the i dont care about politics anymore thread

[JurisDictum]

This is the wiki on Shapiro's early life

Shapiro was born in Los Angeles, California, to a Conservative Jewish family of Russian-Jewish and Lithuanian-Jewish ancestry.[5][6][7] At the age of 9, he transitioned with his family to Orthodox Judaism.[7] He started playing violin at a young age,[8] and performed at the Israel Bonds Banquet in 1996 at twelve years of age.[9] His parents both worked in Hollywood. His mother was an executive of a TV company[which?] and his father worked as a composer.[6]

Skipping two grades (third and ninth), Shapiro went from Walter Reed Middle School in The Valley to Yeshiva University High School of Los Angeles in Westside, Los Angeles, where he graduated in 2000 at age 16.[10][3] He graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles in 2004 summa cum laude, at age 20, with a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science, and then from Harvard Law School in 2007 cum laude.[11] He then worked at the law offices of Goodwin Procter. As of March 2012, he ran an independent legal consultancy firm, Benjamin Shapiro Legal Consulting, in Los Angeles.[3]


Shapiro became interested in politics at a young age. He started a nationally syndicated column when he was 17 and had written two books by age 21.[12]

In his first book Brainwashed: How Universities Indoctrinate America's Youth (2004), Shapiro argues that the American Left has ideological dominance over universities, and professors don't tolerate non-left opinions.[13][14]

In 2011, HarperCollins published Shapiro's fourth book, Primetime Propaganda: The True Hollywood Story of How the Left Took Over Your TV, in which Shapiro argues that Hollywood has a left-wing agenda that it actively promotes through prime-time entertainment programming. In the book, the producers of Happy Days and M*A*S*H say they pursued a pro-pacifist, anti-Vietnam-War agenda in those series.[15] Shapiro also became a fellow at the David Horowitz Freedom Center.[16]

To translate what this means: He was born in the top 5% easily. That doesn't completely capture it though. It's not like his dad owned a bunch of car lots. Generally if you are living well off as a couple creatives in so cal -- we're talking old money high class kind of a culture.

He doesn't just go to Harvard, he graduates with a high end think tank job, multiple book deals, and some media attention. It's clear that he is well connected with Israeli elite as well.

His first book when he was 17, is very similar in content to his opinions now. Think about that a minute. How many people worth listening to wrote the same book in 2004 that they wrote in 2020? This is clearly branding, not some intellectual with lots of new ideas.

Conservative kids that go from college republicans in an elite university -> think tanks -> media through personal contacts.

This is perhaps the most privileged path that exists for rightwing people in the entire world. Even the federal judge pipeline requires a lot more work, academic rigor, and merit. This is the kind of path preserved for the few -- a cash of influence of multiple generations.

But Ben has worked hard, ill give him that. There was a big gap between his 2004 book and his next one in 2012. My theory is, he didn't actually believe the shit from 2004 anymore. Except for when hes insulting all the cool liberal media types that won't hang out with him or validate his status. There is some real rage there.

He kept trying to make it work without going full rube. He doesn't like rubes -- that's obvious. But he depends on them now -- its where he has influence.

[Elizondo]

Man that chick hit the wall hard

[JurisDictum]

The hypernormalization film is basically an idea salad by Adam Curtis. Some good things in there. But overall, I don't think it helps people make sense of much. The kind of fragmented thinking media like this encourages is part of the problem.

Basically two unrelated ideas were connected in my head. (1) That there is a lack of legitimacy in modern American media and political elites. (2) Distraction is used as a way to direct political anger to safer targets.

Curtis weaves these points and others into a movie and acts like there is some thesis called hypernormalization that comes out of it. But in the end, a theory it doesn't make.

[alphys]

EVERY PRESIDENT IS HANDPICKED BY THE DEEPSTATE ACCORDING TO THE NATIONAL STRATEGY

YOUR VOTES ARE NEVER COUNTED
ELECTIONS ARE A MEDIA SHOW

IT DOESN'T MATTER IF OBAMA OR TRUMP IS IN THE WHITE HOUSE

[JurisDictum]

Originally Posted by alphys [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

EVERY PRESIDENT IS HANDPICKED BY THE DEEPSTATE ACCORDING TO THE NATIONAL STRATEGY

YOUR VOTES ARE NEVER COUNTED
ELECTIONS ARE A MEDIA SHOW

IT DOESN'T MATTER IF OBAMA OR TRUMP IS IN THE WHITE HOUSE

It doesn't even make sense to fully rig the election. First of all, you can just rig the primaries most the time. Even if that doesn't work for some reason -- you still have the ability to pick a few key states and just dump some extra votes there to sway the election the way you want it to go.

