Uncle Ben Shapiro, and Me

Drawing by Nathaniel St. Clair

Ben Shapiro is trending on Twitter after thoroughly embarrassing himself in an interview with BBC right-wing journalist Andrew Neil. The highlight of the interview came when Shapiro ignorantly pleaded with Neil to admit he is “on the left”. In response, the Brit chuckled in characteristic fashion and said: “Mr. Shapiro, if you only knew how ridiculous that statement is, you wouldn’t have said it.”

It went downhill from there. And fast.

In essence, Shapiro was not “destroyed” by Neil. He literally destroyed himself.

If you are one of the few who have yet to watch the exchange, grab some popcorn and witness Shapiro melt down like the petulant racist snowflake we all know him to be.

So, while pulling some stubborn English Ivy in my yard, I received several messages urging me to watch the interview and respond.

Why?

Well, I have somewhat of a history with Shapiro.

It all started in August, 2018…

True to far-right form, Shapiro is extremely threatened by young, powerful, smart, women of color – such as Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

In fact, as everyone knows, Shapiro has developed an obsession with AOC, who as a New Yorker myself, I feel pride in – and kinship with.

During the fiasco in which he begged her for a “debate” and was skillfully rejected – I wrote a piece not to Shapiro’s liking.

Sorry not sorry, Ben.

As an anti-fascist, anti-racist, anti-Zionist political analyst on the left, I pay particular attention to pseudo-intellectual “thought leaders” like Shapiro.

He is a perfect example of a historical revisionist who preys on weak minds and epitomizes the parallels and ongoing collaboration between Zionism and reactionary, anti-Semitic forces worldwide.

In fact, Ben Shapiro is one of the ideological gurus of murderous white supremacists and rabid anti-Semites, which is one reason I call him the “Uncle Tom of Jews”.

I did so in a Tweet in December, and somehow Shannon Bream from Fox News discovered it and read it back to Shapiro in a live broadcast. She seemed pleased with me, though I may be projecting here.

I have no clue how Bream found it – I’ve never been one of the popular kids – it was “Liked” maybe four times and RTed twice.

Notably, I was perfectly aware the term “Uncle Tom” had a charged history, and consulted with several Black and Brown academics who are experts on race, intersectionality, feminism et al, all of whom applauded my use.

Then, I mentioned Shapiro as an example to illustrate the hypocrisy of Zionist cries of “anti-Semitism” in a widely shared essay.

As a result, I was suspended on Twitter for a week. A colleague who noticed my suspension told me Shapiro has a group of acolytes who mass report any unfavorable tweets. My hard luck.

Notably, Shapiro was not suspended for his racism, and tweets such as the one below are still up.

What’s more, our President, who regularly incites against entire populations and even sitting members of Congress, also enjoys a free pass on Jack Dorsey’s site.

Over the weekend, I once again tweeted about Shapiro’s racism, which he demonstrated in his BBC interview with Neil. In response to Neil’s question about the tweet above, Shapiro claimed he “only” meant “the [Arab/Palestinian] ones who take sides against Israel in the Israel-Palestinian conflict”. Ie those ones “like to bomb crap and live in open sewage.”

And I, not Shapiro, am suspended for calling out his bigotry. Here’s my “offensive” tweet.

This is the reality we live in. One of spectacle, in which popularity trumps truth, and thuggery overrides integrity. In which calling out racism gets one suspended, while displaying clear bigotry is forgiven and even increases one’s audience. An accountability-free circus, which plays into the hands of the Trumps and Shapiros, as media is rendered worthless to an increasingly apathetic public.

We can chuckle at Shapiro’s humiliation, and believe me, in our depressing times I am the first to acknowledge it is worthy of a hardy laugh. Yet I have a very bad feeling that unless we all radically change course, the Shapiros will continue to have the last laugh.

Back to my English Ivy.

Yoav Litvin is a Doctor of Psychology/ Behavioral Neuroscience. For more info, please visit yoavlitvin.com/about/