1 00:00:01,760 --> 00:00:03,800 Speaker 1: Also media. 2 00:00:05,440 --> 00:00:10,920 Speaker 2: Oh my goodness, it's behind the behind bastards podcasters Robert 3 00:00:11,039 --> 00:00:14,480 Speaker 2: Evans show that you're listening to. This was not a 4 00:00:14,520 --> 00:00:15,960 Speaker 2: good introduction. 5 00:00:16,120 --> 00:00:18,000 Speaker 3: Sophie Lichtman per show. 6 00:00:18,720 --> 00:00:19,720 Speaker 1: Yeah we're doing. 7 00:00:19,960 --> 00:00:22,159 Speaker 2: You're making fun of me, Sophie, you're making fun of me, 8 00:00:22,480 --> 00:00:26,040 Speaker 2: laughing at me. Well, here to laugh at me more. 9 00:00:26,880 --> 00:00:33,120 Speaker 2: Cody Johnstone welcome, Yes, thank you so much, guest. Cody. 10 00:00:33,280 --> 00:00:35,960 Speaker 2: You are the host of news Comma Some More, a 11 00:00:36,040 --> 00:00:40,760 Speaker 2: podcast about news and also a YouTube show about news. 12 00:00:42,400 --> 00:00:46,120 Speaker 3: I'm great, are you? Ah? 13 00:00:46,159 --> 00:00:49,760 Speaker 2: No, no, everyone, no one's doing great. Come on, but 14 00:00:49,960 --> 00:00:54,280 Speaker 2: you gotta be pleasant, right. I was at a friend's 15 00:00:54,280 --> 00:00:56,360 Speaker 2: wedding the other week. He's like, how you doing? I 16 00:00:56,440 --> 00:00:58,520 Speaker 2: mean right now? 17 00:00:58,560 --> 00:01:00,760 Speaker 3: Fine in general? 18 00:01:00,840 --> 00:01:06,120 Speaker 4: Bad open bar uh huh good yeah outside maybe I 19 00:01:06,120 --> 00:01:11,680 Speaker 4: don't know. Yeah, I'm fine. We're all doing our best. 20 00:01:12,080 --> 00:01:16,120 Speaker 4: Things are weird and happening, and they're happening quickly and suddenly. 21 00:01:16,720 --> 00:01:19,280 Speaker 3: In many ways they are. 22 00:01:19,400 --> 00:01:22,720 Speaker 2: They're happening here. You could say the things that are 23 00:01:22,720 --> 00:01:25,840 Speaker 2: happening I could do. And one of the people who's 24 00:01:25,880 --> 00:01:28,919 Speaker 2: happening here is a friend of VARs you and me, Cody, 25 00:01:28,959 --> 00:01:31,240 Speaker 2: a friend of the Pods, a friend of our mutual 26 00:01:31,280 --> 00:01:35,080 Speaker 2: friend who we all miss right now. Katie stole by Katie. 27 00:01:35,280 --> 00:01:38,959 Speaker 2: Ben Shapiro, our buddy, our good comrade and. 28 00:01:38,959 --> 00:01:39,880 Speaker 3: Co my band mate. 29 00:01:39,880 --> 00:01:43,080 Speaker 2: He's my band Yeah yeah, you and Benefit rocking out, 30 00:01:43,480 --> 00:01:46,120 Speaker 2: Katie and you and I and also Sophie did a 31 00:01:46,200 --> 00:01:49,120 Speaker 2: long series of podcast episodes. We went through the entirety 32 00:01:49,200 --> 00:01:53,160 Speaker 2: of Ben Shapiro's unbelievably shoddy fiction novel. I mean, just 33 00:01:53,360 --> 00:01:55,880 Speaker 2: some of the absolute worst pros I think either of 34 00:01:56,000 --> 00:01:57,160 Speaker 2: us has ever encountered. 35 00:01:57,480 --> 00:01:57,880 Speaker 3: Real bad. 36 00:01:58,800 --> 00:02:00,720 Speaker 2: It was bad enough that Ben is not written another 37 00:02:00,760 --> 00:02:04,120 Speaker 2: fiction novel since the rest of my knowledge. 38 00:02:04,320 --> 00:02:07,320 Speaker 4: Here's the thing. I'm really upset. He announced he's had 39 00:02:07,320 --> 00:02:10,680 Speaker 4: this new book out. But I remember, like a year 40 00:02:10,919 --> 00:02:13,440 Speaker 4: or two ago, a few years ago, he said he 41 00:02:13,520 --> 00:02:15,680 Speaker 4: was working on a science fiction book. 42 00:02:16,000 --> 00:02:17,120 Speaker 2: Yeah, I want to read that. 43 00:02:17,160 --> 00:02:19,880 Speaker 3: Fucker. I want that, But don't do that. I don't 44 00:02:19,919 --> 00:02:20,440 Speaker 3: need your like. 45 00:02:20,520 --> 00:02:23,120 Speaker 2: Well, that's like a year of free content for me, Ben, 46 00:02:23,160 --> 00:02:23,600 Speaker 2: get it out. 47 00:02:23,639 --> 00:02:24,800 Speaker 3: Give me the juice. Man. 48 00:02:25,360 --> 00:02:27,560 Speaker 2: I know I'm late on my novel, Ben, but come on, 49 00:02:28,520 --> 00:02:29,600 Speaker 2: you don't have a real job. 50 00:02:30,160 --> 00:02:32,800 Speaker 3: Yeah it off. Take time off. 51 00:02:32,840 --> 00:02:35,560 Speaker 2: Oh my god. But we are doing a Ben Shapiro 52 00:02:35,600 --> 00:02:38,800 Speaker 2: book episode because on September second of this year, he 53 00:02:38,880 --> 00:02:44,880 Speaker 2: published his latest nonfiction novel, Lions and Scavengers, The True 54 00:02:45,000 --> 00:02:49,000 Speaker 2: Story of America and her Critics. That's in her critics 55 00:02:49,040 --> 00:02:51,760 Speaker 2: is yah parentheses at the very bottom and tiny deck. 56 00:02:51,800 --> 00:02:54,840 Speaker 4: This is a fascinating choice for him. It seems like, so, 57 00:02:55,000 --> 00:02:57,320 Speaker 4: you know, like the Abundance book, we don't need to 58 00:02:57,360 --> 00:03:00,560 Speaker 4: talk about abundance or whatever, but that book, hm hmmm, 59 00:03:00,919 --> 00:03:04,240 Speaker 4: Firestorm on the Internet seem to be sort of written 60 00:03:04,320 --> 00:03:07,440 Speaker 4: in a way that was intending for like, well, and 61 00:03:07,480 --> 00:03:09,960 Speaker 4: then Kamala Harris will be the president and then this 62 00:03:10,000 --> 00:03:13,239 Speaker 4: book will come out. That didn't happen, and so it's 63 00:03:13,280 --> 00:03:16,240 Speaker 4: a the reaction was different. It's a whole other conversation 64 00:03:16,320 --> 00:03:17,000 Speaker 4: sort of happening. 65 00:03:17,320 --> 00:03:19,679 Speaker 2: It's like sitting down with a friend to like tell 66 00:03:19,720 --> 00:03:22,440 Speaker 2: them that you're worried about like dental health while they're 67 00:03:22,480 --> 00:03:25,919 Speaker 2: actively bleeding out from arterial wound and you're like, yes, 68 00:03:25,960 --> 00:03:28,360 Speaker 2: I just really think you need to floss more, and oh, sorry, 69 00:03:28,400 --> 00:03:30,320 Speaker 2: you spurred it a little bit of that arterial blood 70 00:03:30,400 --> 00:03:31,200 Speaker 2: right on my neck here. 71 00:03:31,240 --> 00:03:33,320 Speaker 4: But yeah, maybe rip the pages out of that book 72 00:03:33,360 --> 00:03:36,240 Speaker 4: and use them to like stop depleting or something. And 73 00:03:36,360 --> 00:03:41,360 Speaker 4: this book seems very like twenty nineteen, twenty eighteen coded. 74 00:03:41,800 --> 00:03:44,120 Speaker 4: It's like, what are you doing like doing this history 75 00:03:44,160 --> 00:03:47,120 Speaker 4: stuff again? Like what did the Trump administration do the 76 00:03:47,160 --> 00:03:50,800 Speaker 4: first time with their like projects about like what the 77 00:03:50,800 --> 00:03:53,160 Speaker 4: real history is, like how slavery didn't happen or whatever. 78 00:03:53,560 --> 00:03:55,279 Speaker 3: Yeah, this is a weird book. 79 00:03:55,040 --> 00:03:57,320 Speaker 4: I guess to come out now in my opinion, but 80 00:03:57,400 --> 00:03:59,720 Speaker 4: I haven't read it, so maybe it's actually perfect for 81 00:03:59,760 --> 00:04:00,600 Speaker 4: this moment. 82 00:04:01,040 --> 00:04:01,640 Speaker 3: You know what it is. 83 00:04:01,720 --> 00:04:03,480 Speaker 2: I'll tell you right now. We'll talk about this more. 84 00:04:03,920 --> 00:04:06,000 Speaker 2: Ben Shapiro desperately wishes. 85 00:04:05,720 --> 00:04:06,320 Speaker 3: He were C. S. 86 00:04:06,440 --> 00:04:10,800 Speaker 2: Lewis, And you know, C. S Lewis talked about politics, 87 00:04:10,840 --> 00:04:14,520 Speaker 2: but in like a broader kind of philosophical sense, and 88 00:04:14,560 --> 00:04:17,080 Speaker 2: he was like a good writer, you know, and Ben 89 00:04:17,160 --> 00:04:20,360 Speaker 2: is not. And Ben is also obsessed with like petty 90 00:04:20,440 --> 00:04:22,320 Speaker 2: culture war grievances and shit. 91 00:04:22,560 --> 00:04:25,800 Speaker 3: Ben Shapiro, Yeah, Okay. 92 00:04:25,440 --> 00:04:28,640 Speaker 2: This is him trying to like really establish himself as 93 00:04:28,680 --> 00:04:32,000 Speaker 2: a C. S. Lewis type thinker. And it's not good. 94 00:04:32,320 --> 00:04:34,800 Speaker 2: That's by short. But but we'll go through it because 95 00:04:34,800 --> 00:04:37,520 Speaker 2: I have actually quite a lot to say about. Most 96 00:04:37,560 --> 00:04:40,800 Speaker 2: of the introduction to this book is part one, So Cody, 97 00:04:40,839 --> 00:04:43,159 Speaker 2: you and I may be back repeatedly talking more about 98 00:04:43,160 --> 00:04:49,320 Speaker 2: this fair enough, so the five Yeah, yeah, yeah, well 99 00:04:49,920 --> 00:04:51,680 Speaker 2: we haven't We're not even getting through all of that. 100 00:04:52,040 --> 00:04:54,159 Speaker 2: But I think you will also get the gist of 101 00:04:54,200 --> 00:04:57,520 Speaker 2: his argument from this, because Ben being Ben, most of 102 00:04:57,560 --> 00:05:01,040 Speaker 2: this book is him just kind of repeating himself, right, right, Yeah. 103 00:05:01,440 --> 00:05:04,039 Speaker 2: It opens with an inscription. This is like the dedication 104 00:05:04,160 --> 00:05:07,560 Speaker 2: to the book to the lions. The l is capitalized, 105 00:05:07,720 --> 00:05:11,120 Speaker 2: the hunter's warriors and weavers, each of those words is capitalized. 106 00:05:11,279 --> 00:05:14,200 Speaker 2: Who build, defend, and maintain the greatest civilization and the 107 00:05:14,240 --> 00:05:17,440 Speaker 2: history of mankind. Against the scavengers. The s is capitalized. 108 00:05:17,520 --> 00:05:19,919 Speaker 2: Who would destroy that civilization from within? 109 00:05:20,320 --> 00:05:20,560 Speaker 3: Right? 110 00:05:21,160 --> 00:05:23,599 Speaker 2: And that's essentially the thesis of the book, right, is 111 00:05:23,600 --> 00:05:27,160 Speaker 2: that you've got lions and scavengers. That's all of society. 112 00:05:28,480 --> 00:05:29,640 Speaker 3: Yeah, that's his whole thing. 113 00:05:29,960 --> 00:05:32,280 Speaker 4: I can't wait to find out what he thinks is 114 00:05:32,320 --> 00:05:33,880 Speaker 4: a lion, what he thinks is a scavenger. 115 00:05:34,240 --> 00:05:36,520 Speaker 2: And what's funny here is, first off, I know this 116 00:05:36,600 --> 00:05:38,480 Speaker 2: is petty, but I can't get over it, is that 117 00:05:38,520 --> 00:05:41,719 Speaker 2: we're just this whole book, the basic premise of this 118 00:05:41,800 --> 00:05:44,360 Speaker 2: and he's trying to be kind of artistic by framing 119 00:05:44,400 --> 00:05:47,400 Speaker 2: it as lions and scavengers, you know, like he's trying 120 00:05:47,400 --> 00:05:50,719 Speaker 2: to be kind of philosophical, but his entire underpinning of 121 00:05:50,760 --> 00:05:55,400 Speaker 2: that attempt is based on a wild factual inaccuracy about lions. 122 00:05:55,480 --> 00:05:58,200 Speaker 2: Thank you, Like out the gate, None of this is 123 00:05:58,279 --> 00:06:01,800 Speaker 2: right because lions and scavengers aren't separate things. And I'm 124 00:06:01,800 --> 00:06:05,160 Speaker 2: going to quote very quickly from an article on Krueger Park, 125 00:06:05,279 --> 00:06:09,159 Speaker 2: which is a wildlife national park in South Africa. Another 126 00:06:09,240 --> 00:06:11,680 Speaker 2: lion fact not commonly appreciated is that lions are not 127 00:06:11,760 --> 00:06:15,000 Speaker 2: just hunters but scavengers as well, often chasing smaller predators 128 00:06:15,000 --> 00:06:17,719 Speaker 2: like cheetah off their kills. In some instances, up to 129 00:06:17,760 --> 00:06:20,000 Speaker 2: fifty percent of a lion's diet can come from scavenging 130 00:06:20,120 --> 00:06:24,680 Speaker 2: rather than hunting life prey. Lions are scavengers as much 131 00:06:24,720 --> 00:06:27,599 Speaker 2: as they are hunters, sometimes. 132 00:06:27,040 --> 00:06:31,480 Speaker 4: More, sometimes more. I mean, you imagine he gets most 133 00:06:31,520 --> 00:06:33,320 Speaker 4: of his information from the lion King, right. 134 00:06:33,360 --> 00:06:35,520 Speaker 2: Right, Yes, this is all of his knowledge about lions 135 00:06:35,640 --> 00:06:38,440 Speaker 2: is from what he remembers of the lion King and 136 00:06:38,480 --> 00:06:40,000 Speaker 2: the fact that lions look impressive. 137 00:06:40,600 --> 00:06:41,400 Speaker 3: Yes exactly. 138 00:06:41,960 --> 00:06:44,720 Speaker 2: But there is something deeply meaningful about the whole root 139 00:06:44,880 --> 00:06:48,840 Speaker 2: of his ideological argument here is that you've got lions, 140 00:06:48,960 --> 00:06:51,440 Speaker 2: which are conservatives, right, which are the people who build 141 00:06:51,560 --> 00:06:54,360 Speaker 2: culture and the people who like make everything good, right, 142 00:06:54,680 --> 00:06:57,000 Speaker 2: and they're creators, you know, they do the hard work 143 00:06:57,080 --> 00:07:01,080 Speaker 2: of forging civilization. And then there's scavengers who just want 144 00:07:01,120 --> 00:07:04,359 Speaker 2: to tear everything down and they're just mooching and stealing 145 00:07:04,400 --> 00:07:07,200 Speaker 2: and attacking from within this thing that they didn't make. 146 00:07:07,400 --> 00:07:09,840 Speaker 2: And of course the reality is that like, well, lions 147 00:07:09,880 --> 00:07:12,160 Speaker 2: not only do they scavenge, but most of their scavenging 148 00:07:12,280 --> 00:07:15,360 Speaker 2: is them stealing kills from animals that did the actual hunting, 149 00:07:15,680 --> 00:07:20,320 Speaker 2: like hyenas and cheetahs, right like, and then taking credit 150 00:07:20,360 --> 00:07:25,720 Speaker 2: for it. Yeah. Interesting, Interesting, He's just a writer. He's 151 00:07:25,720 --> 00:07:27,320 Speaker 2: a bad writer. He's a bad thinker. 152 00:07:28,080 --> 00:07:32,200 Speaker 4: Also, right, he couldn't stretch his like analogy past the 153 00:07:32,320 --> 00:07:35,680 Speaker 4: and no, because if you're gonna say lions, that's a 154 00:07:35,720 --> 00:07:39,880 Speaker 4: specific animal, and then you're zooming out to say scavengers, 155 00:07:39,960 --> 00:07:43,560 Speaker 4: say vultures, Like pick a scavenger to like lay like 156 00:07:43,680 --> 00:07:48,080 Speaker 4: lions and vultures whatever. But like it's just you're you're 157 00:07:48,120 --> 00:07:50,560 Speaker 4: being specific with the first one and then vague like 158 00:07:50,600 --> 00:07:52,320 Speaker 4: you're using a category for the second. 159 00:07:52,360 --> 00:07:55,040 Speaker 2: And this is sloppy, it's also evidence of like this 160 00:07:55,120 --> 00:07:57,160 Speaker 2: thing that you see a lot with Ben and with 161 00:07:57,680 --> 00:08:01,680 Speaker 2: other conservatives, where it's like, well, you've never done anything 162 00:08:01,720 --> 00:08:04,800 Speaker 2: in the world, right, Like you don't know anything about 163 00:08:04,920 --> 00:08:08,880 Speaker 2: survival in the wilderness. If you did, you'd know that, Like, 164 00:08:09,120 --> 00:08:12,960 Speaker 2: hunting is a bad way to survive. Very few animals 165 00:08:13,160 --> 00:08:17,160 Speaker 2: live just by hunting because it's hard and it burns 166 00:08:17,200 --> 00:08:20,040 Speaker 2: a lot of calories. Like a person who taught me 167 00:08:20,080 --> 00:08:23,920 Speaker 2: how to hunt is a great outdoors person, right, extremely skilled, 168 00:08:24,320 --> 00:08:26,960 Speaker 2: and they will admit like, if they had to survive 169 00:08:27,040 --> 00:08:29,360 Speaker 2: on their own, ninety percent of their calories would be 170 00:08:29,400 --> 00:08:33,320 Speaker 2: foraging and trapping because hunting is wildly inefficient. And if 171 00:08:33,360 --> 00:08:35,760 Speaker 2: you can take a killed that someone else made or 172 00:08:35,800 --> 00:08:38,679 Speaker 2: find something dead, that just works a lot better. It's 173 00:08:38,720 --> 00:08:40,760 Speaker 2: what almost every animal prefers to. 174 00:08:40,640 --> 00:08:42,000 Speaker 3: Do, right, survive. 175 00:08:42,559 --> 00:08:46,200 Speaker 2: Yeah, it just keeps you alive better. Anyway. The introduction 176 00:08:46,360 --> 00:08:50,160 Speaker 2: chapter opens and it's just titled London, England. And this 177 00:08:50,280 --> 00:08:53,880 Speaker 2: is how it starts. A tension lies at the core 178 00:08:53,920 --> 00:08:56,600 Speaker 2: of our being. It royals us. It turns our guts, 179 00:08:56,640 --> 00:08:59,920 Speaker 2: it boils our brains. The tension lies between two opposing fours. 180 00:09:00,440 --> 00:09:02,880 Speaker 2: Those forces beat within every man's breast. They fight for 181 00:09:02,920 --> 00:09:06,520 Speaker 2: supremacy within every civilization. One must triumph and one must fall. 182 00:09:06,800 --> 00:09:10,840 Speaker 2: The spirit of the lion, the spirit of the scavenger. Again, 183 00:09:11,559 --> 00:09:13,240 Speaker 2: lions are scavengers. 184 00:09:12,720 --> 00:09:16,199 Speaker 4: Lines are scavengers. The scavengers. There are specific animals you 185 00:09:16,200 --> 00:09:16,640 Speaker 4: can choose. 186 00:09:17,400 --> 00:09:19,480 Speaker 2: It's actually very efficient, it's smart. 187 00:09:20,400 --> 00:09:24,040 Speaker 3: Like also brain's boiling. 188 00:09:24,480 --> 00:09:26,680 Speaker 2: I say that as a hunter and a scavenger, I 189 00:09:26,720 --> 00:09:30,040 Speaker 2: pick up roadkill and I hunt. I also raise and 190 00:09:30,120 --> 00:09:34,319 Speaker 2: slaughter animals. All of these things are ways to get calories. 191 00:09:34,880 --> 00:09:37,319 Speaker 2: Beyond that, beyond him getting lion facts. 192 00:09:37,760 --> 00:09:40,319 Speaker 3: Beyond like the premise of the analogy wants to. 193 00:09:40,360 --> 00:09:42,600 Speaker 2: Use right, the fundamental premise of this is just based 194 00:09:42,640 --> 00:09:46,640 Speaker 2: on a complete misunderstanding of wildlife. Beyond that, his attempt 195 00:09:46,679 --> 00:09:49,400 Speaker 2: to apply a moral line to something fundamentally immoral, which 196 00:09:49,440 --> 00:09:52,000 Speaker 2: is how different creatures take in their calories, shows a 197 00:09:52,080 --> 00:09:55,080 Speaker 2: very conservative ignorance towards basic biological reality, which is what 198 00:09:55,120 --> 00:09:57,720 Speaker 2: they're supposed to stand up for. You know, scavenging for 199 00:09:57,760 --> 00:10:00,000 Speaker 2: food is not in anywhere worse than hunting for it. 200 00:10:00,040 --> 00:10:04,400 Speaker 2: Every great predator, like the Trannosaurus Rex, paleontologists generally agree, 201 00:10:04,640 --> 00:10:08,200 Speaker 2: were scavengers at least an equal measure to hunters right, 202 00:10:08,480 --> 00:10:11,400 Speaker 2: because it's just not a great way to survive just hunting. 203 00:10:11,840 --> 00:10:15,160 Speaker 2: Yeah we can, yeah, exactly, you get what you can't. 204 00:10:15,160 --> 00:10:17,280 Speaker 3: Unless you're like a society. 205 00:10:18,200 --> 00:10:20,520 Speaker 2: Yes, right, and then you could just go to a 206 00:10:20,559 --> 00:10:21,360 Speaker 2: grocery store. 207 00:10:21,640 --> 00:10:22,280 Speaker 3: Yeah exactly. 208 00:10:22,400 --> 00:10:24,520 Speaker 2: Yeah, like Ben does pay someone to do your shopping 209 00:10:24,559 --> 00:10:26,959 Speaker 2: for you. You know, because you soft little hands, You're 210 00:10:27,000 --> 00:10:28,600 Speaker 2: not going to go skin an animal. You're not going 211 00:10:28,679 --> 00:10:30,120 Speaker 2: to do that, Ben Shapiro. 212 00:10:30,000 --> 00:10:30,760 Speaker 3: Hey, we don't know. 213 00:10:30,880 --> 00:10:33,280 Speaker 2: You know, the cowboy hat chafes your head when you 214 00:10:33,280 --> 00:10:34,520 Speaker 2: try to wear it outside. 215 00:10:34,840 --> 00:10:36,880 Speaker 4: Yeah, got a bunch of splinters when he held up 216 00:10:36,880 --> 00:10:38,439 Speaker 4: that two by four outside. 217 00:10:38,040 --> 00:10:39,880 Speaker 2: That two by four. You know, he's still tired from that. 218 00:10:39,920 --> 00:10:41,840 Speaker 2: He's still getting the splinters out of his hands from that. 219 00:10:41,880 --> 00:10:43,319 Speaker 2: One day he went to home depot to buy a 220 00:10:43,360 --> 00:10:44,160 Speaker 2: single piece of wood. 221 00:10:44,320 --> 00:10:47,240 Speaker 3: You gotta go scavenger for more calories to get back 222 00:10:47,240 --> 00:10:48,760 Speaker 3: to zero. Yeah. 223 00:10:48,840 --> 00:10:51,959 Speaker 2: Anyway, After this, we get a dramatic opening about how 224 00:10:52,000 --> 00:10:54,839 Speaker 2: Ben is writing this introduction in London, which quote has 225 00:10:54,920 --> 00:10:59,079 Speaker 2: been conquered by the scavengers. Who is he defining as scavengers? 226 00:10:59,200 --> 00:11:02,280 Speaker 4: You ask code? Theoretically, I don't ask that because I 227 00:11:02,360 --> 00:11:04,480 Speaker 4: know the answer to that. But you can go ahead. 228 00:11:04,840 --> 00:11:09,000 Speaker 2: Yeah, it was pro Palestine, anti genocide protesters who were 229 00:11:09,040 --> 00:11:11,800 Speaker 2: marching through the city. Ben Wright's quote, hundreds of thousand 230 00:11:11,880 --> 00:11:15,360 Speaker 2: strong marching. They're banners unfurled, the banners of terrorist groups 231 00:11:15,360 --> 00:11:19,199 Speaker 2: and communists and of transgender activists gathered together to revolt 232 00:11:19,240 --> 00:11:21,400 Speaker 2: against the civilization that has given them their rights and 233 00:11:21,440 --> 00:11:26,160 Speaker 2: their prosperity and their power. And you know, he's writing 234 00:11:26,200 --> 00:11:29,480 Speaker 2: about protest against the Israeli government's actions in Gaza, which 235 00:11:29,520 --> 00:11:32,600 Speaker 2: he defines as protests supporting Hamas and the October seventh attacks. 236 00:11:32,600 --> 00:11:35,080 Speaker 2: And obviously you can find people who had Hamas flags. 237 00:11:35,080 --> 00:11:37,440 Speaker 2: There were people cheering on the October seventh attacks. That's 238 00:11:37,480 --> 00:11:40,000 Speaker 2: a thing that happened, But that's not the primary reason 239 00:11:40,080 --> 00:11:42,760 Speaker 2: there were protests. The primary reason they are a protest. 240 00:11:42,800 --> 00:11:44,880 Speaker 2: And what most people is the genocide is. 241 00:11:44,880 --> 00:11:47,880 Speaker 3: All the death, what the UN just admitted it was. 242 00:11:47,960 --> 00:11:49,840 Speaker 3: It's what the un just like. 243 00:11:50,160 --> 00:11:53,240 Speaker 4: It's just that is so kind of course he's doing that, 244 00:11:53,559 --> 00:11:56,160 Speaker 4: but also like actually been they're not trying to like 245 00:11:56,480 --> 00:11:59,360 Speaker 4: rail against or like destroy the society that like built everything. 246 00:11:59,400 --> 00:12:01,400 Speaker 3: If they're trying to participate in that society. 247 00:12:01,480 --> 00:12:04,880 Speaker 2: They're participating in it by speaking and by trying to 248 00:12:05,040 --> 00:12:09,080 Speaker 2: speak to power and make their voices heard. Also, the 249 00:12:09,120 --> 00:12:12,920 Speaker 2: civilization didn't give them their rights. They had to take 250 00:12:13,040 --> 00:12:18,800 Speaker 2: their rights, or their predecessors did via protest and violence. Sometimes, 251 00:12:18,840 --> 00:12:23,079 Speaker 2: because societies don't just give people rights because they're nice, 252 00:12:23,480 --> 00:12:24,920 Speaker 2: those rights are fought for. 253 00:12:25,120 --> 00:12:28,560 Speaker 3: Well, yeah, like a lion, unlike these people who are 254 00:12:28,600 --> 00:12:32,000 Speaker 3: fighting for it like scavengers right now. 255 00:12:32,160 --> 00:12:35,719 Speaker 2: Obviously, in standard Shapiro fashion, he ignores the critiques these 256 00:12:35,720 --> 00:12:37,880 Speaker 2: marchers have of the mass slaughter of civilians by a 257 00:12:37,880 --> 00:12:40,880 Speaker 2: modern first World military in favor of raging at people 258 00:12:40,880 --> 00:12:43,320 Speaker 2: who march around with flags and post on social media. 259 00:12:43,559 --> 00:12:47,160 Speaker 2: He cites one commentator from Twitter who wrote after October seventh, 260 00:12:47,360 --> 00:12:50,720 Speaker 2: what did y'all think decolonization meant? In response to those 261 00:12:50,760 --> 00:12:54,240 Speaker 2: attacks by hamas quote. Her comment received nearly one hundred 262 00:12:54,280 --> 00:12:58,240 Speaker 2: thousand likes. Wow, and it spoke to the very core 263 00:12:58,280 --> 00:13:02,239 Speaker 2: of the scavengers. All in humanity against the lions is justified. 264 00:13:03,040 --> 00:13:05,560 Speaker 2: And this is just classic conservatism, not just been Shapiro 265 00:13:05,640 --> 00:13:09,040 Speaker 2: of Like this person made a dumb post that's obviously 266 00:13:09,080 --> 00:13:11,640 Speaker 2: the same as tens of thousands of people getting murdered 267 00:13:11,679 --> 00:13:15,079 Speaker 2: from air strikes and starve to death. These are equivalent 268 00:13:15,200 --> 00:13:17,800 Speaker 2: one hundred thousand likes to a bad post, equal to 269 00:13:17,880 --> 00:13:21,280 Speaker 2: the murder of thousands of equal to fucking babies being incinerated, 270 00:13:21,520 --> 00:13:22,280 Speaker 2: all equivalent. 271 00:13:22,480 --> 00:13:24,160 Speaker 3: Yes, I think of the likes. 272 00:13:24,400 --> 00:13:27,040 Speaker 4: I'm I'm actually I need to hold the moment of 273 00:13:27,120 --> 00:13:29,120 Speaker 4: silence for the likes, real quick, for the likes. 274 00:13:29,200 --> 00:13:33,160 Speaker 2: Yeah, really, that's thank you, Cody. We sometimes forget the 275 00:13:33,200 --> 00:13:34,040 Speaker 2: real victims here. 276 00:13:34,080 --> 00:13:35,199 Speaker 3: I think we do. I think we do. 277 00:13:35,559 --> 00:13:38,920 Speaker 4: I also I am dreading how many fucking times he's 278 00:13:38,960 --> 00:13:41,319 Speaker 4: going to use the words lions and scavengers. 279 00:13:41,720 --> 00:13:45,120 Speaker 2: It's so much, it's such bad right already, I'm just like, God, 280 00:13:45,200 --> 00:13:48,960 Speaker 2: stop saying this. C. S. Lewis would fucking like pile 281 00:13:49,120 --> 00:13:51,760 Speaker 2: drive him in frustration at how badly this is written. 282 00:13:51,760 --> 00:13:53,480 Speaker 3: At least name the lion like. 283 00:13:53,520 --> 00:13:55,760 Speaker 2: And I'm not particularly a C. S. Lewis stand but 284 00:13:55,800 --> 00:13:58,520 Speaker 2: the man knew how to put together a sentence right like, 285 00:13:58,600 --> 00:14:00,920 Speaker 2: and he understood how to like not make my head 286 00:14:01,000 --> 00:14:03,680 Speaker 2: hurt while reading a book repeatedly because. 287 00:14:03,559 --> 00:14:06,559 Speaker 4: Or in Ben's words, you're boiling brain. Yeah, exactly, thank 288 00:14:06,600 --> 00:14:08,680 Speaker 4: you boiling your brain in London. But we do see 289 00:14:08,720 --> 00:14:11,240 Speaker 4: here kind of the ultimate reason for the framing of 290 00:14:11,280 --> 00:14:14,800 Speaker 4: this book is Rayleigh's are a lions, Palestinians, and people 291 00:14:14,880 --> 00:14:18,920 Speaker 4: angry at their murder are scavengers. There's a particular irony 292 00:14:18,960 --> 00:14:21,640 Speaker 4: in his horror at this scavenger gathering and quote the 293 00:14:21,640 --> 00:14:24,960 Speaker 4: beating heart of what was once the center of Western civilization, 294 00:14:25,560 --> 00:14:29,240 Speaker 4: because London was only the center of Western civilization due 295 00:14:29,240 --> 00:14:32,000 Speaker 4: to a vast centuries long program of what can only 296 00:14:32,040 --> 00:14:35,680 Speaker 4: be described as scavenging theft on a grand scale against 297 00:14:35,680 --> 00:14:39,120 Speaker 4: an impossibly vast chunk of the globe. They stole from 298 00:14:39,160 --> 00:14:43,920 Speaker 4: the rest of the world. That's what emperialism is. They 299 00:14:43,960 --> 00:14:48,040 Speaker 4: stole from India, they stole everywhere they could. 300 00:14:48,320 --> 00:14:52,560 Speaker 2: They built it to themselves shut aside. They start thirty 301 00:14:52,600 --> 00:14:56,120 Speaker 2: million people in Bengal. They wiped out entire ethnic groups, 302 00:14:56,520 --> 00:14:57,880 Speaker 2: you know, to get spices. 303 00:14:58,160 --> 00:15:00,600 Speaker 3: Like it's it, Okay, you're making a really hard for 304 00:15:00,680 --> 00:15:04,600 Speaker 3: me to say, this is building. Yeah, but I'm gonna try. 305 00:15:04,640 --> 00:15:08,880 Speaker 2: Okay, Yes, the Obritzar massacre clear example of building they're built. 306 00:15:08,960 --> 00:15:09,720 Speaker 3: They build. 307 00:15:09,920 --> 00:15:13,040 Speaker 4: Okay, impossible, now you're yeah, it made a good point. 308 00:15:13,400 --> 00:15:15,720 Speaker 4: I mean it's all like this whole framing just goes 309 00:15:15,760 --> 00:15:19,640 Speaker 4: back to that fucking tweet from like right twenty five 310 00:15:19,760 --> 00:15:22,440 Speaker 4: or fifteen years ago. Israelis like to build Arabs, like 311 00:15:22,480 --> 00:15:24,920 Speaker 4: to bomb crap and live in open sewage precise. It's 312 00:15:24,960 --> 00:15:28,160 Speaker 4: just that, which he apologized for, by the way, and 313 00:15:28,240 --> 00:15:29,320 Speaker 4: said it was stupid. 314 00:15:29,520 --> 00:15:30,920 Speaker 3: He said it was a stupid tweet. 315 00:15:31,280 --> 00:15:33,640 Speaker 2: We'll talk about another thing that he apologized for in 316 00:15:33,680 --> 00:15:34,640 Speaker 2: a little bit here, Cody. 317 00:15:34,680 --> 00:15:36,080 Speaker 3: But yes, thank you for then you write a whole 318 00:15:36,080 --> 00:15:36,560 Speaker 3: book about it. 319 00:15:36,640 --> 00:15:41,600 Speaker 2: Yeah, so bin Express's disbelief the existence of groups like 320 00:15:41,680 --> 00:15:44,360 Speaker 2: Queers for Palestine, which he says was formed quote and 321 00:15:44,480 --> 00:15:47,320 Speaker 2: solidarity with people who would throw queers off buildings at 322 00:15:47,320 --> 00:15:51,120 Speaker 2: the first available opportunity if given half a chance. Meanwhile, 323 00:15:51,200 --> 00:15:53,600 Speaker 2: his colleague Matt Walsh, in the immediate wake of Charlie 324 00:15:53,640 --> 00:15:58,560 Speaker 2: Kirk's assassination, posted this, this was left wing LGBT terrorism. 325 00:15:58,600 --> 00:16:00,640 Speaker 2: There was never in much doubt, is none at all. 326 00:16:00,720 --> 00:16:02,920 Speaker 2: All left wing terror networks must be crushed. All of 327 00:16:02,960 --> 00:16:05,160 Speaker 2: the terrorists and their helpers and funders must be arrested, 328 00:16:05,200 --> 00:16:09,320 Speaker 2: prosecuted and put to death. Yeah, these Palestinians want to 329 00:16:09,400 --> 00:16:12,280 Speaker 2: kill queer people, unlike Ben Shapiro and his allies at 330 00:16:12,280 --> 00:16:13,560 Speaker 2: the Daily Wire who want. 331 00:16:13,560 --> 00:16:16,280 Speaker 3: Matt Hamas Walsh. 332 00:16:15,640 --> 00:16:20,520 Speaker 2: Who LGBT terrorists to death, which I'm sure doesn't include 333 00:16:20,560 --> 00:16:24,280 Speaker 2: everyone who's a YVT, just you know whoever Matt Walsh 334 00:16:24,280 --> 00:16:25,400 Speaker 2: thinks is there very clear? 335 00:16:25,760 --> 00:16:29,640 Speaker 3: I mean, now it's associating with anybody right right and. 336 00:16:29,600 --> 00:16:31,880 Speaker 2: People who associate with them of course, and who fund them, 337 00:16:31,960 --> 00:16:32,920 Speaker 2: you know, maybe. 338 00:16:32,960 --> 00:16:35,440 Speaker 3: In ways that we still don't know, we still but 339 00:16:35,440 --> 00:16:36,360 Speaker 3: but surely they do. 340 00:16:36,600 --> 00:16:38,840 Speaker 2: It's not important to have that all ironed out right now. 341 00:16:39,400 --> 00:16:42,000 Speaker 4: There are other tweets fro Matt Walsh. Obviously that's horrific. 342 00:16:42,080 --> 00:16:43,880 Speaker 4: What a horrible, fucking terrible person. 