Thursday, Fox News host Tucker Carlson addressed the newfound emphasis the military is placing on race and racism with its suggested reading lists and drive for so-called equity.
The Fox News host compared that to the required reading of other nations’ militaries around the world and questioned the wisdom of the U.S. military, just as some in Congress had.
Transcript as follows:
CARLSON: If you want to understand a country’s military, take a look at what its officer corps is reading. Military officers aren’t just warfighters, they are trained to be thinkers, even intellectuals. Some of them have advanced degrees.
In Russia, officers above the rank of Colonel are required to read a book by a Russian nationalist called Aleksandr Dugin, called “The Foundations of Geopolitics.” Dugin’s book envisions a Eurasian empire with Russia at the center of it and then outlines the way to achieve that.
In China, meanwhile, recruits are told to read “The Origin and Goal of History.” It teaches that China is successful because its culture is superior to the West’s. Now, you might not agree with them, but these are serious books, and they promote the national interests of the countries whose officers read them, that is why they are assigned, and that makes sense.
So with that in mind, what are American military officers reading these days? Well, let’s see, a sub-literate pamphlet on how the United States is a disgusting immoral country that must be changed immediately and forever. That track is entitled “How to be an Antiracist.” It was written by a former University of Florida professor called Henry Rogers, now that he is rich and famous, he goes by his revolutionary name, Ibram X. Kendi.
The book is garbage, actually, it is worse than that. Not only is embarrassingly stupid, it is poisonous. Kendi’s premise is as simple as he is. Any system that produces unequal outcomes must be racist. Period. That’s it. That’s the entire thesis and Kendi applies it to everything.
If some people make more money than the other people, then the economy is a racist. If Ibram X. Kendi decides there aren’t enough black astrophysicists, then astrophysics is by definition, racist.
If it rains in a black neighborhood, but not across town, then what you are watching is weather racism. Actually, Kendi didn’t really write that, probably because he has no detectable sense of humor. But there is no question that he believes it, the book is that militantly dumb.
So, how do we respond to all of this racism in the United States? Well, Kendi provides a solution. Quote, “The only remedy to racist discrimination is antiracist discrimination.” He actually wrote that. In other words, his book against racism promotes racism. Now, you would think that might be a red flag for people, contradicting as it does the founding principles of the country, as well as basic human decency, but no. The people in charge love the book, it’s all over Corporate America.
You can probably pick up a free copy at your H.R. Department tomorrow morning if you want.
But, the military? You can’t imagine the U.S. Military would assign a book like that, recommend it to every sailor in the U.S. Navy. Well, yes, actually.
On Tuesday, Congressman Jim Banks of Indiana demanded an explanation for this from the Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral Michael Gilday. Here’s how it went.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. JIM BANKS (R-IN): Kendi’s book states that capitalism is essentially racist, and Kendi is clear that racism must be eliminated. So, yes or no?
Do you personally consider advocating for the destruction of American capitalism to be extremist?
ADM. MIKE GILDAY, CHIEF OF NAVAL OPERATIONS: Here is what I know, Congressman —
BANKS: It is a yes or no question, Admiral.
GILDAY: Racism in the United States Navy —
BANKS: Admiral, you recommended every sailor in the United States Navy read this book. It’s a yes or no question.
GILDAY: I’m not forcing anybody to read the book, it’s on a recommended reading list.
BANKS: Admiral, did you read the book?
GILDAY: I did.
BANKS: Admiral, you said you read this book, what part of this book is redeeming and qualifies as something that every sailor in the United States Navy should read it.
GILDAY: I think Kendi is self-critical about his own journey as an African-American in this country. What he’s experienced —
BANKS: Let me ask you again, Admiral. Do you expect after sailors read this book that says that the United States Navy is racist that we will increase or decrease morale, cohesion, and recruiting rates into the United States Navy?
GILDAY: I think we will be a better Navy from having open, honest, conversations about racism.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CARLSON: “Open and honest conversations about racism.” Well, that would be nice, but it’s an amusing line coming from someone who claims to have read Kendi’s book, as Gilday says he has.
Open and honest conversations are racist, Kendi said that many times.
So, let’s say, open and honestly, you decided that you cared more about the way people behaved than the way that they look. Let’s say, you took Martin Luther King at his word and judge people by the content of their character and not by the color of their skin.
If you were to do that, Ibram X. Kendi says, you are a racist, quote, “The claim of not racist neutrality is a mask for racism. The language for color blindness is a mask to hide racism. A color-blind Constitution for a white supremacist America.” That’s what the military is reading.
So, no, open honest conversations are not allowed in Kendi’s America. Here is the choice: you admit you are a racist, or else you are super-duper racist. That’s his position.
It sounds pretty deranged, honestly. In fact, it sounds like an extremist ideology, just the kind the military is always warning us about.
Keep in mind that tonight, right now, The Pentagon is investigating National Guardsmen who have posted unfashionable opinions on Facebook about the last election or may have voted for Donald Trump. So, with all of their investigators running around looking into people’s thought crimes, how closely have they looked — has The Pentagon looked into Ibram X. Kendi? Have they checked his social media history?
