'Duck Dynasty' Ratings Reveal Appetite for God, Guns, Family

'Duck Dynasty' Ratings Reveal Appetite for God, Guns, Family

A&E has a serious hit on its hands with a family of West Monroe, LA duck call makers whose lives revolve around guns, family and blessings before dinner.

Duck Dynasty’s season finale Wednesday trounced the competition–both cable and network fare. Although the show is 100 percent apolitical, one cannot help but see the stark differences between it and our current political climate. 

Highlighting the lives of Phil Robertson, his wife Kay, and their sons Willie, Jase, and Jep, the show follows the sons as they make the Duck Commander duck call Phil designed 40 years ago. It also includes Phil’s brother Si, who works with the Robertson men, and has all but trademarked the word “jack”–as in “listen here Jack,” “that’s right Jack,” “beat that Jack,” etc.–since the show first aired two seasons ago.

The series is a curious mix of ultra-wealth and double-wide redneck–a term which I do not use in the pejorative. 

The five Robertson men eat squirrel, they break into country clubs and catch frogs at night–so they can eat the legs–and they blow up deer blinds with dynamite. They leave work early to hunt, to fish and to have donut eating contests or try Expresso for the first time. 

Yet Willie, the company’s CEO, lives in a mansion–literally.

The Robertson’s have life right where they want it, and that is clear to anyone who watches Duck Dynasty.

The show is oblivious to gun control pushes touted by Senate Democrats, attacks on faith and family that seem ubiquitous in this age. The elitist notion that a simple life is a life not worth living is contrasted by a band of Robertson men who are shooting guns, cleaning guns, loving their families and sitting down as extended family for dinner every night.

And before they eat that dinner, Phil has them bow their heads and say thanks to God for the good things they have.

Americans in flyover country are loving every minute of it.

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