 I don't know how many people saw this video, but I had to talk about a recent segment on Fox News from Tucker Carlson because lately he's been railing against the so-called leftist mob, and usually we're supposed to believe that the left-wing mob is overly PC, hypersensitive, and weak overall, but now we're supposed to believe that the left-wing mob is intimidating and dangerous and we're supposed to be afraid of the so-called left-wing mob. Now what really struck me was one of the examples that he uses to prove how powerful and threatening quite frankly this left-wing mob actually is. He cites Elmo as an example of the left's power, and yes, we're talking about that Elmo, the one from Sesame Street, a children's show, that according to him is evidence that the left had become all too tyrannical for his liking. I wish I were joking, this is quite literally indistinguishable from Satyre, but nonetheless, this is a real segment from a real news channel. Who are the people trying to take over your country, cancel your rights, eliminate our centuries-long tradition of tolerance, yes, tolerance, and a free expression? And the truth is we often don't know their names, they're mostly faceless political agitators who exist primarily online, they're trolls who thrive on cruelty, and yet suddenly they have immense power over all of us. Weak leaders now reflexively bow to their demands no matter what those demands are. Why is that? What's changed? Well, that's a much longer conversation, we probably ought to do an entire show on that topic, and if the news ever comes down long enough to think in bigger terms, well we will do that. But for now it's enough to say that the country's defenses have been badly weakened by decades of relentless propaganda, all of it designed to make us feel that we have no right to stand up for ourselves, to stand up for our country. We are too sinful to resist, we deserve whatever we get, shut up and take it, America. We could spend days showing you examples of this, but here's just the very latest, it's from CNN over the weekend. Yeah, I'm bringing this sign to the protest at the community center later. Wow, look upset, are they protesting? They are sad, and upset, and they have every right to be, Elmo. People are upset because racism is a huge problem in our country, but across the country people of color, especially in the black community, are being treated unfairly because of how they look. Children's show, got that Bobby? America is a very bad place and it's your fault, so no matter what happens, no matter what they do to you when you grow up, you have no right to complain. I don't even know what to say to that. Look, watching that Sesame Street clip, what I got out of that was that Elmo was talking to his dad and his dad was trying to educate him about racism, but what Tucker got out of that was America is a very bad place and it's your fault. At what point was that the implication of this short clip? At what point did Elmo's dad try to convince him that America is bad because he doesn't know about racism or whatever? I don't even know how he connects the dots here. It doesn't make sense. He's making a lot of logical leaps he's reaching. I mean, this is supposed to be a serious news person on a serious news network, and he is literally conflating Elmo with some type of power that the left has and some nefarious plot to bring Americans to heal. This is how we're going to do it with Elmo. I mean, he's just stupid. I don't know how else to describe what we just saw there. Now he says some other things that I want to point out. Who are the people trying to take over your country, cancel your rights, eliminate our centuries-long tradition of tolerance, yes, tolerance, and free expression? He's asking you this question, and it's supposed to be posed in a rhetorical way. He wants to say the left. But I have an answer. It's Republicans. Donald Trump literally just a couple of weeks ago threatened to use the United States military to violently crush protests taking place. If you don't think that is a threat to free speech, then you're just ignorant. But if you think that the left and the left-wing mob, whatever that may be, is more dangerous than the president threatened to violently stifle people's first amendment rights, then, I mean, you're just being disingenuous. You are not cut out for a job where you do political commentary. You're not. You're just either lying or stupid. And I think that he knows better. I think he knows that he's lying and he made a comment about propaganda. It's enough to say that the country's defenses have been badly weakened by decades of relentless propaganda, all of it designed to make it feel like we have no right to stand up for ourselves. I mean, what are you talking about? You are the propagandist, Tucker. You are the one doing propaganda. You are the one that's relentless. And you are not the victims. You're not the ones who are being oppressed. Right-wingers in America are doing pretty damn good. You hold the White House currently. You have the Senate. Why are you crying? It's