Well, actually, Congressman Banks asked Gilday that question. Watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BANKS: In college, Kendi stated that white people are a different breed of humans and are responsible for the AIDS virus. Yes or no? Do you personally consider the conspiracy that white people started AIDS to be an extremist belief?
GILDAY: Sir, I would have to understand the context. The statements were made —
BANKS: That is a simple question.
GILDAY: I am not going to — I am not going to sit here —
BANKS: Admiral, this is a book that you recommended every sailor in the United States Navy —
GILDAY: I am not going to sit here to defend — to defend cherry-picked quotes from somebody’s book. I am not going to do that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CARLSON: Do you consider the statement that white people created AIDS an extremist statement? I can’t comment on that. I need the context for that.
So, Admiral Gilday — what a mediocrity — will not defend the man he has just been promoting to the entire U.S. Navy. Now, that’s odd that once you dig a little, you can see why he doesn’t want to talk much about it.
Not long ago, Kendi was invited to speak at the Aspen Ideas Festival, a place where ideas go to die. A roomful of academics waited to hear his wisdom. During the question and answer session, one of them dared to ask the most basic question of all: how are we defining racism?
How do you define that?
Now, you’d think Ibram X. Kendi would be ready for that question, but he wasn’t. Here’s what he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You talked about the importance of defining racism, but — unless I missed it — which is possible, I didn’t hear your personal definition. Is there one that you would offer us, like how do you define racism?
IBRAM X. KENDI, DIRECTOR OF CENTER FOR ANTIRACIST RESEARCH, BOSTON UNIVERSITY: Well, so racism, I would define it as a collection of racist policies that lead to racial inequity, that are substantiated with racist ideas.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Can you say that again?
[LAUGHTER]
KENDI: Sure, a collection of racist policies that lead to racial inequity that are substantiated by racist ideas.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CARLSON: So, racism is racist stuff, or as Kendi puts it, and we are quoting now, “It is a collection of racist polities that lead to racial inequity that are substantiated by racist ideas.” End quote.
Right. But how are we defining racism? Ibram X. Kendi couldn’t say, despite making a bountiful living on the topic, getting rich talking about racism, he hadn’t thought how to define the word.
Now, in a serious society, everybody listening, everyone in the room would have walked out and found something better to do, birdwatching maybe. That’s racist.
Well, the so-called intellectual on the stage turned out to be an idiot, so they should have left, but they didn’t. They just laughed nervously. They were worried if they said something about what had just happened, if they pointed out that the former Henry Rogers was in fact a fraud, they would be denounced as well.
This is how mediocre people control entire societies, with implied threats. Go along or we will punish you, so they don’t say anything.
The funny thing is, in his own book, Kendi admits that he himself is a racist. Here is a definition, quote: “White Democrats stood aside and let Bush steal the presidency on the strength of destroyed black votes. Bush’s team transitioned that winter, I transitioned into hating white people. White people became devils to me, but I had to figure out how they came to be devils.”
So, this is the man that Admiral Michael Gilday — it’s hard to believe that Admiral Michael Gilday has any power in the United States Military, but he does — and this is the man Admiral Michael Gilday believes the entire U.S. Navy should study.
Imagine working for someone like Admiral Michael Gilday. Most normal people cannot even imagine that, so they’re leaving the military.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. TOM COTTON (R-AR): One Marine told us at military — a military history training session was replaced with mandatory training on police brutality, white privilege, and systemic racism. He reported several officers are now leaving his unit citing that training.
Another service member told us that their unit was required to read “White Fragility” by Robin DiAngelo, which claims — and this is a quote — “White people raised in western society are conditioned into a white supremacist worldview.”
An airmen told us their unit was forced into a racist exercise called a “Privilege Walk” where members of the wing were ordered to separate themselves by race and gender in order to stratify people based on their perceived privilege.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CARLSON: It’s depressing if you think about it. Good people driven from military service, many of them serving generationally because their fathers and grandfathers did, but having to leave now purely because of the extremist ideology of its leaders. It is crushing, if you think about it.
But it’s also scary for all of us. We need the military. The Pentagon isn’t the Department of Education, it’s not the DMV. We have to have it. It’s essential to the survival of the country.
But the commissars in the Biden administration don’t care. They are not slowing down. They are intensifying the political purge in the ranks.
NASA just announced its new mission has nothing to do with space. The new mission is about applying the principles in Ibram Kendi’s book, the new mission is equity.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHNNY KIM, NASA (voice-over): At NASA, we’re on a mission of equity launching opportunity.
ANNA MCCLAIN, NASA (voice-over): Equal opportunity to challenge and inspire.
FRANK RUBIO, NASA (voice-over): To learn and thrive.
JASMIN MOGHBELI, NASA (voice-over): To reach those we’ve never reached before.
REID WISEMAN, NASA (voice-over): To use science, data and technology, to advance equity.
JESSICA WATKINS, NASA (voice-over): To shatter boundaries.
ZENA CARDMAN, NASA (voice-over): And break down barriers across America.
RAJA CHARI, NASA (voice-over): To create a better future.
VICTOR GLOVER, NASA (voice-over): We hope you’ll join us on this mission.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CARLSON: A mission of equity — are you going to join the mission of equity? Can you define it?
Follow Jeff Poor on Twitter @jeff_poor