Still to come, have Americans mastered the art of selling evil? You‘ll meet one man who says unequivocally yes when THE SITUATION comes back.
That was a Tucker Carlson teaser from last night's edition of The Situation, on MSNBC.
I have to admit, I was intrigued. I had visions of a discussion on violent video games. Or the popularity of television shows like MTV's Punk'd or Jackass. Or cults. Something like that.
I had forgotten that I was watching Carlson, the bow-tied boy wonder conservative host. I listened to his mellow, almost NPR-esque voice — perhaps why some conservatives in the blogosphere don't consider Carlson one of their own — and was tricked into watching what followed.
CARLSON: Welcome back. There is no question that America‘s society is changing faster than most adults are comfortable with. Even parents who consider themselves pretty liberal stand back in horror as their kids decide which parts of their bodies to pierce next and how many sex partners at one time is just too many. My next guest says these changes are by design, the result of a sinister marketing scheme you might not even be aware of. David Kupelian is the author of “The Marketing of Evil: How Radicals, Elitists, and Pseudo-Experts Sell us Corruption Disguised as Freedom.” He joins us live from Washington, D.C., tonight. David Kupelian, thanks a lot for coming on.
***
Kupelian, a managing editor of the conservative website WorldNetDaily.com, isn't as genteel as Carlson. And conservatives definitely think of him as one of their own.
Kupelian is more in the Ann Coulter category of over-the-top conservative punditry. He calls Bill Clinton an "amoral sociopath." He thinks gay Americans have forced acceptance of homosexuality using techniques "uncomfortably reminiscent of various mind control and brainwashing tales." He calls abortion "the unrestricted slaughter of unborn babies."
Article comments
1 - Alisha Karabinus
Typically, I support you, and I think you have a lot of good things to say... but I find this misleading rhetoric about Carlson's misleading rhetoric more than a little ironic.
2 - ss
So did anybody besides you see it?
3 - david r. mark
LOL. I think Tucker has about 200,000 viewers -- or about 18% of a good night's rating for The Daily Show.
4 - david r. mark
"find this misleading rhetoric about Carlson's misleading rhetoric more than a little ironic"
Alisha, explain.
5 - Alisha Karabinus
You're watching Tucker Carlson, general asshat.
He spouts a teaser about someone selling "evil."
Really, what did you expect? Well, apparently you expected some discussion with some meat to it (however misguided; I'm so beyond sick of chatter on violent video games, but that's OT), and you're surprised when it turns out to be some empty, hypocritical rhetoric about leftists? What else do conservatives consider evil, except terrorism?
This is like someone declaring I'M GOING TO SHOOT YOU and you being surprised when they, y'know, shoot you.
Yes, the whole thing, the "radicals" being evil and oh, the horrible, evil gay community, etc... yes, it's all bullshit. It's all jumped up, negative, misleading rhetoric. But it's TUCKER CARLSON. You can't expect more.
So you've got this "pseudo-expert" spinning about the evils of the world, and Tucker spinning about this guy, and now you're spinning about the spinning about the spinning and really, it's kinda silly.
6 - david r. mark
Like I said, I let my guard down.
I was unpacking (we just moved), and I had the TV on in the background, but the teaser caught my ear. I have a four-year-old and an infant, and so maybe I tuned in a little more when I heard the teaser about "selling evil." I really did expect it to be product-oriented.
I remember when Tucker was hired, I wrote about how he was one of several conservatives on MSNBC, but conservatives disagreed.
But last night's show certainly showed off Carlson's conservative stripes. Didn't see it coming, but hey, that's why it's called spin.
7 - Alisha Karabinus
Oh, I suppose it can happen to anyone, but it's still ironic. :)
I don't really get how anyone can think TC's not conservative, but then, there are people who don't believe in the Holocaust. I just try not to be surprised any more.
8 - Al Barger
This post is just nonsense. Carlson provided just what he claimed. It was in no way misleading. You're just going on silly here because he's a conservative, and he had a conservative guest.
In short, you have NO legitimate point here.
9 - david r. mark
Al, I humbly disagree.
Can you honestly say that the first sentence -- Carlson's lead-in before the commercial -- gave any indication of what was to come?
I think I have a right to say that I was caught off-guard by what the guest said. It was not what I thought.
Maybe your intuitive powers are stronger than mine?
10 - Al Barger
David, I wouldn't have presumed to guess what exactly was coming. What could "Americans selling evil" mean? What kind of "evil" are we selling?
OK, Tucker's guest answer was gay rights and abortion. That's something certain kinds of conservatives might come up with.
I'd say that the payoff was disappointing, and a less than interesting answer to the question. However, it was not in any discernible way misleading. Your beef seems to be not that Tucker was misleading, but simply that you disagree with the views of his guest about what is "evil."
11 - david r. mark
Al, in truth, I didn't take the guest seriously. I think he's got a right to his opinion, but I don't agree with him.
But I think that Carlson's pre-commercial intro gave no indication that what was to follow would be a rant against abortion and gay rights.
My take is that Carlson trusted his core audience -- which leans conservative -- would stick around regardless of what teaser he offered. But the moderates and liberals in his audience would have changed the channel if his pre-commerical intro had been "Coming up, a conservative author who thinks that liberals used lies and fabrications to get Roe v. Wade passed, and public relations techniques to force Americans to accept gay lifestyle as a choice."