343 00:16:44,240 --> 00:16:44,960 Speaker 2: He's a bad guy. 344 00:16:45,520 --> 00:16:50,720 Speaker 4: He specifically has also been basically calling for unity amongst 345 00:16:50,760 --> 00:16:53,320 Speaker 4: all the factions on the right in order to carry 346 00:16:53,320 --> 00:16:55,920 Speaker 4: out what he's talking about, crushing the left and like right, 347 00:16:56,640 --> 00:16:58,720 Speaker 4: rounding up people's all the stuff he's talking about in 348 00:16:58,840 --> 00:17:01,000 Speaker 4: public executions I believe he's talking about as well. 349 00:17:01,120 --> 00:17:03,040 Speaker 2: Oh yeah, yeah, I mean Charlie Kirk had talked about 350 00:17:03,040 --> 00:17:05,440 Speaker 2: public executions too, like his belief that that's something we 351 00:17:05,480 --> 00:17:05,920 Speaker 2: need to bring in. 352 00:17:06,000 --> 00:17:08,800 Speaker 4: Age twelve I think is the appropriate age for watching that. 353 00:17:08,800 --> 00:17:12,639 Speaker 4: According to them, So he's calling for uniting all the 354 00:17:12,960 --> 00:17:15,359 Speaker 4: right wing factions in order to do this, so which 355 00:17:15,400 --> 00:17:17,280 Speaker 4: I mean, I guess a good phrase instead would be 356 00:17:17,359 --> 00:17:22,240 Speaker 4: to unite the right. So sure, maybe he's actually calling 357 00:17:22,280 --> 00:17:26,040 Speaker 4: to unite with people who actually would want to do 358 00:17:26,080 --> 00:17:29,439 Speaker 4: the same thing. To Ben, like, if you're calling to 359 00:17:29,560 --> 00:17:31,280 Speaker 4: unite the right in order to do this, then you're 360 00:17:31,320 --> 00:17:34,440 Speaker 4: calling to unite very very far right, sorry to say, 361 00:17:34,520 --> 00:17:40,400 Speaker 4: like neo Nazis who would want to kill the Jewish 362 00:17:40,440 --> 00:17:43,240 Speaker 4: people who are in the coalition, much like Ben is 363 00:17:43,280 --> 00:17:46,840 Speaker 4: saying that Hamas wants to do to gay people. Just 364 00:17:46,880 --> 00:17:49,680 Speaker 4: seems like I don't think they understand what they're saying 365 00:17:49,800 --> 00:17:53,920 Speaker 4: or recognize these inconsistencies or consistencies to them, who knows. 366 00:17:54,280 --> 00:17:56,480 Speaker 2: And they don't care, of course, none of that. It 367 00:17:56,520 --> 00:18:01,280 Speaker 2: doesn't matter, like to them, what matters is crushing their enemies, right, 368 00:18:01,400 --> 00:18:03,840 Speaker 2: Like the fact that they aren't logically consistent is about power. 369 00:18:04,000 --> 00:18:06,920 Speaker 2: It always has been, you know. And there's a lot 370 00:18:06,920 --> 00:18:09,240 Speaker 2: that's disingenuous about this framing, though, and it's worth getting 371 00:18:09,240 --> 00:18:11,359 Speaker 2: into that. One thing is that as of May twenty 372 00:18:11,400 --> 00:18:15,239 Speaker 2: twenty five, per UNICEF Regional Director Edward Bigbetter, more than 373 00:18:15,280 --> 00:18:18,000 Speaker 2: fifty thousand children have been killed or injured by Israel 374 00:18:18,040 --> 00:18:21,119 Speaker 2: in the Gaza strip. These kids had no power or 375 00:18:21,160 --> 00:18:24,280 Speaker 2: frankly desire to throw anyone off of buildings. 376 00:18:24,080 --> 00:18:26,359 Speaker 3: Right, like, but they might one day. 377 00:18:26,720 --> 00:18:29,159 Speaker 2: You know, you can find people who are delusional in 378 00:18:29,200 --> 00:18:31,720 Speaker 2: any group. But I know a lot of queers who 379 00:18:31,720 --> 00:18:34,919 Speaker 2: are angry about what's being done in Palestine. They're not 380 00:18:35,040 --> 00:18:38,640 Speaker 2: laboring under a misapprehension that Hamas is woke. They're angry 381 00:18:38,640 --> 00:18:41,119 Speaker 2: that kids and women and children have nothing to do 382 00:18:41,200 --> 00:18:43,679 Speaker 2: with Hamas or any other arm group are being murdered. 383 00:18:43,880 --> 00:18:46,119 Speaker 2: That's what they're angry about, because it's bad. 384 00:18:46,440 --> 00:18:50,520 Speaker 4: It's like, yeah, it's very obvious that that's the situation. 385 00:18:50,720 --> 00:18:51,640 Speaker 3: But again, they don't. 386 00:18:51,480 --> 00:18:54,359 Speaker 2: Care if there's a mass shooting at a church that 387 00:18:54,720 --> 00:18:57,800 Speaker 2: believes things I don't. Like, I'm not not going to 388 00:18:57,880 --> 00:19:00,960 Speaker 2: be angry about the mass shooting because the pastor of 389 00:19:01,000 --> 00:19:04,320 Speaker 2: the church said something shitty and like that doesn't make 390 00:19:04,359 --> 00:19:06,000 Speaker 2: it okay that kids got shot. 391 00:19:06,160 --> 00:19:09,600 Speaker 4: Do you understand that, Like, yeah, those kids are massacred, 392 00:19:09,680 --> 00:19:10,720 Speaker 4: Like it's horrific. 393 00:19:11,080 --> 00:19:13,320 Speaker 2: The Queers for Palaestinan people aren't marching in the street 394 00:19:13,400 --> 00:19:17,880 Speaker 2: because they aspire to make their civilization identical to how 395 00:19:17,920 --> 00:19:22,320 Speaker 2: the Gaza strip is run. Their marching because they're angry 396 00:19:22,359 --> 00:19:26,240 Speaker 2: that civilians are being killed, right and they understand rightfully 397 00:19:26,560 --> 00:19:29,320 Speaker 2: that the average person in the Gaza strip has absolutely 398 00:19:29,359 --> 00:19:31,359 Speaker 2: no control over what fucking Hamas does. 399 00:19:31,680 --> 00:19:34,760 Speaker 4: You can call those things horrific crimes against humanity and 400 00:19:35,119 --> 00:19:38,760 Speaker 4: not have to be like, but also, I don't want 401 00:19:38,760 --> 00:19:41,439 Speaker 4: to do Hamas stuff here because they have. 402 00:19:41,640 --> 00:19:43,880 Speaker 2: Like It's like, are you bummed out when you read 403 00:19:43,920 --> 00:19:46,520 Speaker 2: about the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki? 404 00:19:46,600 --> 00:19:46,879 Speaker 3: Yes? 405 00:19:46,920 --> 00:19:49,119 Speaker 2: I can be bummed out about that. I fucking talked 406 00:19:49,119 --> 00:19:52,040 Speaker 2: to a survivor of the Hiroshima bombing. She was like 407 00:19:52,240 --> 00:19:55,320 Speaker 2: seven when it happened. She's not responsible for the Empire, 408 00:19:55,520 --> 00:19:59,199 Speaker 2: like me being bummed about US nuking Japan. Doesn't mean 409 00:19:59,200 --> 00:20:02,359 Speaker 2: I'm pretending the Empire of Japan was a good society. 410 00:20:02,440 --> 00:20:05,639 Speaker 2: It wasn't like it's just bad to kill kids. 411 00:20:05,800 --> 00:20:08,199 Speaker 4: Their crime was being born in a certain place at 412 00:20:08,240 --> 00:20:11,240 Speaker 4: a certain time, and that's actually not a crime exactly. 413 00:20:11,640 --> 00:20:14,959 Speaker 2: It certainly shouldn't be treated like one. Right again, are 414 00:20:14,960 --> 00:20:17,119 Speaker 2: there assholes in any mass movement who try to hijack 415 00:20:17,119 --> 00:20:19,080 Speaker 2: the momentum of a larger number of people to push 416 00:20:19,160 --> 00:20:22,840 Speaker 2: their own fucked up bullshit, including like uncritical worship of 417 00:20:22,920 --> 00:20:26,600 Speaker 2: violence used by a group. Sure, and Ben Shapiro knows 418 00:20:26,760 --> 00:20:29,960 Speaker 2: full well what it's like to uncritically endorse violence against civilians. 419 00:20:30,160 --> 00:20:32,240 Speaker 2: In two thousand and two, he wrote an article stating 420 00:20:32,240 --> 00:20:35,040 Speaker 2: that he wasn't the least bit concerned about civilian casualties 421 00:20:35,080 --> 00:20:38,159 Speaker 2: in Afghanistan or the West Bank, and the insinuation was 422 00:20:38,160 --> 00:20:41,119 Speaker 2: that this extended generally to the War on Terror. He 423 00:20:41,200 --> 00:20:43,440 Speaker 2: expressed a belief that the life of a single American 424 00:20:43,480 --> 00:20:46,119 Speaker 2: soldier mattered more than the life of any number of 425 00:20:46,160 --> 00:20:49,760 Speaker 2: Afghan civilians, and while he apologized for this article being 426 00:20:49,800 --> 00:20:52,760 Speaker 2: badly written, later the next year, he wrote an article 427 00:20:52,800 --> 00:20:54,919 Speaker 2: for town Hall in which he argued in favor of 428 00:20:54,960 --> 00:20:58,800 Speaker 2: allowing Israel to quote transfer Palestinians and Israeli Arabs from 429 00:20:58,880 --> 00:21:02,919 Speaker 2: Judea Samari, yeah, Gaza and is real proper. That's just 430 00:21:02,960 --> 00:21:03,960 Speaker 2: an ethnic cleansing. 431 00:21:05,040 --> 00:21:07,560 Speaker 4: Like transfer is not a dirty word. I think is 432 00:21:07,600 --> 00:21:09,840 Speaker 4: the title of that piece. That's ethnic cleansing. 433 00:21:09,880 --> 00:21:12,679 Speaker 2: Fuck it is raally air. They're like citizens, you realize that, right, Like, 434 00:21:12,800 --> 00:21:14,879 Speaker 2: I guess it doesn't matter because they're not Jewish. 435 00:21:14,920 --> 00:21:16,919 Speaker 4: I guess I feel like he only really apologized for 436 00:21:17,040 --> 00:21:19,359 Speaker 4: like like you're saying it being poorly written, which Ben 437 00:21:19,440 --> 00:21:20,600 Speaker 4: apologized for everything you've. 438 00:21:20,440 --> 00:21:24,160 Speaker 3: Ever written, everything he does, but not the actual argument. 439 00:21:24,440 --> 00:21:25,080 Speaker 3: I don't think. 440 00:21:25,200 --> 00:21:27,280 Speaker 4: I don't think he's actually he ever actually said like 441 00:21:27,320 --> 00:21:29,840 Speaker 4: and I don't think we should be doing this, or 442 00:21:29,920 --> 00:21:31,920 Speaker 4: he did and then changed his mind back. 443 00:21:32,359 --> 00:21:34,720 Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean I think both of those things have happened. 444 00:21:34,840 --> 00:21:35,080 Speaker 3: Now. 445 00:21:35,400 --> 00:21:38,960 Speaker 2: During this rant, ben first starts referring to and again 446 00:21:39,040 --> 00:21:41,320 Speaker 2: going sorry because we've gone off on a tangent. This 447 00:21:41,400 --> 00:21:44,640 Speaker 2: rant is about the protests last year in London against 448 00:21:44,680 --> 00:21:48,000 Speaker 2: the Genizide and Gaza. During this rant, beIN first starts 449 00:21:48,040 --> 00:21:51,280 Speaker 2: referring to the Lions collectively as the Pride with a 450 00:21:51,320 --> 00:21:54,359 Speaker 2: capital P, in order to differentiate from the so called 451 00:21:54,480 --> 00:21:58,320 Speaker 2: Scavengers as a group. He accuses scavengers of being willing 452 00:21:58,359 --> 00:22:01,879 Speaker 2: to do quote anything to tear down the Pride. This 453 00:22:02,000 --> 00:22:04,960 Speaker 2: is not mere anti semitism. Anti Semitism is an age 454 00:22:04,960 --> 00:22:07,680 Speaker 2: old hatred rooted in a conspiracy theory. It takes many 455 00:22:07,760 --> 00:22:10,840 Speaker 2: forms and has countless victims. This is something different. It 456 00:22:10,880 --> 00:22:16,160 Speaker 2: is a united coalitional hatred of the West. Now, this 457 00:22:16,280 --> 00:22:20,000 Speaker 2: is actually where I come closest to agreeing with Shapiro 458 00:22:20,160 --> 00:22:23,440 Speaker 2: in a certain sense, because the primary motivating factor of 459 00:22:23,480 --> 00:22:25,879 Speaker 2: these protests is not anti Semitism there been, and I 460 00:22:25,960 --> 00:22:29,879 Speaker 2: agree one factor at play within many people protesting against 461 00:22:29,960 --> 00:22:32,760 Speaker 2: Israel's actions here is a coalitional hatred of what Beend 462 00:22:32,760 --> 00:22:35,960 Speaker 2: defines as the West. But while he tries to describe 463 00:22:35,960 --> 00:22:39,240 Speaker 2: this as an unreasoning hatred of Western civilization, it's very 464 00:22:39,280 --> 00:22:43,040 Speaker 2: clearly a hatred of what Western governments do to specific 465 00:22:43,080 --> 00:22:46,560 Speaker 2: groups of people. Yeah, exactly right, like the decades of 466 00:22:46,600 --> 00:22:51,440 Speaker 2: support for Israel's continuing actions that have been genocidal and 467 00:22:51,480 --> 00:22:52,760 Speaker 2: quasigenicidal for quite some time. 468 00:22:52,840 --> 00:22:55,480 Speaker 4: He concently does this, I mean with many different topics 469 00:22:55,480 --> 00:23:01,000 Speaker 4: and issues, but he's conflating I mean, basic criticism of actions, 470 00:23:01,000 --> 00:23:04,639 Speaker 4: like it's not it's not saying like these values that 471 00:23:04,920 --> 00:23:08,439 Speaker 4: you pretend to have are evil. It's not about like 472 00:23:08,560 --> 00:23:12,520 Speaker 4: Western values or anything like that. It's about specific actions 473 00:23:12,800 --> 00:23:17,199 Speaker 4: being taken that should be able to be criticized without 474 00:23:17,240 --> 00:23:20,840 Speaker 4: you saying like, so you hate everything we've ever done 475 00:23:20,880 --> 00:23:23,640 Speaker 4: and everything we believe in. Well, if it's this, then yeah, 476 00:23:23,680 --> 00:23:27,600 Speaker 4: I guess that's not what is actually being said or claimed. 477 00:23:28,080 --> 00:23:30,919 Speaker 2: Right, And we will continue and get to ben talking 478 00:23:30,960 --> 00:23:33,240 Speaker 2: about j. R. R. Tolkien, which I am excited to 479 00:23:33,359 --> 00:23:36,879 Speaker 2: chat with you about, Cody, But first let's have some 480 00:23:37,000 --> 00:23:44,160 Speaker 2: ads and we're back. So, after introducing this protest and 481 00:23:44,240 --> 00:23:48,120 Speaker 2: starting his Scavengers and the Pride, you know, discourse, been 482 00:23:48,200 --> 00:23:51,040 Speaker 2: pivots to discussing the Lord of the Rings. And it 483 00:23:51,080 --> 00:23:54,800 Speaker 2: becomes clear here that that opening sort of vignette about 484 00:23:54,880 --> 00:23:59,080 Speaker 2: hundreds of thousands strong marching their banners unfurled, this was 485 00:23:59,160 --> 00:24:02,240 Speaker 2: him pull from Tolkien describing. 486 00:24:01,960 --> 00:24:04,160 Speaker 3: Howards barbarians at the gates at the Armies. 