You may have heard that during the past week, Fox News fired popular conservative commentator Tucker Carlson. At the moment, the reason for his dismissal is not crystal clear.
That said, I think it could have something to do with a recent speech that Mr. Carlson made on air.
On the April 19th edition of "Tucker Carlson Tonight", the pundit opened with this monologue:
“Sometimes you wonder just how filthy and dishonest our news media are. You'll be in the shower, and you'll think they're bad. But how bad are they? Ask yourself, is any news organization you know of so corrupt that it's willing to hurt you on behalf of its biggest advertisers?What would that look like? That level of corruption?
If Fox News did that, what would you think of Fox News? Would you trust us? Of course, you wouldn't. Thank heaven, Fox News never did anything like that; but the other channels did. The other channels took hundreds of millions of dollars from big pharma companies, and then they shilled for their sketchy products on the air.
And as they did that, they maligned anyone who was skeptical of those products. At the very least, this was a moral crime. It was disgusting, but it was universal. It happened across the American news media; they all did it. So at this point, the question isn’t ‘who in public life is corrupt’? The question is, ‘who is telling the truth?” (1)
In the news media, “them’s fightin’ words”. You see, the “powers that be” don’t like it when you say certain things; that hurts their image, and their bottom line.
For comparison, let’s look at what the Honorable Judge Andrew Napolitano said in his last broadcast on Fox Business:
“What if you needed a license from the government to speak, to assemble, or to protest against the government? What if the government didn't like what you planned to say, and so it didn't give you the license?
What if you were not secure in your papers, in your person, and in your property? What if federal agents could write their own search warrants, in defiance of the Constitution? What if the government could take your property whenever it wanted?
What if the government could continue prosecuting you until it got the verdict it wanted? What if the government could force you to testify against yourself, simply by labeling you a 'domestic terrorist'?
What if the government could torture you, until you said what the government wanted to hear? What if the government tortured your children to get to you?
What if government judges and government lawyers intimidated juries into convicting the innocent? What if the government could send you to your death, and your innocence meant nothing, so long as the government's procedures were followed?
What if the people had no rights, except those the government chose to let them have? What if the states had no rights, except to do as the federal government commanded? What if the government could write any law, regulate any behavior, and tax any event; the Constitution be damned?
What if you could love your country, but hate what the government has done to it? What if (Thomas) Jefferson was right? What if I'm right? What if it is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong? What if it is better to perish fighting for freedom than to live as a slave?
What if freedom's greatest hour of danger is now?” (2)
The two speeches are similar to an extent.
In the former, Carlson implies that the news media is massively corrupt, being bought and paid for by major companies. In the latter speech, Judge Napolitano suggests that the federal government is not only corrupt, but “wrong”, and antithetical (see definition) to the cause of individual rights.
In Napolitano's case, he was summarily fired by Fox News/Fox Business just after the airing of this episode. It seems he ran afoul of that unwritten rule: “never criticize those in charge”.
Could the same have happened to Mr. Carlson? Something appears to be a bit “sketchy” at the “fair and balanced” network.
Definition -
Antithetical: Adjective, "being in direct and unequivocal opposition: directly opposite or opposed" (3).
Sources:
1.The Vigilant Fox. “@TuckerCarlson’s Famous April 19 Monologue: Imagine a News Media Willing to HURT You on Behalf of Its Advertisers.” Twitter, 26 Apr. 2023, twitter.com/VigilantFox/status/1651195356586057731. Accessed 26 Apr. 2023.
2.“What if...?’ the Plain Truth With Judge Andrew Napolitano.” YouTube, uploaded by KlingonSpider, 10 Jan. 2012, youtu.be/VQJHTJlW0bM. Accessed 26 Apr. 2023.
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