“Dissent is the highest form of patriotism” is a quote often mistakenly attributed to Thomas Jefferson. The origin is unknown, though former New York Mayor John Lindsay said something akin to that in 1969 at the height of the Vietnam War. The line managed a revival in the early days of the Iraq War.
I always found it a trite statement that people would use to deflect criticism from their bad faith arguments over anything having to do with the global war on terror. However, the war in Ukraine has also exposed the hypocritical application of it.
Lately, I’ve seen Tucker Carlson’s face more than ever in my Twitter feed and inbox because people cannot stop talking about the Fox News host. I don’t watch much cable news, but I am certainly aware of what he’s been saying about Russia and Ukraine — and much of it is pro-Kremlin balderdash. But from the sheer volume of outrage, you’d think he was the next Aldrich Ames or Robert Hanssen.
Cottage media industries have sprung up that don’t waste time countering anything Carlson says but rather express how “dangerous” his words are. He is, one commentator hilariously claimed, “more influential” in the GOP than Mitch McConnell. That kind of rubbish gets attention, but it doesn’t align with reality. Recent polling shows Republican voters overwhelmingly support Ukraine and want the United States to do more, short of entering the conflict, to help them.
And then there is The View. As with Carlson, I wouldn’t have a clue about Whoopi Goldberg’s and Joy Behar’s banal political insights outside of Twitter. Recurring guest Ana Navarro, who hasn’t had an original thought in years, recently joined the gaggle to criticize Carlson and suggest that the Department of Justice should open a criminal investigation into him since he’s a “Russian asset.” Goldberg chimed in: “They used to arrest people for doing stuff like this.” Keith Olbermann suggested that Carlson and Tulsi Gabbard (also a target of The View) face a military tribunal and be jailed until such a trial occurs. I saw someone else, a lawyer no less, arguing for Carlson to be tried at The Hague.
Have people become so hostile to the First Amendment that they’re pining for criminal investigations because of words they don’t like? “But Tucker and Gabbard are spreading Russian propaganda!”
So what? Bernie Sanders wanted to be president and he openly praised murderous dictator Fidel Castro’s “leadership” in implementing healthcare and literacy programs — which came at the behest of another murderous thug, Che Guevara, who wanted to brainwash Cubans with his Marxist revolutionary twaddle. These are appalling arguments, not war crimes.
It’s one thing to get upset about Carlson’s words, but no one has to watch. We are not stuck in a real-life 1984 with giant “telescreens” broadcasting him while disallowing anyone to turn it off. That’s the best part. People can simply not tune in, and if they do, better to take the time to explain to people why what Carlson said was wrong.
And it isn’t only those on the Left doing it. Republican Sen. Mitt Romney tweeted that Gabbard spreading Russian propaganda is “treasonous.” That’s not a word a senator should throw around lightly. Treason is a crime punishable by death, and Gabbard’s comments don’t rise to that level.
Our culture runs amok with vigilante hall monitors looking for people who supposedly pose a “threat to democracy.” Far too many people have allowed fear and panic to guide them. It is unreasonable for anyone to suggest that Carlson face a federal criminal investigation for what he says on his show. That kind of illiberalism is what everybody’s supposedly fighting against. It’s Vladimir Putin that has people arrested for saying the wrong words.
A misattributed quote by Voltaire actually came from the biographer Evelyn Beatrice Hall, who paraphrased what she believed Voltaire was thinking. She wrote, “I disagree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.” Those are words to live by in the U.S., even if a cable news host is spouting Russian propaganda.
