Let he or she who has never said a bad thing, especially if it was recorded in media, cast the first stone. The latest target of ancient outrage, Tucker Carlson, is simply saying “nope.”

Media Matters, which we all acknowledge is a left-wing hit group, dug up audio clips ranging from 2006-2011 (which means that some of these comments are close to 13 years old) from Tucker Carlson making comments on the radio show “Bubba the Love Sponge.” Yes, apparently this was a thing. And like Kevin Hart and James Gunn, who were both excoriated for old comments on Twitter, Tucker Carlson was expected to roll over, grovel, and accept the punishment from the Media Matters Morality Police.

And Carlson said, “no.”

Tucker Carlson responds to Media Matters attempts to silence him:

“Fox News is behind us as they have been since the very first day. Toughness is a rare quality in a TV network and we are grateful for that.”

“We will never bow to the mob, ever, no matter what.” pic.twitter.com/L4QtUlIStN

— Ryan Saavedra (@RealSaavedra) March 12, 2019

“As anyone who’s ever been caught in its gears can tell you, the great American outrage machine is a remarkable thing. One day you’re having dinner with your family, imagining everything is fine. The next, your phone is exploding with calls from reporters,” the host started his monologue. “They read you snippets from a press release written by Democratic party operatives. They demand to know how you could possibly have said something so awful and offensive. Do you have a statement on how immoral you are? It’s a bewildering moment, especially when the quotes in question are more than a decade old.”

“There’s really not that much you can do to respond. It’s pointless to try to explain how the words were spoken in jest, or taken out of context, or in any case bear no resemblance to what you actually think, or would want for the country. None of that matters. Nobody cares. You know the role you’re required to play: You are a sinner, begging the forgiveness of Twitter,” he continued. “So you issue a statement of deep contrition. You apologize profusely for your transgressions. You promise to be a better person going forward. With the guidance of your contrition consultants, you send money to whatever organization claims to represent the people you supposedly offended. Then you sit back and brace for a wave of stories about your apology, all of which are simply pretexts for attacking you again. In the end, you get fired, you lose your job.”

Carlson challenged what have traditionally been deemed acceptable responses to the outrage mob.”

“No matter what they take from you in the end, you must continue to pretend that these things are true: You are bad. They are good. The system is on the level,” he suggested.”

“But what if we stopped pretending for a minute? What if we acknowledged what’s actually going on?” Carlson asked. The Left is “deadly serious,” he noted. “They plan to win it, whatever it takes. If that includes getting you fired, or silencing you, or threatening your family at home, or throwing you in prison, ok, they know what their goal is. If you’re in the way, they will crush you.”

So, now what, Media Matters? The idea, of course, is to punish Tucker Carlson and Fox News by getting advertisers to drop. That is a possibility, since advertisers do not like being called out, but…

Doing well is the best revenge. https://t.co/4izrYTNh3G

— Brit Hume (@brithume) March 12, 2019

And since Media Matters is so very concerned about right-wing media, they conveniently give a pass to left-wing media.

Media Matters exists for the sole purpose of smearing and ruining people on the political Right.

They said *nothing* when all of Joy Reid's old racist, homophobic, anti-Semitic writings came out starting in late 2017, which received weeks of coverage on a few separate occasions https://t.co/QweIXUJAND

— Ryan Saavedra (@RealSaavedra) March 11, 2019

Joy Reid still has her TV show. Sarah Jeong still writes for the New York Times. Ralph Northam is still governor of Virginia. So let’s not pretend that Media Matters is so all-fired concerned with the sins of the past when it comes to their own side.

Nope, they wanted Tucker Carlson to lose sponsors, his show, and have his head on a platter. And he refused to play.

Media Matters’ tactic of digging up the past to slam people in the present only works if normal people don’t see this ploy as fake. Many are calling it out as such. We’re also desperately tired of being told to be outraged about ten year old “shock jock radio” comments, but we should excuse the blatant anti-Semitism from last week. The left has failed their own standards on this one. That means the right has to be consistent and fair. People should not be fired for speech – even really old and dumb speech. More speech, not less, is always better. And yeah, everyone in the public eye, at some point, is going to say something incredibly stupid, or it will become stupid over time. But with a social media culture that can get stirred up over a decades-old John Wayne interview when the man has been dead for nearly 40 years, I’m afraid that the outrage machine has grown beyond anyone’s control. All that can be done now is simply to stand up for one’s self and not play the game.

Featured image: Tucker Carlson, screenshot via Fox News on YouTube, March 11, 2019, cropped