SAY WHO?! SAY WHAT?!
Berkeley: Another Day, Another Speaker
After covering 2017 Berkeley protests at length, I get questions about the alt-right speakers descending on the campus like locust. I have never heard about some of them. Ben Shapiro, for instance. A quick search shows multiple Youtube videos titled Shapiro Destroys…, a man speaking way too fast and expressing the following opinions:
On society: “I want a society in which I can do what I want and I don’t have to care what you think and you can do what you think and you don’t have to care what I think.” So far so good, right? Let’s see how it holds up.
On gay marriage: “we must uphold the value of heterosexuality over homosexuality.”
On immigration: “shut the border now” (his ancestors were immigrants, Russian Jews.)
On transgender people: “mental illness” to be cured.
On abortion: “You don’t have a right to say, ‘It’s my decision to decide where and when and how to have the baby.’”
It goes on. Shapiro clearly wants a society in which HE can do what he wants — not you.
So — what? It’s 2017. Some discussions are… dated. In Berkeley we have (sadly) many delusional people preaching at street corners, calling to destroy all sort of things. Qualified psychologists should deal with aggressive behavior, lack of empathy and delusions. The childhood trauma causing Mr. Shapiro’s state of mind is not a question that interests me. The question is:
Why did UC Berkeley commit to paying ($13,000) for the facility rental and staffing costs for this speaker?
Since there is a history of the Kremlin backing up “alt-right,” I apply a quick Russian propagandist check . A few appearances on RT (formerly Russia Today.) Russian press retweeted Trump retweeting Shapiro and quoted him — but not nearly as much as David Duke.
It is possible that Shapiro is not popular enough to be supported by the Kremlin — although Goebbels’ 60/40 propaganda trick is not be ruled out. It works like this:
Shapiro: “Putin is a dictator. (right!) Trump is a bully. (right!) Stop with Trump-Russia. (he was right before, so maybe — ”)
A quick Twitter scan shows:
- Shapiro is obsessed with his own status and ratings. He retweeted tweets quoting the only article about his visit to Berkeley 20 times in one day — on 9/11 (no less) and wrote articles about this article.
2. Shapiro refers to himself as a “hurricane” on the day that a large part of the country is suffering from major hurricanes.
3. Donald Trump Jr. tweets about Shapiro’s visit.
We walked around Berkeley campus this weekend. It is tranquil, green; the eucalyptus scent is in the sunlit air. Squirrels graze on nuts. Students do homework on the lawns. Restaurants and bars buzz with laughter and music. No one cares about a hateful man and his medieval views. He will come and go — and Berkeley with its nonchalant beauty will stay, embracing the human spirit, dignity and joy. There is no place for darkness and hate here.
The university administration, however, should be held accountable for its actions.
*All facts and photos are in public domain and available through Google. Links to the original sources are included.
** Click and hold the clapping hands on the left bottom corner so more Medium users can read it. The longer you hold it, the more claps the article gets and more people will be able to find out this article. Share on the social media: we need independent research.
