Tucker, Tucker, Tucker…

Tucker, Tucker, Tucker…

White Supremacy is quickly becoming an oxymoron. And it’s the likes of the suddenly vacationing Fox commentator (who really really was planning a vacation just then, really, just like all the guys at Fox who used to be there) who is making it more moronic and more embarrassing for those of us with oxy (occidental) heritage. Hatred and fear are ever-present in the world, so that should not surprise us. What is surprising is the degree that the proponents of White Supremacy and the defenders of it and those who espouse it consciously or subconsciously (perhaps better understood if it were unconsciously) are unaware of just how stupid and ridiculous they are made to look by those positions.

Do they just not see it? Or maybe they just don’t care? But strangely enough, neither seems to be the case. They see it, they care immensely about how they are perceived or even adored by the crowd, and yet they seem to have no clue that they are making themselves look like idiots. I have sometimes thought that it was just my liberal biased perception which was so one-sided that I could not grasp the opposing view. But that was long ago. We are way past that now. We have moved into the theater of the absurd.

I have wondered a great deal about how to rationalize this tendency to take a stand, defend that stand, see the polls and hear the strong criticism, and then deny that what was said was characterized properly. To be so blatantly racist as White Supremacists are by definition, and then not understand that it is an abhorrent position to the majority of thinking and caring people is to be oblivious or blinded by your own views. If I take a stand and the majority around me strongly disagrees, I acknowledge the different viewpoint, perhaps express surprise at the dominance of the contrary view, probably reinforce my own stand as a strong minority opinion or say I will need to ponder the issue further, acknowledging the possibility of my own fallibility. I do not think this is an unusual or particularly enlightened approach. I think it is the normal and to-be-expected approach. To me, it is only logical, not special.

But that is not the approach being taken by supporters of White Supremacy. The first thing they know to do is to disavow that their viewpoint is one of White Supremacy. They ignore their own actions and start by defending their freedom of speech. We are certainly all allowed our opinions and the ability to express them. We are even allowed to seek to avoid labeling. But when deeds, speech and direct action, especially taken as a pattern over time point clearly to an ideology, that is less labeling than simply defining the pattern for what it is. I would argue that there is far less subjectivity to it than not.

There is an attempt by people being labeled as White Supremacists to immediately suggest that such labels as racist are the typical “whitewash” of the liberal elite and that they get dragged out anytime the offending non-liberals are scoring points and making their views known loudly. I can’t speak for everyone, but it would be very hard in today’s highly charged and divisive political environment for me to say that the commentary by President Trump via his tweets and rallies alone could be interpreted as anything but racist. He may not be a racist, as he so vociferously suggests, but someone better tell him that his words and deeds are racist in nature. It does not help him to course-correct and avoid being a racist rather than just acting like a racist, if his staff and supporters just tell him that all his critics are crazy and that there is nothing wrong with what he says, tweets and does.

The emperor who demands total blinded fealty is hard-pressed to find those who dare to tell him that he is disrobed. The haters relish in the ultimate undoing and embarrassment of the emperor. The fans choose to give him the benefit of the doubt or do not want to dispirit him. In the case of Trump, we are all led to believe that if he is not before an adoring crowd, he is most likely sulking by himself in his bedroom, alone with some cheeseburger. I have no idea if that’s true, but when you read the quotes from people around him at bad moments, it does not seem that he has thick and impervious skin, like many politicians.

Now, Tucker presents an extreme case. He has certainly been a strong defender of Trump’s through many rough patches. I know I have a very hard time even watching him work because he so quickly gets on my bad side and makes me see red (hmm, I wonder if that might be the origin of the color-coding?). But this time he has gone way too far in his zeal. To defend aberrant or antisocial and even sociopathic behavior on the grounds of civil liberty strikes me as a unpleasant stand. It seems the sort of defense we could expect Alan Dershowitz to jump in on and defend on principle. But even I must begrudgingly acknowledge the right of that person to hold and defend their beliefs. Obviously we must draw lines such that people are not harmed by the expression of the beliefs and this is where it gets tricky. Are you entitled to incite hatred and sociopathy as part of your belief defense? Many, including me, would say no, but at least I understand the other side to that argument. What I cannot understand is out-and-out lying, denial or conspiracy theorizing.

That is my Tucker, Tucker, Tucker moment. Suggesting there is no White Supremacy, that it is all a liberal hoax, when the historical and recent evidence is so overwhelming is not even worthy of a Fox News. We have tapes. We have tweets. We have videos of chanting and rally rabble rousing. We have clear and direct actions and statements that are undeniable. There is no escaping the reality. There is only wishful thinking. Strange that those most prone to racism are the ones tending to deny its existence the loudest. That feels like calling in fire on your own position. Stand up for your views. Own them. Stop letting yourself look so oxymoronic. I know I will hate them, but at least you won’t be seen as an idiotic coward that is trying to run from your own views and deeds.