It turns out conservative pundit Ben Shapiro isn’t quite as fond of free speech when he’s losing a debate on his own turf.
The antigay commentator was speaking at a Young America’s Foundation event at Iowa State University on Tuesday when he got into an argument with a Democratic activist and former Elizabeth Warren campaign staffer about the definition of “wokeism.”
As Shapiro puts it, wokeism is the belief that “all inequalities of today are attributable to not only historical injustices but also continuing injustices in the now.”
The Democratic activist pushed back, refuting Shapiro’s definition and questioning why it is that conservatives are the only ones who define it as such.
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Related: Angry GOP pundit Ben Shapiro thinks he “owned the libs” with his bagged wood, gets mocked instead
“You are not characterizing what I am saying accurately,” he said.
Avoiding the question entirely, Shapiro tried to cut off the conversation, saying “we’re going to have to stop this because it is going nowhere.”
The unnamed activist then said he was “just trying to understand” Shapiro’s perspective, at which point someone working for the event put their hand over the man’s microphone.
The activist complained he was “being censored,” adding: “I thought you were a free speech warrior.”
“This is absolutely amazing,” wrote Media Matters senior researcher Jason Campbell about the clip, which has since gone viral. “You have to watch it. In two minutes, all of Ben Shapiro’s ‘anti-woke’ tirades are just destroyed.”
This is absolutely amazing. You have to watch it. In two minutes, all of Ben Shapiro's 'anti-woke' tirades are just destroyed. pic.twitter.com/3MGCfgyQMj
— Jason Campbell (@JasonSCampbell) April 28, 2022
“Ben Shapiro’s entire persona is built on speaking with miraged authority,” Campbell said in a follow-up tweet. “It’s a trick that works only when he’s not scrutinized. But underneath it all there’s just a vacuum.”
Here’s how folks are responding:
So free speechy
— Erik Larson (@eelarson) April 28, 2022
“This is going in weird directions” is a funny way to say “Harvard didn’t prepare me for legitimate arguments.”
— Chris Henson (@ChrisFrenzy) April 28, 2022
The greatest trick Ben Shapiro ever pulled was convincing the world he was some sort of intellectual.
— Tom Ace (@tomace030) April 28, 2022
I will never understand how there are people who go out of their way to listen to this guy speak. I want to bash my head through a plate-glass window and bleed out on the shards listening to him for more than 9 seconds.
— Matt Ortega (@MattOrtega) April 28, 2022
This image is what Ben Shapiro’s version of “free speech” looks like at one his own shows.
A staffer putting their hand over the microphone of a perfectly polite questioner challenging him in real time.Which Shapiro doesn’t really get in his home DIY studio.
(Challenge)— Susan Bordson (@susanbordson) April 28, 2022
I used to go to school with guys like Ben — intelligent people who thought they were far more intelligent than anyone else and that their views, no matter how fallacious, were automatically absolutely right because they were their views.
— Rod Davison (@Casually_Causal) April 28, 2022
Just going to leave this definition from Cambridge here, just in case anyone is unsure, as I was, what they’re specifically talking about, and why Shapiro is wrong. pic.twitter.com/cPppHsmXGU
— ❤️ (@KladdaghReviews) April 28, 2022
Does Ben Shapiro think “you’re wrong” is an argument? You can’t just cut them off before they give an actual reason, Ben! That’s not what an argument is!
Also, are these stage-hands actually just censoring this dude cause he said Ben’s definition of ‘wokeness’ was wrong? pic.twitter.com/OEmKAYxDel
— Windle (@FakeAssAutumn) April 28, 2022
Elsewhere in the presentation, Shapiro denied the existence of trans and nonbinary people, saying, “A man cannot be a woman and a woman cannot be a man. These are basic facts.”
.@benshapiro: "A man cannot be a woman and a woman cannot be a man. These are basic facts." pic.twitter.com/x0I64ruqNR
— Daily Wire (@realDailyWire) April 28, 2022
Kangol2
The right-wing “free speech” advocates are full of sh!t! They are silent as right-wing legislatures like Florida’s and governors like DeathSantis sign speech-quashing bills into law! If they don’t like it, they try to suppress it, using their power to cancel ideas they don’t want to hear about or seek to limit, like anything to do with America’s racial and racist history, LGBTQ lives and experiences, criticism of Israeli policy (whether you agree with it or not), etc. They’re the biggest cancel culture hypocrites that exist!
frapachino
” like anything to do with America’s racial and racist history ” what a ridiculous ( not to mention a big ol lie) thing to say, I wonder if even you believe what you wrote.
monty clift
Yes, that’s what they’ve always been about. Free speech for me but not for thee.
Bosch
Frap, it’s so good to see that you support teaching critical race theory.
Mister P
I agree with you Knagol12
Mister P
I’m sorry Kangol12
ZzBomb
In that second video posted in this article, even Shapiro’s own description on how, or should I say what, makes a man a man and a woman a woman opens up the possibility of transgenderism. He doesn’t realize it, of course, but in the categories he lists as ways to define it does indeed open up the possibility of transgender people being legitimately recognized as the gender they identify as b/c even those categories aren’t as simply cut and dry as he believes. For example he mentions sexual organs. Well ok. Let’s assume he’s thinking of a woman with a vagina. Fine, does that mean it includes a uterus? B/c if yes, then are women who have had hysterectomies no longer women? And if no, then what is fundamentally the difference b/t a woman and a transgender woman?
