriarch Phil Robertson gave the Daily Mail exclusive access yesterday to "a small Bible study group in his home town church in West Monroe, Louisiana," where he defended his "controversial" comments regarding homosexuality. (I don't know whether he didn't address his racist comments, or whether the Daily Mail didn't cover defense of those comments, which aren't getting as much attention because racism.) Naturally, he doubled down and then some.

During Sunday's speech, he defended himself, saying he was simply quoting from the Bible and even went so far as to say Jesus could save gay people.

"I love all men and women. I am a lover of humanity, not a hater," he added.

...He said: "I have been immoral, drunk, high. I ran with the wicked people for 28 years and I have run with the Jesus people since and the contrast is astounding. I tell people, 'You are a sinner, we all are. Do you want to hear my story before I give you the bottom line on your story?'"

"We murder each other and we steal from one another, sex and immorality goes ballistic. All the diseases that just so happen to follow sexual mischief… boy there are some microbes running around now."

"Sexual sins are numerous and many, I have a few myself. So what is your safest course of action? If you're a man, find yourself a woman, marry them and keep your sex right there. You can have fun, but one thing is for sure, as long as you are both healthy in the first place, you are not going to catch some debilitating illness, there is safety there."

"Commonsense says we are not going to procreate the human race unless we have a man and a woman. From the beginning Jesus said, 'It is a man and a woman.' Adam was made and Eve was made for this reason. They left their fathers and mothers and be united to become one flesh, that's what marriage is all about."

..."Jesus will take sins away, if you're a homosexual he'll take it away, if you're an adulterer, if you're a liar, what's the difference? If you break one sin you may as well break them all."

Well, that is a very compelling case, made with nonsense and bullshit and one very specific interpretation of the Christian Bible, care of a dude who believes it's his obligation to tell other people "the bottom line on [their stories]." Terrific.

Here's the deal, Phil: There is only one time the words "I think homosexuality is wrong" are appropriate—and that is if they're immediately followed by the words "for me."

And, no, it doesn't matter what version of what denomination to which one subscribes, because people's choices are their own to make. That's what free will is. And the god continually invoked in defense of rank homophobia supposedly gave it to every human, and appointed himself the singular judge of those choices the end.

Anyway. There is still lots of screaming about free speech and censorship going on, because lots of people have no idea what those things actually mean. And don't understand that there are consequences for hate speech at most places of employment.

And, like many people who will literally use comments to accuse me of disallowing disagreement while they are disagreeing with me in comments, defenders of Robertson fail to understand that publicly auditing people's humanity doesn't happen in a vacuum, and people who react to that garbage have as much right to their reactions as the person who said nasty shit in the first place.

Not being allowed to talk shit with impunity isn't the same thing as not being allowed to talk shit at all.

If you push, expect pushback, bigots.

[Related Reading: Cracker Barrel puts 'Duck Dynasty' products back on shelves after outcry.]