487 00:24:03,920 --> 00:24:07,120 Speaker 2: Of War marching on minister is right. Yes, yeah, he's 488 00:24:07,119 --> 00:24:10,199 Speaker 2: not like fly. It's obvious what he's doing. And he 489 00:24:10,280 --> 00:24:13,720 Speaker 2: gets very direct here. He literally calls the quote Cords 490 00:24:13,760 --> 00:24:18,080 Speaker 2: of Mordor stand ins for the Nazis and their allies. Now, 491 00:24:18,640 --> 00:24:21,919 Speaker 2: Tolkien himself would have rejected been claiming this wholeheartedly. He 492 00:24:22,240 --> 00:24:26,240 Speaker 2: always rejected. He hated it when people like accused the 493 00:24:26,240 --> 00:24:28,800 Speaker 2: Lord of the Rings of being rooted in real history 494 00:24:28,840 --> 00:24:31,480 Speaker 2: and his World War One experiences. And I do tend 495 00:24:31,520 --> 00:24:33,720 Speaker 2: to be in the camp of like, well, obviously they 496 00:24:33,760 --> 00:24:35,760 Speaker 2: were kind of both World War One and World War 497 00:24:35,800 --> 00:24:39,639 Speaker 2: Two influenced what you were writing about, Like, I'm sorry, yeah, I. 498 00:24:39,800 --> 00:24:43,040 Speaker 3: Just have influenced your art in many ways. 499 00:24:43,200 --> 00:24:46,680 Speaker 2: Yeah, Now that said Lord of the Rings in case 500 00:24:46,720 --> 00:24:50,680 Speaker 2: you didn't know, was written mostly between nineteen thirty seven 501 00:24:50,720 --> 00:24:53,119 Speaker 2: and nineteen forty nine trilogy that was like the bulk 502 00:24:53,119 --> 00:24:55,520 Speaker 2: of the writing. It wasn't published until the fifties, but 503 00:24:55,520 --> 00:24:57,040 Speaker 2: that's when he was like doing most of his writing 504 00:24:57,080 --> 00:24:59,199 Speaker 2: and editing. And I would agree with Ben that, like, 505 00:24:59,480 --> 00:25:02,240 Speaker 2: there's clear nearly some World War Two in the Lord 506 00:25:02,240 --> 00:25:05,440 Speaker 2: of the Rings, but it's also not accurate to say 507 00:25:05,480 --> 00:25:07,320 Speaker 2: the Hordes of Mortar are just stand ins for the 508 00:25:07,400 --> 00:25:11,280 Speaker 2: Nazis and their allies. That's not really true. And I 509 00:25:11,280 --> 00:25:14,720 Speaker 2: think it's worth discussing J. R. R. Tolkien's personal politics 510 00:25:14,720 --> 00:25:17,560 Speaker 2: here because like most peoples, they are complex and not 511 00:25:17,720 --> 00:25:21,800 Speaker 2: entirely consistent and sometimes incoherent. For an example, Tolkien on 512 00:25:21,840 --> 00:25:24,720 Speaker 2: a number of occasions described himself as an anarchist and 513 00:25:24,760 --> 00:25:27,280 Speaker 2: describe himself as an anarchist in ways that are like 514 00:25:27,680 --> 00:25:31,800 Speaker 2: relatively recognizable to modern day anarchists. He talked about his 515 00:25:31,880 --> 00:25:36,359 Speaker 2: hatred of power. He expressed a disgust for industrialism that 516 00:25:36,480 --> 00:25:39,040 Speaker 2: is very much in line with how some monarcho primitivists 517 00:25:39,080 --> 00:25:42,639 Speaker 2: talk today. Right, not entirely so, but his fundamental dissection 518 00:25:42,720 --> 00:25:45,280 Speaker 2: of like why he was an anarchist is very much 519 00:25:45,480 --> 00:25:48,640 Speaker 2: like relevant to modern day anarchists. He thought people were 520 00:25:48,680 --> 00:25:51,679 Speaker 2: not fit to hold power over people. Right, this is 521 00:25:51,680 --> 00:25:55,880 Speaker 2: an important belief, the ring of power, right, never heard 522 00:25:55,920 --> 00:25:59,879 Speaker 2: that is effectively an object in which all of like 523 00:26:00,119 --> 00:26:03,920 Speaker 2: political power, all power of the state is craving sourcial 524 00:26:04,000 --> 00:26:08,440 Speaker 2: line to it, right like, that's it's not super subtle. Right, Yeah, 525 00:26:08,680 --> 00:26:10,520 Speaker 2: there's certainly a reading of the Lord of the Rings 526 00:26:10,560 --> 00:26:13,080 Speaker 2: that's very much anarchist. And at the same time, Tolkien 527 00:26:13,160 --> 00:26:17,239 Speaker 2: was for example, not an uncritical but a supporter of 528 00:26:17,280 --> 00:26:20,680 Speaker 2: the Franco regime during the Spanish Civil War, largely because 529 00:26:20,720 --> 00:26:23,280 Speaker 2: he was horrified at the killings and what he saw 530 00:26:23,359 --> 00:26:26,520 Speaker 2: as the unjustified murders of nuns and priests and whatnot 531 00:26:26,880 --> 00:26:28,679 Speaker 2: by in some cases anarchists. 532 00:26:28,760 --> 00:26:28,920 Speaker 3: Right. 533 00:26:29,359 --> 00:26:32,560 Speaker 2: And so again this is not like most people. Jared 534 00:26:32,560 --> 00:26:36,159 Speaker 2: Tolkien's political beliefs were not entirely cohero or consistent. 535 00:26:36,760 --> 00:26:38,960 Speaker 3: Little bit yes, contextual. 536 00:26:39,240 --> 00:26:41,960 Speaker 2: However, what I can say is that Jared Tolkien was 537 00:26:42,040 --> 00:26:44,639 Speaker 2: not at all in alignment with Ben Shapiro's politics and 538 00:26:44,680 --> 00:26:47,679 Speaker 2: would have been disgusted by them. Tolkien was a firm 539 00:26:47,720 --> 00:26:50,600 Speaker 2: anti Nazi. He was also a very anti Stalin, but 540 00:26:50,680 --> 00:26:54,440 Speaker 2: he was regularly critical of conservative icon Winston Churchill, who 541 00:26:54,440 --> 00:26:57,800 Speaker 2: he described as looking like the biggest Ruffian and photographs 542 00:26:57,840 --> 00:27:00,880 Speaker 2: from the Tehran conference right so he he has said, basically, 543 00:27:01,000 --> 00:27:04,879 Speaker 2: standing next to fucking Joseph Stalin, Winston Churchill looks like 544 00:27:04,920 --> 00:27:09,240 Speaker 2: a scumbag like oh, which is not something Ben Shapiro 545 00:27:09,320 --> 00:27:11,879 Speaker 2: would ever say. I found a summary of a letter 546 00:27:11,960 --> 00:27:14,560 Speaker 2: that Tolkien sent his son Christopher into Scember of nineteen 547 00:27:14,640 --> 00:27:17,080 Speaker 2: forty three that gives you an idea of how little 548 00:27:17,160 --> 00:27:21,800 Speaker 2: Tolkien's personal politics graft on the Ben's ideological schema. Tolkien 549 00:27:21,880 --> 00:27:24,560 Speaker 2: lamented that the globe was getting smaller, duller in flatter, 550 00:27:24,680 --> 00:27:29,520 Speaker 2: foreseeing American sanitation, moral pep feminism, and mass production introduced everywhere, 551 00:27:29,520 --> 00:27:32,360 Speaker 2: which would at least cut down travel. Colonel Knox said 552 00:27:32,359 --> 00:27:34,679 Speaker 2: that one eighth of the world spoke English, which Tolkien 553 00:27:34,760 --> 00:27:37,080 Speaker 2: called a damn shame. He called for the Curse of 554 00:27:37,080 --> 00:27:39,920 Speaker 2: Babbel to strike all tongues and considered refusing to speak 555 00:27:40,000 --> 00:27:45,400 Speaker 2: anything but Old Mercian. Seriously. Tolkien found a Merrow cosmopolitanism terrifying. 556 00:27:45,600 --> 00:27:47,520 Speaker 2: He was unsure if victory would be much better for 557 00:27:47,560 --> 00:27:49,879 Speaker 2: the world as a whole. This was the sentiment of 558 00:27:49,960 --> 00:27:52,840 Speaker 2: a lot of folk, but it indicated no lack of patriotism. 559 00:27:53,119 --> 00:27:55,800 Speaker 2: Tolkien loved England, but not Great Britain and certainly not 560 00:27:55,840 --> 00:27:58,639 Speaker 2: the British Commonwealth. But were he younger, Tolkien figured he 561 00:27:58,680 --> 00:28:00,600 Speaker 2: would be grousing in the military, willing to go to 562 00:28:00,680 --> 00:28:02,800 Speaker 2: the bitter end, and hoping that things might turn out 563 00:28:02,800 --> 00:28:06,719 Speaker 2: better for England again you know you can find. Tolkien 564 00:28:06,760 --> 00:28:09,960 Speaker 2: had some issues with like feminism, like or what he 565 00:28:10,000 --> 00:28:14,280 Speaker 2: saw his feminism, but he also he hated like American capitalism. 566 00:28:14,280 --> 00:28:17,760 Speaker 2: He was disgusted by like advertisements. He was disgusted by 567 00:28:17,800 --> 00:28:20,720 Speaker 2: the culture of consumption, and he was disgusted by the 568 00:28:20,920 --> 00:28:24,520 Speaker 2: flattening of culture by the idea that everyone would need 569 00:28:24,520 --> 00:28:28,160 Speaker 2: to speak you know, English, by the idea that American 570 00:28:28,760 --> 00:28:32,960 Speaker 2: culture would flatten the world right. He found this personally 571 00:28:33,040 --> 00:28:38,200 Speaker 2: horrifying and disgusting, which is like the opposite of Ben's politics. 572 00:28:38,280 --> 00:28:40,640 Speaker 2: And he was not pro the British Empire. He was 573 00:28:40,680 --> 00:28:43,880 Speaker 2: in fact deeply critical of the British Empire for the 574 00:28:43,960 --> 00:28:47,040 Speaker 2: reasons established in the letter above. He hated the flattening 575 00:28:47,040 --> 00:28:49,840 Speaker 2: of cultures around the globe under burgeoning capitalism, and was 576 00:28:49,840 --> 00:28:52,640 Speaker 2: disgusted by the domination of peoples around the world by 577 00:28:52,680 --> 00:28:56,200 Speaker 2: foreign powers. The beliefs he most consistently expressed throughout his 578 00:28:56,240 --> 00:28:59,960 Speaker 2: adult life. We were sort of anti capitalist, anti industrial 579 00:29:00,040 --> 00:29:02,560 Speaker 2: real sentiment based around a hatred of pollution and the 580 00:29:02,560 --> 00:29:05,160 Speaker 2: destruction of the natural world. But he was clear in 581 00:29:05,160 --> 00:29:06,920 Speaker 2: his letters to his son and others that he saw 582 00:29:06,960 --> 00:29:09,800 Speaker 2: America and Americanism as the central culprits in this I. 583 00:29:09,800 --> 00:29:12,760 Speaker 4: Mean, that's what Mordor was basically modeled after, right, like 584 00:29:12,840 --> 00:29:13,280 Speaker 4: and like that. 585 00:29:13,480 --> 00:29:16,280 Speaker 2: Yeah, like there's Germany in there too, yeah. 586 00:29:16,160 --> 00:29:18,320 Speaker 4: Yeah, but like the orcs like sprouting up from the 587 00:29:18,360 --> 00:29:21,600 Speaker 4: ground and like destroying the planet and all that stuff 588 00:29:21,600 --> 00:29:23,360 Speaker 4: that we apparently love now. 589 00:29:23,720 --> 00:29:27,160 Speaker 2: Yes, like like there's some Germany in Mordar, but there's 590 00:29:27,200 --> 00:29:29,400 Speaker 2: more than a little of the United States there too, 591 00:29:29,720 --> 00:29:32,400 Speaker 2: and quite frankly, more than a little Great Britain. You know, 592 00:29:32,680 --> 00:29:35,960 Speaker 2: he was not because he was looking at the industrialization 593 00:29:36,040 --> 00:29:38,200 Speaker 2: that had happened in his own country too. This is 594 00:29:38,240 --> 00:29:39,480 Speaker 2: something that horrified him. 595 00:29:39,760 --> 00:29:39,960 Speaker 3: Right. 596 00:29:40,720 --> 00:29:43,360 Speaker 2: If Tolkien were somehow to have survived to the present 597 00:29:43,480 --> 00:29:46,720 Speaker 2: day and gotten involved in like a film version of 598 00:29:46,760 --> 00:29:48,800 Speaker 2: The Lord of the Rings and had any choice in 599 00:29:48,840 --> 00:29:51,840 Speaker 2: casting a voice actor for surn I wouldn't be surprised 600 00:29:51,880 --> 00:29:53,800 Speaker 2: if he wound up sounding like a Californian. 601 00:29:54,040 --> 00:29:55,320 Speaker 3: Right, that's a little. 602 00:29:55,080 --> 00:30:00,880 Speaker 2: Bit, a little bit, but like he expresses in line 603 00:30:00,880 --> 00:30:03,800 Speaker 2: with that, right, like yeah, I can tell you one 604 00:30:03,840 --> 00:30:05,880 Speaker 2: thing that conservatives are on about in this country that 605 00:30:05,920 --> 00:30:07,840 Speaker 2: he would have hated is the idea that like everyone 606 00:30:07,880 --> 00:30:10,560 Speaker 2: needs to speak English. What the fuck are you talking about? 607 00:30:10,680 --> 00:30:10,760 Speaker 1: Like? 608 00:30:10,920 --> 00:30:14,080 Speaker 2: Yes, anyway, After quoting a passage from Return of the 609 00:30:14,160 --> 00:30:17,440 Speaker 2: King describing the armies of Mortal marching on Minace tireth Bin, 610 00:30:17,520 --> 00:30:21,400 Speaker 2: Shapiro writes, so it goes today in London the lions 611 00:30:21,400 --> 00:30:24,040 Speaker 2: are gone, and without the spirit of the lion, our 612 00:30:24,120 --> 00:30:27,800 Speaker 2: civilization collapses. What is the spirit of the lion? The 613 00:30:27,840 --> 00:30:35,320 Speaker 2: spirit of her success, of responsibility, of duty. Now I 614 00:30:35,320 --> 00:30:38,320 Speaker 2: should note here Godi lions sleep up to eighteen hours 615 00:30:38,360 --> 00:30:41,600 Speaker 2: a day. They have intensely matrilineal family group. The women 616 00:30:41,760 --> 00:30:44,800 Speaker 2: run and like are in charge as a general rule 617 00:30:44,960 --> 00:30:47,920 Speaker 2: in lion society. And of course, as I mentioned earlier, 618 00:30:48,000 --> 00:30:51,000 Speaker 2: they steal in scavenge food regularly from kills made by 619 00:30:51,000 --> 00:30:54,880 Speaker 2: better but physically weaker predators like hyenas. I know it's 620 00:30:54,880 --> 00:30:57,120 Speaker 2: probably silly for me to keep returning to the builders 621 00:30:57,120 --> 00:30:59,640 Speaker 2: and know a goddamn thing about lions. Well, but paragraphs 622 00:30:59,680 --> 00:31:02,680 Speaker 2: like this drive me fucking crazy, Cody. The lion is 623 00:31:02,720 --> 00:31:06,680 Speaker 2: a hunter, creative, audacious, innovative. He bens the world to 624 00:31:06,760 --> 00:31:09,840 Speaker 2: his will. He forges new paths and crafts new solutions. 625 00:31:10,000 --> 00:31:12,120 Speaker 2: When faced with a problem, the lion does not complain 626 00:31:12,120 --> 00:31:14,560 Speaker 2: about the unfairness of life. He seeks an answer. The 627 00:31:14,640 --> 00:31:17,480 Speaker 2: lion is bold and persistent. Failure does not unnerve him. 628 00:31:17,480 --> 00:31:20,080 Speaker 2: It teaches him. The lion knows that boldness of purpose 629 00:31:20,080 --> 00:31:22,320 Speaker 2: and willingness to undergo risk are the driving forces of 630 00:31:22,360 --> 00:31:25,640 Speaker 2: any successful civilization. He believes, in the words of Proverbs, 631 00:31:25,800 --> 00:31:28,400 Speaker 2: where there is no vision, the people perish. 632 00:31:28,800 --> 00:31:31,280 Speaker 3: He's really stretching this really or really really far. 633 00:31:32,160 --> 00:31:35,880 Speaker 2: Let's avoid the biological critiques here. If we're just talking 634 00:31:35,920 --> 00:31:39,720 Speaker 2: about conservatives, the opposite of what you do is find 635 00:31:39,800 --> 00:31:43,960 Speaker 2: new solutions to problems or forge new paths. You're violently 636 00:31:44,000 --> 00:31:47,400 Speaker 2: offended by the idea of forging new paths and new solutions. 637 00:31:47,720 --> 00:31:52,160 Speaker 2: Novelty disgusts you. Ben Shapiro, You're a arch conservative. 638 00:31:52,160 --> 00:31:56,200 Speaker 4: Observatives. There's one bit also about like they don't whine. 639 00:31:56,280 --> 00:31:57,520 Speaker 4: I know that's not what Oh my. 640 00:31:57,520 --> 00:31:59,520 Speaker 2: God, Yes, Yeah, No, he's saying that they don't complain. 641 00:31:59,600 --> 00:32:01,520 Speaker 2: The lion is complain about the unfairness of life. That's 642 00:32:01,560 --> 00:32:02,520 Speaker 2: literally your job, bit. 643 00:32:02,520 --> 00:32:06,760 Speaker 3: Buddy, that's every conservative's job. That is the only way 644 00:32:06,760 --> 00:32:08,240 Speaker 3: you've ever made money's job. 645 00:32:08,520 --> 00:32:13,080 Speaker 4: He's constantly talking about everything is unfair to him specifically. 646 00:32:13,200 --> 00:32:17,760 Speaker 2: Well, it's just you're got rich complaining, Ben, that's what 647 00:32:17,840 --> 00:32:19,479 Speaker 2: you do for a living business model. 648 00:32:19,960 --> 00:32:23,880 Speaker 4: Yeah, complain and then sell leftist tears mugs. Right, what 649 00:32:23,920 --> 00:32:25,120 Speaker 4: are you talking about, lion? 650 00:32:25,600 --> 00:32:29,920 Speaker 3: It's absurd. Yeah, I think there's also Ezra Klein did 651 00:32:29,960 --> 00:32:30,920 Speaker 3: an interview with Ben. 652 00:32:31,200 --> 00:32:34,800 Speaker 4: Uh oh crazy, Yeah, not you know whatever, But like 653 00:32:34,920 --> 00:32:37,400 Speaker 4: Ben's like talking about like lions, and he's like yeah, 654 00:32:37,440 --> 00:32:39,320 Speaker 4: and then you know, they build the social fabric and 655 00:32:39,360 --> 00:32:44,600 Speaker 4: all this kind of stuff. Pump's entire project is to 656 00:32:44,640 --> 00:32:49,000 Speaker 4: tear down the social fabric. That's not the lion that 657 00:32:49,040 --> 00:32:53,520 Speaker 4: you're talking about. Literally, in twenty nineteen, Ben was on 658 00:32:53,560 --> 00:32:55,600 Speaker 4: like Bill Maher or something and he's like, yeah, I 659 00:32:55,600 --> 00:32:57,920 Speaker 4: didn't vote for Trump in twenty sixteen because I didn't 660 00:32:57,920 --> 00:33:01,000 Speaker 4: want to break the social fabric, but he did, so 661 00:33:01,080 --> 00:33:03,480 Speaker 4: now I'm going to vote for him because he's already 662 00:33:03,480 --> 00:33:07,960 Speaker 4: broken the social fabric like a scavenger maybe. 663 00:33:08,440 --> 00:33:09,960 Speaker 2: Yeah, right, it's just. 664 00:33:10,000 --> 00:33:12,160 Speaker 3: The whole thing. It's just like not, it's just a mess. 665 00:33:12,600 --> 00:33:17,560 Speaker 2: Yeah, it's a mess, and it's like ultimately been. I know, 666 00:33:17,640 --> 00:33:20,320 Speaker 2: you believe in things to be entirely fair. I can 667 00:33:20,320 --> 00:33:21,800 Speaker 2: think of it one time in his life where Ben 668 00:33:21,800 --> 00:33:24,320 Speaker 2: took a principal moral stand when he got really angry 669 00:33:24,440 --> 00:33:25,360 Speaker 2: at when he left. 670 00:33:25,560 --> 00:33:28,760 Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, yeah for uh what was it Lewandowski? 671 00:33:29,600 --> 00:33:34,000 Speaker 2: Yeah yeah, yeah, was physically aggressive towards like a female employee. 