On Thursday night, Fox News host Tucker Carlson retaliated against critics who referred to Queen Elizabeth as a “coloniser” and expressed joy over her death. He insisted that the British Empire was something to be proud of and described it as the greatest “benign” empire the world has ever known.
After the queen’s death was announced by certain opinion writers, one of whom pledged to dance on her grave and another of whom called her 70-year rule “devastating,” Carlson stepped out.
Within hours after the 96-year-old monarch’s death, provocateurs published articles in some of the most prestigious American media criticising the outpouring of sadness when millions of people across the globe were grieving her death.
One professor in Pennsylvania even expressed her desire for the queen’s last hours of suffering to be “excruciating.”
They were “ghouls,” according to Carlson, and had the wrong intentions.
Carlson said that although the British Empire was far from flawless, it was still the most humanitarian ever.
It was a remarkable location handled by remarkable individuals.
In the future, there will be many empires, but never one so good.
He said that since her period was superior to the one we are now in, those who were assaulting the queen were acting out of envy.
He said, “Libel the ruler, disgrace the whole era she lived in.”
And for just that reason, they are assaulting Queen Elizabeth tonight.
Not because she was a bad person—because she wasn’t—but rather because she was alive in a better era.
Around 25% of the world’s geographical area was under the control of the British Empire at its height in the early 1900s, including sizable portions of North America, Australia, Africa, and Asia.
When Elizabeth found out about her father’s death in 1952, Britain had more than 70 foreign colonies. There are now just 14 left, with the biggest being the Falkland Islands, home to less than 3,000 people.
According to Carlson, the nations under British administration during the height of the Empire gained greatly.
In a perfect world, he declared, “there would be no empires, no empires, only sovereign nations.”
But we don’t have that world, and I never have. 1400 years before Christ, we can go all the way back to the Assyrians.
Strong nations dominate weak countries in the actual world, the one in which we live, and this pattern does not seem to be changing.
The English were serious about their colonial responsibilities, which is the very least one can say about them.
They said, “They did not only steal items.”
He said that Britain left a solid position for India, which gained independence in 1947.
“We left behind airstrips, cargo containers, and firearms when the U.S. government departed from Afghanistan after 20 years,” Carlson added.
When the British departed India, they left behind a complete civilisation, including a language, a legal system, as well as public institutions like schools, churches, and buildings. All of them are still in use.
He was especially enamoured by Mumbai’s railway station, a UNESCO World Heritage Site built in 1887, the year Queen Victoria celebrated 50 years of power.
He said, “Protestant Christianity was promoted around the globe by the British Empire.”
It produced some of the finest manufactured goods ever made anywhere at any time, including now, and published some of the greatest literature ever written.
He said that Britain’s dominant position on the international scene came to an end with Elizabeth’s coronation in 1953.
Whether the British recognised it or not, he said, “Britain was already over.”
Even while Britain still asserts that it won both World Wars this century, both conflicts collectively shattered that country for all time.
“Humiliation followed success.”
Britain’s self-confidence and, eventually, its self-respect, vanished along with the Empire.
He made fun of contemporary Britain, portraying it as a society enslaved by financial services and swamped by immigrants.
It’s difficult to imagine today, but Britain wasn’t always a local financial hub that doubled as a refugee camp. It was a real country with a history, a language, a culture, and some very extraordinary individuals.
An Alabama-sized nation in the North Atlantic managed to conquer the whole planet and govern it with a level of kindness unequalled by any other empire in human history.
On Thursday, Carlson made fun of the “woke” authors for failing to recognise the brilliance of the British Empire.
They wrote, obviously having no idea of what transpired afterwards, “The British Empire was terrible.”
And while we’re on the subject, what succeeded the British Empire? How did Africa fare, for instance, when the British left?
Let’s see: Uganda got the cannibal Idi Amin. Under the racial moron Robert Mugabe, Rhodesia became Zimbabwe and afterwards the world’s poorest nation.
As of this evening, an inept kleptocrat called Cyril Ramaphosa is destroying South Africa.
Tirhakah Love, a senior newsletter writer for New York Magazine, was in charge of mocking her rule.
He said in his Thursday night message that “that coloniser has been sucking up the Earth’s resources for 96 years.”
You can’t be a physical oppressor and expect your victims to not celebrate your passing, he continued.
I’m now expected to remain silent or, even better, express genuine sorrow for what was once a lifeless Glad ForceFlex garbage bag. He wrote, “Please, no.
“I just want to remind you that most people will be celebrating today in the rest of the world, and I mean the real globe.
“We all have our ways of grieving friends; mine happens to be performing the electric slide on a colonizer’s grave,” one person said.
