Shellenberger appeared on Carlson's talk show that a judge said "was not to be taken seriously." Shellenberger said that going on television to talk about the big issues of the day is exciting, but it can be frustrating, too. The main reason is that there is never enough time to have a serious discussion of major issues. For that reason, he was delighted to be invited by Tucker Carlson to sit down with him for an hour last month to discuss energy, homelessness, and the future of Western civilization. Shellenberger really enjoyed our conversation and think you will, too. Excerpts of it are above. I will email parts 2 and 3 tomorrow and Sunday.
The video began by Carlson saying that "one of the key roles of journalism is to describe the world that we live in and to produce stories that explain why we're seeing what we're seeing — stories that might actually matter to your life.
What are the things that matter to your life? Crime matters to your life. Energy matters to your life since it's the basis of all civilization. So if you're not writing incisive stories about crime and energy — stories that describe the reality we're watching — then you're not really practicing journalism.
Well, by that measure, one of the most effective journalists of our time is, not strictly speaking, a journalist. He's an author, a keen observer, and a truth-teller. His name is Michael Shellenberger. He's a frequent guest on our nighttime show. And one of the things he's been writing about is the city he lives near, which is San Francisco, probably the prettiest city in the United States, which has completely collapsed (Fact Check: Not true].
Why is that? No one seems interested in finding out. He is, and he's written a lot about it. He's also run for Governor of California to save the state that he lives in. He's the author of the book San Fransicko. Michael Shellenberger joins us now. Michael Shellenberger, thanks so much for coming on."
Michael: Thanks for having me.
Tucker: Um, you're not strictly speaking a journalist.
Michael: At this point, I consider myself to be one.
Tucker: Well, you function as one.
Michael: It’s how I make my money.
Tucker: Right? It's just so interesting. You're one of those people who came to my attention. I'm a little old and out of it, but by your writing on energy, which was really incisive: “Here's where it comes from. Here's a fact. Here's what it costs.” You know, the basics in a really, really smart way.
And then you trained your powers of common sense and reasoning and observation on the crime problem, which is very heavily a problem of vagrancy and drug addiction, and explain that in a way that no one else has bothered to. You wrote this amazing book about the collapse of San Francisco. So I really wanted to meet you —
Michael: Thank you.
Tucker: — and find out who you are, where you're from, how'd you end up doing this, and what you've discovered. So can we just start at the beginning by asking where you are from and how'd you get to do this?
Michael: I'm from a small town in Colorado called Greeley, Colorado. It has the second-largest meat-packing facility in the U.S.
Tucker: Named after Horace Greeley, I think.
Michael: That's right. My parents were very progressive and I was a very radical left-wing youth. I went to Nicaragua when I was 17 to help the Sandinistas.
Tucker: No way.
Michael: That's where I learned Spanish. And then, I went to Brazil and learned Portuguese while doing anthropology among peasant farmers in the semi-Amazon who were fighting against big landlords. I was very in love with the progressive left-wing movements of Latin America, and that's really where I spent my twenties.
Read on ....[See the video]
For Part 2, see (here).
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