672 00:33:34,200 --> 00:33:37,320 Speaker 4: Yeah, no, he left. It was, uh, I've mentioned that 673 00:33:37,400 --> 00:33:38,840 Speaker 4: exact thing before he gets good. 674 00:33:39,160 --> 00:33:41,480 Speaker 2: Unlike a lot of these guys, Ben does believe in 675 00:33:41,600 --> 00:33:45,720 Speaker 2: some things, but his beliefs are very fluid, right, and 676 00:33:45,760 --> 00:33:48,040 Speaker 2: his morality is very fluid, you know. 677 00:33:48,360 --> 00:33:50,200 Speaker 3: I mean it's so inconsistent. 678 00:33:50,200 --> 00:33:53,080 Speaker 4: He became a political pundit when he's seventeen, like he's 679 00:33:53,080 --> 00:33:55,040 Speaker 4: got it, he's got to do that. He wasn't ready 680 00:33:55,120 --> 00:33:57,760 Speaker 4: for that, and he decided to do it. And he's 681 00:33:57,800 --> 00:34:00,640 Speaker 4: just constantly inconsistent. Everything he purports to like believe in 682 00:34:00,800 --> 00:34:04,600 Speaker 4: socially in the conservative sphere is not something like he lives. 683 00:34:05,120 --> 00:34:08,640 Speaker 4: He's like a theater guy with a doctor wife. He 684 00:34:08,760 --> 00:34:11,520 Speaker 4: stays home and like does podcasting and takes care of 685 00:34:11,560 --> 00:34:14,319 Speaker 4: the kids. Like that's not what he purports that people 686 00:34:14,320 --> 00:34:16,239 Speaker 4: should be doing now now. 687 00:34:16,320 --> 00:34:19,400 Speaker 2: Ben goes on to describe the lion as quote a 688 00:34:19,440 --> 00:34:23,360 Speaker 2: warrior who understands the spirit of the scavenger is always 689 00:34:23,360 --> 00:34:27,239 Speaker 2: abroad and that only strength can defend against it. Then 690 00:34:27,600 --> 00:34:30,759 Speaker 2: and again, the lions are the scavengers, like his need 691 00:34:30,760 --> 00:34:32,080 Speaker 2: to defend whatever. 692 00:34:32,239 --> 00:34:35,640 Speaker 4: Warriors are you like doing like now, they're like people 693 00:34:35,840 --> 00:34:36,920 Speaker 4: doing like whatever. 694 00:34:37,000 --> 00:34:39,880 Speaker 2: And lions aren't warriors. They don't have wars. They fight 695 00:34:40,160 --> 00:34:41,680 Speaker 2: because they're animals. 696 00:34:41,239 --> 00:34:43,280 Speaker 4: Exactly, Like why are you saying the lines are warriors? 697 00:34:43,360 --> 00:34:44,160 Speaker 4: What are you talking about? 698 00:34:44,160 --> 00:34:45,080 Speaker 2: It's just not anyway. 699 00:34:45,160 --> 00:34:45,480 Speaker 3: Whatever. 700 00:34:45,960 --> 00:34:49,200 Speaker 2: Then he brings up another much better writer, C. S. Lewis, 701 00:34:49,520 --> 00:34:52,200 Speaker 2: claiming the lion lives by these words, and he's quoting C. S. 702 00:34:52,280 --> 00:34:55,440 Speaker 2: Lewis right that he's Ben says describes how the lion lives. 703 00:34:56,040 --> 00:34:58,359 Speaker 2: Courage is not simply one of the virtues, but the 704 00:34:58,360 --> 00:35:01,240 Speaker 2: form of every virtue at the testing point, which means, 705 00:35:01,280 --> 00:35:04,480 Speaker 2: at the point of highest reality, a chastity or honesty 706 00:35:04,800 --> 00:35:07,600 Speaker 2: or mercy which yields to danger will be chased, or 707 00:35:07,600 --> 00:35:12,160 Speaker 2: honest or merciful only on conditions. Now, that's a very 708 00:35:12,160 --> 00:35:12,880 Speaker 2: good point from C. 709 00:35:13,040 --> 00:35:13,480 Speaker 3: S Lewis. 710 00:35:13,560 --> 00:35:16,120 Speaker 2: I don't think Ben understands what this sentence means. It's 711 00:35:16,120 --> 00:35:20,040 Speaker 2: a good sentence, yeah, because I mean his whole being 712 00:35:20,080 --> 00:35:22,879 Speaker 2: disgusted and horrified at Trump and then voting for him 713 00:35:23,120 --> 00:35:25,640 Speaker 2: and supporting him because he won and pivoting like that's 714 00:35:26,320 --> 00:35:30,840 Speaker 2: that's him yielding to danger, a danger to his career, 715 00:35:30,960 --> 00:35:32,720 Speaker 2: a danger to maybe his personal health. 716 00:35:32,920 --> 00:35:34,719 Speaker 4: I mean, that's what the dentire GOP did. We all 717 00:35:34,719 --> 00:35:36,760 Speaker 4: saw it live in twenty fifteen to twenty sixteen. 718 00:35:36,800 --> 00:35:37,320 Speaker 3: It happened. 719 00:35:37,600 --> 00:35:39,680 Speaker 4: We saw Ted Cruz go out there and say vote 720 00:35:39,719 --> 00:35:42,320 Speaker 4: your conscience, and then like four weeks later he's sweaty 721 00:35:42,320 --> 00:35:44,080 Speaker 4: on the phone and being like, well for trap plays 722 00:35:44,600 --> 00:35:45,600 Speaker 4: right exactly. 723 00:35:45,600 --> 00:35:48,160 Speaker 2: And that's I agree with this CS Lewis quote. It's 724 00:35:48,200 --> 00:35:51,520 Speaker 2: a very well written and accurate point to make, and 725 00:35:51,719 --> 00:35:53,719 Speaker 2: Ben does not understand it at all because he is 726 00:35:53,760 --> 00:35:56,920 Speaker 2: incapable of living that way. Bin's entire career has been 727 00:35:56,920 --> 00:35:59,080 Speaker 2: built on taking money from the mega rich to push 728 00:35:59,160 --> 00:36:02,160 Speaker 2: a very specific kind of propaganda. He wouldn't no courage 729 00:36:02,160 --> 00:36:03,440 Speaker 2: if it bit him in the ass, and he has 730 00:36:03,480 --> 00:36:05,400 Speaker 2: never had to stand up for what's right in a 731 00:36:05,400 --> 00:36:08,920 Speaker 2: way that meant taking on any meaningful personal risk. Lewis's 732 00:36:09,000 --> 00:36:12,640 Speaker 2: quotation here is excoriating men like Ben Shapiro who lack 733 00:36:12,719 --> 00:36:15,279 Speaker 2: any meaningful virtue because they've never had to stand up 734 00:36:15,320 --> 00:36:17,800 Speaker 2: to any kind of danger. I would like to introduce 735 00:36:17,800 --> 00:36:20,280 Speaker 2: Ben to another quote, one that might be more relevant 736 00:36:20,320 --> 00:36:22,680 Speaker 2: to his own stated political aims and the aims of 737 00:36:22,680 --> 00:36:25,200 Speaker 2: the party he supports. This is from a nineteen forty 738 00:36:25,200 --> 00:36:27,439 Speaker 2: six letter C. S. Lewis sent to a professor friend 739 00:36:27,440 --> 00:36:30,640 Speaker 2: of his, collected in of Other Worlds, Essays and stories. 740 00:36:31,000 --> 00:36:31,440 Speaker 3: Quote. 741 00:36:31,920 --> 00:36:34,680 Speaker 2: Theocracy is the worst of all governments. If we must 742 00:36:34,719 --> 00:36:36,920 Speaker 2: have a tyrant, a robber baron is far better than 743 00:36:36,920 --> 00:36:40,840 Speaker 2: an inquisitor. The baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity 744 00:36:40,880 --> 00:36:43,319 Speaker 2: at some point be sated, and since he dimly knows 745 00:36:43,320 --> 00:36:46,200 Speaker 2: he is doing wrong, he may possibly repent. But the inquisitor, 746 00:36:46,200 --> 00:36:48,759 Speaker 2: who mistakes his own cruelty and lust of power and 747 00:36:48,800 --> 00:36:51,759 Speaker 2: fear for the voice of Heaven, will torment us indefinitely. 748 00:36:51,960 --> 00:36:54,880 Speaker 2: Because he torments us with the approval of his own conscience, 749 00:36:55,000 --> 00:36:57,680 Speaker 2: and his better impulses appear to him as temptations. 750 00:37:00,320 --> 00:37:03,560 Speaker 4: There it is I mean that's like, it's just like 751 00:37:04,040 --> 00:37:08,480 Speaker 4: now they're supporting a Robert Baron who is leading. 752 00:37:08,400 --> 00:37:11,880 Speaker 3: Who is backed by theocrat back to theocratic movement, like 753 00:37:12,120 --> 00:37:14,520 Speaker 3: we just he's talking about he's just doing both. It's 754 00:37:14,520 --> 00:37:15,279 Speaker 3: so c. S. 755 00:37:15,360 --> 00:37:18,680 Speaker 2: Lewis failed to continu to consider you know, Porko loss 756 00:37:18,760 --> 00:37:19,719 Speaker 2: dos right, But if. 757 00:37:19,640 --> 00:37:22,640 Speaker 4: You get a Robert Baron to lead your theocratic movement, 758 00:37:22,760 --> 00:37:24,600 Speaker 4: that's yeah, wild man. 759 00:37:24,440 --> 00:37:30,080 Speaker 2: There we go, speaking of Robert Barons. Cody, the sponsors 760 00:37:30,080 --> 00:37:33,600 Speaker 2: of this podcast, Yeah, get him, there we go, got 761 00:37:33,640 --> 00:37:39,600 Speaker 2: him so good, hell and we're back. 762 00:37:40,239 --> 00:37:42,240 Speaker 1: Snaps for Robert for the ad transition. 763 00:37:42,719 --> 00:37:44,799 Speaker 2: Thank you, Sophie. Thank you Sophie, Thank you. 764 00:37:45,280 --> 00:37:47,040 Speaker 3: So Cody clapped. 765 00:37:49,440 --> 00:37:52,200 Speaker 2: I guess I just cared praise. I simply crave it. 766 00:37:52,280 --> 00:37:55,560 Speaker 2: You know, it's it's my heroine also Heroin. No, I 767 00:37:55,560 --> 00:37:57,920 Speaker 2: don't do it Robert anymore. 768 00:37:58,160 --> 00:38:00,839 Speaker 3: No, I mean, according to R. F Jor, it helps 769 00:38:00,840 --> 00:38:02,719 Speaker 3: you focus in school, it does. 770 00:38:02,760 --> 00:38:05,800 Speaker 2: It makes it great easy to focus or at least 771 00:38:05,840 --> 00:38:07,240 Speaker 2: focus on being on Heroin. 772 00:38:09,800 --> 00:38:11,359 Speaker 3: Didn't know I was on Heroin until I did it. 773 00:38:11,360 --> 00:38:12,480 Speaker 3: Now it's all I can think about. 774 00:38:12,360 --> 00:38:14,600 Speaker 2: To be fair, the only heroine I've ever taken. I 775 00:38:14,680 --> 00:38:17,520 Speaker 2: licked off a guy's finger at a cafe in rural India. 776 00:38:17,840 --> 00:38:19,680 Speaker 3: That's fair. 777 00:38:20,239 --> 00:38:24,000 Speaker 2: It was a nice afternoon. So we're talking about C. S. Lewis, 778 00:38:24,040 --> 00:38:26,000 Speaker 2: who been Shapiro just. 779 00:38:25,920 --> 00:38:27,760 Speaker 3: Brought up not locking Heroin off of fingers. 780 00:38:27,840 --> 00:38:31,480 Speaker 2: Yeah, no, we're not, although I'd do it again, oh buddy, 781 00:38:31,560 --> 00:38:35,200 Speaker 2: Well maybe not in this vinsical era. Anyway. It's worth 782 00:38:35,239 --> 00:38:37,799 Speaker 2: noting that in nineteen fifty one, when Winston Churchill and 783 00:38:37,800 --> 00:38:41,480 Speaker 2: his Conservative Party retook the UK government, the Prime Minister's 784 00:38:41,480 --> 00:38:43,880 Speaker 2: Office wrote Lewis a letter offering to gift him an 785 00:38:43,920 --> 00:38:47,080 Speaker 2: honorary title Commander of the British Empire, and C. S. 786 00:38:47,160 --> 00:38:50,640 Speaker 2: Lewis declined, not because he wasn't Conservative. He was, that's 787 00:38:50,719 --> 00:38:54,280 Speaker 2: the most accurate box to put him into, but because 788 00:38:54,360 --> 00:38:56,640 Speaker 2: he was worried that if he accepted it would turn 789 00:38:56,719 --> 00:38:59,279 Speaker 2: him into a political figure, which would diminish him as 790 00:38:59,320 --> 00:39:02,640 Speaker 2: a writer into thinker, because well, again he would talk 791 00:39:02,719 --> 00:39:05,880 Speaker 2: philosophically about things that kind of were adjacent to politics. 792 00:39:06,120 --> 00:39:08,760 Speaker 2: He was kind of disgusted at the idea of being 793 00:39:08,840 --> 00:39:11,799 Speaker 2: like what Ben Shapiro is, you know, like of being 794 00:39:11,840 --> 00:39:15,800 Speaker 2: a political pundit propaganda, because he thought that was gross, 795 00:39:16,000 --> 00:39:16,759 Speaker 2: because it is. 796 00:39:17,280 --> 00:39:19,640 Speaker 3: You know, to put those sort of thoughts in your. 797 00:39:19,640 --> 00:39:22,759 Speaker 2: Work, as or Will would say, all art is propaganda, right, 798 00:39:22,800 --> 00:39:24,359 Speaker 2: But I don't think Lewis believed that. 799 00:39:24,480 --> 00:39:26,880 Speaker 4: You know, But there's a huge difference between doing your 800 00:39:26,960 --> 00:39:29,279 Speaker 4: art and expressing yourself in that way and being like, well, 801 00:39:29,280 --> 00:39:32,120 Speaker 4: I'm going to start an organization that does propaganda for 802 00:39:32,200 --> 00:39:32,800 Speaker 4: the regime. 803 00:39:33,120 --> 00:39:36,080 Speaker 2: Yeah, that gets literally paid by oil billionaires to write 804 00:39:36,120 --> 00:39:37,800 Speaker 2: propaganda supporting oil billionaires. 805 00:39:37,840 --> 00:39:38,480 Speaker 3: Yes, exactly. 806 00:39:38,719 --> 00:39:41,839 Speaker 2: And again Lewis would have obviously, maybe not obviously if 807 00:39:41,840 --> 00:39:43,480 Speaker 2: you don't know him. But Lewis would have fallen on 808 00:39:43,520 --> 00:39:47,000 Speaker 2: the more conservative acxis of politics, certainly more conservative than progressive. 809 00:39:47,400 --> 00:39:49,799 Speaker 2: But one of his most consistent stances was a sort 810 00:39:49,840 --> 00:39:53,600 Speaker 2: of disgusted political hacks and politicians. Now where Lewis would 811 00:39:53,600 --> 00:39:56,040 Speaker 2: align with Ben Shapiro is he had a strong belief 812 00:39:56,040 --> 00:39:59,240 Speaker 2: in natural law and in a sort of objective moral reality, 813 00:39:59,280 --> 00:40:02,000 Speaker 2: which he saw is necessary to accept in order to 814 00:40:02,040 --> 00:40:04,600 Speaker 2: be able to criticize groups like the Nazis. In other words, 815 00:40:04,719 --> 00:40:06,560 Speaker 2: Lewis wrote that if there was no right and like 816 00:40:06,600 --> 00:40:09,680 Speaker 2: a greater cosmic sense, by what standards could we judge 817 00:40:09,719 --> 00:40:11,799 Speaker 2: the Nazis as being wrong? And I don't agree with 818 00:40:11,880 --> 00:40:15,080 Speaker 2: Lewis in this I'm just describing his beliefs here. At 819 00:40:15,080 --> 00:40:18,160 Speaker 2: the same time, though, like his friend Tolkien, he expressed 820 00:40:18,200 --> 00:40:21,440 Speaker 2: horror at the two occupations that he worried were doom 821 00:40:21,560 --> 00:40:25,799 Speaker 2: mankind the magician, who quote sought power over nature and 822 00:40:25,840 --> 00:40:29,960 Speaker 2: the astrologer, who quote proclaimed nature's power over man. And 823 00:40:30,000 --> 00:40:31,560 Speaker 2: I want to quote from a write up on C. S. 824 00:40:31,640 --> 00:40:34,600 Speaker 2: Lewis dot com here. The former thought led many to 825 00:40:34,680 --> 00:40:37,759 Speaker 2: think man can do everything, the latter strongly suggested he 826 00:40:37,800 --> 00:40:40,760 Speaker 2: can do nothing. Lewis saw modern scientists as the sons 827 00:40:40,760 --> 00:40:42,959 Speaker 2: of the magician, who believe every ill in the world 828 00:40:43,000 --> 00:40:45,440 Speaker 2: can find a cure in science. From the astrologer came 829 00:40:45,440 --> 00:40:48,040 Speaker 2: the philosophical materialists, who believed man is nothing but a 830 00:40:48,040 --> 00:40:51,759 Speaker 2: slave to nature his animal instincts. And one thing we 831 00:40:51,800 --> 00:40:55,080 Speaker 2: see here is that despite having a belief in absolute morality, 832 00:40:55,360 --> 00:40:58,160 Speaker 2: Lewis tended to reject simple dichotomies like the one been 833 00:40:58,280 --> 00:41:01,320 Speaker 2: presents us with. In his Very Bad Book, he presented 834 00:41:01,360 --> 00:41:04,880 Speaker 2: readers with two archetypes in opposition, either of which would 835 00:41:04,880 --> 00:41:08,480 Speaker 2: doom mankind if worshiped or followed. Beyond reason, Lewis isn't 836 00:41:08,480 --> 00:41:11,239 Speaker 2: saying science is bad and he's not saying that, like 837 00:41:11,600 --> 00:41:14,560 Speaker 2: belief in the natural world is bad, or like kind 838 00:41:14,560 --> 00:41:18,080 Speaker 2: of yielding to nature's power is bad. But making either 839 00:41:18,120 --> 00:41:21,760 Speaker 2: of those like the kind of center of your being 840 00:41:22,360 --> 00:41:22,800 Speaker 2: is bad. 841 00:41:23,120 --> 00:41:25,760 Speaker 4: Right, Because he's also not saying there are two types 842 00:41:25,800 --> 00:41:26,400 Speaker 4: of people. 