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Catastrophic Thinking
2019 was the year of the “wokescolds” and the “woke inquisitors”—the new representatives of moral panic in America. Fresh faces in Congress, a wave of ever-radical Democratic presidential candidates, and the left’s media minions went full throttle in their crusade to fundamentally change our society. Their “activism” was merely complaints without solutions and manufactured narratives, all of which reared their ugly head in landmark events like the impeachment of President Donald Trump. Read all about this systemic political pandering, and the prognosis for our country’s culture, in this collection of bestselling author Ben Shapiro’s 2019 syndicated columns.
- GenresPolitics
125 pages, Paperback
First published February 18, 2020
36 people are currently reading
198 people want to read
About the author
Ben Shapiro
37 books2,518 followersBenjamin Shapiro was born in 1984 and entered UCLA at the age of 16, graduating summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa in June 2004 with a BA in Political Science. He graduated Harvard Law School cum laude in June 2007. Shapiro was hired by Creators Syndicate at age 17 to become the youngest nationally syndicated columnist in the U.S.
His columns are printed in major newspapers and websites including Townhall, ABCNews, WorldNet Daily, Human Events, FrontPage Mag, Family Security Matters, the Riverside Press-Enterprise and the Conservative Chronicle. His columns have also appeared in the Christian Science Monitor, Chicago Sun-Times, Orlando Sentinel, Honolulu Star-Advertiser, RealClearPolitics.com, Arizona Republic, and Claremont Review of Books, among others. He has been the subject of articles in the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, Associated Press, and Christian Science Monitor; he has been quoted on "The Rush Limbaugh Show," "The Dr. Laura Show," at CBS News, in the New York Press, in the Washington Times, and in The American Conservative magazine, among many others.
The author of the national bestsellers, Brainwashed: How Universities Indoctrinate America's Youth (WND Books, May 2004), Porn Generation: How Social Liberalism Is Corrupting Our Future (Regnery, June 2005), and Project President: Bad Hair and Botox on the Road to the White House (Thomas Nelson, 2008), Shapiro has appeared on hundreds of radio and television shows around the nation, including "The O'Reilly Factor" (Fox News), "Fox and Friends" (Fox News), "In the Money" (CNN Financial), "DaySide with Linda Vester" (Fox News), "Scarborough Country" (MSNBC), "The Dennis Miller Show" (CNBC), "Fox News Live" (Fox News Channel), "Glenn Beck Show" (CNN), "Your World with Neil Cavuto" (Fox News) and "700 Club" (Christian Broadcasting Network), "The Laura Ingraham Show," "The Michael Medved Show," "The G. Gordon Liddy Show," "The Rusty Humphries Show," "The Lars Larson Show" (nationally syndicated), "The Larry Elder Show," The Hugh Hewitt Show," "The Dennis Prager Show," among others.
His columns are printed in major newspapers and websites including Townhall, ABCNews, WorldNet Daily, Human Events, FrontPage Mag, Family Security Matters, the Riverside Press-Enterprise and the Conservative Chronicle. His columns have also appeared in the Christian Science Monitor, Chicago Sun-Times, Orlando Sentinel, Honolulu Star-Advertiser, RealClearPolitics.com, Arizona Republic, and Claremont Review of Books, among others. He has been the subject of articles in the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, Associated Press, and Christian Science Monitor; he has been quoted on "The Rush Limbaugh Show," "The Dr. Laura Show," at CBS News, in the New York Press, in the Washington Times, and in The American Conservative magazine, among many others.
The author of the national bestsellers, Brainwashed: How Universities Indoctrinate America's Youth (WND Books, May 2004), Porn Generation: How Social Liberalism Is Corrupting Our Future (Regnery, June 2005), and Project President: Bad Hair and Botox on the Road to the White House (Thomas Nelson, 2008), Shapiro has appeared on hundreds of radio and television shows around the nation, including "The O'Reilly Factor" (Fox News), "Fox and Friends" (Fox News), "In the Money" (CNN Financial), "DaySide with Linda Vester" (Fox News), "Scarborough Country" (MSNBC), "The Dennis Miller Show" (CNBC), "Fox News Live" (Fox News Channel), "Glenn Beck Show" (CNN), "Your World with Neil Cavuto" (Fox News) and "700 Club" (Christian Broadcasting Network), "The Laura Ingraham Show," "The Michael Medved Show," "The G. Gordon Liddy Show," "The Rusty Humphries Show," "The Lars Larson Show" (nationally syndicated), "The Larry Elder Show," The Hugh Hewitt Show," "The Dennis Prager Show," among others.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
June 5, 2020
For as controversial as he is, I really like how Ben Shaprio thinks. He's not always nice, and I don't always agree with him, but he has a coherent and consistent worldview that is not obfuscated by language and emotion.
