Moreover, Carlson proclaims, “The truth is contagious. And there’s nothing you can do to me to make me do it.” I am a free citizen, and I’m not doing that.

It’s a betrayal of my conscience, of my faith, of my sense of myself, of my dignity as a human being, of my autonomy. … It’s a betrayal of what I think is true. His second conclusion is better news: For every 10 cowards, there is one shining individual who has, in Carlson’s words, stood up to say, “No, I’m not doing that. … It’s harnessed, in fact, by bad people in moments like this to produce uniformity.” Huge swaths of Americans, then, have “become quislings, you see them revealed as cowards.”īecause of this, says Carlson, America’s institutions are “all run by weak people.” And “weak leaders cause an angry country.” The first is that he perceives a dangerous phenomenon in which Americans are “going along with a new, new thing, which is clearly a poisonous thing, a silly thing, saying things they don’t believe because they want to keep their jobs.” This is because “the herd instinct is maybe the strongest instinct … not to be cast out of the group, not to be shunned. Then we can reconvene below for an in-depth discussion.Īs you see, Carlson’s speech is about the “two conclusions” to which he’s come during the past, dark decades. So if you possibly can, I urge you to read the entire transcript.

You need the whole experience, to see how the parts fit together to express a larger truth, to genuinely understand its magnificence. It’s like trying to explain the perfection of Michelangelo’s David to someone, but being only able to show them its fingers, nipples, and wrinkly foreskin. I’ve found it difficult to choose snippets of Carlson’s words to quote.

It is a gargantuan achievement and will abide like a pyramid in the sand, an eternal monument to humanity’s infinite vanity, self-deception, and self-congratulation. Yet I believe that one act of Carlson’s - his last pre-termination appearance, an April 21 speech at the Heritage Foundation’s 50th anniversary gala - will endure for millennia. Eventually people will think about cable news as much as they today ponder semaphore. Someday, Carlson himself will fade from human memory. Soon the quadrillion online takes on Tucker Carlson’s firing by Fox News will be forgotten.

Before your memory fades