Tucker Carlson's conception of "good" excludes justice, wisdom, learning, charity, benevolence, humility, the golden rule
An earmark of the nation's moral decay
Tucker Carlson spoke to the Heritage Foundation at its 50th anniversary gala event on April 22, 2023, shortly before his summary firing by Fox News Network. He spoke like a Pope delivering an encyclical to his flock. Among other things, preacher Carlson sermonized:
“[I]f you want to know what’s evil and what’s good, what are the characteristics of those?
And by the way, I think the Athenians would’ve agreed with this. This is not necessarily just a Christian notion, this is kind of a, I would say, widely agreed-upon understanding of good and evil…
…[G]ood is characterized by order, calmness, tranquility, peace, whatever you want to call it, lack of conflict, cleanliness. Cleanliness is next to godliness…
And evil is characterized by their opposites. Violence, hate, disorder, division, disorganization, and filth.”
Mr. Carlson’s simple-minded, denuded conceptions of good and evil betray a juvenile, shallow, and wicked character.
Justice is denied even honorable mention in Carlson’s list of the good. Here is what James Madison said in Federalist 51: “Justice is the end of government. It is the end of civil society. It ever has been and ever will be pursued until it be obtained, or liberty be lost in the pursuit. In a society under the forms of which the stronger faction can readily unite and oppress the weaker, anarchy may be as truly be said to reign as in a state of nature, where the weaker individual is not secured against the violence of the stronger.”
Among other things, the United States Constitution, of which Carlson is clueless, was formed to “establish justice.” And think of Amos 5: 24: “But let justice roll down as waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream.” Justice is honored in our Pledge of Allegiance. The United States Supreme Court building is adorned with the words, “EQUAL JUSTICE UNDER LAW.”
Yet Tucker Carlson does not conceive of justice as good or injustice as evil.
He shuts the door on “wisdom” as good, the balanced, measured judgments born of experience, reflection, and learning about human nature and the hazards of pursuing hormonal gratifications. Thus, Abraham Lincoln declared, “I do not think much of a man who is not wiser today than he was yesterday.” Shakespeare’s King Lear laments, “Thou shouldst not have been old till thou hadst been wise.”
British unsurpassed sage Samuel Johnson advised, “There is the same difference between the learned and unlearned as between the living and the dead.” Learning—reading, writing, and reflecting is nonetheless excluded from Carlson’s universe of the good. As Hamlet instructed, “What is a man, If his chief good and market of his time Be but to sleep and feed? a beast, no more. Sure, he that made us with such large discourse, Looking before and after, gave us not That capability and god-like reason To fust in us unused.”
Saint Paul taught that “charity” occupied the summit of virtues, but Carlson denies it even a cameo appearance in his crabbed conception of “good.” Ditto for benevolence, kindness, humility, forgiveness. Even the golden rule does not qualify, not to say living by the Sermon on the Mount, including, “whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.”
Tucker Carlson perceives the world in prime colors when in fact chiaroscuro predominates. The optimal good is characteristically an Aristotelian mean between polar opposites. Order is good, but not at the price of injustice. Nazi Germany was a model of order. The Boston Tea Party fighting against injustice was disorder.
Peace is good, but not at the price of oppression, enslavement, or subjugation. Speaking of the American Civil War in his second Inaugural Address, President Lincoln amplified, “Fondly do we hope ~ fervently do we pray ~ that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet, if God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled by the bondsman's two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn with the sword as was said three thousand years ago so still it must be said 'the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.'“
Mr. Carlson’s Manichean view of the world is a path to dystopia. He is like the serpent in the Garden of Eden beguiling Eve. He has simple answers to all complex questions of human existence, and they are all wrong.