This morning, I woke up much as I always do: not caring what Tucker Carlson thinks about me (or servicewomen in general) and I will most likely go to bed the same way. I have spent a good deal of my life not caring what Carlson or any pundit/celebrity/etc. thinks and it has served me very well. My basic rule of thumb is this: if you are not my God, paying me, married to me, or family and you are critical of me, I do not really care. If I respect your opinion generally, I will listen, but it won’t ruin my day.
Unfortunately, the military powers-that-be do not feel the same way when it comes to Tucker Carlson. Today, they chose to “clap back” at Tucker for what he said on his show last night. Here is what he said, verbatim:
“So we’ve got new hairstyles and maternity flight suits. Pregnant women are going to fight our wars. It’s a mockery of the US military.”
And this is a bad argument, just to be clear. Adjusting hair and uniform regulations to reflect the modern woman is not what is going to make or break the military. I furthermore do not believe anyone was actively suggesting pregnant women are going to start charging into battle (although I would argue a pregnant woman’s rage would get some things done with a quickness).
Despite being a dumb argument, it was a strategic move on his part and kind of a brilliant PR move. Now you have the actual United States Military saying they “don’t care” about his opinion while definitely addressing it and condemning him, which flies in the face of “them not caring”. Hell, I’m writing about it – look at how much time we’re all collectively spending on this. Hats off to Tucker for riling up the simps.
And oh, how the simps came out to play: leftist blue checkmark brigade Tweeters voiced their dissent against Tucker (a man they probably did not agree with or like anyway) and his opinions. These opinions? Protected by the First Amendment which, need I remind service members, is a part of the Constitution which they swore to uphold and defend.
That oath does not mean they have to like what he said, and it certainly does not mean they cannot have an opinion about his opinion but when the military starts calling out journalists over petty reasons, it is a bad look. It makes us look weak as a country if we are that thin-skinned that our military feels compelled to go after Fox News hosts as if they are foreign adversaries.
When I joined the military in 2004, social media was starting to get bigger and bigger with each passing day. Everyone had a Facebook or a Myspace and you honestly couldn’t go more than one or two weeks without someone getting in trouble for violating Operational Security (OPSEC). I, myself, wasn’t personally a fan of President George W. Bush but I kept my mouth shut about it on social media because my opinion wasn’t worth my job. I hope the military still operates under these “loose lips sink ships” principle with social media and OPSEC and, if that is the case, the upper echelon is taking a page out of the leftist playbook with their “okay for me but not for thee” rhetoric by making any public comment about Carlson’s opinion.
This is even funnier when one considers during Trump’s presidency, the government having any contentious exchange with “journalists” was considered a grave threat to the First Amendment…but since Tucker Carlson is a conservative, this mindset has clearly has gone away and is no longer a concern.
And the majority of those speaking out about this? Men. I am no feminist, but I certainly do not need a man to speak for me and I feel that any man going after Tucker on our behalf is probably more sexist than Tucker could ever be.
The whole thing reminds me of a Solar Opposites episode where they handled feminism/gender issues. If you have not seen the show, I highly suggest it as it is the brainchild of Justin Roiland, creator of Rick and Morty. You can find the show on Hulu and the episode I am commenting on is titled “The P.A.T.R.I.C.I.A. Device” (Season 1/Episode 6).
One of the characters, Jesse, is assigned a school project by her feminist teacher to “break a glass ceiling”. Unfortunately for her, she cannot find anything to shatter so she is forced to create a problem to fight. To accomplish this, she starts a club for “Boys Only”. What happens next is a bunch of male feminist allies come to shut down her club (15:01 into the show):
Jesse: “Excuse me, pardon me, female feminist hero coming through. Move aside, men. I, a woman, have arrived to topple the glass ceiling, and shatter the f*** out of the patriarchy.”
Boy 1: “Yeah, we’re looking for Jesse, the guy who set up this club.”
Jesse: “Well, I’ve got news for you. Jesse isn’t a boy. He’s a girl, and it’s me!”
Boy 2: “Whoa, whoa, whoa. This is your club?”
Jesse: “Yep, sorry, but this isn’t a boy club after all.”
Boy 1: “We don’t wanna join. We’re here in protest to speak up for all the women who are too weak to speak for themselves!”
Masterfully, a short clip shows male feminist allies for what they are: hypocritical white knights attempting to curry favor with females by infantilizing them rather than supporting them while they fight their own battles (or even thinking they can fight their own battles to begin with). At the very least, offer something more productive than yelling at Carlson on the internet – the hell does that accomplish, really?
What alarms me more than the fact the military chooses to spend its time and resources this way is this: the utter “throwing stones in a glass house” of this institution lecturing anyone over the treatment of women. Last I checked, the rate of rapes and murders in the military isn’t anything to brag about. To his credit, Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby did admit the military had “a lot of work to do.” Then do that work, Kirby – by all means – it’s long overdue.
Maybe instead of getting into pissing contests with Tucker Carlson, they should be doing things that actually help female servicemembers in a real, tangible way. The lip-service needs to end.
But what do I know? I am just a woman.