He talks about genes as well. Well, ok. There are people who have genes that aren’t all neatly XX or XY either and that is a fundamental, scientifically proven, fact. So the question begs of Ben to answer what about people who, thru no fault of their own, were born with a different set of genetics? Do they not qualify as human? How do you qualify what they are? Or do you accept what they choose to identify as b/c it realistically does not matter in anyway?
The right is self contradictory in nature. Just listen to what they say and parse it apart and their argument crumbles. It’s why guys like Shapiro stand on stages or hide behind podcasts, there’s no one to delve more into nuances of their stances. It’s always easier to look at the world black and white than it is to see the color of diversity.
Polaro
Trans people exist. Doesn’t matter what their genes say, unless you’re a doctor or researcher. The issue is not about the red herring arguments over genes, it is about how we fit the variety of trans people into a two gender society and culture. Reality is based on the 99 percent of people, and not the 1 percent that are trans. Social and cultural norms are soft science. Bullying people to accept trans people everywhere is counter productive because it refuse to accept the real differences trans people represent. Denying trans people’s humanity is hateful on the other extreme. Most trans people understand. Its the radicals making a mess of this. No, a trans woman is not a woman, but she is real and deserves respect. Not embracing a trans woman as a trans woman is denying who she is.
Ken A.
Why do they embed tweets and instagram posts? On the other hand Shapiro says he put the woke activist in his place. He’s intelligent, handsome and charismatic. He’ll debate you as long as–as most liberal activists do–start screaming, berating and cussing. Then again the other side does this too.
Ken A.
The won’t let you edit anymore. I meant to say
He’ll debate you as long as you don’t start screaming, berating or cussing.
monty clift
“He’s intelligent, handsome and charismatic. ”
to the blind, deaf or mute?
ZzBomb
I don’t really recall ever seeing Shapiro debate. What I have seen is what we’ve seen in the posts: interruptions and talking over people.
Bosch
“Handsome” He looks like two children in a trench-coat.
This guy wasn’t screaming, berating, or cussing, so why did he stop debating?
Den
Shapiro is a little too childish and whiny, as well as bombastic and stuck up (for no good reason) to be considered at all charismatic.
Like his ideological buddy Stephen Miller, Shapiro is disliked and shunned by the overwhelming majority of American Jews. That should tell you something about the intellectual dishonesty of both of them. Especially Schapiro who actually claims a bond to his Judaism.
Thad
^Who do you mean?
My original intent in posting is to remind Pennsylvanians that Josh Shapiro, Denocratic candidate for governor, is NOT Ben Shapiro.
novadude
Here again we see the true core of “conservatism” laid bare: hypocrisy.
Shapiro supports free speech until such time as someone else (exercising their free speech) calls his claims into question. Instead of supporting his position with a logical argument he silences the person questioning him. So free speech provided you only say things he agrees with.
Conservatives *always* want one set of rules for themselves and an entirely different set for everyone else.
He’s about as intellectual as a dead houseplant.
Fname Optional Lname
He is a dickscicle
monty clift
His squeaky chew toy voice is unbearable. Send him back to the Lollipop Guild.
scotshot
Don’t worry, he’ll go through puberty someday. Or not.
kish
The only thing I want to hear from Shapiro’s mouth are the lyrics to WAP
“Wet ass P-word”
Tombear
You know how you can tell if a Republican politician is lying? Their lips are moving.
Bosch
Free speech is for defending racism, homophobia, russian propaganda, and medical misinformation.
How dare these libtards try to have a balanced debate with their “facts” and “logic” and “reasoning”. Let’s get back to attacking the real evil of the 21st century: Disney World.
BennyTheHill
Bosch: “How dare these libtards try to have a balanced debate with their “facts” and “logic” and “reasoning”.”
LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
🙂
Bosch
Yup. It takes absolutely zero skill to be a douchebag troll.
Polaro
I would have to agree with Ben in that I could not figure out where that discussion was going. I would have liked to hear the entire discussion to better understand. Free speech does not mean you get to ramble on at an event, yell fire in a theater or lie without repercussions. While I usually disagree with Ben, he is worth listening to to hear what the other side thinks. I know that is heresy to the devout on the left and right, but there you have it.
Den
Free speech as defined in the Constitution does not extend beyond an interdiction on governmental suppression of unpopular opinions. It does not mean private institutions or event have to allow unmoderated discussion. Ben seems a bit too dull to really understand that, despite his university background. Or he is simply being a whiny ass bully.
He is kind of the Jewish Male Candice Owens: talks fast but has little intellectual basis or factual support. Both feel that something becomes truth because it comes out of their mouths, evidence or historical record be damned!
Polaro
I think Ben is cute. I have a nerd thing.
BennyTheHill
Polaro:
I’d suck Ben’s c–k in a nanosecond, and swallow too. I have a thing for Orthodox men. One of my former boyfriends in NY was a married Orthodox Jew with six children by the age of 32, and he was an animal in (in the best sense of the term ;-)) bed. If he didn’t have a beard, he could easily be a male model. He was very hairy and muscular, too.
Den
Yeah right.
You probably have a foreskin, and in your mind the mythic orthodox boyfriend does as well.
And you obviously do not look at many American magazines or websites. Facial hair is not uncommon on male models. Been the case for years.
You are such an effing transparent liar!
BennyTheHill
Hey, Dumb Denny:
At my bris, a mohel circumcised me on my 8th day of life.
BennyTheHill
My Dear Dumb Denny:
I don’t think he would have gotten a job as a model with his long beard and payos.
BennyTheHill
Dumb Denny:
I don’t think he would have gotten a job as a model with his long beard and payos.