Tucker Carlson’s claim to fame in the early 2000s was that he was a relatively young guy who wore a bowtie, and looked like a miniature version of the aging white conservatives that were ruining the country. He had the younger-than-50-years-old conservative slot on cable news all to himself and was able to carve out an unearned brand of being somewhat “intellectual.” Think of an American WASP version of white supremacist Sebastian Gorka’s pretend “European aristocrat” schtick.
Over time, the real Carlson has emerged, as the replacement-level Bill O’Reilly he always was. Whether he’s spewing racist hatred against immigrants or spewing racist hatred against government social programs, Carlson is the same blunt-bully at the end of the bar, who stands a few inches higher than most, and is so loud and obnoxious, you usually just stay away. Unfortunately for Tuckey boy, being a big bully when you’re safe in your white supremacist propaganda hut, inside of Fox News studios, doesn’t mean you get to walk out into the world untouched. As Tucky-big-boy-pants explained, he has a hard time eating out these days because the words he says have real-world consequences.
Speaking with the National Review's podcast "The Jamie Weinstein Show" in an episode released Monday, Carlson said, "I don't feel threatened, but having someone scream, 'F--- you!' at a restaurant, it just wrecks your meal."
He told the host Jamie Weinstein: "I can't really go to a lot of restaurants anymore because I get yelled at."
There is a strain of thinking that says, this is a golden rule moment. We don’t want an “uncivil” society where people are yelled at for speaking their mind. But the biggest proponents of this discomfort with civil unrest, on both sides, seem to also have relatively privileged positions. Unfortunately, there is blood in the streets and families being separated, a planet not being taken care of, and billions of lives on the line. Being famous for fifteen minutes is not a birthright and it has nothing to do with one’s freedom of speech.
According to Merriam-Webster, some synonyms for the word “pariah,” include: Castoff, leper, reject. It might be time to add “Tucker,” and “Carlson,” to that list: “I felt like a real Tucker Carlson after dropping the roast turkey during Thanksgiving.”