Ben Shapiro speaks at California campus, all hell breaks loose
The left is an angry mob.
We reported earlier this week that conservative author Ben Shapiro was banned from speaking at California State University LA by the school’s president.
The school then relented and said Shapiro could come after all. Then things got crazy.
Students who wanted to hear Shapiro speak had to be ushered quietly into the lecture hall through a back door while unhinged student activists and faculty members screamed and tried to force their way through a police barricade protecting the front door.
ABC News in Los Angeles reported:
Shapiro arrived at CSULA and was speaking to the campus chapter of Young America’s Foundation on the topic of “When Diversity Becomes a Problem” when a fire alarm was pulled.
While the siren was sounding, Shapiro continued his speech, stating he would not be silenced.
“If this sort of thing happened during classes at this university, the kid who pulled the fire alarm would be off this campus so fast it would make your head spin,” Shapiro said. “But not you out there, the protesters, the special magical leftist children protected from the consequences of living in the real world with my taxpayer dollars. You get to shut us down for disagreeing with your thug tactics and your nasty, pathetic, evil ideology.”
According to tweets by Shapiro, protesters blocked entrances to the University-Student Union where he was speaking, attempting to obstruct those who wished to attend. Cameras captured shouting and pushing as intense interactions occurred between protesters and those attempting to attend the event.
After speaking for about an hour, Shapiro tweeted he had to be escorted by police from the campus for safety concerns.
Here’s Shapiro speaking after the fire alarm was pulled:
This is what the unhinged mob outside the front door looked like. Note that they start chanting “This is what Democracy looks like!” an old standby from the left. The irony is completely lost on them.
Here’s another view of the angry mob.
Shapiro had to leave with a security detail due to threats of violence.
We had to be escorted by a full police cordon as well as a motorcade thanks to safety concerns.
— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) February 25, 2016
We are safely out. The police informed us they could not guarantee our safety or that of the student attendees if we went into the crowd.
— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) February 25, 2016
I have frequently written at College Insurrection that we need higher education reform in America.
I’m starting to think we should just send all the students home and start over.
Featured image via YouTube.
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America’s Red Guard in full throat.
What was it that Santayana said?
Cogent analogy.
History has been rewritten, subverted and now media-mythologized by Noam Chomsky and Howard Zinn and their ilk so as to ignore the good that has happened, to highlight the bad that has happened and to humiliate and shame those they hope to suppress. College students are the unsuspecting product of such tyranny of thought. World history has been pulled out from under them.
The ultimate irony now is that the students will voraciously fight any presumed tyranny of thought with tyranny of thought control. This appears the most acute on the emotional front now but these students will grow into cynical adults who become a Zinn, a Chomsky and a far-left Democrat.
In the real world of adult responsibility liberty comes with a personal cost. But, these students want others to accrue the cost of their lives. These students want taxpayers to pay for damages based on what they learned about the world from their Marxist professors. Making taxpayers pay for student loans is basically a class action law suit against the nation they have been taught to hate and find fault with.
The rest is just a trumpian show of angry bluster.
You should have mentioned “Rules for Radicals” which is being acted out in academia, not just lectured.
And for that one needs to blame the present Administration in large part.
Sending the students home and starting over won’t work as long as the faculty and administration support their vile behavior. The education establishment needs to go first.
Send them home? That’s where the problem started.
“Note that they start chanting ‘This is what Democracy looks like!’ an old standby from the left. The irony is completely lost on them.”
No, this is what mobocracy looks like.
A pipe dream on my part perhaps, but would it be too much to have expected one or two to have actually read and understood the Federalist Papers?
From No. 10, “A common passion or interest will, in almost every case, be felt by a majority of the whole; a communication and concert result from the form of government itself; and there is nothing to check the inducements to sacrifice the weaker party or an obnoxious individual. Hence it is that such democracies have ever been spectacles of turbulence and contention [look at the baying crowd in the lobby]; have ever been found incompatible with personal security [of Shapiro} or the rights of property; and have in general been as short in their lives as they have been violent in their deaths.”
