printMost YouTube offerings are not worth watching. The speakers drone on forever, when the substantive essence of their words could be distilled in a single unoriginal paragraph. Moreover, YouTube consumes time. Reading text is so much quicker and thus more efficient.
Trust me, then, when I say that not one words is superfluous in Tucker Carlson’s address, now on YouTube, delivered to the youth of Turning Point USA.
I found myself uncharacteristically listening to it all, disagreeing only with his blind worship of the family, per se. The emphasis, rather, ought to be on happy, adaptive, loving and reciprocal relationships. Sometimes the loved ones you choose are more of a family than the loved ones you were born to.
Carlson’s message to his youthful audience was an extension of the wisdom shared on the Tucker Carlson Show (I paraphrase):
“There is more to life than just preserving it—life must be lived to the fullest.”
Life is short. Don’t waste time, reiterated Tucker, participate in it to the fullest. Do it now. Jump face first into the pool of life. Meaning comes from other people.
Carlson warned of digitally induced dullness, in the context of things that blunt the imperative to experience life to the fullest; in the context of the need to eschew anything that causes one to miss out on life, or prevents one from engaging with [worthy] people to the fullest.
Digital distractions steal your life, he stressed. [I would add that, to the extent you have precious and worthy people in your life, you need to get as close as you can to them in a world defined by distance. Don’t type to them; talk to them and travel to see them.]
You don’t want to wake up to life in the third act, cautioned Tucker. You don’t want to be dulled to the people who love you. Rather, take stock of those who love you and focus on them.
In a chat I recently had with Buck Johnson, I advised especially talented techies (who have options by virtue of their brilliance) to stay out of the corporate world. It will dull and deform your spirit, and devour the rest of you. If you can, pursue work as an independent contractor.
Likewise, Tucker encouraged conservative kids to opt out of popular society. In particular, if you believe that the system is a joke—don’t partake. Above all, do the thing to which you are naturally suited.