843 00:41:26,920 --> 00:41:30,160 Speaker 2: No, No, he's not saying other going too far in 844 00:41:30,280 --> 00:41:33,960 Speaker 2: either of these directions is bad. Yeah, And this is 845 00:41:33,960 --> 00:41:36,600 Speaker 2: something that Ben would never do. Ben glories in presenting 846 00:41:36,640 --> 00:41:39,319 Speaker 2: a false and limited choice to the reader and then 847 00:41:39,360 --> 00:41:42,320 Speaker 2: describing one of those choices as inherently good and the 848 00:41:42,360 --> 00:41:46,080 Speaker 2: other is inherently bad. Lewis was a believer in natural 849 00:41:46,160 --> 00:41:49,440 Speaker 2: hierarchies and a critique of democracy, which he felt was 850 00:41:49,520 --> 00:41:53,800 Speaker 2: the best system overall, but also was not a good system. 851 00:41:54,120 --> 00:41:56,440 Speaker 2: And he believed that, among other things, one of the 852 00:41:56,640 --> 00:42:00,480 Speaker 2: problems democracy had is that it must ultimately destroy a education. 853 00:42:00,760 --> 00:42:04,319 Speaker 2: Right that, like, because of the way democracy functions, it's 854 00:42:04,360 --> 00:42:07,600 Speaker 2: going to like fuck up the educational system. 855 00:42:07,360 --> 00:42:13,560 Speaker 3: Effects or like overtaking back like scenes or you know, he's. 856 00:42:13,400 --> 00:42:16,239 Speaker 2: Not entirely wrong about Obviously, other democracies do better. So 857 00:42:16,280 --> 00:42:18,040 Speaker 2: I don't agree with him. This is inherent but it 858 00:42:18,080 --> 00:42:19,080 Speaker 2: can happen, right. 859 00:42:19,840 --> 00:42:21,360 Speaker 3: A lot of bad things can happen and it's not 860 00:42:21,600 --> 00:42:22,680 Speaker 3: exactly exactly. 861 00:42:23,120 --> 00:42:26,160 Speaker 2: And Lewis was also he was deeply critical about technological 862 00:42:26,200 --> 00:42:28,400 Speaker 2: process and the worship of machines in a way that 863 00:42:28,480 --> 00:42:32,560 Speaker 2: makes me pretty certain he'd have rejected AI violently. Both 864 00:42:32,560 --> 00:42:34,760 Speaker 2: he and Tolkien would have been on the bomb data 865 00:42:34,800 --> 00:42:38,200 Speaker 2: centers side. If they would be radicals about that, Like 866 00:42:39,040 --> 00:42:41,080 Speaker 2: if you could bring both of those guys forward and 867 00:42:41,160 --> 00:42:43,239 Speaker 2: explain to them what Sam Altman is trying to do, 868 00:42:43,560 --> 00:42:46,480 Speaker 2: they would try to buy a gun, like like they 869 00:42:46,520 --> 00:42:48,400 Speaker 2: would be extremists. 870 00:42:47,960 --> 00:42:49,840 Speaker 4: Using I mean even like using the AI for like 871 00:42:50,200 --> 00:42:53,560 Speaker 4: fake things like dead people have said, and like the 872 00:42:53,600 --> 00:42:56,319 Speaker 4: ghost AI stuff they're doing all all of it is. 873 00:42:56,320 --> 00:42:59,359 Speaker 2: If you explain to him, like how much water and 874 00:42:59,600 --> 00:43:03,080 Speaker 2: pollution are created by data centers, he would, like fucking 875 00:43:03,120 --> 00:43:06,760 Speaker 2: Tolkien especially, would lose his mind, like he never imagined 876 00:43:06,800 --> 00:43:07,680 Speaker 2: anything that awful. 877 00:43:08,280 --> 00:43:11,640 Speaker 3: It's just not even like taking a like what the. 878 00:43:11,520 --> 00:43:13,080 Speaker 2: Thing is doing itself exactly? 879 00:43:13,120 --> 00:43:15,640 Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, what it can create or create in quotes, 880 00:43:15,680 --> 00:43:17,000 Speaker 4: I guess, but yeah. 881 00:43:17,080 --> 00:43:20,600 Speaker 2: Now, Lewis did believe that you could reform bad political 882 00:43:20,640 --> 00:43:24,319 Speaker 2: systems through Christian education, like that was his solution to 883 00:43:24,400 --> 00:43:26,919 Speaker 2: the problems democracy causes. For education but he was also 884 00:43:27,000 --> 00:43:31,640 Speaker 2: against mandating Christian principles in public education. Right, So we 885 00:43:31,680 --> 00:43:33,520 Speaker 2: see in Lewis as a mix of some values and 886 00:43:33,560 --> 00:43:35,960 Speaker 2: stances that could very easily be mapped to things that 887 00:43:36,040 --> 00:43:38,960 Speaker 2: Ben himself believes there are some. But mixed in with 888 00:43:39,000 --> 00:43:42,560 Speaker 2: this is a fundamental distrust of giving humans power, one 889 00:43:42,560 --> 00:43:45,040 Speaker 2: that makes me equally certain he'd have disliked the argument 890 00:43:45,120 --> 00:43:48,200 Speaker 2: that Ben is making here about lions and scavengers. In 891 00:43:48,320 --> 00:43:51,759 Speaker 2: his book Present Concerns, Lewis wrote, I don't deserve a 892 00:43:51,800 --> 00:43:54,359 Speaker 2: share in governing a hen roost, much less a nation, 893 00:43:54,760 --> 00:43:57,400 Speaker 2: Nor do most people who believe advertisements and think in 894 00:43:57,520 --> 00:44:00,920 Speaker 2: catchwords and spread rumors. The real reason for democracy is 895 00:44:01,080 --> 00:44:04,520 Speaker 2: just the reverse. Mankind is so fallen that no man 896 00:44:04,600 --> 00:44:07,080 Speaker 2: can be trusted with unchecked power over his fellows. 897 00:44:07,640 --> 00:44:10,200 Speaker 3: He would hate so much about he be. 898 00:44:10,120 --> 00:44:15,479 Speaker 4: So unhappy like the internet memes, meme culture, like yesh god, 899 00:44:15,480 --> 00:44:16,560 Speaker 4: he and again. 900 00:44:16,480 --> 00:44:20,400 Speaker 2: Not at all woke, just absolutely not just disgusted with, 901 00:44:20,840 --> 00:44:23,440 Speaker 2: like not a theocrat as Christian as he was not 902 00:44:23,520 --> 00:44:24,840 Speaker 2: a theocrat exactly. 903 00:44:25,000 --> 00:44:27,880 Speaker 4: Yeah, every single AI post that the Department of Homeland 904 00:44:27,960 --> 00:44:30,400 Speaker 4: Security puts up, like every single thing. 905 00:44:30,239 --> 00:44:34,640 Speaker 2: You're doing is fucking mind oh yeah, grotesque. 906 00:44:35,000 --> 00:44:36,400 Speaker 3: God yeah. 907 00:44:36,440 --> 00:44:39,480 Speaker 2: Now, after quoting Lewis, Ben introduces another wrinkle to his 908 00:44:39,600 --> 00:44:43,560 Speaker 2: lion scavenger dichotomy. The pride of Lions is split up 909 00:44:43,600 --> 00:44:47,720 Speaker 2: between three sub archetypes. The weaver, who quote weaves together 910 00:44:47,840 --> 00:44:51,560 Speaker 2: the disparate strands of family and society and often goes unnoticed, 911 00:44:51,640 --> 00:44:55,080 Speaker 2: but quote, are the true heroes of our civilization, and 912 00:44:55,360 --> 00:44:59,560 Speaker 2: the hunters. The warriors and the weavers form a pride together. 913 00:45:00,120 --> 00:45:01,600 Speaker 2: It is kind of unclear to me what separates the 914 00:45:01,680 --> 00:45:06,719 Speaker 2: hunters from I think the weavers are like women. That's 915 00:45:06,760 --> 00:45:09,239 Speaker 2: the place women have in the pride is they're the weavers. 916 00:45:09,280 --> 00:45:09,520 Speaker 2: You know. 917 00:45:10,719 --> 00:45:13,000 Speaker 3: The men get two groups to choose from. 918 00:45:12,880 --> 00:45:18,560 Speaker 2: That's right, They get to hunt or war Yeah. I anyway, 919 00:45:18,560 --> 00:45:21,279 Speaker 2: and again also been uses warrior and hunter more or 920 00:45:21,320 --> 00:45:22,560 Speaker 2: less synonyms in this book. 921 00:45:22,719 --> 00:45:23,120 Speaker 3: It's just. 922 00:45:25,560 --> 00:45:30,640 Speaker 2: After establishing this the subsets of the pride, the categories 923 00:45:30,640 --> 00:45:34,000 Speaker 2: inside the pride been acknowledges that lions have to create 924 00:45:34,000 --> 00:45:37,560 Speaker 2: a system of rules, which they absolutely don't because they 925 00:45:37,560 --> 00:45:40,080 Speaker 2: each have the spirit of the scavenger in them, and 926 00:45:40,120 --> 00:45:42,359 Speaker 2: so they have to always be on guard against being 927 00:45:42,360 --> 00:45:45,120 Speaker 2: overtaken by that. And again, half of their calories they 928 00:45:45,120 --> 00:45:47,560 Speaker 2: get from scavenging. Ad they're not unguarded against it, it's 929 00:45:47,600 --> 00:45:51,920 Speaker 2: how they survive. The Pride has a spirit of of scaverty, 930 00:45:52,000 --> 00:45:56,360 Speaker 2: Lion has the spirit of a scavenger in them. What 931 00:45:56,400 --> 00:45:59,320 Speaker 2: he's trying to say is that, like he's describing the scavengers, 932 00:45:59,360 --> 00:46:02,080 Speaker 2: liberals and left just as like people who are lazy 933 00:46:02,160 --> 00:46:04,560 Speaker 2: and just want to steal from other people and also 934 00:46:04,640 --> 00:46:07,160 Speaker 2: tear down whether people have built. And Ben is trying 935 00:46:07,160 --> 00:46:09,120 Speaker 2: to say that, like there's that voice in all of 936 00:46:09,200 --> 00:46:11,640 Speaker 2: us that we have to be on guard against, right, 937 00:46:11,840 --> 00:46:14,720 Speaker 2: Like that's that's what he's trying to say, right, Yeah. 938 00:46:14,920 --> 00:46:18,120 Speaker 4: Because also in that same interview about this book, they 939 00:46:18,160 --> 00:46:21,880 Speaker 4: bring up Vance, and Ben basically admits that, like, yeah, 940 00:46:22,040 --> 00:46:25,000 Speaker 4: the current version of Vance is a bit of a scavenger. 941 00:46:25,040 --> 00:46:29,759 Speaker 4: He's doing all these things. He like he's describe Vance, yeah, 942 00:46:29,800 --> 00:46:31,799 Speaker 4: oh one hundred percent. Like he's like, yeah, the the 943 00:46:31,840 --> 00:46:34,560 Speaker 4: Hillbilly Elogy era, he was like a lion, which like 944 00:46:34,640 --> 00:46:36,759 Speaker 4: maybe he was a scavenger the whole time. Ben, who 945 00:46:36,840 --> 00:46:38,880 Speaker 4: you know, how is that being a lion? 946 00:46:39,040 --> 00:46:39,879 Speaker 2: He's literally just. 947 00:46:40,040 --> 00:46:43,719 Speaker 4: Okay, I know we don't need to but like it's 948 00:46:43,800 --> 00:46:46,719 Speaker 4: just it's absurd, but it was interesting that he is 949 00:46:46,760 --> 00:46:52,279 Speaker 4: willing to recognize that there are scavengers amidst. I don't 950 00:46:52,280 --> 00:46:53,840 Speaker 4: even know if he thinks Trump's a lion or not, 951 00:46:54,040 --> 00:46:55,400 Speaker 4: but that whole group of people. 952 00:46:56,360 --> 00:46:56,760 Speaker 3: Yeah. 953 00:46:57,040 --> 00:46:59,680 Speaker 2: Next after this we get one of the least coherent 954 00:46:59,719 --> 00:47:02,480 Speaker 2: sections of the book. Thus far, A pride of lions 955 00:47:02,520 --> 00:47:06,040 Speaker 2: can accomplish nearly anything unless the pride falls to the 956 00:47:06,120 --> 00:47:09,600 Speaker 2: pack and pack is capitalized too. The spirit of the scavenger, 957 00:47:09,880 --> 00:47:12,640 Speaker 2: the spirit of the scavenger is the spirit of envy. 958 00:47:14,040 --> 00:47:15,840 Speaker 3: He's not he's just putting work. 959 00:47:16,000 --> 00:47:19,200 Speaker 1: There's just there's It's just ridiculous. 960 00:47:19,840 --> 00:47:20,880 Speaker 3: It means nothing. 961 00:47:21,360 --> 00:47:26,239 Speaker 2: It means nothing. It's so irrational because the foundation of this, 962 00:47:26,360 --> 00:47:29,839 Speaker 2: the whole light You're just wrong entirely about, Like none 963 00:47:29,880 --> 00:47:32,400 Speaker 2: of this makes sense. It's like if I were to 964 00:47:32,400 --> 00:47:35,759 Speaker 2: write a book about like fucking I don't even know 965 00:47:35,800 --> 00:47:38,400 Speaker 2: how to like make a bad enough analogy. 966 00:47:38,560 --> 00:47:40,319 Speaker 3: No, really bad. 967 00:47:40,520 --> 00:47:42,920 Speaker 4: You can't because also when you say the word pack 968 00:47:42,960 --> 00:47:46,120 Speaker 4: and you capitalize, I'm thinking of wolves, which wouldn't you 969 00:47:46,480 --> 00:47:51,000 Speaker 4: be able to use for your other Like they're so interchangeable. 970 00:47:51,280 --> 00:47:52,520 Speaker 2: It's like if I were to write a book called 971 00:47:52,520 --> 00:47:54,839 Speaker 2: The Horse in the Ant and started with like Obviously, 972 00:47:54,920 --> 00:47:56,960 Speaker 2: the horse sore is high above all of us on 973 00:47:57,040 --> 00:47:58,360 Speaker 2: its mighty wings. 974 00:47:58,440 --> 00:47:58,680 Speaker 4: And. 975 00:48:00,320 --> 00:48:02,720 Speaker 3: Meanwhile the ant looming over the horse. 976 00:48:03,800 --> 00:48:07,640 Speaker 2: Okay, so I debated whether or not to discuss the 977 00:48:07,640 --> 00:48:10,680 Speaker 2: fact that Ben himself is clearly motivated by a deep 978 00:48:10,880 --> 00:48:11,880 Speaker 2: spirit of envy. 979 00:48:12,120 --> 00:48:12,279 Speaker 3: Right. 980 00:48:12,560 --> 00:48:14,640 Speaker 2: His initial career goal, as you and I have talked 981 00:48:14,680 --> 00:48:17,640 Speaker 2: about on several podcasts Cody, was to write for Hollywood. 982 00:48:17,640 --> 00:48:19,480 Speaker 2: He wanted to be a screenwriter. He wanted to write 983 00:48:19,480 --> 00:48:22,520 Speaker 2: TV in movies. And he filled in this goal because 984 00:48:22,520 --> 00:48:25,160 Speaker 2: he's not good at it, right, And the Daily Wires 985 00:48:26,120 --> 00:48:29,480 Speaker 2: movie like is also a massive waste of money, horrible 986 00:48:29,520 --> 00:48:32,160 Speaker 2: idea because none of them are good writers. 987 00:48:32,400 --> 00:48:35,920 Speaker 4: Hey, you wait until they do the anti woke snow White. Okay, 988 00:48:35,960 --> 00:48:37,760 Speaker 4: that's gonna be really, really good. 989 00:48:37,880 --> 00:48:40,680 Speaker 2: That's going to really blow up. Audiences are craving, the 990 00:48:40,760 --> 00:48:44,640 Speaker 2: children cry out, demanding, and he woke snow fucking White. 991 00:48:44,680 --> 00:48:47,480 Speaker 3: You can hear him now, they're just woke. 992 00:48:47,520 --> 00:48:50,600 Speaker 2: Snow was the Snow White Man like the sixties. It's 993 00:48:50,640 --> 00:48:52,520 Speaker 2: not woke, I don't anyway. 994 00:48:53,040 --> 00:48:54,680 Speaker 3: It's because they made a new one and the. 995 00:48:55,000 --> 00:48:58,720 Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, I haven't been keeping up with the fucking 996 00:48:58,719 --> 00:49:01,920 Speaker 2: Disney don't. Yes, But I think it's important to hear 997 00:49:02,440 --> 00:49:05,800 Speaker 2: the spirit of envy is the primary that's the center 998 00:49:05,840 --> 00:49:09,680 Speaker 2: of Ben Shapiro's soul. Right, it is quite obvious reading 999 00:49:09,719 --> 00:49:12,200 Speaker 2: his angry rants against Hollywood. That's a huge amount of 1000 00:49:12,239 --> 00:49:14,120 Speaker 2: his writing, and it's why he's tried to make the 1001 00:49:14,200 --> 00:49:17,560 Speaker 2: Daily Wire. They wasted millions trying to create their own 1002 00:49:17,560 --> 00:49:22,279 Speaker 2: Hollywood because his hatred of the left its origin in 1003 00:49:22,320 --> 00:49:23,960 Speaker 2: a lot of ways. I'm not going to say this 1004 00:49:24,000 --> 00:49:26,040 Speaker 2: is the only origin point, but a major source for 1005 00:49:26,080 --> 00:49:28,640 Speaker 2: his hatred of the left is because he sees Hollywood 1006 00:49:28,719 --> 00:49:32,600 Speaker 2: as a fundamentally leftist institution that refused to give him 1007 00:49:32,640 --> 00:49:35,520 Speaker 2: the respect he deserves, that didn't recognize his brilliance. 1008 00:49:35,680 --> 00:49:35,839 Speaker 1: Right. 1009 00:49:36,239 --> 00:49:40,120 Speaker 2: That is beIN Shapiro's origin story as a villain is 1010 00:49:40,160 --> 00:49:43,600 Speaker 2: that he couldn't hack it as a fucking professional screenwriter. 1011 00:49:44,000 --> 00:49:47,200 Speaker 3: Yes, about eighty five percent, right, yeah, exactly. 