Last night on Fox “News’”Tucker Carlson Tonight, host Tucker Carlson praised the reckless anti-mask rebellion during the Spanish Flu pandemic in a commentary attacking masks. He had on anti-masker and COVID denialist Alex Berenson as the guest in the segment following his monologue. This is par the course with Carlson’s attacks onmasks and COVIDrestriction measures.
Partial transcript, via FoxNews.com:
If someone had asked you a year ago what you thought of people who wear masks after Halloween, the chances are your reaction would have been negative. What kind of person covers his face in public? Armed robbers do that sort of thing. So do Klansmen and radical Wahhabis. The rest of us don't do that.
In fact, until recently, wearing a mask in public was illegal in many places. The assumption was if you're hiding who you are, you're up to something bad. It made people nervous. By our nature, we want to see each other. We need to see each other. Looking at another person's face is the beginning of connection. Eliminating that connection dehumanizes us. That used to be obvious.
A century ago, during the Spanish flu pandemic, authorities in many cities in this country passed mandatory mask ordinances, just like the ones we have now. Many Americans accepted them, but many others did not. In California, citizens rebelled. In January of 1919, 5,000 members of the newly formed Anti-Mask League of San Francisco gathered to call for the mayor's resignation if he didn't repeal his mask order. Five days later, the mayor complied. Science vindicated that decision in the end. A year later, a study found that compulsory mask use likely had no effect on curbing the Spanish flu.
We live in a very different time. American society, of course, is far less cohesive than it was one hundred years ago, and Americans seem far more passive. Those who disagree with the prevailing orthodoxy have less power than they've ever had. Mass communications are now controlled by a tiny number of people, all of whom have identical agendas. There is no modern Anti-Mask League. There couldn't be a modern Anti-Mask League. Facebook and Google would shut it down the first day. The governors of Michigan and New Jersey would indict its leaders.
Dissent used to be a defining feature of American life, but no more. Now we have mandatory consensus: Masks are good. Anyone who questions the utter goodness of masks is bad.
What they're really telling you is that masks are magic. What appears to be a flimsy cotton face covering is in fact a holy amulet that protects us from disease.
Carlson’s commentary on this issue is pure nonsense and not based in science or common sense. Ignore his advice, and WEAR YOUR MASK!
From the 10.13.2020 edition of FNC’s Tucker Carlson Tonight: