O Say Can You Please Entry 5

O Say Can You Please Entry 5: Zero Fox Given

Let me just get the facts straight here: I am not in Fox News’s target demographic. I don’t watch it on TV all that often, and I check out the website only because I like to understand other viewpoints, even if I don’t agree with them. With that said, in the past few days, we have seen two hosts from this network face criticism for remarks one could politely call appalling. Jeanine Pirro and Tucker Carlson are the subjects of this segment, and their statements will be dissected one by one.

First on the docket is Pirro, and her statement was blatantly Islamophobic. I would argue that’s just more of the same from her, but I’m getting ahead of myself. Anyway, I have this quote containing her words, with the quote being published by the Washington Post. Pirro said (referring to Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar) that “Omar wears a hijab, which according to the Koran 33:59, tells women to cover so they won’t get molested. Is her adherence to this Islamic doctrine indicative of her adherence to sharia law, which in itself is antithetical to the United States Constitution?”  I personally have a hard time making out the argument here given how vague the language is, but from what I gather, Pirro is saying that obedience to any Islamic doctrine rubs up against our societal values, and to that I bring up the 1st Amendment to the US Constitution, which guarantees freedom of religion among other essential rights. I expect a better understanding of the Constitution from a former judge.

    Moving on to Tucker’s fiasco, the very progressive and totally unbiased media advocacy group Media Matters for America found some embarrassing (at best) sexist and racist comments made by Carlson on a shock-jock radio show. The show was called Bubba the Love Sponge, and I just realized what I was getting into when I wrote that. Back on topic, Carlson was a frequent guest on the show, and the comments were made between 2006 and 2011. As I do, I am going to introduce a new feature called Autopsy, in which I dissect offensive remarks made by a prominent political or media figure and basically just rip the person who said those words a new one. Also, any words in quotes do not come from me, but from the targeted figure. By the way, since Media Matters discovered this, I’ll actually have to use them as a source. God help me.

    With that out of the way, the first quote I will try to explain is a quote that requires the context of the conversation. Basically, Bubba, a co-host, and Carlson are talking about what immigrants should come into the country. Carlson then says, “Hot or smart, that's right. But people to come over and pick lettuce, I mean, I'm not saying that's an undignified -- I mean, that's great, you know, and I admire people who work hard, but on the other hand, is that -- are those people who are going to build, you know, a stronger country 20 years from now?” There is so much wrong with that, but I first thing I noticed is that he stuttered a lot trying to say that as if he knew it was wrong. However, the bigger problem with that statement is that despite saying that he wasn’t using the lettuce example in a derogatory way, he totally was. We need the people doing that kind of work to support our country in the first place, because without them, our food supply (among many other things) would be significantly degraded. Also, I doubt attractiveness has any significant effect (or any whatsoever) on a person’s overall merit.

    The other quote I’ll mention involves a nasty characterization of the people of a country best known for how badly the Western powers messed it up. The quote from Carlson is, ““Iraq is a crappy place filled with a bunch of, you know, semiliterate primitive monkeys -- that's why it wasn't worth invading.” First, I will say that Iraq was not worth invading, but the reasoning Tucker gave was way off. Second, I looked deeper into the Media Matters transcripts and found that in this claim, the shock-jock radio host was not happy with what Carlson was saying about Iraq. I forgot to mention that he made fun of Canada in the same snippet. I doubt these are his actual beliefs, considering the setting, but I would not be shocked if they were. More snippets can be found at the Media Matters source where this was first found.

    Before we continue, I’d like to honor and mourn the victims of last week’s devastating mass shootings in Christchurch, New Zealand. 50 dead is always a high death toll, and with dozens more wounded, this is indeed one of New Zealand’s darkest days. May all the victims rest in peace. And with that, this entry is done. Have a great day, everyone!