The word “democracy” does not appear in the Declaration (1776), the Articles of Confederation (1777), the Constitution (1787), nor in any one of the 50 state constitutions.
Founding Fathers weren’t impressed by mob rule. In fact, a few years before the Constitutional Convention there was a mob uprising in one of the states that had to be put down rather brutally. They were smart enough to see what mob rule led to.
No, this is what mobocracy looks like.
“Mobocracy” is what democracy is, if you drill down far enough. A system of government wherein 51% of the population can vote away the rights of the other 49% (or the way they count these days, 50% + 1 vote can vote away the rights of the other 50%). Whichever point of view amasses the biggest mob and shouts the loudest, wins.
And that is precisely why America was founded as “a Republic, if we can keep it” (Benjamin Franklin).
I think they are saying “This is what diversity looks like” instead of democracy. Either way, whatever it looks like is ugly.
Fascist brownshirt tactics, either way.
Shutting down an free speech event, with a Jewish speaker, and chanting: “This is what diversity looks like”. Liberal Fascism never looked so dangerous. Don’t doubt the importance of the Supreme Court now. If Democrats get it, then this mob mentality will be legislated from the Court. They will punish those of us who disagree with them.
I was there and let me tell you, I think all is lost.
I’m right outside the last video, about as close to the front doors of the theater you could get (about 20 feet) without getting threatened by the thugs blocking the doors.
The black guy in the last video was one of the main catalysts.
Just outside that video, next to me, were a few students holding a free speech banner. One, right next to me, was a young black lady who was as sweet and brave as could be.
Black students would get in her face and taunt her, one guy saying, “There’s always gotta be one. Always gotta be one like you.”
A little black guy half my size tried to pick a fight with me. He taunted her first, then he stood in front of me telling me to “make the first move.”
When I said to him, “You’re really into melodrama, aren’t you?” the black lady next to me laughed and it took the wind out of his sails and he moved on to another target.
It was total confusion. Our small group of about a dozen finally exited to cheers and then we were led to the back entrance. As I approached the back door, the black guy in the last video popped out of another door and screamed, “They’re coming in through the back!”
Within seconds streams of thugs swarmed like ants and the campus police officers shut the door literally right in front of me. I was a second or two from entering. The door stayed locked.
Talking to the “students” was like talking to zombies. One older hippy hag, who I’m guessing was a professor because she was directing some of the students, started shouting in my face.
You could not reason with them at all. I asked about freedom of assembly and she shouted we were free to assemble somewhere else but not “our campus.”
Met some nice people on our side. One guy from PJ Media and a Hispanic guy who is becoming a firefighter whose brother is in the service stationed in Japan. Good people.
But that young black lady holding up the free speech sign was my hero of the day. She was so brave and kept her cool and sense of humor under fire.
I know from this site and others that this is what goes on.
But actually being there and being shoved and taunted and blocked from hearing a speaker … it’s just another dimension.
You can’t believe the insanity. You can’t believe the completely undeserved sense of moral superiority coupled with the simmering threat of violence.
Really, really disheartening.
I took a few videos with my new phone and tried to send them to LI. But they bounced back as being too large.
The Young Americans for Freedom gang are a brave, brave group. Just completely outnumbered. Talked with one of them from the Reagan Center and she’d met Professor Jacobson and Mrs. Jacobson when they were at the center last year.
Seeing that in person, I think we’ve passed the point of no return. It’s not something you fix. It’s a stain you can’t get out … a complete mess.
You cannot reason with people who refuse to listen to reason.
At one point, one of the protestors was telling the guy next to me that Ben Shapiro was a racist and a supremacist because he was an Orthodox Jew, and thus should not be allowed to speak.
Tolerance. Behold.
Numbers wise- this demographic is small, but has a loud microphone of people with nothing…and nothing to lose and willing to make a lot of trouble and throw a lot of tantrums or do this sort of thug behavior.