I believe this collection of articles is a well-curated understanding of conservative opinion over the past year of 2019. Sometimes I think some of his criticisms are unfair, or hypocritical when viewed in comparison with the foibles of the Republicans as well, but in totality, they are sound and understandable.
This book was short, simple, and well-written. Short articles mean you never get bored. Moreover, it is devoid of the sometimes sneering and whiny vernacular you might hear if listening to his show. Reading his thinking in writing makes it much more palatable for those easily offended. Highly recommend.
Passages I appreciated:
- On “speech is violence” claims as a justification for using real violence as retaliation: As I spoke inside, the protesters milled about, chanting and shouting. One of their favorite ditties: “SPEECH IS VIOLENCE!” This, of course, is patent nonsense. Speech is not violence—and violence is not speech. Equating the two is the hallmark of a tyrannical worldview: If I can treat your speech as violence, then I am justified in using violence to suppress your speech.
- On how people twist language and narrative:This gap between the facts and the narrative dominates our politics. Here’s how the narrative chain works: Somebody makes a fact-free accusation of X, which supports the more general narrative, Y, supported by the political left or right. Opponents debunk X. That attempt to debunk X is taken as evidence that opponents don’t take the problem of Y seriously enough. Facts are marshaled to show that Y is true, even if X isn’t. In a peculiar way, the lack of facts to back X lends passion to those who defend Y—it allows them to malign the motives of those who don’t defend Y. Let’s take an example. The students of Covington Catholic High School are accused of mobbing and mocking a Native American veteran. This incident supports the broader narrative that Trump supporters, religious Americans and young white men are emissaries of racism and toxic masculinity. Then it turns out that the video has been taken wildly out of context and deliberately misinterpreted. Many advocates of the narrative immediately declare that while this incident is a poor example, the overall narrative is true ”and that leaping to conclusions will be justified next time, in order to prove that the overall narrative ought to be taken seriously. The only price: whomever is next maligned without facts.
- On moral panic: Wokescolds are the new representatives of moral panic…It’s a moral panic that insists we change fundamental characteristics of our society, from biology, to language, to politics, to religion, to romantic relations, to art, to comedy.
- On male gender roles: Here’s the truth: Men are looking for meaning in a world that tells them they are perpetuators of discrimination and rape culture; that they are beneficiaries of an overarching, nasty patriarchy; that they are, at best, disposable partners to women, rather than protectors of them. Giving men purpose requires us to give them purpose as men, not merely as genderless beings.
- On adherence to constitutional checks and balances and not abusing executive power: The National Emergencies Act was written to curtail presidential authority, not increase it. No matter how much border hawks (including me) want a border barrier, the proper method is to request funds from Congress.
- On recognizing when executive power is abused for political reasons: Here’s the easy test: How would you feel if the situations were reversed? How would Republicans feel about an emergency declaration from a Democratic president to shift funds to leftist priorities? How would Democrats feel about Republican attempts to seize control of the FBI for purposes of investigating a Democratic president? Nobody ought to trust institutions enough to grant them unchecked power. And no one ought to trust the people enough to allow us to do so.
- On Trump being inadvisable: President Trump is a bull in a china shop. He says inadvisable things to inadvisable people, mainly because he is inadvisable—”literally no one can advise him.
View my best reviews and a collection of mental models at jasperburns.blog.
I believe this collection of articles is a well-curated understanding of conservative opinion over the past year of 2019. Sometimes I think some of his criticisms are unfair, or hypocritical when viewed in comparison with the foibles of the Republicans as well, but in totality, they are sound and understandable.
This book was short, simple, and well-written. Short articles mean you never get bored. Moreover, it is devoid of the sometimes sneering and whiny vernacular you might hear if listening to his show. Reading his thinking in writing makes it much more palatable for those easily offended. Highly recommend.
Passages I appreciated:
- On “speech is violence” claims as a justification for using real violence as retaliation: As I spoke inside, the protesters milled about, chanting and shouting. One of their favorite ditties: “SPEECH IS VIOLENCE!” This, of course, is patent nonsense. Speech is not violence—and violence is not speech. Equating the two is the hallmark of a tyrannical worldview: If I can treat your speech as violence, then I am justified in using violence to suppress your speech.
