PragerU Video: Shapiro Explains Why Facts Don't Care About Your Feelings
screenshot from YouTube
In a new video for Prager University titled “Facts Don’t Care About Your Feelings,”
Daily WireEditor-in-Chief Ben Shapiro uses his now-famous mantra to educate
students and other leftist-plagued Americans about the dangers of letting
emotion trump reason in their pursuit of a happy life.
Shapiro sets the table for illustrating his thesis by citing Vanderbilt University
students in November 2015, who protested the supposed “white privilege”
and “microaggressions” of the university. Shapiro notes that the students
couldn’t cite any specific examples to buttress their accusations, but felt
victimized.
Then, the anecdote. Someone had left a bag of dog feces on the front step of
the Black Cultural Center. As Shapiro states, “All hell breaks loose; full of
righteous indignation, student activists rush to Facebook to denounce the
racist act.” The police investigated, only to find that the bag was left by a
blind girl who could not find a trash can, and left the bag where a janitor
could throw it away for her.
Shapiro points out that the student group apologized, but hilariously added
another charge against the administration: “The needs of students on this
campus are also marginalized."
Shapiro continues, “This is not a joke. On he college campus today, feelings
rule facts, and victims are heroes. According to the Left, all inequality in
America is due to victimization. They start by claiming that all non-white
people are victims of ‘white privilege.’ Then come women; they’re all
victims of the ‘white patriarchy.’ Then come gays, and lesbians, and the
transgendered; they’re all victims of our heteronormative and homophobic
society. But what if you haven’t actually been victimized by anybody? It
doesn’t matter. To the Left, as long as you feel victimized, you’re a victim,
even if you’ve never actually experienced discrimination, you’ve surely
been targeted by ‘microaggressions,’ nasty little words and phrases that
weren’t meant to be insults but just are.”
Shapiro then offers examples of such “microaggressions,” including asking
someone where they are from, a man holding a door open for a woman,
and addressing someone by their biologically accurate pronoun.
“In short," Shapiro says, “everyone’s a victim, except, of course, straight
white males. Also, anybody who dares to disagree with the Left. If you’re
guilty of either of those crimes, you must be confronted, even if doing so requires actual aggression, like say, a riot. ”
Shapiro illustrates how this works: first, the Left will say it’s okay to punch
Nazis; then they will say every conservative, “in fact, everybody they
disagree with,” is a Nazi.
Then Shapiro states the crux of his argument: “But here’s the biggest
problem with the Left’s argument: they’re based on feelings, not facts.”
He continues, “Take ‘white privilege.’ The only real privilege in America is
American privilege. Everybody in America has it. More than citizens of any
other country in the world: the privilege to make your own decisions and live
the life you choose.”
Shapiro cites a Brookings Institute study that said success in America could
be traced to three decisions: finish high school, don’t have babies before
marriage, and hold down a job. He adds, “If you do these three things, you’ll
be on your way to the privilege of middle class life, regardless of race,
ethnicity, sexual orientation, or gender.”
Shapiro refutes the mythic wage and gender gap with statistics, then
concludes, “These are facts, and facts don’t care about your feelings.”
After noting that prospective employers will not be interested in sob stories,
but rather interested in the applicant’s work ethic, Shapiro concludes, “So,
stop worrying so much about your feelings, and start worrying a little more
about being a good person, doing your best, and not getting in your own way.
If you don’t, the only thing you’ll be a victim of is yourself.”
Video below:
