Tucker Carlson Keeps His Job

This is about the best possible response Tucker could’ve delivered https://t.co/gJiRhD0H6V

— Scott Greer (@ScottMGreer) July 14, 2020

The Left is egalitarian. The Right understands hierarchy. While the Left has cults of personality, for the Right, the need for a personal leader seems built in. There must be a king, a man on horseback, or a tribune of the nation whom we can follow. This leads to mistakes. In retrospect, the tributes to “God-Emperor” Donald Trump in 2015-2016 are embarrassing, even if you think he should be re-elected. We may soon feel the same way about Tucker Carlson, whom many believe is the real voice of American nationalism — though it’s questionable whether “American nationalism” is even possible anymore.

However, I’m not disavowing Mr. Carlson just yet. Last night, he talked about a hit piece against one of his writers that got him fired. Mr. Carlson spoke against the vulgar comments the young man — Blake Neff — posted on a forum. Tasteless comments in private don’t show any of us at our best. But Mr. Carlson also denounced the self-righteousness of those who destroyed a young man’s career. This took courage.

Mr. Carlson reminded us that all are fallen. He didn’t grovel or attack his former employee. Nor did he fire him; Mr. Neff appears to have resigned, and there’s no evidence to suggest he was forced out. The Left obviously doesn’t think Mr. Carlson toadied enough. The Left never thinks anyone toadies enough. Mr. Carlson’s remarks were not a ringing endorsement of free speech, but were about the best that could be expected from someone who wants to stay at a network that has clearly shifted left.

I don’t know Mr. Carlson’s former writer, and until two days ago I had never heard of the forum where he posted. However, I used to know Oliver Darcy, who wrote the original CNN article that exposed Mr. Neff. Mr. Darcy and I used to work together at the Leadership Institute. He was something of a firebrand at that time, pioneering some of the street interviews/activism now typical of conservative provocateurs such as Steven Crowder or Kaitlin Bennett. He was certainly more conservative than most people at LI.

Oliver Darcy during his time in the “conservative” Beltway. (Credit Image: The Leadership Institute)

It would be absurd for me to try to smear Mr. Darcy because he associated with me or anybody else. However, my views weren’t a secret. Everyone was well aware that I opposed multiculturalism and mass immigration. If anything, I was more “radical” than I am now in middle age. Oliver had no problems working with me or with my organization, Youth for Western Civilization, and I considered him a friend. Perhaps he has changed his views; perhaps he never had any.

“Miles’s Law,” which states, “Where you stand depends on where you sit,” is probably explains him best. Liberal journalism today revolves around deplatforming and silencing the competition. Oliver was just doing his job at CNN, just as he did at LI or at The Blaze, years ago. Like a gangland hit, I suspect this was just business, nothing personal. Mr. Carlson’s writer was someone who had to go.

Still, there’s something obscene about media conglomerates writing breathless stories about a young man’s comments in an anonymous forum. It’s one thing if it’s some antifa group calling you names; that’s to be expected. It’s quite another when this is what CNN spends time on during an economic recession, mass pandemic, tensions in the Middle East and Asia, rising crime, and widespread rioting. It’s even worse when the Associated Press thinks it’s headline news.

This isn’t the “free press” holding power accountable; it’s bullies trying to shut people up. It’s even more disgusting when the censorship is coming from someone who would have deplatformed his own persona of just a few years earlier. This isn’t journalism. It’s petty cruelty. It’s why so many Americans don’t believe the “fake news” anymore. They think, correctly, that cable news is just a way for journalists to scold, snitch, and speechify, instead of informing us about what’s happening in the world.

I think Mr. Carlson did the best that could have been expected. I pray that Mr. Neff can rebuild his career and his life. Finally, I hope those who successfully doxed him reflect that “cancel culture” can go both ways. We all have said things we may not want made public. And this kind of petty vindictiveness destroys an institution’s credibility.

When I was younger, I associated CNN with cutting-edge reporting from the battlegrounds of the First Gulf War. Today, CNN’s no more than a liberal blog that got someone “canceled.” Of course, eventually that tactic will lose its sting. People stop caring. When everyone is “canceled,” no one is.