A coalition of “concerned students” at Stanford are holding a silent rally against conservative journalist Ben Shapiro Thursday at 6 p.m. at the university’s famed Hoover Tower. That night, Shapiro will deliver a lecture to students in Memorial Auditorium. The theme of his speech is: “No, leftist idiots don’t get to raise my kids.”
Stanford College Republicans said they invited him because of his prowess as a conservative intellectual.
“We admire Shapiro’s intellectual consistency, honesty, and adherence to principle,” they wrote in The Stanford Review, the college’s independent newspaper, in a piece called Why We Invited Ben Shapiro. “He always delivers what he believes to be the unvarnished truth, even when it might be unpopular among other right-of-center commentators. Furthermore, Shapiro is courageous. Whether it means taking a pro-second amendment message to a hostile audience on CNN in the wake of a mass shooting or braving an angry mob seeking to shut down his lecture at Cal State LA, Ben Shapiro never shies away from boldly presenting his principles.”
The protest flyer, meanwhile, includes roach spray called “Ben B Gon” with Shapiro’s picture emblazoned on the front in between a couple of roaches. Shapiro runs The Daily Wire and is also a longtime syndicated radio host.
“We are tired of of Stanford Administration’s complicity in putting Black, Brown, Trans, Queer, and Muslim students at risk by allowing SCR to bring Ben Shapiro to campus,” the flyer reads.
The Daily Caller’s “Mirror” blog sought comment from Shapiro. “They literally decry ‘hateful, dehumanizing ideas’ that ‘incite’ on a poster in which they compare me to an insect to be exterminated,” Shapiro told me by email. “Nothing says tolerance and diversity quite like actively depicting your political opponent, whose views you deliberately mischaracterize, as a bug.”
The group portends that it’s not a matter of quelling anyone’s freedom of speech. “We don’t protest because we are too sensitive to hear opinions we don’t like,” they wrote. “We protest because we are strong enough to defend ourselves.”
Attendees are encouraged to wear black.
No doubt the group understands that the world’s protestors have notoriously been referred to as “cockroaches.” For example, Hong Kong police have called protestors “cockroaches.” During the genocide in Rwanda, Tutsis were called “cockroaches.” Jewish people have also been called cockroaches and Shapiro is an Orthodox Jew.
Student Republicans expected as much. In May, 2019, BuzzFeed faced blowback for reporting that Shapiro had radicalized a Nazi. In March, The Economist apologized after referring to Shapiro as “alt-right.”
“Every time, leftist activists work tirelessly to sabotage these events, ripping down our flyers, and harassing and intimidating our members,” they wrote in their aforementioned story. “Our events have been the target of walkouts, stink bombs, and even an attempt to chain, lock, and barricade the doors to the venue.”
Last year, Twitter refused to suspend Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan after he tweeted that Jews were like termites. (RELATED: Twitter Rules Louis Farrakhan Comparing Jews To Termites Doesn’t Violate Guidelines)
The students behind this anti-Shapiro movement are outraged that Stanford’s administration would even allow him to speak there. (RELATED: You, Too, Can Meet Ben Shapiro, But It’ll Cost You) Comparing Shapiro to a cockroach is obviously disgusting, but if you haven’t seen The Daily Caller‘s “Shapirbro” comedy video, you must watch it now. Real life Shapiro apparently does not consume alcohol.
“We would like to express disappointment, but not surprise, with the Stanford administration for continuing to put the safety of Black, Brown, Trans, Queer, and Muslim students at risk by allowing this event to happen,” they wrote. “Our protest is not about SCR’s right to free speech, it is about the violence that Ben Shapiro’s hateful, dehumanizing ideas incite against members of our community. This event has no place on this campus, much less in Stanford’s largest venue.”
The group is highly offended by what they deem is Shapiro’s bigotry and hate speech.
“We have chosen to protest this event in silence because many of our bodies are the antithesis to Shapiro’s hateful speech,” they wrote. “Ben Shapiro’s bigotry tells him that Black Americans are disproportionately locked up because of their culture, that people of Arab descent ‘like to bomb crap and live in open sewage,’ that Palestinians need to be subjected to forced population transfer, and that transgender people are inherently ‘mentally ill.’ Our real-world experiences, rooted in both fact and feeling, teach us otherwise.”
The protestors signed off, writing, “With love, Coalition of Concerned Students.”