Tucker Carlson on COVID vaccine: “How are the rest of us supposed to respond to a marketing campaign like this? Well, nervously”
Carlson: “Have a vaccine and a smile. Just do it”
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From the December 17, 2020, edition of Fox News' Tucker Carlson Tonight
TUCKER CARLSON (HOST): The coronavirus vaccine is finally here. It's arriving in small bottles, but with a glitzy entrance. The coronavirus vaccine has been accompanied by the kind of corporate image campaign you typically associate with higher end consumer products. Imagine the roll-out for a Hollywood blockbuster, the new iPhone, that's what it is like. Suddenly the COVID vaccine is on the morning shows, it's being touted on celebrity Twitter accounts, and the news about it is uniformly glowing. This stuff is just great. A lot of famous people say so.
Just the other day, the guy who played Gandalf in the Lord of the Rings series got the vaccine. As on any media tour, the Paparazzi were there for the dramatic moment when they stuck the needle in his arm. “It's a very special day," the Gandalf actor told Reuters. “I feel euphoric. I would have no hesitation in recommending it to anyone. I feel very lucky to have had the vaccination." In other words, tastes great, less filling, he is indeed a very lucky man.
And you will feel lucky when you finally get the vaccine, that's what a health care worker in Juneau, Alaska, feels tonight. Lucky. She got the vaccine two days ago. Woman had no history of allergies, but within minutes, she developed a severe anaphylactic reaction to it, and then had trouble breathing. She wound up in the emergency room overnight. It was all a fantastic experience, according to the doctor who treated her.
Quote, “During the whole time, she was still enthusiastic that she got the vaccine, and the benefits it would give her in the future." What a cheerful patient, she must be. We've got to assume she is, in any case, because we can't really know. The authorities didn't release her name. All we know is she's a highly satisfied customer.
Yet another, have a vaccine and a smile. Just do it.
So, how are the rest of us supposed to respond to a marketing campaign like this? Well, nervously. Even if you're strongly supportive of vaccines, and we are, even if you recognize how many millions of lives have been saved over the past 50 years by vaccines, and we do, it all seems a bit much. It feels false, because it is. It's too slick. The Gandalf guy was euphoric because he got a shot? It wasn't heroin, it was the corona vaccine. The lady who couldn't breathe is enthusiastic as she is rushed to the emergency room?
Come on. This is patronizing. Stop with the slogans. Better to treat Americans like adults, explain the benefits, be honest about the risks, and let the rest of us decide. In this country, we control our own bodies. They're always telling us that. But no. Suddenly, the rules have changed. On the question of the Corona vaccine, our leaders definitely not pro-choice. Their view is do what you're told, and don't complain, and no uncomfortable questions. Those aren't just suggestions, they're rules and Silicon Valley claims to enforce them. Twitter announced a new policy to censor any unauthorized inquiry about the vaccine. Or, as the company put it, false or misleading narratives about COVID-19 vaccinations.
Among other things, Twitter is censoring any claim that this vaccine might be used to quote, “control populations." So, whatever you do, don't say this is social control, because if you do, the richest and most powerful people in the world will act in perfect coordination to shut you down immediately.
So, to repeat, there is no social control going on here, none. And if you suggest otherwise, Twitter's social controls will censor you.