Citation From the April 2, 2020, edition of Fox News' Tucker Carlson Tonight:

TUCKER CARLSON (HOST): This is a moment. It will pass. A year from now, what will seem scarier? The Chinese coronavirus, or the economic devastation it wrought? It is worth thinking about that as we move forward, but we can't. Thinking about things like that have has been cast as a kind of moral crime by our opinion-making class.

Last week we did a segment with lieutenant governor of Texas, Dan Patrick. Patrick is 70 years old and he has the kind of health profile that makes him especially vulnerable to this virus. Like most people in his position, he is worried about being infected. You would be too. He doesn't want to get sick or die, but he also has other worries. He doesn't want to see America destroyed. He wants his grandchildren to grow up in the same kind of country that he did, prosperous, stable, employed. He said all of that on our show last Monday, and almost immediately the media outrage machine began belching smoke and making loud noises.

"Dan Patrick is telling old people to die for the stock market," they screamed. No, Dan Patrick was not doing that, not even close. He didn't say anything like that on the air and that's not what he meant, but it didn't matter. Patrick was vilified in dozens of new stories, as if he was trying to kill the elderly in order to boost Exxon's share price.

In an environment like this one where reactive, emotionally incontinent people have the loudest megaphones, it's nearly impossible to see clearly or make wise decisions. That's true of everyone, and particularly everyone in power. Even our most impressive and thoughtful officials.