The Duck Dynasty Effect

I don’t know if you’ve heard about a little show on A&E called ‘Duck Dynasty’. If you have, right on! Aren’t they awesome? If you haven’t, well, wake up and get your redneck on. Let me fill you in a bit. The Robertson family lives in Louisiana and are about as backwoods as they get (except the wives – they are smoking hot suburban yuppies – as Phil calls them). Phil, the matriarch of the family, designed a duck call and created Duck Commander in 1972. The business took off and is booming. So, the entire family are now redneck millionaires. They have a reality TV show that gives you a glimpse into their lives, and it’s hilarious. I mean, really, REALLY hilarious. To truly get you up to speed, watch the following clip:

We’ve been faithfully watching The Robertson’s since their first season. We can’t get enough of them! While I enjoy watching the show for the good laughs and to watch a family with a pretty off-the-wall look on things and steadfast morales, Alex apparently likes to watch as a source to model his behavior. I’ve seen a marked change in Alex as of recently and I’m not really sure what to make of it.

Allow me to state my case:

– If Alex had his choice, he would never pick up a book to read. I’ve actually only seen him read two books – Trace Adkin’s autobiography (Alex has a strange man crush on that cowboy) and Willie and Korie Robertson’s autobiography/The story of Duck Commander. He actually asked to read the book. He’s now been talking about The Robertson’s as if they are friends of his that go way back.

– Alex has been trying his hardest to convince me that he’s partially redneck. Remember that I knew him growing up. He lived in a nice house in the suburbs. He was, by all counts, a ‘yuppie’ based on Robertson standards. Now, we do own a really big truck that has huge mud tires. However, those tires have yet to touch anything other than pavement.

– The Robertson’s have thick Southern accents and unique fluctuations in how they say certain words. Their words seem to flow a little differently than ours do. Alex was raised in southern Missouri, but went to college in Michigan. Being in Michigan left him with a slightly Northern accent. Lately, however, there has been a marked change in how he’s talking. He’s been layering in some semblance of a Southern accent and changing his inflections. It’s odd. The other day, he got frustrated with something and loudly yelled out ‘Good Night’. For those non Duck Dynasty fans, that’s one of The Robertson’s most used expletive. I laughed in his face when he said it. It’s now a regular in his vocabulary.

– On the ride to work the other day, Alex casually mentioned that he was thinking about growing his mustache and goatee a bit thicker. I’m actually okay with this one. I find beards strangely attractive.

– He’s taken to drinking from a mason jar. Points for us for having mason jars to drink from. Take those points away for the beverage being something other than sweet tea.

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Now, I have to say that I’m not upset by Alex’s change in behavior. There are so many worse choices in people that he could be emulating. As backwards as they seem, The Robertson’s have their heads on surprisingly straight.

One of these things is not like the other…