Note that the rest of the student body was not there and would soon grow tired of these people if they were w/in 30 feet of them.
Talking to the “students” was like talking to zombies. […] You could not reason with them at all.
I believe Tommy Lee Jones said it best, in Men in Black [bold emphasis added]:
You can’t reason with a mob. An individual has a mentality that can be reached through reason, but “mob mentality” cannot be so reached, other than through overwhelming physical force (and sometimes not even then — see: Ferguson riots).
Your calm demeanor and level-headed-ness (and those of the lady standing next to you) during that situation are something to be admired and emulated. KUDOS! 🙂
You can’t reason with a mob.
A century ago, communists and fascists knew this, and exploited to the fullest extent.
A fascinating account, Luke; thank you for sharing it. And, thanks for not giving in to the fascist jackboots. I can’t imagine what a tense situation that must be, dealing with mob hostility and provocations.
But their numbers are growing and their influence is hugely disproportionate.
Intense minorities often steer history.
The administration should be held accountable. They were nowhere to be seen. There were just a few campus cops who were completely outnumbered.
When the cop closed the back door just before I was about to enter, and the thugs quickly blocked it, too, they (mostly the black guy with the cap) were in his face cursing him with a fury of obscenities.
CSULA is in East L.A. Sheriff’s jurisdiction. They should have been there in force. It was a potentially dangerous situation. When we were by the front doors, I was afraid some people might get shoved through the windows. It was really inexcusable.
Do you think the left’s attacks on the police (I include the MSM in the left) had an influence on the LASO to NOT show up in force? It would be practical but not ethical to not show up in my opinion.
If these places are lost, we must remove all taxpayer funds from their support, whether direct or indirect. A fire needs oxygen to continue to burn. Socialists need other people’s money.
Also, bullies (sociopaths) will either control you or destroy you. Bullies only stop when facing force. LASO should have been there and the U admin should have demanded it. That you for your courage, LHC. I am glad you got out safely. Thugs can be dangerous.
Spelling — Thank you for your courage.
Thanks for the kind words, but it was those YAF students, and a few students affiliated with a couple other groups–the names of which now escape me–who were the brave ones. I feel honored to have met them, along with the young black lady bravely helping to hold up the free speech banner while being taunted by those who viewed her as a traitor to the tribe. Truly, truly heroic and brave, these kids.
I was emailing back and forth with the vice president of YAF to find their reps. I found them, and a few of the others from like-minded groups, maybe a dozen people in total, standing in front of a statue which is maybe 50 yards from the entrance to the student center.
It’s quiet there, and they weren’t being menaced then (the hordes were occupying the inside of the student center), just harassed by occasional passersby flipping them the bird and one especially annoying spastic jackass standing behind us giving the Nazi salute.
Our tiny group entered the student center and it was then that it dawned on me that there was potential for this to become a really ugly, out-of-control scene.
As a lifelong, professional student, I’ve taken occasional classes at CSULA (as well as other schools in the LA area) since as far back as 1986.
I do not recognize it now. That little PC phenomenon that was new and laughable way back then is full grown now … and it has become a freaking Frankenstein monster. As PC has become more and more outlandish and absurd over these years, the conviction of its adherents has become deeper and deeper.
I’ve been struggling with a rut of depression lately and my wife keeps nagging me to “go out and become more active.” So, I decided to attend this event (without telling her … she doesn’t mean this kind of thing when she tells me to become more active) and then, when our tiny group walked into the student center, I thought, if I go home with a broken nose and torn clothing smeared with blood, I’ll have to tell her where I was, and she’ll be really, really pissed off. I might not get fed or talked to for a week or two. Thank goodness it didn’t come to that.
Well, I got out and was “more active” just like she said. And, after witnessing all that, going out and being more active has made me feel even more depressed. I didn’t think I could feel worse, but today I do. It’s like watching a bad film you’ve seen before. You know how it’s going to end–in a bad way–but you can’t stop it. I’m not a doomsayer, but seeing the hate and the absolute certitude in their eyes yesterday … just makes me feel awful and filled with doubt for our future.
