“Facts don’t care about your feelings.” This is one of author and radio host Ben Shapiro’s most quotable phrases. Although you may disagree with what he considers to be factual information, he constantly reminds those who are easily offended that the facts do not care about their feelings. Time and time again, his unintended audience hears one of his “crazy” conclusions, usually out of context, and get fired up and lash out against him.
During his airing at the March for Life, Shapiro argued that “no pro-life person on earth would kill baby Hitler” because Hitler as a baby is not the same as Hitler as an adult. This was his response to the thought experiment that poses the question of whether or not you would abort Hitler if you had the chance. If you would abort Hitler, then you are not truly against abortion, but if you allow Hitler to survive, then you are allowing for the death of millions of people. The thought experiment often seeks to show a contradiction in pro-life logic: If you would abort Hitler, then you are not pro-life; if you would not abort Hitler, then millions of people will be indirectly killed by your decision, which is obviously not what someone who is pro-life would choose.
However, Shapiro does choose the latter option, which would allow for millions of people to die. When watching the video in its full context, however, Shapiro does not advocate for the genocide of millions of people; he offers an alternative solution. He argues that what a pro-life supporter would do is remove baby Hitler from his current environment (the environment that produces adult Hitler) and move him into an environment where he would not grow up to be the face of evil.
Shapiro is a staunch pro-life advocate. With his tagline “Facts don’t care about your feelings,” his alternative solution to the Baby Hitler Thought Experiment should not have caused the Twitter outrage that it has. His brutal honesty is apparent in his speeches and his shows. If you follow him on Twitter, you will realize that even when he is “under fire” for his “controversial” speech, his sticks to his principles and ideology.
In the video you see Ben Shapiro sitting at his laptop, as he often does in his shows, in the freezing cold, which he does not do often in his shows. He addresses an argument that claims that abortion lowers the crime rate. He relates the argument to the Baby Hitler Thought Experiment and addresses the thought experiment. If he could, he would not kill baby Hitler. Instead, he would suggest that Hitler be removed from the environment that leads him down his infamous path and placed into a healthier environment.
His logic is simple; he is pro-life because he believes that the fetus is a human being and it is immoral to murder a human being. Therefore, if the fetus is a human being, then abortion is immoral. Whether or not you agree with him, he has a valid argument. I disagree with Shapiro on the matter of abortion, but that’s a discussion for another time. This post is focusing on how controversial and edgy Shapiro is shaped to be.
Ben Shapiro is painted in the media as a controversial speaker. In the past he has claimed that transgender is a mental illness and that there are only two biological sexes. Taken out of context, these media titles are sure to outrage members of the I’m Offended movement. However, if you listen to him in his full context, he utilizes facts and logic to strengthen the validity and truthfulness of his arguments in an effort to reduce any alternatives to his his beliefs to absurdity.
Shapiro is an expert in terms of defending what he believes. However, he is not as edgy and controversial as the media makes him out to be. Although a lot of his views may be unpopular, especially among younger crowds, his “shock value” conclusions are not in the realm of what a rational human being would find offensive. He concluded that it would be immoral to kill baby Hitler because killing is immoral. He could have chosen any villain in the history of the world and his conclusion would have remained the same because it is built on the principle that murder is immoral. If Shapiro is considered to be a controversial conservative, then the tolerance for speech is decreasing rapidly in the country.
Comments