Manners maketh man, says the old adage more recently attributed to Colin Firth’s campish character in the Bond-meets-comic book Kingsman movies.
But no man (or woman) is flawless. Which is presumably the attitude the left has taken as to why Ralph Northam is still the governor of Virginia. Or why those who protected and defended Roman Polanski for years are still at large. Or why Joy Reid’s infamous “hack” was never explored in any detail. The list, of course, goes on and on.
But not only are Tucker Carlson’s speech crimes — as “reported” by the Soros-backed Media Matters — not even half as immoral as those covered for by the political left; they’re actually scarcely crimes at all.
I watched the Media Matters clip yesterday, waiting for the killer blow. These things usually have them. But there wasn’t one.
There was some carefully clipped audio of Carlson arguing about Warren Jeffs. It is even clear through the Media Matters editing that Carlson is simply playing devil’s advocate. Maybe even literally. But that’s what makes for good debate. I cannot tell you the number of times I have espoused opinions I do not personally hold, for the sake of furthering the discussion.Then there was the line, “You know what gets women going? Arguing with them.” Would any woman like to claim that’s not true?
Didn’t think so.
He then — and I understand in America this is still a cardinal sin — used the word “c**ty.”
I’ve noticed American liberals are quite happy to throw around the word “p***y.” They even designed some hats along such lines.
But instead of fisking (I said FISKING) Media Matters’ attempt to take down Tucker, why don’t we look at where such talk emerged in American civil life?
George Carlin’s “Seven Dirty Words” bit is — for those not easily offended — one of the most important things to hear on the matter. Britons have typically had a stronger stomach for insult and boorishness, despite Colin Firth’s claims.
Churchill was known for such cutting comments. In fact, one of my favorite Churchill stories goes like this.
Churchill was in the lavatory in the House of Commons and his secretary knocked on the door and said: Excuse me Prime Minister, but the Lord Privy Seal wishes to speak to you. After a pause Churchill replied: Tell the Lord Privy Seal that I am sealed in The Privy. And I can only deal with one s**t at a time.
You wouldn’t call Churchill a c***, would you?
Sure, America seemed to choose a slightly different route on the matter of language. But that ended when the left’s heroes, Carlin included, decided to bust the broadcast shibboleths and hold the network censors to account for double standards over language.
“Can’t say tits. Nice tits on the singer, huh, Ed? But you can go like this, hey, she’s really built, you know? You can say teats. Teats is okay if you’re on at 5:00 in the morning and a cow is your guest.”
And even since then — a watershed moment in America — the left has continuously attempted to promote the same kind of parlance they eventually ran against candidate Donald Trump for using.
In 2011, CNN documented the rise of the swearing politician. Rolling Stone followed in kind. As did Forbes.
More recently, leftist outlets have been making excuses for Democrats who drop the f-bomb.
PBS made further utterances on the subject. GQ even urged female politicians to swear more. Michelle Obama obliged.
The fact is on such matters the general public is smarter — through irony — than the chattering classes. When Donald Trump said he could shoot someone on Fifth Avenue and get away with it, he was generating an abstraction.
And I can hear the chorus of execration from the left on this article, already.
“It’s not about swear words, it is about how he talked about women!”
Look — I am no fan of speaking about or to ladies in a poor fashion — and I say it from a position of having done it before (even if it were with jest and irony lost on the literalist media). But there is of course a difference between joking about Canadian women being unattractive — a greater slight on Canada than women — and, oh I don’t know, inserting a cigar into a White House intern.
If you are unable to discern the levity, and tongue-in-cheek delivery of Carlson saying, “Anybody who answers ‘my trophy wife is my favorite possession is my hero,'” alongside recognizing the liberal roots of such behavior, then perhaps you are not cut out for public life and discourse.
It is of course incumbent upon conservatives to tamp down on much of the depravity foist upon America by the cultural marxists. But while Hollywood celebrities are getting away with rape and pedophilia, and while Democrats are getting away with blacking up, linguistics should perhaps be the least of our concerns.
And anyway, given Carlson’s newfound importance on battling against the real evils in America today, we may wish to save our judgment for that of someone, or something, more capable of casting stones. “Blessed are those whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered.”
Raheem Kassam (@RaheemKassam) is the global editor in chief of Human Events and a fellow at the Claremont Institute and the Middle East Forum. He is the author of two bestselling books: “No Go Zones” and “Enoch Was Right.”
The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of The Daily Caller.