Tucker Carlson Examined

For John, BLUF:  I like Tucker Carlson, and his Nine PM show.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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The Bow-Tied Bard of Populism

Except Tucker Carlson doesn't wear bow ties any more.

Here is the sub-headline:

Tucker Carlson’s latest reinvention is guided by a simple principle—a staunch aversion to whatever his right-minded neighbors believe.

The author of this Atlantic Monthly article is Mr McKay Coppins and the publication date is 23 February of this year.

The quotes that Professor Glenn Harlan Reynolds pulled are these:

“Look, it’s really simple,” Carlson says.  “The SAT 50 years ago pulled a lot of smart people out of every little town in America and funneled them into a small number of elite institutions, where they married each other, had kids, and moved to an even smaller number of elite neighborhoods.  We created the most effective meritocracy ever.”

“But the problem with the meritocracy,” he continues, is that it “leeches all the empathy out of your society …  The second you think that all your good fortune is a product of your virtue, you become highly judgmental, lacking empathy, totally without self-awareness, arrogant, stupid—I mean all the stuff that our ruling class is.”

That rings true.

And, the Fighter Pilot line is "Better lucky than good, because there is always someone better."

I like this paragraph from the article, which I think is well written (the whole article):

Fair or not, this is the essence of Carlson’s case against the educated elites and well-heeled technocrats that comprise America’s ruling class (not to mention his neighborhood).  They are too certain of their own righteousness, too dismissive of dissenters, too unwilling to entertain new ideas.

Read it through to the end, because the punchline is great, although I am not sure it is something to read to your younger children.

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff