Ben Shapiro, the internet dark web darlings and a significant portion of the rightwing fancy themselves as the "real" intellectuals of the political landscape. They purport they are the only ones interested in the exchange of dialogue in the marketplace of ideas. And, they really love to tout how it is they who are truly tolerant of others ideas while it's the leftwing who is intolerant and shun actual adversarial debate.
Now, if you have ever heard Shapiro and his ilk speak or have had the pleasure of discussing anything political with the average rightwinger, you know all of these claims are unadulterated pure utter bullshit!
Recently, Ben Shapiro appeared on the BBC ostensibly to promote his new book "decrying" the uncivil rancorous discourse that pervades our current political landscape. A British journalist named Andrew Neal conducted the interview. It should be duly noted Neal is an arch Conservative borderline far rightwinger. This will be key to the rest of this tale.
Before I go further here is a link to the interview if you would like to watch before reading my analysis. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=6VixqvOcK8E
So, Neal began the interview by asking Shapiro about the new abortion law in Georgia that essentially would jail a woman for up to 10 years if she gets an abortion and 30 years if she goes out of state. Neal asked if the law was excessive and appeared to be taking America back to "the dark ages".
Immediately Shapiro became triggered. Instead of answering the question he asked Neal if he was "an objective journalist or an opinion journalist". Neal responded, "I'm a journalist who asks questions." (Brilliant response!) Shapiro then became whiny saying Neal sounded like an opinion journalist.
Benjamin next began berating Neal for being a "leftist" and calling the pro-life movement barbaric. (Neal actually never used the word barbaric and he never referred to pro-life movement by any other similar term. Shapiro did what rightwingers often do. He attempted to strawman Neal and intentionally mischaracterize what was said so he can make himself and his ilk look like victims. However, Neal [again a rightwinger] didn't fall for the bullshit and stayed on course.)
Responding to Shapiro's obvious distortion of his question Neal said if Shapiro was pro-choice he would be asking adversarial questions against the pro-choice movement. Benjamin got even more in his feelings retorting he doubted Neal would, again called him a leftist and demanded he just admit he's a liberal and a leftist activist. Neal replied with the best response of this entire Shapiro whinefest which was, "Mr. Shapiro, if you only knew the ridiculousness of that statement, you surely wouldn't have made it." (Indeed! Again, Neal is a rightwinger. The dude is the Sean Hannity of the United Kingdom except he's not a dumb vapid grifter.)
Well, seeing that line of questioning was going nowhere Neal proceeded to some comments lil Benny had made about President Obama after his 2012 State of the Union address. Shapiro said Obama's speech was "fascist". Neal asked him if that wasn't a bit hyperbolic and inflammatory. Benjamin by this point in the interview was beyond steamed stuttered, "It was wrong and bad." Neal replied, "Well, there are plenty of things that are 'wrong and bad', but it doesn't mean they're fascist. A flustered Benny stammered and then said, "Well, I suppose that's right."
(Lol. He "supposes that's right". This was another example of Shapiro's tactics being exposed. He and a lot of rightwingers love to accuse the left of being hyperbolic and inflammatory, but as often is the case it's they who are hyperbolic and inflammatory and projecting out of their asses. Shapiro, in fact, did say Obama's speech was fascist when it was nowhere near. However, he had never been truly checked on it and when he was he got pissed and wilted.)
Next, Neal mentioned Benjamin's inane statement saying "Jews who voted for Obama are Jews in name only. They're jinos...They should turn in their badges.
Needless to say, Benny had a damn near meltdown. First, he obfuscated and attempted to lie, but Neal read back to him chapter and verse what he said. Then, clearly rattled Shapiro made a pathetic attempt to justify his statement. When that failed he flaunted his piousness demeaning Obama supporting Jews as not taking Judaism seriously like he does and basically implied anyone who doesn't believe exactly as he believes is less Jewish than him.
(Oh, Benjamin. Smh. He really showed his ass here. He said the quiet parts aloud and exposed religious fundamentalism for exactly what it is, which is unabashed hypocrisy and unfettered intolerance. Seriously, he sounded no different than any radical Islamic fundamentalist. Change Judaism to Islam and he sounded like ISIS.
Who the hell is this 30-something year old dude who sounds like he's still in puberty to dictate who can and can't be Jewish. Eff dna or parental lineage Ben Shapiro is the arbiter of whom is and is not Jewish.
And, he's so transparent with his demagoguery. Just like most evangelicals he believes if you don't vote Republican you're inherently anti-God. Unbelievable stupidity.)
Oh, we're not done. Andrew Neal brought Shapiro's book back up and questioned him if his own rhetoric has added to the political animosity that he claims to lament in the book. Of course, Shapiro reacts as if that is an absurd assertion. Neal then brings up some tweets Benny posted about Palestinians. And, this pos snowflake went into a full fledged meltdown.
Shapiro once tweeted, "Arabs only like to bomb crap and live in open sewage." (Nothing racist there. Keep it moving. Right, Benjamin.)
In fairness to Shapiro he did clarify he didn't mean all Arabs, which he was quick to point out to Neal. He said he meant Hamas. Problem is later in the tweet thread he did directly disparage Palestinians and implied their evil and wretched because they voted Hamas into power (but, of course, Republicans aren't racist and amoral for voting in the likes of Trump, Steve King and Louie Gohmert) and they teach their kids in school to hate Israelis.
Shapiro attempted to turn the tables on Neal by saying the "BBC is reticent to denounce Hamas" and implying that they were having him on and attempting to embarrass him to "make a buck". Neal didn't take the bait. He ignored Hamas comment and said, "There aren't many dollars to make on BBC like American television." (Oh, snap!)
Oh, lil Benny became enraged at Neal reading his own words back to him. He attempted damage control by mentioning a column he wrote outlining all the dumb things he has said. Shapiro did do that. However, you will have to squint really hard to see an apology or sincere contrition for what he said. Oh, and he's continued to say the same shit. He just sugarcoats it better now.
After the exchange over the Palestinian tweets Shapiro had enough. He said the interview was over and took a not so subtle jab at Neal implying nobody had ever heard of Neal while suggesting he was immensely popular. "I've never even heard of you until now." Neal retorted, "Well, frankly, Mr. Shapiro I'd never heard of you until prepping for this interview." (That sound you heard was Shapiro's ego getting crushed.)
Shapiro shot back that Neal was disingenuous and dishonest. He took off his mic abruptly ending the interview. Neal said, "Thank you for your time, Mr. Shapiro, and showing the American right doesn't get angry when confronted with adversarial questions. (LMFAO!)
This entire episode was glorious. It really exposed Shapiro for the shamelessly grifting charlatan he is. And, by proxy it exposed the rest of the circle jerk of the IDW and rightwing/Fox News commentary sphere.
Shapiro fancies himself as the logic man. He loves to say "facts don't care about your feelings". Well, he most certainly didn't abide by that principle with Andrew Neal. Truth is, he never does.
Shapiro never answered one question Neal asked. Instead, he repeatedly attempted to turn it around and ask Neal the questions though it was him being interviewed. Also, not only did he obfuscate but Shapiro repeatedly employed strawmans, red herrings and mischaracterizations.
Why? Because as Neal pointed out a couple of times political pundits aren't used to journalists actually doing their jobs and asking objective adversarial questions. It's the journalist's or interviewer's responsibility to play devil's advocate so to speak.
Shapiro is way too accustomed appearing on Fox News and The Rubin Report where he is coddled and stroked. Even when he appears on Tucker Carlson's show under the guise of being adversaries in the same political ideology Carlson doesn't challenge him. Just like Carlson would expect the same in kind.
So, Shapiro isn't used to actually having to defend his positions because he's never challenged. Nor, does he want to be.
