Put down the pitchforks and pick up the Wacom pens

To all my graphic design and digital art friends and colleagues who are tightly wound about the whole “Duck Dynasty” issue… let’s put down the pitchforks and pick up the Wacom pens.

There have been people who have insulted me from time to time and have said things about me that were either unfair or untrue. There are those people who stated opinions about me and my likes and disbeliefs that were also unfair and cruel. How does that affect me in the end, because what these people are really saying is that they find me some kind of a threat.

But unless I actually hear what these people are saying and I let it affect me, what’s the point? The people who I work for and with know the truth about me and my work, and those who don’t want to look me up and see what all the fuss is about… in essence these defective chatterboxes are doing me a favor.

If someone climbed to the top of a mountain and yelled “I hate Eric Fisk with the passion of 10 thousand burning suns,” what does that say about him and what does that say about the effect I have on that person. I more than exist, I’m a major issue on this person’s life so much that he climbed to the top of a mountain just to shout how much he hates me. Someone who is shouting at the top of his lungs where nobody can hear him affects whom?

If someone took out an ad in a Taiwanese paper in a Taiwanese city, none of us has ever heard of before to say ‘Eric Fisk is a dumbass and graphic design is like terrorism or bestiality,” that affects me how?

This only partially rhetorical, to my knowledge nobody is screaming from the mountaintops or taking out ads in foreign newspapers to share how much they hate me, but I know of a few websites and forums where I’m the subject of scorn and anger. Since I don’t go to those sites I have no idea what they say about me anymore, so the effect on me is non-existent.

I think chances are really good that none of the sophisticated gay people watch Duck Dynasty. Very few of them read GQ. So why does the patriarch of Duck Dynasty’s words have any effect on the LBGT community? Are their protests against The A&E network going to stop other people from saying unkind words about them, or could this backfire and cause a backlash against the LBGT community?

I know what it’s like to be hated just because I’m different. I know what it’s like to be outside the norm and how intolerant or threatened people use hate-speech and threats of violence to try and “turn me straight.” It always makes me wonder, what are they hiding in their closet and what feelings of inadequacy lead them to react so horribly to me?

Patrick Robertson from “Duck Dynasty” said what he said. She shared his beliefs after asking a question for a magazine article. So? Too many of us are making a big deal about nothing and some of us – especially my graphic designer friends – are giving his comments too much power over your lives. We are in control of our emotions and other people’s words have as much power as we allow them to have.

If you’re spending too much effort on this issue, then maybe you’re deflecting and distracting attention away from your own problems and inadequacies. Are you really pissed that it’s December and you haven’t added much substance to your portfolio during the past 11 months and two weeks?

Thought so… FOCUS ON WHAT REALLY COUNTS, our work. When the smoke clears we’ll ashamed we gave such a non-story so much attention. Mark my words, this will be a non-issue once A&E changes its mind and reinstates Mr. Roberson or the show moves to another network all this hot air will have been for nothing.