Wednesday, October 9, 2019

Bullies, by Ben Shapiro

Ben Shapiro has built a reputation for being a lighting rod, drawing the thunderbolts of the left, who tend to riot when he comes to town.  In Bullies: How the Left's Culture of Fear and Intimidation Silences Americans, he describes this cultural phenomenon.  It's not just Shapiro who gets targeted.  All over the country, we see example after example of people who are or are perceived to be conservatives and/or Trump supporters being bullied, shouted down, and sometimes assaulted. 

Shapiro actually wrote Bullies at the height of the Obama administration, and, sad to say, things have only gotten worse.  He looks at race, class, and sex as trigger areas that bring out the bullies among us.  It's not enough for someone on the left to disagree with a conservative position; they feel the need to shut it down.  If a Christian baker doesn't want to bake a cake for a gay wedding, the couple can't just go to another bakery--they have to bully the baker, forcing him to shut down his business and argue his case before the supreme court.

The left wants more than tolerance.  They want full acceptance, and they will bully their way to get it.  For all the talk of Trump coarsening public discourse, Shapiro's account, all of which was written well before Trump entered the presidential race, has example after example of leftist bullies reducing public discourse to intimidation. 



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