See, that's the secret here. People like Shapiro know their positions are often draconian and frankly indefensible, so they have zero desire to be challenged on them. Now, while I believe Shapiro has more of a core than say Dave Rubin he doesn't want to be questioned because he can't provide intelligent principled defenses for his positions beyond cursory talking points. Facts don't care about your feelings unless the facts aren't on your side.
Shapiro got caught with his pants down. (Sorry for that disturbing image.) Admittedly he did no prep for the interview. He likely never does because he doesn't ever expect substantive pushback. Simply, the emperor was exposed as having no clothes.
This is also why people like Shapiro, Rubin, Carlson, Candace Owens, ect almost exclusively do the rounds on each other shows. It is why they sprint from debates and look for safe spaces.
Sam Seder and David Pakman have been asking Rubin forever to debate them. He refuses citing some bullshit about them calling him names and being mean to him. So what?! What are you effin eight years old! No, it's the same reason Rubin claims to only care about ideas but only has rightwingers and pseudo progressives on his show. He doesn't want an adversarial challenge because he'll be exposed as the grifter he is.
Same goes for Candace Owens. She wilted under minimal adversarial questioning from Joe Rogan, arguably a conduit for the IDW and rightwing, regarding her stances on climate change. She has avoided Politicon the last two years because she's "not ready debates". Wtf?!
In fairness to Shapiro he will occasionally participate in debates, as he did with Cenk Uguyr in 2017, but anytime he was pressed he resorted to talking points.
These people present no fresh ideas nor can they intelligently defend their stances. Shapiro is supposed to be an elite conservative intellectual; yet, he was unable to defend his positions or his words when confronted with actual adversarial journalistic questions. And, it's because he is accustomed to a kid gloves approach and he purposely avoids anyone who will even slightly challenge his bullshit or the draconian ideas and policies of his party.
This Shapiro/BBC exchange won't end Shapiro's career. I doubt it will even damage the brand with his entrenched loyalists. However, for those who casual fans and agnostic observers he has been completely exposed. He bragged about having all the game and the biggest "D" on the block but when it was truly game time he was exposed as having weak game and his "
l
Now, if you have ever heard Shapiro and his ilk speak or have had the pleasure of discussing anything political with the average rightwinger, you know all of these claims are unadulterated pure utter bullshit!
Recently, Ben Shapiro appeared on the BBC ostensibly to promote his new book "decrying" the uncivil rancorous discourse that pervades our current political landscape. A British journalist named Andrew Neal conducted the interview. It should be duly noted Neal is an arch Conservative borderline far rightwinger. This will be key to the rest of this tale.
Before I go further here is a link to the interview if you would like to watch before reading my analysis. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=6VixqvOcK8E
So, Neal began the interview by asking Shapiro about the new abortion law in Georgia that essentially would jail a woman for up to 10 years if she gets an abortion and 30 years if she goes out of state. Neal asked if the law was excessive and appeared to be taking America back to "the dark ages".
Immediately Shapiro became triggered. Instead of answering the question he asked Neal if he was "an objective journalist or an opinion journalist". Neal responded, "I'm a journalist who asks questions." (Brilliant response!) Shapiro then became whiny saying Neal sounded like an opinion journalist.
Benjamin next began berating Neal for being a "leftist" and calling the pro-life movement barbaric. (Neal actually never used the word barbaric and he never referred to pro-life movement by any other similar term. Shapiro did what rightwingers often do. He attempted to strawman Neal and intentionally mischaracterize what was said so he can make himself and his ilk look like victims. However, Neal [again a rightwinger] didn't fall for the bullshit and stayed on course.)
