Even in Montana
Scene: a sporting goods store in Montana. A guy spots Tucker Carlson and gets in his face.
In a confrontation that swiftly went viral, a Montana man told Fox News host Tucker Carlson: “You are the worst human being known to mankind.”
The man, identified on Instagram as Dan Bailey, posted the video of the encounter in a sporting goods store on 23 July.
…
Fox News’s most-watched host, a key influence on rightwing politics and invective, has recently come under fire for questioning vaccines against Covid-19 while refusing to say if he has had one, and for stoking racial division.
“Questioning vaccines” is putting it politely. Really what he’s doing is encouraging people not to get them, and to tell everyone else not to get them. During a pandemic.
In a statement, Fox News said: “Ambushing Tucker Carlson while he is in a store with his family is totally inexcusable – no public figure should be accosted regardless of their political persuasion or beliefs simply due to the intolerance of another point of view.”
Nonsense. Some public figures should be confronted, and Tucker Carlson is way high up on that list. Vaccinations are not just a “point of view,” they’re life and death. Tucker Carlson is literally telling people to die and to encourage others to die. Yes, he deserves to be embarrassed and irritated in a sporting goods store.
I’m generally against bothering people, even public figures, when they’re going about their private lives. Protest them at their offices or at speaking gigs or other appearances, but don’t show up at their homes and don’t pester them in stores and restaurants.
However, I note that Tucker Carlson does not adhere to this principle. He has urged his listeners to get in the faces of people wearing masks, and to call Child Protective Services if they see a child wearing a mask. And of course Fox News in general is notorious for harassing their political opponents — Jesse Watters’ entire shtick for a while was doing ambush interviews for Bill O’Reilly. So my sympathies are limited.
But I make an exception to that if their home is the White House. Like the suffragettes standing outside the WH with signs, peacefully protesting. “Mr. Wilson, how long must we wait?”
Yesterday there were a lot of blue check public figures quote tweeting that Fox statement, and then describing exactly how Fox did that to them. Fox are hypocrites and in other news rain is wet.