When I first heard about Ben Shapiro’s new book, “Brainwashed: How Universities Indoctrinate America’s Youth,” I wondered whether it would provide systematic evidence of liberal bias in higher education or whether it would simply tell a bunch of wacky university stories. When I finally read the book I was glad to see that it did both.
Regarding the latter, I was pleased that Ben named names in the process. Some of the nuts at his university needed to be “outed,” so to speak. It was a nice present for a student to give to his professors on the very week of his graduation from the UCLA (University of Commie Liberal Activism).
For years, I have wanted someone to write a book like “Brainwashed.” So many times, I have found myself walking down a hall accidentally overhearing some liberal professor telling the class something like the following: “Transsexuals are just the same as you and me” or “Marriage is a form of capitalist oppression, which is only beneficial to men. Studies prove it!”
After overhearing such garbage, I just wanted to be a student again for a day so I could take notes and publish them later. That is what Ben Shapiro has done in his new book. It is classic reading.
Some people reading the opening pages of “Brainwashed” might take issue with Shapiro’s assertion that “the spectrum of ideas [at the modern university] extends only from the left to the far left.” But how would they explain an e-mail that the author reprints on the very next page? In that e-mail, a UCLA administrator asks that his identity not be revealed for writing to compliment Shapiro on his conservative column for the school newspaper because “it’s professional suicide to engage in free expression” at UCLA. The university is obviously such an oppressive environment that administrators know and admit it, at least privately.
I also believe Shapiro was wise to address the issue of moral relativism in the first full chapter of his book. When he says “The assault on absolute morality is the basis for every brainwashing scheme of the Left,” he is not overstating the case. It was smart to point that out before addressing the issue of partisan politics in the next chapter. I think that moral relativism has taken most universities from the left to the far left in recent years and, as such, deserves even more attention than the issue of political affiliation. Nonetheless, I loved the author’s extensive documentation on the latter.
I also loved the end of the chapter when he discussed Harvard’s decision to give Stuart Smalley (I mean, Al Franken) a fellowship and 14 assistants to write chapters such as “I bitch-slap Bernie Goldberg” for his recent book.
One of my favorite chapters is Chapter Three, which deals with the inability of professors to recognize the failure of Marxism. When I speak on college campuses, I will occasionally refer to a colleague as a communist. I always have to tell my audience that I am being descriptive, not intentionally insulting.
It was classic when Shapiro quoted his geography professor as saying, “If being a communist means that I care about all people, that I want to reduce inequality and help the poor, then, yes, I’m a communist.” If it was a geology class, the author could have handed him a chunk of the Berlin Wall and asked him to explain it within the Marxist dialectic.
Personally, I would have asked him if he cared enough to murder 100 million people in 72 years in the name of “equality.” Shapiro sounds a lot like Ann Coulter when he states that “the far left of the university faculty are as red as overripe tomatoes.”
Without question, my favorite chapter was Chapter Five, “Sex in the Classroom.” This is the chapter that best supports the author’s contention that moral relativism is the underpinning of the university’s attempt to indoctrinate students. I absolutely loved it when Shapiro quoted his political science teacher’s claim that the founding fathers would have wanted gays to be teachers. Ben was correct to point out that Thomas Jefferson supported the penalty of castration for sodomy.
Nonetheless, leftist professors seem to think that Jefferson would have supported gay marriage and taxpayer-supported Gay and Lesbian Student Centers. I suppose they think our founding fathers were really gay activists. After all, the U.S. Constitution really is a “living, breathing” document – just ask Al Gore, the guy who invented the Internet.
My favorite quote in the chapter was actually taken from UCLA Professor Peter Hammond as he discussed the courage it takes to be transgendered. If I’m ever in Los Angeles, I plan to audit his course on same-sex erotic behavior in foreign cultures. Just in case he recognizes me, I will probably need to put on a dress and stuff a tape recorder in my bra to make sure I fit in with the class and don’t miss anything important in his lecture. Shapiro was right to say that getting your genitalia surgically altered is not courageous, it is just strange. Isn’t it odd how it takes courage to state the obvious on college campuses these days?
When I read “Brainwashed,” I also learned that Professor Gilbert Herdt of San Francisco State University believes that the term “child” is merely a rhetorical device for an “irrational set of values” about pedophilia. That was good to know since our Office of Campus Diversity at UNC-Wilmington sponsors his works.
That was almost as disturbing as Peter Singer’s suggestion that “sex with animals does not always involve cruelty.” Singer also asserts that “mutually satisfying activities may develop” from having one’s leg humped by a dog. Remember that Singer just wrote a book criticizing the ethics of George W. Bush? How can we trust him to teach at Princeton, if we can’t trust him to watch the family pet?
If I have one small criticism of “Brainwashed” – it concerns a remark Shapiro made in Chapter Seven, titled “The War on God.” After he quoted Professor Camille Paglia as saying she favors the legalization of prostitution, he should not have asked whether she wants to legalize prostitution because professors are underpaid. But, of course, I’m glad he did say it because it was certainly funny. Ben Shapiro is getting to be quite a wiseacre in his old age.
My favorite quote in the entire book comes from Ann McClintock of the University of Wisconsin, who actually said that referring to the civilian deaths in Afghanistan as collateral damage calls for referring to the deaths of Americans on 9-11 as “collateral damage.” As Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes once said, “Even a dog distinguishes between being stumbled over and being kicked.” In other words, dogs know the difference between accidental and intentional harm. Dogs know, but not all college professors. Hopefully, most dogs also will know better than to hump Peter Singer’s leg.
What I liked most about “Brainwashed” was that it concluded with suggestions for improving higher education and ending indoctrination. We should not be complaining about the current situation in academia unless we are also willing to take action.
Anyone who considers buying Ben Shapiro’s book should be warned that he is only 20 years old. He is about to go to Harvard Law School after graduating from college as a nationally syndicated columnist with one published book. In other words, Shapiro has a lot of potential, but he needs to do something about his lack of motivation. After I finish this review, I’m going to write to give him a much-needed pep talk.
Editor’s note: Ben Shapiro’s hot new book, “Brainwashed: How Universities Indoctrinate America’s Youth,” is zooming up best-seller lists. Get your copy now in ShopNetDaily!
Mike Adams is a professor at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington. He also writes a weekly column for Townhall.com. Dr Adams can be reached at www.DrAdams.org.
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