Responding to Shapiro's obvious distortion of his question Neal said if Shapiro was pro-choice he would be asking adversarial questions against the pro-choice movement. Benjamin got even more in his feelings retorting he doubted Neal would, again called him a leftist and demanded he just admit he's a liberal and a leftist activist. Neal replied with the best response of this entire Shapiro whinefest which was, "Mr. Shapiro, if you only knew the ridiculousness of that statement, you surely wouldn't have made it." (Indeed! Again, Neal is a rightwinger. The dude is the Sean Hannity of the United Kingdom except he's not a dumb vapid grifter.)
Well, seeing that line of questioning was going nowhere Neal proceeded to some comments lil Benny had made about President Obama after his 2012 State of the Union address. Shapiro said Obama's speech was "fascist". Neal asked him if that wasn't a bit hyperbolic and inflammatory. Benjamin by this point in the interview was beyond steamed stuttered, "It was wrong and bad." Neal replied, "Well, there are plenty of things that are 'wrong and bad', but it doesn't mean they're fascist. A flustered Benny stammered and then said, "Well, I suppose that's right."
(Lol. He "supposes that's right". This was another example of Shapiro's tactics being exposed. He and a lot of rightwingers love to accuse the left of being hyperbolic and inflammatory, but as often is the case it's they who are hyperbolic and inflammatory and projecting out of their asses. Shapiro, in fact, did say Obama's speech was fascist when it was nowhere near. However, he had never been truly checked on it and when he was he got pissed and wilted.)
Next, Neal mentioned Benjamin's inane statement saying "Jews who voted for Obama are Jews in name only. They're jinos...They should turn in their badges.
Needless to say, Benny had a damn near meltdown. First, he obfuscated and attempted to lie, but Neal read back to him chapter and verse what he said. Then, clearly rattled Shapiro made a pathetic attempt to justify his statement. When that failed he flaunted his piousness demeaning Obama supporting Jews as not taking Judaism seriously like he does and basically implied anyone who doesn't believe exactly as he believes is less Jewish than him.
(Oh, Benjamin. Smh. He really showed his ass here. He said the quiet parts aloud and exposed religious fundamentalism for exactly what it is, which is unabashed hypocrisy and unfettered intolerance. Seriously, he sounded no different than any radical Islamic fundamentalist. Change Judaism to Islam and he sounded like ISIS.
Who the hell is this 30-something year old dude who sounds like he's still in puberty to dictate who can and can't be Jewish. Eff dna or parental lineage Ben Shapiro is the arbiter of whom is and is not Jewish.
And, he's so transparent with his demagoguery. Just like most evangelicals he believes if you don't vote Republican you're inherently anti-God. Unbelievable stupidity.)
Oh, we're not done. Andrew Neal brought Shapiro's book back up and questioned him if his own rhetoric has added to the political animosity that he claims to lament in the book. Of course, Shapiro reacts as if that is an absurd assertion. Neal then brings up some tweets Benny posted about Palestinians. And, this pos snowflake went into a full fledged meltdown.
Shapiro once tweeted, "Arabs only like to bomb crap and live in open sewage." (Nothing racist there. Keep it moving. Right, Benjamin.)
In fairness to Shapiro he did clarify he didn't mean all Arabs, which he was quick to point out to Neal. He said he meant Hamas. Problem is later in the tweet thread he did directly disparage Palestinians and implied their evil and wretched because they voted Hamas into power (but, of course, Republicans aren't racist and amoral for voting in the likes of Trump, Steve King and Louie Gohmert) and they teach their kids in school to hate Israelis.
Shapiro attempted to turn the tables on Neal by saying the "BBC is reticent to denounce Hamas" and implying that they were having him on and attempting to embarrass him to "make a buck". Neal didn't take the bait. He ignored Hamas comment and said, "There aren't many dollars to make on BBC like American television." (Oh, snap!)
Oh, lil Benny became enraged at Neal reading his own words back to him. He attempted damage control by mentioning a column he wrote outlining all the dumb things he has said. Shapiro did do that. However, you will have to squint really hard to see an apology or sincere contrition for what he said. Oh, and he's continued to say the same shit. He just sugarcoats it better now.
