Raging against face masks on Monday night, Fox News host Tucker Carlson told his viewers they should openly harass anyone they see wearing masks outside and go so far as to call the police or social services on the parents of any children with masks on.
Carlson, who was a proponent of mask-wearing to help stem the spread of the coronavirus pandemic as recently as last March, has since become a fierce critic of face masks and other COVID-19 restrictions, guidelines, and mitigation efforts.
In this vein, and with the Biden administration set to further relax guidance on mask-wearing as coronavirus cases and deaths decrease nationwide as more Americans get vaccinated, Carlson opened up his top-rated Fox News primetime show on Monday night by blasting “neurotic” liberals who have been faithfully wearing face masks amid a deadly pandemic.
“Masks have always been incompatible with a free society,” he fumed. “We used to know that. Masks strip people of their identity as individuals, transform people from citizens into drones. They isolate us and alienate us to shut us off from one another, they prevent intimacy and human contact. If I can’t see your face, I can’t know you.”
Stating that a large portion of liberals suffer from an “actual mental health condition” because a recent Pew survey shows they are critical of others who don’t mask up near them, Carlson called on his audience to instead openly mock mask-wearers in public.
“The rest of us should be snorting at them first. They’re the aggressors. It’s our job to brush them back and restore the society we were born in,” he said. “So the next time you see someone in a mask on the sidewalk or on the bike path, do not hesitate. Ask politely but firmly, ‘Would you please take off your mask? Science shows there is no reason for you to be wearing it. Your mask is making me uncomfortable.’”
He added: “We should do that and we should keep doing it until wearing a mask outside is roughly as socially accepted as lighting a Marlboro on an elevator. It’s repulsive. Don’t do it around other people. That’s the message we should send because it’s true.”
Carlson then took it several steps further by urging his viewers to take far more drastic measures if they see children wearing masks.
“As for forcing children to wear masks outside, that should be illegal,” the Fox News star huffed. “Your response when you see children wearing masks as they play should be no different from your response to seeing someone beat a kid in Walmart. Call the police immediately. Contact Child Protective Services. Keep calling until someone arrives. What you’re looking at is abuse, it’s child abuse, and you are morally obligated to attempt to prevent it.”
Further claiming that “fighting back is the only option,” the primetime host told his audience that if “we don’t resist, there is no escape.”
While the conservative star is seemingly goading his millions of loyal viewers into physically confronting people over the issue of mask-wearing now, in 2018 he received widespread sympathy from his media rivals in 2018 after protesters showed up at his home.
“The incident that took place at Tucker’s home last night was reprehensible,” Fox News president Jay Wallace said at the time. “The violent threats and intimidation tactics toward him and his family are completely unacceptable.”
“We as a nation have become far too intolerant of different points of view,” Wallace continued. “Recent events across our country clearly highlight the need for a more civil, respectful, and inclusive national conversation. Those of us in the media and in politics bear a special obligation to all Americans to find common ground.”
*story by The Daily Beast