Are there three words in English that can cause as much trepidation in the hearts of a healthy and rational person as “Tucker Carlson’s original”? Yes, the documentary that brought you such headlines as Hungary vs. Soros: The Struggle for Civilization and Patriotic Purge, a BS-laden fantasy of the January 6 riots that contained so many insane allegations of fake flag operations that forced a tranche of Veterans of Fox News to leave the network is back.
The latest addition to Carlson’s work is called The End of Men and his Magic Mike-style trailer has just been released.
It begins with a familiar Make America Great Again montage, focusing on a speech by John F. Kennedy, in which he praises strength and exercise and curses American “soft, chubby, fat kids.” Kennedy’s fast-paced approach to childhood obesity quickly equated to a sharp decline in sperm and testosterone levels over the past 50 years.
And then what can only be described as a series of shots with money. Like the roaring tympani of a piece by Richard Strauss from 2001: A Space Odyssey swells – we see huge men topless, chopping wood, milking cows, shooting rifles, barbecuing, fighting, drinking egg yolks and, most strikingly, shading their genitals. This supposed series of real red-blooded men is perhaps the most convenient thing Fox News has aired since Glenn Beck doused a beautiful model with gasoline.
Carlson’s deeply homoerotic version of real men looks more like xVideos than a former mining town, but the testosterone-based view of masculinity he insists has been a common topic for Fox News over the past decade and a win-win.
Blackening of the testicles or red light therapy, shown in the video, is further explained in an interview with Carlson with a self-proclaimed “bromeotherapy” expert. He claims that by flooding your balls with red LEDs, you can create higher testosterone levels.
The potential of UV or red light to increase testosterone levels is well documented, but there are no peer-reviewed peer-reviewed studies that can support these claims. Testosterone levels also change dramatically during the day, and there are also dramatic increases in exercise, new sexual partners and changes in diet.
In his new special product on how to raise testosterone levels in men, Tucker Carlson’s guest offers “testicular tanning” using infrared light as a “bromeopathic” therapy. pic.twitter.com/PirerBMRyr
– Ron Filipkowski @ (@RonFilipkowski) April 17, 2022
It’s no surprise to see that Fox News suggests that the answer to all of humanity’s problems is testosterone. The channel is heavily invested in the idea that lowering testosterone makes men more liberal and less masculine, and many other advertisers sell pills that promise to raise testosterone levels in men.
Fox News is heavily invested in the idea that lowering testosterone makes men more liberal and less masculine
I spent some time telling this story three years ago that testosterone is becoming highly politicized, especially by Trump-backing radio presenters who equate liberalism with low T (a right-wing radio doctor even offered a free testosterone test to anyone listening to Hillary Clinton). The United States is flooded with ads for testosterone supplements that make a similar claim, many of which are broadcast on Fox News. Trump himself hints that his opponents are tired and have a “low T”.
Many men inject testosterone for political reasons, but in reality the idea that testosterone is the “male” hormone and estrogen is the “female” hormone is wrong. Both men and women have both hormones at very different levels, and most men have much more testosterone than they need (in fact, testosterone, which is crucial for heart function, is often converted to estrogen, which means that people who routinely inject testosterone often end up growing breasts). Low testosterone can make some men feel tired and impotent and need replacement therapy, but others cope with low testosterone levels in the blood quite well.
Carlson is right that sperm counts and total testosterone have been declining for the past 50 years due to lifestyle changes – including increasing obesity. But the idea that this is somehow a problem of manhood, and that if we just burned our balls, men would be happier, is clearly wrong.
The show is also a reflection of how far Carlson has moved into the world of pseudo-scientific and pointless solutions over the past few years. Only four years ago, he was still talking about falling testosterone levels, but as part of a larger study of men in America, he was making excerpts about why men are more likely to commit suicide, carry out mass shootings, be in prison, to be treated as children and perform worse than some educational measures. In the video above, Carlson takes a right-wing anti-feminist stance, but at least makes some reasonable points about the problems American men face.
Since then, Carlson has fallen into the deep end of trolling and insanity, and would rather have fun with wild medical interventions than political change. Maybe he would be happier to do red light therapy instead of his red face night therapy.
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