Day: March 17, 2019

Tucker Carlson comes under fire

SYDNEY BOSSIDIS
STAFF WRITER

Tucker Carlson has recently been the center of a controversy involving a series of demeaning comments he made years ago. Media Matters for America — a nonprofit organization focused on monitoring the press for inaccurate or unreliable information — released the interviews on Mar. 10, 2019.

Carlson started out as a print journalist in the 1990s before becoming a political commentator and being hired by Fox in 2009.

He has worked for Fox News since 2016 hosting, “Tucker Carlson Tonight,” a politically driven talk show that airs nightly.

The comments that led to the hashtag “ # Fi r e Tu c k e r C a r l s o n” occurred between 2006 and 2011. Carlson would call into a radio show called, “Bubba the Love Sponge Show,” to discuss various topics, typically related to political issues to voice his opinions. The earliest reported was Apr. 4, 2006.

The subjects of his comments frequently varied but were mainly targeted at minorities. There were many dealing with race, gender, and even the Warren Jeffs case — a legal case in which Jeffs paid a 14-year-old girl to marry her cousin. He also used derogatory terms to refer to women such as Michelle Obama and Samantha Bee.

Among his misogynistic statements, he claims that white men were responsible for “creating civilization”.

Then, several times throughout a five year period, he made racist remarks about former President Barack Obama. Additionally, there were many negative statements made about the war in Iraq and other Middle Eastern countries.

The hashtag “ # Fire Tucker Carlson ” started trending on Twitter shortly after these audio files resurfaced. People became angry that Carlson is still employed by Fox News without any sanctions. They feel that his opinions should not be publicized on his own show when they are demeaning to certain populations.

There has also been a call for advertisers to stop sponsoring his nightly show or risking being boycotted by consumers.

In recent months, he lost a total of 34 advertisers such as Samsung, IHOP, and Pacific Life Insurance as a result of his speech.

It is unclear what, if any, other companies will pull their advertisements.

His misogynistic and racist comments continued since being hired by Fox. Recently, in Dec. 2018, he made anti-immigration remarks during his show stating immigrants made the country “poorer and dirtier”.

In Dec., Fox supported Carlson’s opinion on the matter. On the latest clips, Fox has not made any comments.

It seems unlikely that Carlson will face any repercussions over this controversy and will continue to have his show.

Carlson is claiming no responsibility for what he said. In an interview with Variety, he says that it happened more than a decade ago, and his views can be seen on his show.

He also defended himself by saying, “anyone who disagrees with my views is welcome to come on [to his show] and explain why.”

This is not the first time that media figures have made such remarks. Jeanine Pirro, host of a show on Fox News, questioned Representative Ilhan Omar wearing a hijab.

Fox said they would handle the situation regarding her behavior with her directly. Megyn Kelly had her show canceled on NBC after making a racist remark in Oct. 2018.

This string of incidences brings into question how people should deal with news outlets allowing their personnel to make the comments such as Carlson’s and if there should be punishment, even if those comments happened over a decade ago.

The reasons why Carlson has not yet been removed from his position are unclear, as other people in similar positions of power have been removed from their spotlights due to similar comments.

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Students promote No More Campaign Awareness

EMILY COWLES
STAFF WRITER

This past week nursing students Katie Bush (‘19) and Sophia Guzman (‘19) brought pieces of the No More Campaign to Alma College. These students aimed to raise awareness for victims of sexual assault and domestic violence on college campuses.

“The No More movement was started by Law and Order SVU’s lead actress, Mariska Hargitay. This movement’s main purpose is to help support victims of sexual assault and domestic abuse,” said Guzman.

“However, it is a movement that has spread across the country, helping influence many college campuses to host events and prevention/outreach initiatives in order to not only raise money, but also raise awareness of these issues, while continuing to support the victims and promote that change needs to occur,” said Guzman.

On Monday night, Bush and Guzman showed a documentary that portrayed the sexual violence that occurs on college campuses. This film, accessible to the public by Netflix, shows acts of sexual assault and domestic violence being committed, as well as the trauma of attempting to seek help after these experiences.

“The movie, The Hunting Ground, is a very heavy and informative film that really touches base on the acts of sexual assault on college campuses. Not only does it tell the stories of victims from colleges all across the country, it also portrays the acts of college campus administration and faculty trying to cover up the facts and attempt to keep the victims quiet so it does not fall back on their college or university image,” said Guzman.

Both Bush and Guzman agreed showing this film in conjunction with bringing the No More Campaign to campus was important. This film can relate to students and show people who have never experienced these situations that they are real and can happen to anyone.

“I feel that when people hear ‘sexual assault,’ they automatically assume we are talking about women. However, these types of movements support everyone, including men, women, students and staff members. This movement was created to help everyone who has been a part of an incidence, and no one should be discouraged to come forward and speak to someone in order to get help,” said Guzman.

Bush explained that if someone knows something about an act like this being committed but is scared of any repercussions that may come if they say something, then they should seek help and speak out in order to protect themselves and others.

“It is very important to take care of yourself. And if someone is in a situation where they know something that happened and they don’t really know what to do and how to act, there are people on campus who don’t report, and that includes the Chaplin and the Counseling and Wellness Center. It’s not bad if you’re scared to reach out [for help],” said Bush.

Maya Dora-Laskey, Professor of English and Women’s and Gender Studies, followed up Bush’s comment by adding different organizations that students can go to for resources, as well as organizations with a voice against sexual assault and domestic violence on colleges campuses, mainly here in Alma.

“I always recommend collaborating with other organizations—some good partners might have been Health and Wellness, Diversity and Inclusion/ CSO, Women’s and Gender Studies, Kappa Iota (KI), and MacCurdy Women’s House, and our Title IX Office on campus and Women’s Resource Center, RISE Advocacy (formerly Women’s Aid), Child Advocacy, and Alma PD in the Alma community,” said Dora-Laskey.

For those who are looking to be more active in organizations such as No More, there will be events held by Title IX in April, and students can contact Kaydee Hall with any questions.

The upcoming events for this are as follows: April 2 will be a forum with RISE staff members, April 6 will be the Scots Ask 5k and April 9 is Cone-sent. There will also be members of the No More Campaign at Open Mic with Theta Chi.

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