Fox News host Tucker Carlson noted the connection between mass shooters and a class of prescription antidepressants known as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs).
“Eric Harris, the Columbine killer, was on Zoloft and Luvox. A year earlier, a 15-year-old called Kip Kinkel shot his parents and dozens of classmates. He was on Prozac. In 2005, a 16-year-old called Jeff Weise killed his grandfather and ten kids in Minnesota. He was on Prozac too. So was 27-year-old Steven Kazmierczak, who murdered six people at Northern Illinois University. In 2012, you may recall when 25-year-old James Holmes walked into a movie theater and shot 82 people. He was on Zoloft,” he said.
“The list goes on and on and on and on. It includes the shooter at the Washington Navy Yard in 2013. That would be 34-year-old Aaron Alexis. It also includes Dylan Roof. He’s the 21-year-old who shot up the church in Charleston. Now, he was apparently a racist, and we’ve heard a lot about that. Fine. But we’ve heard next to nothing about the fact that he was taking SSRIs. He and many, many others. You’re not supposed to notice, but some have.”
Zoloft, Luvox, and Prozac are all popular SSRIs.
Speaking on Fox News’ “Tucker Carlson Tonight” this Tuesday about the recent mass shooting in Highland Park, Illinois, the eponymous host argued quite bluntly that “a lot of young men in America are going nuts,” seemingly due in part to a combination of the toxic culture surrounding them and the drugs they’re being prescribed.
“[A] lot of young men in America … inhabit a solitary fantasy world of social media, porn, and video games. They’re high on government-endorsed weed. ‘Smoke some more. It’s good for you.’ They’re numbed by the endless psychotropic drugs that are handed out in every school in the country by crackpots posing as counselors. And, of course, they’re angry,” he said.
“They know that their lives will not be better than their parents. They’ll be worse. That’s all but guaranteed. They know that. They’re not that stupid, and yet, the authorities in their lives, mostly women, never stop lecturing them about their so-called privilege. You’re male. You’re privileged. Imagine that. Try to imagine an unhealthier, unhappier life than that.”
He added, “[A] lot of young men in America are going nuts. Are you surprised? And by the way, a shockingly large number of them have been prescribed psychotropic drugs by their doctors — SSRI or antidepressants — and that would include quite a few mass shooters. And keep in mind, again, these drugs are meant to prevent crazy behavior.”
With all this in mind, Carlson then asked, “Is there a connection?”
He admitted that “we don’t know definitively,” but then laid out a series of facts that strongly suggest that there is indeed a connection.
“Between 1991 and 2018, total SSRI prescriptions in the United States rose by more than 3,000 percent. … Did it work? Let’s see. Over the very same period, the suicide rate in the United States jumped by 35 percent,” he said.
“Did it work? Well, millions of people got on anti-suicide drugs and we wound up with many more suicides. So maybe it’s not working. Is it possible it’s making the problem worse, you think? Well, let’s see. Mass shootings also increased dramatically over the very same period. Here’s a chart that shows it.”
“We know that SSRIs are dangerous. It says so right on the label. They increase ‘the risk of anxiety, agitation, irritability, hostility, aggressiveness, impulsivity and mania.’ Oh, not a big deal. That’s not causation. Then what is it?” Carlson continued.
“According to one meta study by the FDA, young people who’ve been prescribed SSRI have an increased rate of suicide. Oh wait. More suicides? Weren’t they supposed to reduce suicide, but we’re getting more suicide? Let’s stop right there, but we’re not stopping. We’re accelerating.”
America’s veritable addiction to legal drugs is in fact accelerating at lightening-fast speed.
“Between 2015 and 2019, the use of SSRI drugs by teens in the United States rose by nearly 40 percent. So it’s not working? Let’s do a whole lot more of it,” the Fox News host noted.
“This seems like a massive and extremely obvious problem. Extremely obvious. People aren’t themselves. They’re taking drugs that appear to be causing the behavior that drugs are designed to prevent. Why don’t they talk about this on TV?”
Presumably because of money, he suggested.
“In 2020, the pharmaceutical industry spent more than $4.5 billion advertising on national television in this country. Now, how much is that? Well, to put it in some context, Pfizer spent more on advertising in 2020 than it did on research and development,” Carlson noted.
And it worked.
After delivering the first COVID-19 vaccine, Pfizer is uniquely positioned to advance mRNA, which could be a breakthrough for other infectious diseases, genetic diseases and cancer. https://t.co/9AYdpcp7dQ (Paid Post for @pfizer) #ad pic.twitter.com/Fop2lRxZJ5
— CNBC (@CNBC) October 4, 2021
“Pfizer’s revenue doubled last year to more than $81 billion. Now, how do they do that? Well, the ad campaign paid off. It helped convince politicians to require the entire population to take Pfizer products. Products that don’t work as advertised, that have killed large numbers of people, and whose side effects are indemnified against lawsuits by the United States Congress. That’s quite a business model. You might think it could be a subject of a media story, but no. No stories on Pfizer. They’re paid to be fanboys of Pfizer. Therefore, they are,” he continued.
“Here’s a tweet, for example, from CNBC, which is ostensibly a news organization and we’re quoting, ‘Pfizer is uniquely positioned to advance MRNA, which could be a breakthrough for other infectious diseases, genetic diseases and cancer. (Paid post for Pfizer) #ad.’ It was on their Twitter account, a news organization. They’re admitting it’s a paid post for Pfizer. But in CNBC’s defense, they’re not alone. Pretty much all the news coverage you see in the United States is a paid post for Pfizer.”
A paid post advertising this, that, or another drug, including SSRIs …
Writers and editors can be contacted at [email protected] with feedback, tips, or corrections.
V. Saxena is a staff writer with a decade of experience as a professional writer, and a lifetime of experience as an avid news junkie. He holds a degree in computer technology from Purdue University. Saxena also contributes to BizPac Review.
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