Love tweeted: “haha make sure yall read dinner party” since he knew his opinions on the newsletter would be controversial.
The Texan responded when someone expressed feigned horror: “lmaoo whatchu meaannn?” I’ll continue to be polite and kind as always. ‘
Maya Jasanoff, a history professor at Harvard University who specialises in the history of Britain and the British Empire, said in The New York Times that it was incorrect to “romanticise” her rule.
She added, “The queen contributed to the concealment of a terrible history of decolonization, whose dimensions and legacies have yet to be completely recognised.”
Repression is highlighted in Malaya, Kenya, Yemen, Cyprus, and Ireland by Jasanoff.
She remarked, “We may never find out what the queen knew or didn’t know about the atrocities perpetrated in her name.”
“Those who predicted a second Elizabethan period assumed Elizabeth II would uphold British glory; unfortunately, it was the era of the empire’s downfall,” says one author.
On her Twitter account, Jemele Hill, a writer for The Atlantic, added to the conversation by claiming that journalists had a responsibility to document what she termed the “devastating” effects of Elizabeth’s reign.
Journalists are entrusted with placing legacies into their proper historical perspective, therefore Hill said that it is completely legitimate to look at the queen and her part in the disastrous effects of ongoing colonialism.
Another criticism of the tweet was left in the comment area, with one person writing, “Lol ain’t no one going to say a thing tho.”
‘Real issue for the ‘now is not the proper time to speak about the bad effect of colonialism’ crowd: When is the acceptable moment to talk about the negative impact of colonialism?
He wrote, ”
A video of several guys tap dancing in front of Buckingham Palace to the tune of Another One Bites the Dust was tweeted by Imani Gandy, a legal expert at Rewire News.
She added, “The Irish are already on it hahaha” when the queen died away.
Academics joined in, with Ebony Elizabeth Thomas, an English professor at the University of Michigan, declaring that she was unable to shed a tear for the late queen because of her memories of Diana and Meghan Markle.
Regarding the alleged mistreatment of the two women who married into the House of Windsor, she stated, “At this time, the idea of Diana and Meghan are keeping my tears absolutely dry.”
“I’m shocked. She has been gilded by US media, entertainment, and education, and I often cry even for personal foes and structural oppressors. But… yeah.’
A chorus of Twitter commentators who agreed with her and said the queen was a sign of doom repeated her tweet.
As word of the queen’s ill health started to spread earlier in the day, Thomas started her assault on her.
It’s like telling my people that we should adore the Confederacy, she remarked, to tell the colonised how they should feel about their colonizer’s health and wellbeing.
We’re all tweeting these Tweets in English, so how’d that happen, hm? “Respect the dead,” we say. We just decided on this tongue? ‘
In her snarky response to the tweet, Lyndsey Boylan—a failed candidate for Manhattan Borough President who accused former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo of sexual harassment—stated: “I cannot image what my Irish ancestors would be experiencing.”
The sick queen was referred to as the leader of a “thieving, raping, murderous empire” by Uju Anya, an associate professor and instructor at the University of Pittsburgh who advocates against racism.
“I have heard that the stealing, raping, murderous empire’s supreme emperor is finally passing away.” May her suffering be unbearable,’ she wrote.
“If anybody expects me to show anything other than scorn for the king who oversaw a regime that supported the genocide that slaughtered and uprooted half my family and whose repercussions people living now are still striving to overcome, you may keep wishing upon a star,” she said.
She oversaw a government that supported the genocide my parents and siblings survived, and generations of my ancestors on both sides of the family have been f***** by that wretched woman and her bloodthirsty throne. May she perish in pain.
Following criticism from hundreds of users, including Jeff Bezos, who called her out for the rude remarks, Twitter has finally taken down the postings for breaking its guidelines.
This person is purportedly trying to improve the world, Bezos said. In my opinion, no. Wow.’
Additionally, the journalist Piers Morgan said, “You horrible ugly imbecile.”
Don’t demand that from you, but do expect normal decency and respect for such a tragedy, said one outraged user. You are a shameful of a human person if you are unable to provide that at this moment.
Another person said, “You are just so rude and mannerless. You make such an evil and despicable insult about someone who just died away.
The “anti-racist” lecturer has been accused of using racist language online in the past, leading the Foundational Black American group to start a petition to have her dismissed from Carnegie Mellon University in one case.
Anya was criticised for using an ethnic slur that implies “cotton pickers” or “wild beasts,” despite the fact that she calls herself an expert in “diversity, equality, and inclusion.”
The petition to fire her received close to 800 signatures.