After the exchange over the Palestinian tweets Shapiro had enough. He said the interview was over and took a not so subtle jab at Neal implying nobody had ever heard of Neal while suggesting he was immensely popular. "I've never even heard of you until now." Neal retorted, "Well, frankly, Mr. Shapiro I'd never heard of you until prepping for this interview." (That sound you heard was Shapiro's ego getting crushed.)
Shapiro shot back that Neal was disingenuous and dishonest. He took off his mic abruptly ending the interview. Neal said, "Thank you for your time, Mr. Shapiro, and showing the American right doesn't get angry when confronted with adversarial questions. (LMFAO!)
This entire episode was glorious. It really exposed Shapiro for the shamelessly grifting charlatan he is. And, by proxy it exposed the rest of the circle jerk of the IDW and rightwing/Fox News commentary sphere.
Shapiro fancies himself as the logic man. He loves to say "facts don't care about your feelings". Well, he most certainly didn't abide by that principle with Andrew Neal. Truth is, he never does.
Shapiro never answered one question Neal asked. Instead, he repeatedly attempted to turn it around and ask Neal the questions though it was him being interviewed. Also, not only did he obfuscate but Shapiro repeatedly employed strawmans, red herrings and mischaracterizations.
Why? Because as Neal pointed out a couple of times political pundits aren't used to journalists actually doing their jobs and asking objective adversarial questions. It's the journalist's or interviewer's responsibility to play devil's advocate so to speak.
Shapiro is way too accustomed appearing on Fox News and The Rubin Report where he is coddled and stroked. Even when he appears on Tucker Carlson's show under the guise of being adversaries in the same political ideology Carlson doesn't challenge him. Just like Carlson would expect the same in kind.
So, Shapiro isn't used to actually having to defend his positions because he's never challenged. Nor, does he want to be.
See, that's the secret here. People like Shapiro know their positions are often draconian and frankly indefensible, so they have zero desire to be challenged on them. Now, while I believe Shapiro has more of a core than say Dave Rubin he doesn't want to be questioned because he can't provide intelligent principled defenses for his positions beyond cursory talking points. Facts don't care about your feelings unless the facts aren't on your side.
Shapiro got caught with his pants down. (Sorry for that disturbing image.) Admittedly he did no prep for the interview. He likely never does because he doesn't ever expect substantive pushback. Simply, the emperor was exposed as having no clothes.
This is also why people like Shapiro, Rubin, Carlson, Candace Owens, ect almost exclusively do the rounds on each other shows. It is why they sprint from debates and look for safe spaces.
Sam Seder and David Pakman have been asking Rubin forever to debate them. He refuses citing some bullshit about them calling him names and being mean to him. So what?! What are you effin eight years old! No, it's the same reason Rubin claims to only care about ideas but only has rightwingers and pseudo progressives on his show. He doesn't want an adversarial challenge because he'll be exposed as the grifter he is.
Same goes for Candace Owens. She wilted under minimal adversarial questioning from Joe Rogan, arguably a conduit for the IDW and rightwing, regarding her stances on climate change. She has avoided Politicon the last two years because she's "not ready debates". Wtf?!
In fairness to Shapiro he will occasionally participate in debates, as he did with Cenk Uguyr in 2017, but anytime he was pressed he resorted to talking points.
These people present no fresh ideas nor can they intelligently defend their stances. Shapiro is supposed to be an elite conservative intellectual; yet, he was unable to defend his positions or his words when confronted with actual adversarial journalistic questions. And, it's because he is accustomed to a kid gloves approach and he purposely avoids anyone who will even slightly challenge his bullshit or the draconian ideas and policies of his party.
This Shapiro/BBC exchange won't end Shapiro's career. I doubt it will even damage the brand with his entrenched loyalists. However, for those who casual fans and agnostic observers he has been completely exposed. He bragged about having all the game and the biggest "D" on the block but when it was truly game time he was exposed as having weak game and his "
l
