While flipping through the news last night, I stopped and read the words floating by at the bottom of the screen: “Duck Dynasty star Phil Robertson suspended for anti-gay comments.” In an interview with GQ magazine last month, Robertson made a few comments that followed as such: “I never, with my eyes, saw the mistreatment of any black person…. They’re singing and happy….Pre-entitlement, pre-welfare, you say: Were they happy? They were godly; they were happy; no one was singing the blues.” And his views on homosexuality were equally as enlightened.

I didn’t feel any sort of surprise or outrage; the reason Duck Dynasty is such a popular reality show is because Robertson, along with his duck-hunting family co-stars, says and does outrageous things that have captivated the attention of millions of watchers across the country. The A&E show focuses on the lives of the Robertson family, who have become wealthy from their family-operated duck hunting business. The fourth season premiere drew 11.8 million viewers—the most-watched nonfiction cable telecast in history.

The uneducated family says and does crazy things, and that’s why people love it—so why it should come as a shock to anyone that Robertson has stepped over the line of Honey Boo Boo funny and into the territory of feather-ruffling-ignorance?

I equate the Robertson family to a redneck version of the Kardashians. While I was unsympathetic that Robertson finally said something offensive enough to warrant the public’s outcry and his suspension from the show, I was surprised at how many people went to bat for the Duck Dynasty star.

Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal issued a statement soon after A&E suspended Robertson from the show:

“The politically correct crowd is tolerant of all viewpoints, except those they disagree with…. this is a free country and everyone is entitled to express their views. In fact, I remember when TV networks believed in the First Amendment. It is a messed up situation when Miley Cyrus gets a laugh, and Phil Robertson gets suspended.”

Not soon after Jindal went on record saying this, Sarah Palin (who had a photo op with the Robertson family earlier that month) announced that she, too, was standing behind Robertson’s right to a free speech.

While the basic principle of free speech should always be applied, it’s A&E’s prerogative as a cable TV company to choose not to give a publicly broadcasted voice to those who use derogative or offensive language.

Perhaps this should be a lesson to us all about the people to whom we we give power, fame and money in the media world. They can provide a good laugh but ultimately there’s a reason why we find shows like Duck Dynasty, Honey Boo Boo, My Fat American Gypsy Wedding so intriguing: people love being able to turn on their TVs and feel instantaneously superior to the people on the screen. Watching Robertson and his grizzly beard hunting after ducks, or Honey Boo Boo’s family laughing at their own farts, we feel automatically gratified that we’re more educated, more advanced more elite—even if we’ve had a bad day at work, or failed a math test, at least we’re not like them.

As Phil Robertson’s views on homosexuality and African Americans rears its ugly head, it’s a reminder that these people aren’t just a joke that we can laugh at and flip to the next channel. Now that the public has given people like Robertson fame, attention and their own TV show, we are now subject to his objectionable views.