Fox & Friends took some time Monday to complain about one of their favorite subjects: how “wokeism” is ruining the country. This is nothing new for them or anyone else at Fox News, of course, but today’s example is especially ridiculous.
Host Brian Kilmeade spoke to a man named Jeffrey Tucker, the founder of a right-wing think tank called the Brownstone Institute, and he’s upset that a recent tour of Thomas Jefferson’s historic Monticello estate was too “woke.” And, as you probably guessed, yes he does look like this:
Tucker tells Kilmeade that his July 4th tour of the historic site was “depressing and demoralizing and truly upsetting.” Why? Well, he doesn’t go into exact details but he does say that the tour guides focused on “debunking his history, his reputation, putting him down, demoralizing everybody on my tour.” That’s an interesting choice of words, of course, because to say that the tour was “debunking” Jefferson’s history implies that there was some sort of misconception or gap in knowledge needing to be debunked. Imagine that!
Kilmeade makes the obvious assumption that what Tucker is alluding to is Jefferson’s history as a slaveowner. He is dismayed that this incredibly important fact might be brought up during a tour of the estate because, as he notes, there’s a tour (multiple tours, actually) dedicated to exploring the perspective of enslaved people. Now, Kilmeade says, on the main tour, all you hear about is slavery and you don’t even hear about Jefferson at all, the guides do “not talk about this incredible man”—a thing that is most definitely not true.
Both these men seem to be outraged that tour guides might have anything but pure, unadulterated praise to say about one of the Founding Fathers, regardless of any facts or nuance. (We call that propaganda, guys.) They both stop to gape at this graphic of a sign that’s apparently visible on the tour, featuring a very basic critical thinking prompt about a centuries-old platitude.
The sign reads: “Is ‘all men are created equal’ being lived up to in our country today? When will we know that it is?” That’s the kind of question you’d ask grade-schoolers to write essays about but these grown men simply cannot handle it. “What does that—I mean, are you kidding me??” Kilmeade stammers as both men shake their heads in disbelief that a historical tour would dare ask people to think about history.
Tucker himself admits that the last time he went on this tour was “a couple decades ago.” He genuinely can’t fathom the idea that our perspective of history might have changed over time, and the idea seems to terrify him.
(image: screencap)