- On how people twist language and narrative:This gap between the facts and the narrative dominates our politics. Here’s how the narrative chain works: Somebody makes a fact-free accusation of X, which supports the more general narrative, Y, supported by the political left or right. Opponents debunk X. That attempt to debunk X is taken as evidence that opponents don’t take the problem of Y seriously enough. Facts are marshaled to show that Y is true, even if X isn’t. In a peculiar way, the lack of facts to back X lends passion to those who defend Y—it allows them to malign the motives of those who don’t defend Y. Let’s take an example. The students of Covington Catholic High School are accused of mobbing and mocking a Native American veteran. This incident supports the broader narrative that Trump supporters, religious Americans and young white men are emissaries of racism and toxic masculinity. Then it turns out that the video has been taken wildly out of context and deliberately misinterpreted. Many advocates of the narrative immediately declare that while this incident is a poor example, the overall narrative is true ”and that leaping to conclusions will be justified next time, in order to prove that the overall narrative ought to be taken seriously. The only price: whomever is next maligned without facts.
- On moral panic: Wokescolds are the new representatives of moral panic…It’s a moral panic that insists we change fundamental characteristics of our society, from biology, to language, to politics, to religion, to romantic relations, to art, to comedy.
- On male gender roles: Here’s the truth: Men are looking for meaning in a world that tells them they are perpetuators of discrimination and rape culture; that they are beneficiaries of an overarching, nasty patriarchy; that they are, at best, disposable partners to women, rather than protectors of them. Giving men purpose requires us to give them purpose as men, not merely as genderless beings.
- On adherence to constitutional checks and balances and not abusing executive power: The National Emergencies Act was written to curtail presidential authority, not increase it. No matter how much border hawks (including me) want a border barrier, the proper method is to request funds from Congress.
- On recognizing when executive power is abused for political reasons: Here’s the easy test: How would you feel if the situations were reversed? How would Republicans feel about an emergency declaration from a Democratic president to shift funds to leftist priorities? How would Democrats feel about Republican attempts to seize control of the FBI for purposes of investigating a Democratic president? Nobody ought to trust institutions enough to grant them unchecked power. And no one ought to trust the people enough to allow us to do so.
- On Trump being inadvisable: President Trump is a bull in a china shop. He says inadvisable things to inadvisable people, mainly because he is inadvisable—”literally no one can advise him.
View my best reviews and a collection of mental models at jasperburns.blog.
May 10, 2020
Catastrophic Thinking is the first collection of essays I have read by Ben Shapiro. I have read several of his books and listen to his podcast. Now, I have picked up a collection of essays – specifically his 2019 columns from Creators Publishing.
The essays are in chronological order – looking at wokescolds, the number of genders, AOC’s pronouncement on facts versus morality, Jussie Smollett, the push of Democrats towards socialism, open boarders, anti-Semitism, freedom, Joe Biden, conspiracy theories, China, Elizabeth Warren, catastrophic thinking without solutions, impeachment, and the 2020 election.
If you listen to Ben Shapiro, you wouldn’t find anything shockingly new in these opinion pieces, but it was interesting to read through the major stories of the year and consider what has lasted and what seems from another time or yesterday.
However, I am happy to have this collection – both for reference and for his arguments and to quote. Ben Shapiro is a good thinker – though there are times I have disagreed with him (especially with regards to Who the Messiah is)!
One example of why I greatly appreciate him is a quote like this from the column, “Freedom From Consequences Isn’t Freedom”: “Nonetheless, the suggestion that freedom lies in prosperity—not that freedom is the precondition for prosperity—still retains draw. That’s mainly because the human heart will always embrace the notion that our shortcomings spring not from choice but from circumstance” (53).
Ben Shapiro understands that humans have a heart problem that affects what we do. I hope he continues to follow the logic of this truth and finds the Answer to it.
If you remember 2019, or if you don’t – go get a copy of these essays.
[This review appears on my blog, my YouTube channel, Amazon.com, and Goodreads.com.]
November 8, 2024
Catastrophic Thinking is a very good book. Ben Shapiro did an amazing job writing this book. This is the best book I’ve read from Ben Shapiro yet.I recommend it for everyone
August 11, 2020
A quick read, but very current and informative. It takes a in depth look at the events that have occurred in the last few years, up to 2020. All the left wing nut job bafoonery that democrats try and push. This is a known fact, but if you disagree or have a different view, they hate you lol. Democrats are no longer democrats, they are now the liberal nut job crazy Anti-American party. Very informative and recaps the events very well. I've read nearly all of Mr. Shapiro's books, I love them all. If this review hurt your feelings, the solution is simple, don't read the book lol. Same for T.V. or other books, if it doesn't tickle your fancy, don't watch or read it lol.
April 5, 2020
Much food for thought. I like how well he researches the topic and calls out the hypocrisy of both sides.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews