Challenge Your Thinking

Ben Shapiro on Free Speech and Responsibility

Ben Shapiro has a new office with a cool design and fewer employees than his own office.
Shapiro has fashion folks and hairdressers who help him dress and look good.
Shapiro has been battling the alt-right for the past four years and has dedicated sections of his new book to criticizing the group.
Shapiro is often mislabeled as an alt-right figure by disingenuous people who try to categorize him as the enemy.
Shapiro's opinions are well formulated and thought through due to his 20 years of experience in writing and debating.
The demonization of people for their thoughts and ideas is a disingenuous practice that is getting worse in the public space.
The culture of going after people for things and finding anything to categorize them as someone who is a viable target is wrong.
Shapiro is conservative, but there is nothing wrong with that; there is something wrong with wanting everyone to think the way one thinks.
Shapiro is against deep platforming and believes that the idea of making people responsible for their comments online is insane and impossible to enforce.
The media's double standard is where shooting incidents are blamed on people who have no relationship with the shooter, but it only applies to one side of the aisle.
Facebook and YouTube will fall prey to their own standards if they continue to hold people responsible for their followers' actions.
The public space is getting worse because the incentive structure is to be deeply shameless and never apologize for anything.Ben Shapiro on Facebook's Responsibility and the Role of Big Business
Facebook faces a dilemma of deciding whether it is a platform or a do-gooder publication.
Facebook is responsible for the content that appears on its platform, unlike the phone company, which is not responsible for the person saying something criminal or terrible during a conversation.
Facebook has deemed itself the morality police, banning people they don't like and deciding what editorially ought to be elevated and what ought not to be elevated.
Facebook has shut down conservative posts in the past, resulting in a 35% decline in traffic for some conservative sites.
Facebook is increasingly censoring content that is deemed bad, such as white supremacy and nationalism.
Facebook is becoming more like an editor than a platform, which is an insane responsibility.
The responsibility of dictating what should and should not be discussed should not be in the hands of a handful of people, especially those who live in the Pacific and have a progressive ideology.
Big businesses, including tech companies, have different owners with different political views. However, many in Silicon Valley are openly progressive, which is unusual for big business.
The progressivism in corporate halls and Silicon Valley is bifurcated mentally, where people have one side of the brain on at a time.
Transparency is crucial when companies become the moral police and decide what people should see and what they should not.
The government should stay out of personal matters such as drug use, premarital sex, and adultery, as they are consensual activities with no externalities.
The government should get out of the business of marriage, and religious and state marriages should be separate.Marijuana and the government's involvement
The government's involvement in marriage conflicts with religious values
Marijuana can have detrimental effects on teenage brain development
Alcohol also has detrimental effects on brain development
Marijuana is not physically addictive, but abuse is common
Material addictiveness of marijuana is not comparable to opioids, alcohol, or nicotine
Psychedelics may have been put here by God for us to consume
Psychedelic experiences may have been the basis for religious doctrines
Rationality should be used to determine the proper use of things
Low rates of addiction in the Orthodox Jewish community due to social fabric and proper context
Government interventionism is generally a failure
Our perceptions of what is good or bad for you are based on laws that were shaped by tyrantsPsychedelic Drugs, Religion, and Struggle: A Discussion
Psychedelic drugs can aid in mental health therapy, such as with PTSD in soldiers, by providing a renewed perspective and allowing for a breakthrough in therapy.
However, there is a moral question of whether using drugs to alleviate mental health issues is a shortcut to happiness and whether it removes the struggle that is necessary for personal growth.
Some religious beliefs argue that one should work on themselves without outside aid, but if drugs are necessary to help someone, then it is a good thing to use them.
The use of "drugs" as a blanket term is problematic because not all psychoactive substances are negative or addictive.
Struggle and discipline are important for personal growth, and setting rules for oneself can be beneficial.
The struggle can be physical or mental, but it is necessary to understand oneself and one's boundaries.
Conservative mindsets tend to value rules and the necessity of understanding the roots of the rules before removing them.
The current time is the best time to be alive with the best social safety net and opportunities for adventure.
Lack of optimism and victimhood mentality are prevalent in society, but basic right choices like finishing high school, not having a baby out of wedlock, and getting a job can lead to a better life.
Perspective plays a role in how one views their life and society; small-town mentalities can limit one's perspective and perpetuate negative beliefs.
Struggle is meaningful and necessary for personal growth, and the struggle is what makes being human worthwhile.
Religion tends to set prophylactic rules for personal growth, but one must balance reason with these rules to make oneself better.