Someone like me, who talks to people all the time about politics, realizes you don't really need to change votes to get people to vote for stupid shit. I'm not saying I know 100% you are wrong. But you should consider the fact that you could be wrong and the world still makes sense. The way people vote still has explanations behind it.

There is also the fact that we have election observers on both sides every election. So a great deal of any rigging that takes place has to be under these people's nose -- and they are likely to make a stink of it.

So far, we only have the same guy who announced the election he won was rigged -- and now says the election he lost was rigged. He's got some stories -- that's it. Trump appointed judges wouldn't even hear the case because they couldn't produce any evidence that could actually result in anyone siding with the plaintive.

[Jibartik]

Originally Posted by Elizondo [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Man that chick hit the wall hard

I hate to sound masojonistic but she was giving him I wana get pounded by this guy vibes when he was ranting at his most confident moments during this debate.

[JurisDictum]

They have a lot in common.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LX3IFGdx-cY

They both market themselves in some kind of anti-mainstream populist truth tellers. But they are elitist grifters. They have about as much respect for you as a salesman does for his mark.

[Ooloo]

Originally Posted by JurisDictum [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

This is the wiki on Shapiro's early life

To translate what this means: He was born in the top 5% easily. That doesn't completely capture it though. It's not like his dad owned a bunch of car lots. Generally if you are living well off as a couple creatives in so cal -- we're talking old money high class kind of a culture.

He doesn't just go to Harvard, he graduates with a high end think tank job, multiple book deals, and some media attention. It's clear that he is well connected with Israeli elite as well.

His first book when he was 17, is very similar in content to his opinions now. Think about that a minute. How many people worth listening to wrote the same book in 2004 that they wrote in 2020? This is clearly branding, not some intellectual with lots of new ideas.

Conservative kids that go from college republicans in an elite university -> think tanks -> media through personal contacts.

This is perhaps the most privileged path that exists for rightwing people in the entire world. Even the federal judge pipeline requires a lot more work, academic rigor, and merit. This is the kind of path preserved for the few -- a cash of influence of multiple generations.

But Ben has worked hard, ill give him that. There was a big gap between his 2004 book and his next one in 2012. My theory is, he didn't actually believe the shit from 2004 anymore. Except for when hes insulting all the cool liberal media types that won't hang out with him or validate his status. There is some real rage there.

He kept trying to make it work without going full rube. He doesn't like rubes -- that's obvious. But he depends on them now -- its where he has influence.

Cool, do you have any specific rebuttal to anything he currently says? Or are you just posting a hitjob? Yes, he no longer believes some things that he used to believe. That is called growing, and being an adult.

Guy is bad!

Okay but what do you think about what he says?

It's bad! It's republican! It's right wing!

Okay but you still didn't actually say anything.

Ahhhh!! I'm angry!

Please dispense with the israel shit btw. Which middle eastern country would you like to live in? Syria? Iraq? Iran? Yemen? Qatar? Saudi Arabia? Jordan? Egypt? Mayyyyyyybe Israel?

[JurisDictum]

Originally Posted by Ooloo [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Cool, do you have any specific rebuttal to anything he currently says? Or are you just posting a hitjob? Yes, he no longer believes some things that he used to believe. That is called growing, and being an adult.

Guy is bad!

Okay but what do you think about what he says?

It's bad! It's republican! It's right wing!

Okay but you still didn't actually say anything.

Ahhhh!! I'm angry!

Please dispense with the israel shit btw. Which middle eastern country would you like to live in? Syria? Iraq? Iran? Yemen? Qatar? Saudi Arabia? Jordan? Egypt? Mayyyyyyybe Israel?

I'm deeply impressed he apologized for past remarks once they were no longer deemed socially acceptable. Struck me as really sincere and you are not at all a dumbshit for believing that.

I don't like Ben because he is a grifter. You said nothing about be me explaining how Maddow is a grifter her didn't believe her own BS.

Edit: I misread something. Anyway, I talk about the exact same topics Shapiro does, and argue against conservative positions. So its a little strange to suggest I don't engage with any of his substance. He's not original, thus, I engage with it a lot.

[Jibartik]

Well, he sure won that debate.