I only ever hear Shapiro when he's appearing on non-right wing focused platforms, but when he does, he seems pretty intelligent. Smart people can be wrong about everything too.
Taking one example, his explanation about why he didn't vote for Trump in 2016, but might in 2020, is coherent - he sees Trump as governing in a conservative fashion on at least some issues (crucially, the appointment of SCC judges), whereas the Democratic candidate will do so on zero issues, and second, he thinks the damage to the social fabric that Trump represents has already been done. Leaving aside the fact that what Ben Shapiro considers to be a good SCC judge is what I would consider an absolute unmitigated disaster, which is a difference of political ideology, I think that's incredibly wrong - dangerously wrong - because Trump still has much more damage to do. Trump's erosion of democratic norms doesn't stop after six months - it continues literally every single day that this behaviour is normalized, and re-electing the man would be a significant signal to the effect of, "we've seen what's happened for the past four years, and America's okay with it all." I also think Trump continues to pose an existential risk to the species, as he's not going to get less erratic and more reined-in if his ego is once again mollified by re-election, and every crisis is an opportunity for him to do something truly catastrophic to the global order. Eventually, if America keeps letting him roll the dice, they're bound to come up snake eyes.
I suspect Shapiro doesn't agree with me and would characterize that as overly dramatic fearmongering or some such, but that's the basis of honest disagreement. I think he's in denial about the stakes of this presidency. Everything he says is coherent and rationally supported. He's not stupid. Quite the opposite. He's just wrong.
__________________ "The great promise of the Internet was that more information would automatically yield better decisions. The great disappointment is that more information actually yields more possibilities to confirm what you already believed anyway." - Brian Eno
Last edited by CorsiHockeyLeague; 07-07-2018 at 08:18 AM.
Surprising it doesn't mention his "proud virgin" years, and then his month-long Twitter brag when he finally lost it 6 years after writing the series of articles about his virginity.
Surprising it doesn't mention his "proud virgin" years, and then his month-long Twitter brag when he finally lost it 6 years after writing the series of articles about his virginity.
Young Ben Shapiro was the most entertaining Ben Shapiro by far. “I’m a virgin (definitely by choice I swear)! English classes make you gay!”
Support for democracy is lower among the young. People are recklessly attacking the structures and norms that uphold liberal, pluralistic democracy because the alternatives - the alternatives those structures and norms are meant to protect us from - are fading from living memory.
To bring this back to Peterson, one of the reasons he can be wild-eyed and histrionic is he's well-versed in the horrors of the early 20th century, and genuinely believes we may march off enthusiastically down the same path again if we don't recognize the signs of a society turning away from liberal values.
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Originally Posted by fotze
If this day gets you riled up, you obviously aren't numb to the disappointment yet to be a real fan.
The time Shapiro mocked black people for celebrating Black Panther was a nice little dog whistle to the racist people in his audience. He was totally butthurt that it became a cultural phenomenon especially in the black community.
Or the super racist Columbus day cartoons that appeared on his website that he tried to defend as satire until he was forced to apologize.
Or his smarmy condescending attitude towards trans people, whom he believes to be mentally ill. He won't use the preferred pronouns because it's "PC"-- but he's totally cool with trans people( yeah right, as if we cant tell he's being completely phony and patronizing when he says he accepts trans people).
Or it could be his smarmy condescending attitude towards pretty much everything. He's great at throwing out the odd racist dog whistle to his worst followers and then gaslighting when the backlash comes. He panders to the lowest common denominator of person which makes him a terrible human being. I dont care how "smart" he supposedly is.
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Support for democracy is lower among the young. People are recklessly attacking the structures and norms that uphold liberal, pluralistic democracy because the alternatives - the alternatives those structures and norms are meant to protect us from - are fading from living memory.
To bring this back to Peterson, one of the reasons he can be wild-eyed and histrionic is he's well-versed in the horrors of the early 20th century, and genuinely believes we may march off enthusiastically down the same path again if we don't recognize the signs of a society turning away from liberal values.
The older generation is also eroding Democratic structures. Specifically, social mobility. There strangle hold they have to on real estate and capital right now is unprecedented.
The older generation is also eroding Democratic structures. Specifically, social mobility. There strangle hold they have to on real estate and capital right now is unprecedented.
And the inter-generational transfer of wealth through inheritance is also unprecedented. Most Canadians today get into the housing market with significant help from their parents. The Boomers are expected to inherit $750 billion in Canada, and they're expected to pass on a much larger inheritance to their Millennial children in turn.
Canada is becoming like Asian countries, where multi-generational families act as a single economic unit.
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If this day gets you riled up, you obviously aren't numb to the disappointment yet to be a real fan.
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Do we know that its actually getting worse, or are we now just hyper aware of the news?
Polling in every Western country shows young people are less likely than both older citizens today and young citizens in the past to think democracy is the best form of government.
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A poll shows less than half of young adults think democracy is the best form of government – but protest parties show many can still be won over
What a great conversation. I have to side strongly with Harris.
I’ll repeat the idea that this thread should just be called “The IDW” generically, or the like. It’s about more than Peterson. In fact, personally, I find him one of the least interesting of the bunch.
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Trust the snake.
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I’ll repeat the idea that this thread should just be called “The IDW” generically, or the like. It’s about more than Peterson. In fact, personally, I find him one of the least interesting of the bunch.
Agreed. I created the thread, but I don't see where to change the title. Do we need a mod to do that? If any mods are reading, please change title to "Intellectual dark web"
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Originally Posted by fotze
If this day gets you riled up, you obviously aren't numb to the disappointment yet to be a real fan.
