The political left is notorious for celebrating whenever they believe a prominent opponent to their agenda has been silenced. Often they celebrate far too soon and become enraged when they realize the people they wanted gone are stronger and more popular than ever. The Tucker Carlson situation is likely another case of this dynamic in play.
When CNN’s Brian Stelter was taken off the air after years of disinformation peddling, conservatives celebrated as well, but there’s a difference between the two events. In the case of Stelter, his show was tanking along with CNN’s overall ratings. The company was bleeding audience numbers and people like Stelter had zero public trust. This was the market telling CNN and Stelter that they are not wanted.
In the case of Tucker Carlson, he had the top slot on FOX and the highest rated cable news show in the country. The removal of Carlson had nothing to do with the market – The market wants Carlson’s show. He was removed most likely because of his views. Stelter was removed because he is irrelevant; Carlson was removed as an attempt to censor (deplatforming).
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez seems to think that the demands of the market do not matter and applauded Tucker Carlson’s “deplatforming” from FOX, comparing it to the defeat of a villain in a Marvel movie. This is odd considering villains do not get deplatformed; it’s the villains that do the deplatforming.
“Deplatforming works and is important”
AOC celebrates Fox News terminating Tucker Carlson pic.twitter.com/1KoJrTDqNR
— Jack Poso 🇺🇸 (@JackPosobiec) April 25, 2023
In case her crazy eyes didn’t give it away, it should be noted that AOC seems to be very excited about the prospect of Carlson being suppressed. But perhaps her bartender’s brain missed the bigger picture?
In the era of digital media such personalities take their audiences with them. That’s millions of viewers that Fox News is about to lose, and surely there are multiple alternative media outlets ready to offer Carlson a spot for his show. If anything, FOX getting rid of him has strengthened his credibility even more. The truth is, he was the only reason many conservatives bothered to tune in to FOX at all.
AOC does note that she’s afraid of the “cut scene” at the end of the movie where the “villain’s hand” jumps out to indicate he’s not dead. But if this is the case, then her theory about deplatforming is ignorant. If Carlson takes his audience with him, then how is he deplatformed? If this move inspires an even bigger audience shift over to alternative media, then the leftists haven’t won anything. In fact, they have lost.
What AOC should really be doing is demanding FOX give Carlson his job back. Strike him down and he comes back more powerful than she can possibly imagine. However, in her rabid lust for control she has overlooked the obvious.
Perhaps in this case leftists like AOC believe that having Carlson on a corporate news network gives him a form of legitimacy – They tend to think the mainstream news is the only viable news, but this is an outdated and foolish assumption. In reality, it was not FOX that gave Carlson legitimacy, it was Carlson that gave FOX legitimacy.
Tucker Carlson will be fine wherever he goes, FOX’s market value will plunge along with its viewership, and AOC will still look like a crazed communist. Deplatforming is the removal of a voice despite broad public demand. It’s the tool of authoritarians, and all it does is tell us who is close to the target when it comes to the truth. They wouldn’t be deplatformed if they weren’t a threat to the establishment.
Tyler Durden
Wed, 04/26/2023 – 13:08