It sounds (and looks) like they should have been hauling violent thugs out of there in a constant stream of handcuff-wearing, screaming idiocy. “Disturbing the peace” is a nice charge to start with, and “Resisting arrest while on camera and screaming obscenities at the police” is a good addition and a guaranteed conviction. (It doesn’t matter if you show up in court in a suit and tie, if the video of your arrest gets entered into evidence and played during the very short trial.)
I wonder how many of the screamers were actually students and how many were ‘professionals.’
That really is a key question and one that won’t be answered until the demonstrators start getting arrested.
Some years ago I was arguing with an educator. I argued that the public school system was failing our kids, since they were doing worse and worse on tests and surveys of basic facts. The response was “we don’t teach kids a bunch of useless facts, we teach them how to think.”
Well, she was almost right. They don’t teach kids “how” to think, but they sure are doing a great job of teaching them “what” to think.
Our education system has totally failed us. There are some islands of sanity, but they seem few and far between. Things seem hopeless, but such is not the case. Let us hope and pray that GOP dominated legislatures and governors start turning off the cash spigots for such colleges and start putting in some leaders that know what education and free speech mean. Setting up some requirements for students to receive state aid would help as well.
Likely? Not very, especially in California. But possible? Yes, it is possible and it would be nice to see at least one state start paving the way. After all, Melissa Click got fired. Cut off the cash or threaten to and the change in behavior can be remarkable.
One of the stupidest things conservative politicians have done is to go along with supplying huge amounts of cash to left-wing organizations, whether they be colleges, NPR, PP or any of a vast array of left-leaning ‘community’ organization. Feel free to add to the list; it is endless.
That’s wonderful, and is in fact the best kind of education. But what are the metrics to detemine whether you’re succeeding? Let me tell you. I am the product of just such an education, carried out by competent teachers, who really did teach me how to think. As a result, I went out and filled my own head with those “useless facts”. Not always the same ones that I would have learnt with an old-fashioned, rote-based schooling, but facts all the same, and it’s my mastery of those facts that shows my education to have been successful. When someone comes out of your school not knowing any of the facts that are being tested for, it means they have learned neither facts nor how to think, and their entire schooling has been wasted.
There are no metrics, which is precisely why they’re teaching that way. Teacher’s unions hate evaluations based on student achievement.
I will play devil’s advocate here, and I am certainly no friend of the teachers unions. In the days we had a pretty much homogeneous society, judging teachers by student program would be sort-of fair at best. In today/s “diversity” society, you have children who refuse to learn, or are too damned stupid TO learn. The teacher really can’t get through to those who either can’t – or won’t – BE gotten through to.
I was making two points: they aren’t actually teaching kids how to think and ‘useless facts’ are, in fact, useful.
You are absolutely correct that by replacing that which can be measured with that which cannot – at least not well – the teacher’s unions are intentionally making teachers less accountable.
To elaborate. You cannot reason well – that is to do critical thinking – unless you have a store of information to draw upon. You will not know in advance just what info you need, and even when you have been given a specific ‘thinking problem’ you won’t know just what facts you need to look up. You probably won’t even recognize that you even need to look up information that can help you. You will not have the info that you need, unless you already possessed it.
A co-worker illustrated this nicely many years ago. Intel had just come out with the latest processor – the 486. In reference to his straight-A student daughter he said that she had a 486 brain compared to his own 286, but that she didn’t even have a 5 meg hard drive and as a result simply could not compete with him mentally. She needed a bigger hard drive and she needed to fill it up.
“we don’t teach kids a bunch of useless facts, we teach them how to think.”
“That’s wonderful, and is in fact the best kind of education.”
