The chyron on Tucker Carlson Tonight on May 11, 2021, boldly proclaimed that MAKING AN INFORMED CHOICE REGARDING YOUR OWN BODY SHOULDN’T BE CONTROVERSIAL. This pronouncement called to mind the Truisms (1977–79), such as ABUSE OF POWER COMES AS NO SURPRISE and, perhaps most appropriately, LISTEN WHEN YOUR BODY TALKS. The Truisms, originally presented on street posters and later on T-shirts, postcards, LED signs, stone benches, and in many other media, function like chyrons: direct, emphatic, self-important, and as a whole, full of contradictions. These statements speak to the anxiety, humor, banality, tragedy, and urgency of modern life. Gillian Branstetter was kind to encapsulate the similarities between Carlson’s chyron and mine.
Broadcast on Tucker Carlson Tonight on May 11, 2021, and tweeted by Gillian Branstetter on May 12, 2021, an inadvertent happy collaboration.
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