Tucker Carlson said something silly on Fox last night — silly, but well within the bounds of what typically passes for commentary on the sewer that is cable news. In response, well-connected figures within the journalistic world immediately did what they seem always to do these days: They mused aloud about how they might punish Carlson by summarily removing him from his role.
The proposals ranged a tad. Some thought Tucker, for his rant against parents who fit their children with masks, should be arrested for having committed the equivalent sin to shouting “fire in a crowded theater” — an ignorant suggestion, given that his words didn’t come close to crossing the threshold set in Brandenburg v. Ohio. Some thought that Fox should fire him, or that his advertisers should boycott him — a more tolerable submission than “involve the federal government!” but still an illiberal one at root. Most popular of all, though, was that hoary chestnut: Bring back the Fairness Doctrine!
Comments