This is a common mistake. No useful thinking can take place without a foundation of fact. Specifically, the law of non-contradiction, the falsity of moral relativism, the existence of God, etc. – basically the content of what used to be the core curriculum in Western Civilization. This foundation is precisely what the demonic left has been so very successful at subverting.
All education begins with indoctrination – either in truth or in lies.
And we persist in paying the left to indoctrinate our children in lies.
Welcome to the revolution comrades. It WILL be televised, tweeted, and instagrammed.
Honestly, if I was in a blue state? I’d leave, and go somewhere that supports self defense and the right to arms.
We may have to retreat 400-500 years or so, from gavels to ceremonial maces, to real maces, in accordance with the retreat from civilized conduct of today’s mobs.
It would seem to me that the physical violation, or outright prevention, of our natural rights to free speech and assembly should justify the physical imposition of order. If the powers that be are too weak to fulfill their responsibilities, then we must do it ourselves. Appoint our own Sergeants at Arms, and refuse to be intimidated or shouted down. Yes, beat them down and drag them out, rinse, repeat.
Liberals: Known by the cowardice of their convictions.
So much for that much-vaunted Leftist “tolerance” and “diversity.” The Left loves waxing rhapsodic about its twin deities of Tolerance and Diversity — and, the Left promotes tolerance and diversity, just so long as you agree with their orthodoxies to the letter! “Oh, wait a minute — you don’t wear a keffiyah scarf to show solidarity with our oppressed Palestinian brethren? You don’t want to wear a ‘Free Mumia’ t-shirt, or put a “Black Lives Matter” sticker on you car bumper? You’re a traitor to the cause!” Woe to the person who fails to worship these deities and observe Leftist dogmas with total fidelity.
The moronic, totally un-self-aware Left proves the veracity of Shapiro’s thesis by having jackboot student-thugs use violence and intimidation to silence his dissenting opinions.
Unabashedly call out Leftist fascism and totalitarianism for what it transparently is.
Major props to Shapiro for not backing down from the jackboots.
Welcome to life in 21st-century America. Heil Obama, comrades! Seek out the Enemies of the State and capitalist slime who oppose the proletariat revolution, report them to your campus administrators and local secret police, and have them sent off to the Alaskan gulags. Dissenters who oppose Marxist-Leninist orthodoxies and identity politics cannot be tolerated!
Well, here we go. Just saw this.
In an upside-down world, the brave and principled few get punished:
“CSULA YAF Threatened with Loss of Funding after Shapiro Event”
http://www.yaf.org/csula-yaf-threatened-with-loss-of-funding.aspx
That’s just a college version of when some student gets picked on for a fight, the fight results, and the troublemaker walked off scot-free, and the one who fought back suffers the punishment.
I wandered over to Reddit and found that this nonsense does not set well with the kiddies, either. Nor are they fond of Melissa Click.
Our kids are young, but they are not stupid. Some of these students are lost, but a few people in every age group seem determined to lose themselves, anyway.
What I want to know is who started this nonsense? This did not start with the students. Some adults are pushing them.
Ben at the very end, upon being told by police it was not safe to take the normal exit.
He says a mob of 300 … I think that’s a very conservative estimate. I would say close to double that size at times.
What a brave kid. Well, he’s 32, but he looks like a kid. I thought he might arrive in disguise as an undergrad, but he almost looks too young for that.
http://livestream.com/YAF/events/4870270/videos/113586617
All is not lost. What is lost, is peace.
This is the beginning of a great conflagration. We aren’t up for coming out the loser on it.
“We are safely out. The police informed us they could not guarantee our safety or that of the student attendees if we went into the crowd.”
The police never can make that guarantee whether you go into that crowd or not. Keep that in mind when the County of Los Angeles or any other government body denies your application for a license to carry firearm or you learn that you cannot carry a firearm on a school campus. You are on your own. The mob’s First Amendment right to protest does not override your First Amendment right to assemble or your Second Amendment right to defend yourself, but do not test it. It is much easier to arrest you than to arrest the mob.