A Good And Worthy Metamorphosis

     Tucker Carlson, since leaving Fox News, has become one of American conservatism’s brightest lights. Consider his recent statement on abortion:

     Carlson noted that human sacrifice, ritual child sacrifice in particular, “rears its head about every four chapters. … Of all the sins the ancients committed, that sin, every single time it’s described, is called detestable, at least in the [Revised Standard Version].”

     In virtually every instance, Carlson suggested the terms of the sacrifice were more or less clear: In exchange for the annihilation of innocence and innocents, the bloodied perpetrators would receive “power and contentment and happiness.”

     […]

     Carlson suggested that this unnatural but universal decision, which “cuts against the imperative of evolutionary biology” and does not appear to have been reached organically, is the result of “outside forces … acting on people at all times throughout history, in every culture on the planet, to convince people that if they sacrifice their children, they will be happy and safe.”

     And furthermore:

     “The one unalloyed source of joy in your life is your children. The point of life is to have children and to watch them have grandchildren. Nothing will bring you joy like that,” said Carlson. “So anyone telling you ‘don’t have children,’ ‘kill your children’ is not your friend, is your enemy.”

     Well, I must qualify the “unalloyed source of joy” a wee bit. These days especially, parents pay for the privilege of having children in time, money, energy, and sacrifice. Viewed solely as a luxury expenditure – which many do, sad to say – it doesn’t look like a “good buy.” Worse, Western societies are raising the price even as we speak. Yet Carlson’s statement is much truer than not.

     I can’t resist quoting Nefarious once more:

     James: I’m not ready to be a father.
     Nefarious: Oh.
     James: It’s her body. She can do what she wants.
     Nefarious: “Do what thou wilt. That shall be the whole of the law.”
     James: You arrogant son of a…Who—who are you to judge me? This is my life. I…I can live it the way I want.
     Nefarious: Yes, James! I couldn’t have said it better myself. But it’s still murder.
     James: Says who?
     Nefarious: Says all of creation, James.

     And if I may:

     What are you, Fountain?
     She struggled to discern the import of the question.
     “I am futanari. A clone of another such.”
     –Not that. What is the essence of your gift? What power do you possess that enables you to do the things you have done?
     “To see the life in all things, and to love it and speak with it.”
     –And what is the mission of all life?
     Months earlier, Father Ray had asked her to contemplate that very question. Yet he had not returned to the subject since then.
     “To become…more. Better.”
     –And how does anyone or anything become more than it is?
     “Through love. Loving and being loved.”
     –Exactly. You are greatly skilled at loving. You have the power to assist growth by giving love. You can still do so. Rise up!

     [In Vino]

     Is further explication required?

     To return to the original subject: What’s particularly noteworthy to me is how much more forthright, on this and other issues of importance to those of us in the Right, Carlson has become since his departure from Fox. We can only speculate how much he had to restrain himself during his Fox years. How much of it was commanded by management and how much was Carlson’s own sense for what he could say safely, only he knows. But I look forward to more of him in this mode. It makes a dramatic contrast with the pabulum most other commentators serve up.

     Carry on, Tucker.