John Oliver Celebrated for Providing Less Evidence of Tucker Carlson’s White Supremacy Than Joe Biden Has Given Proving His Own
Over the past most it has become apparent that the media, in a desperate attempt to replace Donald Trump as an inspired subject of political scorn, have settled upon Tucker Carlson as their replacement target. The primetime Fox News fixture has dominated the outrage headlines of late, over any number of ridiculous claims. Taylor Lorenz declared she was violently attacked because he spoke her name out loud on the air, and CNN recently claimed that his segment about European countries blocking one of the Covid vaccines made him an anti-vaxx voice who wanted his audience to die.
Right on cue, over at HBO, John Oliver joined in the fray. Oliver, who hails from The Daily Show, occupies that comfortable strata of former host John Stewart, where he is either to be taken as a serious pundit, or when called out as being incorrect on a matter is permitted to seque over to ‘’I’m just a comedian’’. He dedicated his entire ‘’Last Week Tonight’’ episode Sunday evening to Tucker, and it was resoundingly applauded by those on the left. Oliver had so impressed that at CNN John Berman even stole his ‘’Just asking questions’’ schtick the next day. But in looking at the episode you come away with two things; the claims he makes are backed up more by insistence than evidence, and what he holds up as proof shows racism with more obviousness in the character of Joe Biden.
Oliver opened his show by highlighting a few of the stories that saw Tucker embroiled in on-line shriekfests -- the women in the military controversy, and the Dr. Seuss books cancelled. From there he launched into the obvious conclusion; Tucker Carlson is a white supremacist. If you are having trouble drawing where that distinction comes from off those stories fear not, because Oliver does little to explain himself in the show.
Getting underway he plays a few clips of Carlson wondering about the parameters of white supremacy, as he had been accused of prior. Thus begins the suppositions and reinterpretations of his words. Oliver says, ‘’I don’t burn crosses or lynch people, so I cannot be a white supremacist is a pretty - weak - argument.’’ A weaker argument however is what Oliver delivers. His main thrust is that even though he has not done the worst of racist behaviors he is still a supremacist.
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His primary piece of evidence is shown next, a guy who is a former white supremacist who says he and his family watch Tucker’s show. Something that would be tossed out of Judge Judy’s courtroom as irrelevant is held up here as definitive proof, and it is a touchstone that is brought back up throughout the program. Then we begin with a deep exploration of Carlson’s entire career, starting with one of his first TV appearances. In that clip we are curiously served up a sound bite that is decidedly non-racist..
‘’I think we need actually probably less conversation about race,’’ Tucker says answering a question. ‘’I think it might do us good were we to ignore the subject a little bit. I think we talk about it, in some ways, too much.’’ Oliver slanders the response by saying he suggests that being accused of racism is just as bad as experiencing racism, something that Carlson never alluded to and while never making any comparison. Oliver then launches into a deep exploration of the bow tie that had been worn.
From there we get a lengthy passage where select sound bites are provided from his show over the years, a few seconds of quote out of context which Oliver then interprets for his audience’s benefit. This is the bulk of proof offered. Tucker sneers at select people, he asks questions in a certain fashion, and his content is allegedly tailored in one specific direction. Oliver is proving his point by explaining what Tucker really means when he says certain things. This is nothing more than dog whistle journalism.
Another serving of weaksauce is when Oliver pulls up a chyron from an old episode; We have to fight to preserve our nation & heritage, and implies that the phrase on screen bears a close resemblance to the phrase used commonly in white supremacist circles - We must secure the existence of our people and a future for white children. You really have to strain to see this comparison, but let us think this through. Oliver is suggesting that a core of Tucker’s audience would recognize this on sight, when the truth is the only ones who would see the comparison are those looking to make a hit piece and descending into conspiracy theory territory.
Oliver exposes his desperation when he makes a deeply strained explanation. You understand that in order to grasp Tucker’s white supremacy it is not arrived at as a result of the evidence but by starting off with the belief that he is a supremacist. ‘’The filter through which he processes the world for his audience,’’ Oliver explains for his audience, ‘’becomes painfully apparent. Because he is smart enough not to openly say into a camera that certain races are more deserving of scorn, or less worthy of respect -- he just heavily implies that, depending who he is talking about.’’ So, you do not have direct examples of him saying offensive racism, it is all interpreted -- by John.
The next obvious thing Tucker does not say is supposedly veiled behind his common refrain of ‘’Western civilization’’. We do not get anything approaching a clear explanation as to why this is racist, let alone an example of white supremacy. We just have to take him at his word. ‘’Again, he will be careful, not to link race and civilization. But he will occasionally dance incredibly close to it.’’ This basically an admission that he has little to go on.
The lone example you can find of truly objectionable comments were from the recording of Carlson’s call-in appearance on the Bubba The Love Sponge radio program. This previously exposed audio was some uncomfortable words, delivered 15 years ago on a shock jock station. But it is the most profound thing Oliver comes up with after combing through Carlson's entire career. The rest is rooted in ‘’We all know what he REALLY wants to say!’’
What Oliver trips up on here is that this flimsy insistence that there is enough supposition found over the past twenty years of Carlson’s commentary to piece together a narrative of white power, he has just made the case for Joe Biden being a far worse example. For starters, if an endorsement from unknown years ago by a former white supremicist is proof of something, when it comes to political support from white supremacists Biden was endorsed by Richard Spencer, a current white supremacist, this past election. Whoops.
Then there are Joe’s own words. In an Iowa speech regarding education he said, “We should challenge students in these schools. We have this notion that somehow if you’re poor, you cannot do it. Poor kids are just as bright and just as talented as white kids. Wealthy kids, black kids, Asian kids — no I really mean it, but think how we think about it.’’
Then there was his infamous radio appearance, telling POC voters, "Well I tell you what, If you have a problem figuring out whether you're for me or Trump, then you ain't black." In a video conference with black and Hispanic journalists he said, "What you all know but most people don't know, unlike the African American community, with notable exceptions, the Latino community is an incredibly diverse community with incredibly different attitudes about different things."
During another video conference he was asked by black reporter Errol Barnett, of CBS News, about his having taken a cognitive test, Biden got agitated. “That's like saying you, before you got in this program, if you take a test where you're taking cocaine or not, what do you think huh? Are you a junkie?”
All are rather blatant examples of racist behavior, and they come with a significant difference to the leaps and stretches found in Carlson’s commentary; It did not require a decades-long Nexus search to filter through countless hours of video -- the oldest example is less than one and half years ago. These do not require interpretation. We do not need the John Oliver method of tying hand-plucked examples from over 20 years and connecting them with red yarn on a conspiracy wall.
If we are to be told the strained evidence given leads to what unspoken words actually mean and that becomes proof that Tucker Carlson is a white supremacist, then Richard Spencer candidate Joe Biden’s collection of glaring reductive quotes should prove he is a Grand Wizard in The Klan. The press, after choosing to ignore Biden’s direct quotes, are now applauding John Oliver for deciphering what Carlson is really saying when he does not say racist things.
With Joe Biden we do not need someone to tell us what he means -- we merely have to listen.
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