1012 00:49:47,440 --> 00:49:51,240 Speaker 4: Growing up fundamentalist, religious conservative, all that kind of stuff 1013 00:49:51,680 --> 00:49:52,279 Speaker 4: did not help. 1014 00:49:52,400 --> 00:49:56,160 Speaker 3: But that resentment fueled bienvy is one hundred percent of. 1015 00:49:56,200 --> 00:49:59,040 Speaker 2: Yeah, and he can only see this as an example 1016 00:49:59,160 --> 00:50:02,120 Speaker 2: of Hollywood hate conservatives like him, Right, it has to 1017 00:50:02,160 --> 00:50:04,680 Speaker 2: be bigotry. That's because that's the only way he could 1018 00:50:04,719 --> 00:50:08,000 Speaker 2: not succeed, right, And you know, he has to ignore 1019 00:50:08,200 --> 00:50:09,839 Speaker 2: a lot in order to believe this. If he were 1020 00:50:09,920 --> 00:50:12,239 Speaker 2: to look at reality, he would see that plenty of 1021 00:50:12,320 --> 00:50:16,800 Speaker 2: conservatives have been very successful in Hollywood. Screenwriters like David 1022 00:50:16,840 --> 00:50:19,879 Speaker 2: Mammott and John Millius right or Millius, I always forget 1023 00:50:19,880 --> 00:50:22,920 Speaker 2: the guy who did Red Dawn. Right, Actors like Kelsey 1024 00:50:22,960 --> 00:50:25,759 Speaker 2: Grammer and John voightd not to mention Sylvester Stallone and 1025 00:50:25,880 --> 00:50:28,680 Speaker 2: Arnold Schwarzenegger, who feels more like a Democrat today but 1026 00:50:28,800 --> 00:50:31,200 Speaker 2: was the literal Republican governor of California. 1027 00:50:31,280 --> 00:50:31,560 Speaker 3: Right. 1028 00:50:31,680 --> 00:50:35,120 Speaker 2: There's plenty of successful conservatives to the Hollywood as actors 1029 00:50:35,120 --> 00:50:39,200 Speaker 2: and writers, massively. 1030 00:50:38,760 --> 00:50:42,680 Speaker 3: Successful and talented, very conservative. 1031 00:50:42,000 --> 00:50:45,759 Speaker 2: Persons, plenty of conservative like movies that are conservative. And 1032 00:50:45,800 --> 00:50:47,799 Speaker 2: I'm just think about how many during the War on Terror, 1033 00:50:47,880 --> 00:50:50,160 Speaker 2: how many TV shows and movies had a scene where 1034 00:50:50,160 --> 00:50:53,319 Speaker 2: the guy has to torture someone to save lives. Right, 1035 00:50:53,680 --> 00:50:55,680 Speaker 2: That is conservative propaganda. 1036 00:50:55,920 --> 00:50:57,839 Speaker 4: Even though it's like they would buy a lot of 1037 00:50:57,920 --> 00:51:00,959 Speaker 4: like self described libs or whatever, or like, it's still 1038 00:51:01,000 --> 00:51:07,319 Speaker 4: conservative ideologically. Like, yeah, but we're in America, so we 1039 00:51:07,360 --> 00:51:11,360 Speaker 4: don't recognize that all of that is in service of 1040 00:51:11,520 --> 00:51:17,040 Speaker 4: a more right wing viewpoint, and he resents it. And 1041 00:51:17,080 --> 00:51:19,080 Speaker 4: I mean, we're seeing it now with all this like 1042 00:51:19,400 --> 00:51:22,320 Speaker 4: move to like I'm not even gonna say canceled culture 1043 00:51:22,320 --> 00:51:23,160 Speaker 4: because that's not what it is. 1044 00:51:23,200 --> 00:51:24,080 Speaker 3: It's not what it's going on. 1045 00:51:24,360 --> 00:51:26,400 Speaker 4: But like the firing of all these people is an 1046 00:51:26,480 --> 00:51:29,960 Speaker 4: expression of that resentment because they want to do it, 1047 00:51:30,040 --> 00:51:31,239 Speaker 4: they want to be doing it. 1048 00:51:31,360 --> 00:51:33,640 Speaker 2: Right and there, Yeah, part of it is if I 1049 00:51:33,719 --> 00:51:35,560 Speaker 2: get them out, finally I'll get a shot and. 1050 00:51:35,520 --> 00:51:37,920 Speaker 3: People will realize that I was finally late night with Gefeld. 1051 00:51:38,400 --> 00:51:41,720 Speaker 2: Yeah right. And obviously, you know, Ben did not fail 1052 00:51:41,760 --> 00:51:44,680 Speaker 2: to make it in Hollywood because people were bigoted against 1053 00:51:44,680 --> 00:51:47,080 Speaker 2: his conservatism. He failed because he's not a good writer. 1054 00:51:47,160 --> 00:51:50,320 Speaker 2: His only talent isn't agitating people with cheap political shots. 1055 00:51:50,640 --> 00:51:52,799 Speaker 2: This is very funny because the next paragraph of the 1056 00:51:52,840 --> 00:51:55,280 Speaker 2: book after that line about the spirits of the Scavenger 1057 00:51:55,320 --> 00:51:57,560 Speaker 2: is the spirit of envy. The very next paragraph is 1058 00:51:57,600 --> 00:52:01,800 Speaker 2: basically been describing himself. The Scavenger does not believe in 1059 00:52:01,840 --> 00:52:04,600 Speaker 2: an understandable universe in which success is the result of 1060 00:52:04,600 --> 00:52:07,879 Speaker 2: performance of duty. Instead, the Scavenger believes that any such 1061 00:52:08,040 --> 00:52:11,520 Speaker 2: argument as a guise for power and power alone. The Scavenger, 1062 00:52:11,600 --> 00:52:13,920 Speaker 2: in his perverse projection believes that there is a great 1063 00:52:13,960 --> 00:52:16,760 Speaker 2: conspiracy against him, and that the only path to success 1064 00:52:16,800 --> 00:52:19,279 Speaker 2: lies in tearing away at that great conspiracy with tooth 1065 00:52:19,320 --> 00:52:28,000 Speaker 2: and claw. Oh, bell, Ben Ben, that's your life. That's 1066 00:52:28,080 --> 00:52:30,520 Speaker 2: your entire career, buddy. 1067 00:52:31,480 --> 00:52:34,879 Speaker 3: Your first book was about the conspiracy against you, and 1068 00:52:35,040 --> 00:52:37,120 Speaker 3: you specifically and conservatives generally. 1069 00:52:37,440 --> 00:52:42,360 Speaker 2: Yes, your whole life, bro Now. Ben goes on to 1070 00:52:42,440 --> 00:52:46,240 Speaker 2: write that while lions form a pride, scavengers form a pack, 1071 00:52:46,719 --> 00:52:49,080 Speaker 2: is it a problem from a writing standpoint that pack 1072 00:52:49,160 --> 00:52:50,799 Speaker 2: and pride are passable synonyms? 1073 00:52:51,160 --> 00:52:53,160 Speaker 3: No? Yeah, I mean it should be. 1074 00:52:53,320 --> 00:52:55,879 Speaker 2: But could you describe lions as having a pack? 1075 00:52:56,160 --> 00:52:57,879 Speaker 3: Sure? Sure? Right? 1076 00:52:57,960 --> 00:53:00,600 Speaker 2: I You couldn't describe other like pride doesn't go both. 1077 00:53:00,600 --> 00:53:04,200 Speaker 2: It's very like a urban whiskey thing, right. Anyway, The 1078 00:53:04,280 --> 00:53:10,280 Speaker 2: pack consists of looters, lectures, and barbarians. The fall of London, 1079 00:53:10,360 --> 00:53:13,680 Speaker 2: he writes, is symptomatic of the growing power of the pack, 1080 00:53:14,239 --> 00:53:16,600 Speaker 2: and reading this Reading him write about the fall of 1081 00:53:16,640 --> 00:53:20,960 Speaker 2: London felt particularly ridiculous in twenty twenty five, given that 1082 00:53:21,000 --> 00:53:24,160 Speaker 2: about a month before Binn's book was published, London police 1083 00:53:24,280 --> 00:53:27,160 Speaker 2: arrested four hundred and seventy four people at a Palestine 1084 00:53:27,280 --> 00:53:30,960 Speaker 2: Action ban protest, per the BBC, police have arrested four 1085 00:53:31,000 --> 00:53:33,560 Speaker 2: hundred seventy four people at a demonstration in London and support 1086 00:53:33,600 --> 00:53:36,719 Speaker 2: of the banned group Palestine Action. The Metropolitan Police said 1087 00:53:36,719 --> 00:53:39,400 Speaker 2: four hundred and sixty six protesters were arrested for supporting 1088 00:53:39,400 --> 00:53:41,960 Speaker 2: the group, five for assaults on police officers, two for 1089 00:53:42,000 --> 00:53:44,920 Speaker 2: public order offenses and one for a racially aggravated offense. 1090 00:53:45,200 --> 00:53:48,480 Speaker 2: Scores of people simultaneously unveiled handwritten signs with the message 1091 00:53:48,560 --> 00:53:51,840 Speaker 2: I opposed genocide, I support Palestine Action at the protest 1092 00:53:52,160 --> 00:53:55,320 Speaker 2: organized by Defendar Juries at Westminster's Parliament Square. It was 1093 00:53:55,320 --> 00:53:57,480 Speaker 2: the biggest protest since the government prescribed the group in 1094 00:53:57,560 --> 00:54:00,520 Speaker 2: July under the Terrorism Act of two thousand, making membership 1095 00:54:00,560 --> 00:54:03,160 Speaker 2: of or support for it a criminal offense punishable by 1096 00:54:03,200 --> 00:54:06,400 Speaker 2: up to fourteen years in prison. No officers were seriously injured, 1097 00:54:06,400 --> 00:54:08,120 Speaker 2: and the Met Police said that the number of arrests 1098 00:54:08,160 --> 00:54:09,919 Speaker 2: was the largest made by the force on a single 1099 00:54:09,960 --> 00:54:13,160 Speaker 2: day in the last ten years. London really has fallen 1100 00:54:13,239 --> 00:54:16,359 Speaker 2: to the pack back of police. You can't even say 1101 00:54:16,360 --> 00:54:19,360 Speaker 2: I oppose genocide, I support this group, They'll arrest you. 1102 00:54:20,080 --> 00:54:23,640 Speaker 4: I mean, you know, I feel like he loves it again, 1103 00:54:23,920 --> 00:54:25,840 Speaker 4: it's just this is what they're talking about doing now, 1104 00:54:26,160 --> 00:54:29,680 Speaker 4: labeling anybody as a terrorist and doing exactly what you 1105 00:54:29,760 --> 00:54:32,520 Speaker 4: described but here, yep, that is their political project. 1106 00:54:32,640 --> 00:54:34,400 Speaker 3: That is what he is supporting right now. 1107 00:54:34,719 --> 00:54:37,880 Speaker 4: He's guesting on all the podcasts with the Vice President, 1108 00:54:37,960 --> 00:54:41,600 Speaker 4: who's only a podcaster now talking about this exact things. 1109 00:54:41,800 --> 00:54:46,240 Speaker 3: Yes, exactly, So maybe he's a I don't know, wolf 1110 00:54:46,280 --> 00:54:50,719 Speaker 3: of Vulture role yes, bad writer, yes, line piece of shit. 1111 00:54:50,760 --> 00:54:52,359 Speaker 3: Bad writer. Yeah. 1112 00:54:52,440 --> 00:54:55,520 Speaker 2: Now, given the way book publication timetables work, there's no 1113 00:54:55,680 --> 00:54:58,200 Speaker 2: way that you know these mass arrests happened. They certainly 1114 00:54:58,200 --> 00:54:59,839 Speaker 2: didn't happen in time for Ben to revise his book 1115 00:54:59,880 --> 00:55:02,239 Speaker 2: to account for it. Right, But the fact that this 1116 00:55:02,360 --> 00:55:05,160 Speaker 2: happened puts the lie to everything he says here about 1117 00:55:05,200 --> 00:55:08,080 Speaker 2: the supposedly massive and rising social power of the Pack 1118 00:55:08,320 --> 00:55:10,600 Speaker 2: and the fact that they've taken London, you know, the 1119 00:55:10,600 --> 00:55:12,719 Speaker 2: fact that the Pride has to constantly be back on 1120 00:55:12,760 --> 00:55:16,399 Speaker 2: their heels, scrambling desperately to hold onto civilization. Because if 1121 00:55:16,440 --> 00:55:18,759 Speaker 2: like you just acknowledge that, like no, actually they have 1122 00:55:18,800 --> 00:55:20,960 Speaker 2: all the power and they're like massively abusing it and 1123 00:55:21,000 --> 00:55:24,640 Speaker 2: like hurting people and like aren't in no danger whatsoever, 1124 00:55:24,760 --> 00:55:27,719 Speaker 2: but are endangering huge numbers of people. That doesn't sound 1125 00:55:27,719 --> 00:55:28,040 Speaker 2: as good. 1126 00:55:28,280 --> 00:55:31,640 Speaker 4: No, it needs to be Barbarians at the Gates were perpetual, 1127 00:55:31,960 --> 00:55:34,960 Speaker 4: desperately symptoms, perpetually persecuted, And. 1128 00:55:35,040 --> 00:55:37,760 Speaker 2: We have every lever of power exactly, And he critiques 1129 00:55:37,840 --> 00:55:41,680 Speaker 2: leftists in this passage from embracing Mauseidong's statement that political 1130 00:55:41,680 --> 00:55:43,959 Speaker 2: power grows from the barrel of a gun. But that's 1131 00:55:44,000 --> 00:55:47,440 Speaker 2: the only power Ben has ever recognized. What do you 1132 00:55:47,560 --> 00:55:50,000 Speaker 2: call these, matt what do you call mass arrests? Man 1133 00:55:50,120 --> 00:55:51,839 Speaker 2: premise of police? Like? 1134 00:55:51,880 --> 00:55:54,799 Speaker 4: What are you talking about? Like ice is like doing? 1135 00:55:54,920 --> 00:55:56,280 Speaker 4: Like that is political power? 1136 00:55:56,320 --> 00:55:58,400 Speaker 2: What do you call like Israel's actions? 1137 00:55:58,480 --> 00:55:58,680 Speaker 3: Right? 1138 00:55:58,880 --> 00:56:01,040 Speaker 2: Like, I mean it's bomb I guess more than the 1139 00:56:01,040 --> 00:56:03,520 Speaker 2: barrel of a gun. But you know, the basic idea 1140 00:56:03,600 --> 00:56:04,080 Speaker 2: is the same. 1141 00:56:04,280 --> 00:56:08,080 Speaker 3: Right, you can use language in ways to mean many things. Yeah, 1142 00:56:08,200 --> 00:56:11,600 Speaker 3: he believes that, Yes, he believes that. Yes. 1143 00:56:12,239 --> 00:56:14,920 Speaker 2: Ben continues with a warning that the children of lions 1144 00:56:15,080 --> 00:56:18,319 Speaker 2: well themselves become scavengers if the lions don't pass on 1145 00:56:18,400 --> 00:56:20,719 Speaker 2: their ways to their kids, and then he pivots to 1146 00:56:20,760 --> 00:56:23,480 Speaker 2: talking about an eighteen ninety seven poem that Richard Kipling 1147 00:56:23,480 --> 00:56:27,040 Speaker 2: wrote for The Diamond jubilee of Queen Victoria. This poem, 1148 00:56:27,040 --> 00:56:29,280 Speaker 2: written at the height of the power of the British Empire, 1149 00:56:29,480 --> 00:56:33,200 Speaker 2: he sees as a warning that went unheeded, the tumult 1150 00:56:33,200 --> 00:56:35,840 Speaker 2: and the shouting dies, the captains and the kings depart, 1151 00:56:36,160 --> 00:56:40,640 Speaker 2: still stands thine ancient sacrifice and humble in a contrite. Heart, Lord, 1152 00:56:40,640 --> 00:56:43,080 Speaker 2: God of Hosts, be with us. Yet lest we forget, 1153 00:56:43,320 --> 00:56:48,279 Speaker 2: Lest we forget now. I don't really see that as 1154 00:56:48,320 --> 00:56:51,120 Speaker 2: a warning about not indoctrinating your kid with propaganda, but 1155 00:56:51,120 --> 00:56:52,839 Speaker 2: I guess I can see where he's coming from there. 1156 00:56:53,840 --> 00:56:55,920 Speaker 2: It's clear that where he goes next in this chapter. 1157 00:56:56,040 --> 00:56:59,120 Speaker 2: Basically he says that the reason England fell, so to speak, 1158 00:56:59,200 --> 00:57:01,440 Speaker 2: is that they embrace the welfare state. And that's why 1159 00:57:01,440 --> 00:57:04,320 Speaker 2: the British Empire ended, right, That's why they're no longer 1160 00:57:04,400 --> 00:57:07,080 Speaker 2: the center of the West is because they got taken 1161 00:57:07,120 --> 00:57:10,640 Speaker 2: over by these socialist ideas and like the establishing of 1162 00:57:10,640 --> 00:57:14,359 Speaker 2: a welfare state, all of those lions, their kids became scavengers, 1163 00:57:14,520 --> 00:57:16,040 Speaker 2: you know, that's the argument. 1164 00:57:16,160 --> 00:57:19,680 Speaker 3: Yes, mandatory scavengerism, right. 1165 00:57:20,000 --> 00:57:23,440 Speaker 2: And this is classic been leaving out a massive and important, 1166 00:57:23,560 --> 00:57:27,120 Speaker 2: inconvenient fact that does not fit in his neat ideological lines. 1167 00:57:27,320 --> 00:57:30,840 Speaker 2: The British Empire didn't get sick and fail because of welfare. 1168 00:57:31,280 --> 00:57:34,280 Speaker 2: It began its slow death slide during the First World War, 1169 00:57:34,640 --> 00:57:37,840 Speaker 2: in which it lit its treasury on fire and annihilated 1170 00:57:37,840 --> 00:57:42,640 Speaker 2: a generation of young men. Kipling himself was profoundly changed 1171 00:57:42,640 --> 00:57:44,920 Speaker 2: by the horrors of World War One. He was a 1172 00:57:45,000 --> 00:57:47,920 Speaker 2: strong imperialist his whole life. He was a very strong 1173 00:57:47,920 --> 00:57:51,040 Speaker 2: imperialist prior to the outbreak of hostilities in World War One. 1174 00:57:51,480 --> 00:57:55,720 Speaker 2: Kipling despised Germany and German civilization, and he was a 1175 00:57:55,880 --> 00:57:58,840 Speaker 2: huge supporter at the outset of the war in England, 1176 00:57:58,880 --> 00:58:02,320 Speaker 2: getting involved and admitting to it. As the war started, 1177 00:58:02,360 --> 00:58:05,680 Speaker 2: he wrote something that feels very familiar to what Ben 1178 00:58:05,840 --> 00:58:08,680 Speaker 2: writes in his book For all we have and are, 1179 00:58:09,000 --> 00:58:12,120 Speaker 2: for all our children's fate, stand up and take the war. 1180 00:58:12,440 --> 00:58:15,760 Speaker 2: The hun is at the gate. That's essentially what Ben's writing. 