black Americans and protesters who are finally standing up for themselves, and you are the one that's demonizing them. You're the one who initially said when these protests broke out that these protesters are being tyrannical. So who is it who actually is trying to stand up for themselves? I mean, in actuality, objectively speaking, we know it's the protesters. It's black Americans who are asserting their right to life. They're right to walk down a street and not have to worry about being murdered by a police officer. But to Tucker Carlson, it's the right. It's normal Americans, i.e. white Americans, who is trying to suggest other ones under attack here. He also says the left mob have immense power and weak leaders reflexively bow to their demands no matter what those demands are. All right, well, if that's the case, if the left is so powerful, then why is it that we don't have Medicare for all? Why is it that we haven't done anything about climate change? Why is it that we couldn't actually get a left wing democratic nominee, Bernie Sanders? Why is it that capitalism is still a thing if the left is so powerful? No, the left actually is powerless currently. Sure, we're trying to elect people who are left wing to government. But I mean, you can count the number on a couple of hands of people who are actually left wing, genuinely progressive. But the right wing, neoliberal consensus, has been the status quo. But I mean, let's all just go back to the point that he made or the example that he used more specifically to suggest that the left is trying to, I don't know, tear down America's values. He cited an example of Elmo, a puppet, being taught about racism. So I mean, I've extracted as much substance from this segment as I possibly can. But at the end of the day, this is a joke. He's fear mongering about Sesame Street. And this is a news person, like what a clown, but he's not alone. Because Dave Rubin, of course, had to chime in and he tweeted out, good morning to everyone except Sesame Street and CNN. No kid at the age they're into Elmo needs to be talking about racism, especially via cable news. This is brainwashing and child abuse. So according to Dave Rubin, who does not have children, teaching kids at a young age not to be racist is controversial. It's tantamount to child abuse in his opinion. So if you are worried about what we're teaching our children and whether or not we're brainwashing them, have you called out religious indoctrination? Do you think that it's bad to brainwash children into particular religions at an early age? Do you think that it's bad to brainwash children into thinking that being homophobic is acceptable? No, if we teach them to be racist, that's where he has an issue there. Okay, so would you call out Ben Shapiro, who is most likely brainwashing his children to believe that gay people are icky and immoral? I mean, he wouldn't say that because Dave Rubin is a coward and he knows what he's doing, he knows the role that he's supposed to play. He uses the platform that he has to boost the very people who are against his existence as a gay man, which I mean judging by the trajectory that he's on. I'm assuming he will divorce his husband and renounce his homosexuality within the next year or two. And quote me now, I called it first because that's where we're headed with him. I mean, this is not a serious person. If you are outraged at the fact that people want to teach children not to be racist, then you have to admit here. I mean, the subtext is that you think that that's bad, that being racist is okay. Why is it unacceptable to teach children that being racist is bad? Why is it unacceptable to educate children? I mean, when you are young, you're like a sponge. You absorb everything. So I think it's a perfect time to try to instill some sort of values into children and especially values which, you know, I thought we all agreed on were good, such as racism is bad. But I mean, according to Fox News, Tucker Carlson, Dave Rubin, if you try to teach children that racism is bad, this is evidence that the left is a mob that's trying to take over the country. I mean, get the fuck out of here. This is nothing but fear mongering in the worst way possible because, I mean, like you're not even persuasive. Like who are you persuading? Who is going to watch this as a grown-up and think, wow, you know, teaching children through Sesame Street that racism is bad really shows how far we've fallen as a country. I mean, the only people who believe this are racists. So the fact that Tucker Carlson and Dave Rubin are outraged that Sesame Street is trying to teach children that racism is bad kind of shows you a lot about their views or, you know, the views that they are paid to espouse. But either way, I mean, if you are outraged at Elmo trying to teach children that racism is bad, you are ridiculous and you're part of the problem, grow up. Racism is bad. That shouldn't be controversial. The fact that it is speaks to how far we've fallen in the opposite direction, speaks to how much power right-wing reactionaries have.