1181 00:58:15,840 --> 00:58:17,480 Speaker 3: That's what he's writing, right. 1182 00:58:17,640 --> 00:58:19,840 Speaker 2: Yeah, So let's talk about Kipling. Let's talk about what 1183 00:58:19,840 --> 00:58:22,840 Speaker 2: World War One did to Kipling. Because Rudyard had one son, 1184 00:58:23,120 --> 00:58:26,040 Speaker 2: sixteen year old John Kipling. John was sixteen when the 1185 00:58:26,080 --> 00:58:30,000 Speaker 2: war started. Now, John had intended to join the Royal Navy, 1186 00:58:30,080 --> 00:58:32,480 Speaker 2: but his eyesight was bad and so he was unable 1187 00:58:32,480 --> 00:58:35,280 Speaker 2: to take on a navy career. So Rudyard used his 1188 00:58:35,320 --> 00:58:39,240 Speaker 2: connections being a very famous and influential person in media, 1189 00:58:39,320 --> 00:58:41,920 Speaker 2: to get John a commission as an officer in the 1190 00:58:41,960 --> 00:58:44,760 Speaker 2: Irish Guards, which is a British military unit made up 1191 00:58:44,760 --> 00:58:48,520 Speaker 2: of Irish soldiers right with British officers. In nineteen fifteen, 1192 00:58:48,600 --> 00:58:51,680 Speaker 2: John became a platoon commander in the Irish Guards and 1193 00:58:51,760 --> 00:58:54,000 Speaker 2: was sent to fight in the Battle of Loose. He 1194 00:58:54,200 --> 00:58:58,560 Speaker 2: died while assaulting the German lines. This was a profoundly 1195 00:58:58,680 --> 00:59:03,120 Speaker 2: traumatizing and event for Kipling. For one thing, Prior to 1196 00:59:03,160 --> 00:59:07,360 Speaker 2: his son becoming appletune matter, Kipling was super anti Irish 1197 00:59:07,720 --> 00:59:09,800 Speaker 2: right he was a strong Unionist, so he was anti 1198 00:59:10,000 --> 00:59:12,520 Speaker 2: Irish independence, but he was also just kind of bigoted 1199 00:59:12,560 --> 00:59:15,840 Speaker 2: against Irish people. He had written with disgust about Irish 1200 00:59:15,840 --> 00:59:19,560 Speaker 2: culture previously, and this changed, I think in part just 1201 00:59:19,600 --> 00:59:22,920 Speaker 2: because he had more contact through his son and whatnot 1202 00:59:22,960 --> 00:59:26,080 Speaker 2: with Irish people as a result of this, That's how 1203 00:59:26,200 --> 00:59:28,280 Speaker 2: things like this can happen. And I'm not going to 1204 00:59:28,360 --> 00:59:30,160 Speaker 2: say he ever totally turned around on the issue, but 1205 00:59:30,200 --> 00:59:33,520 Speaker 2: he wrote poetry about Irish history and started expressing after 1206 00:59:33,600 --> 00:59:37,120 Speaker 2: this point a considerable degree with admiration about irishchol, particularly 1207 00:59:37,120 --> 00:59:38,640 Speaker 2: in comparison to what he'd written before. 1208 00:59:39,360 --> 00:59:39,600 Speaker 3: Now. 1209 00:59:39,720 --> 00:59:42,640 Speaker 2: He also wrote this about what happened to his son 1210 00:59:42,920 --> 00:59:45,800 Speaker 2: in the wake of World War One. If any question 1211 00:59:45,960 --> 00:59:49,080 Speaker 2: why we died, tell them because our fathers lied. 1212 00:59:49,600 --> 00:59:56,840 Speaker 4: That seems maybe different from yeah, what the topic started as, right. 1213 00:59:57,120 --> 00:59:59,760 Speaker 2: It seems maybe again to go from where Ben is 1214 00:59:59,800 --> 01:00:01,600 Speaker 2: like the like no, the wars at the gate, anything 1215 01:00:01,640 --> 01:00:03,240 Speaker 2: we have to do is justified, and like, oh no, 1216 01:00:03,360 --> 01:00:07,680 Speaker 2: my son's dead. Up my kids, Maybe this was a 1217 01:00:07,720 --> 01:00:10,720 Speaker 2: fuck up. Right now, there's some context to this line, 1218 01:00:10,760 --> 01:00:12,240 Speaker 2: and I'm going to quote from an article for The 1219 01:00:12,240 --> 01:00:15,800 Speaker 2: Irish Times by Ronan McGreevy explaining the context behind this line. 1220 01:00:16,280 --> 01:00:18,680 Speaker 2: This has often been wrongly interpreted as Kipling believing that 1221 01:00:18,720 --> 01:00:21,000 Speaker 2: his son's death was in vain. He never believed the 1222 01:00:21,000 --> 01:00:24,640 Speaker 2: First World War was unnecessary, he believed it was badly prosecuted. 1223 01:00:24,800 --> 01:00:26,720 Speaker 2: On a more general level, this couplet is about the 1224 01:00:26,760 --> 01:00:29,960 Speaker 2: lies the older generations tell that compels the younger to fight. 1225 01:00:30,240 --> 01:00:31,959 Speaker 2: It could also allude to his own lives and getting 1226 01:00:32,000 --> 01:00:34,200 Speaker 2: a son a commission when he was physically unfit to fight. 1227 01:00:34,440 --> 01:00:36,800 Speaker 2: So there's a lot going on here. But Kipling was 1228 01:00:36,840 --> 01:00:38,520 Speaker 2: racked for the rest of his life with a tremendous 1229 01:00:38,560 --> 01:00:41,320 Speaker 2: guilt because of what happened to his son, and because 1230 01:00:41,440 --> 01:00:43,360 Speaker 2: even if he could never admit that World War One 1231 01:00:43,480 --> 01:00:46,480 Speaker 2: was itself fully a bad idea, he knew that it 1232 01:00:46,720 --> 01:00:48,640 Speaker 2: was right. He had to be like, well, it was 1233 01:00:48,680 --> 01:00:50,560 Speaker 2: badly probab but he I think there's a degree of 1234 01:00:50,600 --> 01:00:53,880 Speaker 2: ego there. But he knew that he'd fucked up right, 1235 01:00:54,000 --> 01:00:55,000 Speaker 2: that they all had. 1236 01:00:55,040 --> 01:00:56,600 Speaker 3: Lied to them to get them to fight. 1237 01:00:57,160 --> 01:01:01,240 Speaker 2: That's and you know, Ben Ben will know ever admit 1238 01:01:01,320 --> 01:01:03,680 Speaker 2: to being wrong about anything. I don't think, no matter 1239 01:01:03,720 --> 01:01:07,760 Speaker 2: what happens, he's capable of that. But Kipling was to 1240 01:01:07,880 --> 01:01:11,400 Speaker 2: an extent, you know, he never fully repudiated imperialism. But 1241 01:01:11,440 --> 01:01:13,800 Speaker 2: he went to his grave racked by the knowledge that 1242 01:01:13,840 --> 01:01:16,000 Speaker 2: the war he'd endorsed and supported had taken not only 1243 01:01:16,040 --> 01:01:19,000 Speaker 2: his son, but had shattered the British Empire, right, it 1244 01:01:19,040 --> 01:01:22,680 Speaker 2: had shattered his hopes of continuing British imperial dominance. As 1245 01:01:22,680 --> 01:01:25,240 Speaker 2: an imperialist. He couldn't ignore the fact that like, oh 1246 01:01:25,280 --> 01:01:26,240 Speaker 2: this kind of ruined. 1247 01:01:25,960 --> 01:01:29,560 Speaker 4: It at all, right, Yeah, you know, like sometimes expressing that 1248 01:01:29,720 --> 01:01:32,640 Speaker 4: sort of guilt is how you're actually saying that you 1249 01:01:32,640 --> 01:01:36,440 Speaker 4: were wrong without saying it right, because that's human beings 1250 01:01:36,440 --> 01:01:39,840 Speaker 4: are complex and it can be very hard to just 1251 01:01:39,880 --> 01:01:40,800 Speaker 4: say those words. 1252 01:01:40,800 --> 01:01:43,840 Speaker 3: So you just expressed the guilt of it, right. 1253 01:01:43,920 --> 01:01:47,280 Speaker 2: And it's so telling about Ben and about what goes 1254 01:01:47,280 --> 01:01:51,360 Speaker 2: on in his head that he cites approvingly this passage 1255 01:01:51,760 --> 01:01:54,520 Speaker 2: of Kipling while ignoring the rest of his life, because 1256 01:01:54,920 --> 01:01:57,440 Speaker 2: in reality, a figure like Rudyard Kipling ought to be 1257 01:01:57,480 --> 01:02:00,480 Speaker 2: a warning to Ben Shapiro and those like him. Right, 1258 01:02:00,880 --> 01:02:03,960 Speaker 2: And even again, I don't want to frame it as 1259 01:02:04,000 --> 01:02:07,040 Speaker 2: like Kipling got woke after World War One, but Kipling 1260 01:02:07,080 --> 01:02:10,560 Speaker 2: got increasingly critical of imperialism and of his previous stances 1261 01:02:10,840 --> 01:02:13,640 Speaker 2: after World War One, and he actually wrote some stuff. 1262 01:02:13,680 --> 01:02:15,680 Speaker 2: One of his poems, A pict Song, is one of 1263 01:02:15,680 --> 01:02:20,160 Speaker 2: my favorite anti imperialist pieces of writing. And I was 1264 01:02:20,160 --> 01:02:23,240 Speaker 2: considering just reading like a segment from it. But do 1265 01:02:23,240 --> 01:02:25,440 Speaker 2: you mind if I just read the poem because I 1266 01:02:25,520 --> 01:02:27,560 Speaker 2: think we all need this, right, I think this might 1267 01:02:27,600 --> 01:02:31,200 Speaker 2: be handy as we all watch this fucking empire come 1268 01:02:31,240 --> 01:02:33,160 Speaker 2: down to crush us and the ones we love. So 1269 01:02:33,800 --> 01:02:35,560 Speaker 2: I'm gonna read this poem and then we'll talk about. 1270 01:02:35,400 --> 01:02:39,360 Speaker 3: It depressing, and then yeah, yeah, you're the place poem. 1271 01:02:39,960 --> 01:02:43,439 Speaker 2: So this is a picked song by Ridyard Kipling. Rome 1272 01:02:43,560 --> 01:02:47,000 Speaker 2: never looks where she treads. Always her heavy hoofs fall 1273 01:02:47,240 --> 01:02:50,080 Speaker 2: on our stomachs, our hearts, or our heads. And Rome 1274 01:02:50,200 --> 01:02:53,560 Speaker 2: never heeds when we ball her. Centuries pass on, that 1275 01:02:53,720 --> 01:02:56,640 Speaker 2: is all, and we gather behind them in hordes and 1276 01:02:56,720 --> 01:02:59,760 Speaker 2: plot to reconquer the wall with only our tongues for 1277 01:02:59,800 --> 01:03:03,440 Speaker 2: our swords. We are the little folk, we too little 1278 01:03:03,440 --> 01:03:06,000 Speaker 2: to love or to hate. Leave us alone, and you'll 1279 01:03:06,000 --> 01:03:09,120 Speaker 2: see how we can drag down the state. We are 1280 01:03:09,160 --> 01:03:11,360 Speaker 2: the worm in the wood. We are the rod at 1281 01:03:11,400 --> 01:03:13,960 Speaker 2: the root. We are the taint and the blood. We 1282 01:03:14,040 --> 01:03:17,280 Speaker 2: are the thorn in the foot, mistletoe killing an oak, 1283 01:03:17,760 --> 01:03:21,760 Speaker 2: rats gnawing cables in two moths, making holes in a coat. 1284 01:03:22,040 --> 01:03:24,800 Speaker 2: How they must love what they do. Yes, and we 1285 01:03:24,880 --> 01:03:28,160 Speaker 2: little folk too, We are as busy as they, working 1286 01:03:28,200 --> 01:03:28,880 Speaker 2: our works. 1287 01:03:28,600 --> 01:03:28,960 Speaker 3: Out of you. 1288 01:03:29,520 --> 01:03:32,800 Speaker 2: Watch and you'll see it someday. No, indeed we are 1289 01:03:32,840 --> 01:03:36,160 Speaker 2: not strong, but we know peoples that are, Yes, and 1290 01:03:36,200 --> 01:03:39,280 Speaker 2: we'll guide them along to smash and destroy you in war. 1291 01:03:39,800 --> 01:03:42,720 Speaker 2: We shall be slaves just the same. Yes, we have 1292 01:03:42,800 --> 01:03:46,160 Speaker 2: always been slaves. But you you will die of the shame, 1293 01:03:46,560 --> 01:03:52,160 Speaker 2: and then we shall dance on your graves. I like 1294 01:03:52,200 --> 01:03:55,600 Speaker 2: that poem. Anyway, That's all I got for part one, 1295 01:03:56,000 --> 01:03:58,640 Speaker 2: or for the first. We'll probably come back to this book, 1296 01:03:58,760 --> 01:04:02,040 Speaker 2: but I think you get the idea of what beIN's 1297 01:04:02,040 --> 01:04:03,720 Speaker 2: going for here and why it's full of shit. 1298 01:04:04,000 --> 01:04:07,560 Speaker 4: I mean, I'm convinced that maybe we're all lines and scavengers. 1299 01:04:07,880 --> 01:04:09,080 Speaker 3: Are we part of a pack? 1300 01:04:09,640 --> 01:04:11,760 Speaker 4: We're also a part of a pack, and we are 1301 01:04:11,800 --> 01:04:16,200 Speaker 4: also a colony of we can say ants or hive also, 1302 01:04:16,880 --> 01:04:21,920 Speaker 4: and the hives are made of crows, and the crows 1303 01:04:22,240 --> 01:04:24,680 Speaker 4: are made of lions, right. 1304 01:04:24,680 --> 01:04:29,720 Speaker 2: Right, Every crow contains a lion, you know. Yeah, it's known. 1305 01:04:29,960 --> 01:04:32,760 Speaker 4: You know, we all went to school. We all learned 1306 01:04:32,760 --> 01:04:34,200 Speaker 4: about lions and crows. 1307 01:04:35,040 --> 01:04:35,240 Speaker 3: Yeah. 1308 01:04:35,440 --> 01:04:39,840 Speaker 2: It's like the parable of the butterfly and the Tyrannosaurus rex, 1309 01:04:40,040 --> 01:04:42,680 Speaker 2: you know, both of which swim deep in the ocean 1310 01:04:42,720 --> 01:04:46,680 Speaker 2: in the Marianas Trench on the moon. It's his accurate 1311 01:04:46,680 --> 01:04:47,560 Speaker 2: as what Bin's written. 1312 01:04:48,120 --> 01:04:49,920 Speaker 3: Yeah, huh, it's good. 1313 01:04:50,280 --> 01:04:54,160 Speaker 2: Anyway, how you feeling brody? Have I ever done that before? Yes? 1314 01:04:54,920 --> 01:04:58,880 Speaker 3: I think I feel like shody. 1315 01:04:59,040 --> 01:05:03,080 Speaker 4: Sure, I appreciate that he at least knows he needs 1316 01:05:03,080 --> 01:05:05,200 Speaker 4: to get some good sentences into his books, so he 1317 01:05:05,280 --> 01:05:09,120 Speaker 4: quotes other writers, even if he doesn't like necessarily interpret them. 1318 01:05:09,120 --> 01:05:10,400 Speaker 3: Well, he's at least. 1319 01:05:11,120 --> 01:05:13,400 Speaker 2: Got to pad this out with some token and Lewis 1320 01:05:13,400 --> 01:05:14,360 Speaker 2: and Kipling. 1321 01:05:14,040 --> 01:05:17,280 Speaker 3: Because I gotta keep people. 1322 01:05:16,400 --> 01:05:20,400 Speaker 2: Notice that I can't write. Yeah, incredible good stuff. 1323 01:05:20,440 --> 01:05:21,080 Speaker 3: Shout to him. 1324 01:05:21,320 --> 01:05:22,880 Speaker 1: Co Do you want to plug anything? 1325 01:05:23,320 --> 01:05:25,760 Speaker 3: Sure? Why not? Check out Some More News. It's our 1326 01:05:25,960 --> 01:05:27,040 Speaker 3: weekly show. 1327 01:05:27,280 --> 01:05:29,360 Speaker 4: I sat at a desk, I read the news and 1328 01:05:29,520 --> 01:05:31,960 Speaker 4: talk about various topics. We also have a show called 1329 01:05:31,960 --> 01:05:33,959 Speaker 4: even More News twice a week talks about more current 1330 01:05:33,960 --> 01:05:35,320 Speaker 4: events in a more casual way. 1331 01:05:35,960 --> 01:05:38,080 Speaker 3: And check out my band. It's called the Hot Shapes. 1332 01:05:39,320 --> 01:05:44,720 Speaker 2: Hell yeah, check out Cody's band. Check out Cody, you know, 1333 01:05:44,880 --> 01:05:47,919 Speaker 2: at like a bar or something. Mm hmm, be like, hey, 1334 01:05:47,920 --> 01:05:48,560 Speaker 2: how's it going. 1335 01:05:49,000 --> 01:05:51,800 Speaker 3: I'll be like good, Yeah, you want to drink? I'll 1336 01:05:51,840 --> 01:05:54,959 Speaker 3: say yeah, don't do that. Yeah don't. 1337 01:05:55,120 --> 01:05:57,919 Speaker 2: I shouldn't joke about the weird parasocial stuff because that'll happen. 1338 01:05:58,000 --> 01:05:59,200 Speaker 3: Oh we don't want any of that. 1339 01:06:00,200 --> 01:06:03,280 Speaker 2: But check out Cody's podcasts and the YouTube show, and 1340 01:06:03,840 --> 01:06:06,280 Speaker 2: check out when we come back to Ben Shapiro's book, 1341 01:06:06,280 --> 01:06:08,080 Speaker 2: which I'm sure We'll do at least one more. 1342 01:06:07,880 --> 01:06:09,240 Speaker 3: Time before the US. 1343 01:06:11,120 --> 01:06:14,920 Speaker 2: Well Gang. This has been behind the podcast of Bastards 1344 01:06:15,160 --> 01:06:20,800 Speaker 2: about Shapiro beIN, good Night, and good Luck Bay. 1345 01:06:25,800 --> 01:06:28,520 Speaker 1: Behind the Bastards is a production of cool Zone Media. 1346 01:06:28,880 --> 01:06:32,160 Speaker 1: For more from cool Zone Media, visit our website Coolzonemedia 1347 01:06:32,320 --> 01:06:35,520 Speaker 1: dot com or check us out on the iHeartRadio app, 1348 01:06:35,600 --> 01:06:38,760 Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Behind the 1349 01:06:38,760 --> 01:06:42,840 Speaker 1: Bastards is now available on YouTube, new episodes every Wednesday 1350 01:06:42,920 --> 01:06:46,600 Speaker 1: and Friday. Subscribe to our channel YouTube dot com slash 1351 01:06:46,800 --> 01:06:49,040 Speaker 1: at Behind the Bastards