INTELLECTUAL SNOBBERY
(not to mention dishonesty)
This is supposedly a *factual* critique from a student
who believes that triplespeak takes the place of
common sense. There are many words, but as the old
Shakespearean quote rightly supposes, "It is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, Signifying
nothing."
This critique is written by a liberal UCLA senior who
*misconstrued* the FIRST hit piece on Shapiro, then
*reconstrued* it to be even more nonsensical than what
the meaning of "is," is.
If this is an example of the journalistic talent UCLA
is foisting onto an unsuspecting American public,
someone had better teach them how to *construct*
whole sentences before they turn a one sentence
non-sentence into an entire paragraph.
Being deliberately redundant, I repeat for emphasis,
this *journalist* is a senior.
Dear Lord.
One more thing.
More gibberish and spin isn't necessarily
better gibberish OR spin. It's just silly.
THE DAILY BRUIN ONLINE 5/11/2004
Book misconstrues facts
-----------------------------------------------------
JENNIFER DRADER/daily bruin
Ben Shapiro, a fourth-year political science student,
said he has drawn from his upbringing as an Orthodox Jew for many of the views he expresses in his book.
-----------------------------------------------------
By Charlotte Hsu
DAILY BRUIN SENIOR STAFF
Correction appended
A book a UCLA undergraduate wrote that alleges
students are "brainwashed" by a liberal bias at U.S.
universities contains numerous factual errors,
misquotations and misrepresentations of people's
views.
Titled "Brainwashed: How Universities Indoctrinate
America's Youth," Ben Shapiro's book appeared on
store shelves Thursday.
With "Brainwashed," Shapiro said he hopes to drive
home the assertion he's frequently made: that the
United States' universities are dominated by liberal
professors whose ideologies overshadow those of
their underrepresented conservative counterparts.
While Shapiro's inflammatory statements have
drawn criticism from many, different concerns arise
when he doesn't get his facts straight. At least
twice, Shapiro states that Student Media receives
funding from mandatory tuition or fees, which is
false.
He also misquotes prominent UCLA figures, including
the chancellor and UCLA Hillel Director Rabbi Chaim
Seidler-Feller, and mischaracterizes the terms of his
dismissal from the Daily Bruin.
Shapiro rescheduled Monday an in-person meeting
that was supposed to take place that morning and
asked to be interviewed by phone instead. Shapiro
canceled the phone interview after being presented
with the errors through e-mail and would only
comment in a statement by e-mail.
"I stand behind the facts in my book, and behind the
major point of my book: The overwhelming majority
of professors are leftists, and their leftism enters
the classroom," he wrote.
After canceling his interview, he did not return calls
and messages left to his home and cell phone but
responded in a later e-mail that he would not be
able to talk for "the next several weeks."
He wrote that he is busy with the publicity
campaign for his book, which in an interview last
week he saidwould launch today.
When asked about factual errors, a spokeswoman
familiar with Shapiro's book declined to comment
before speaking with a legal team.
The Borders Books & Music on Westwood Boulevard
had four copies of "Brainwashed" in stock this
weekend, though Ackerman Union is not carrying it.
Some preordered it online, and it has already
garnered over 15 comments on Amazon.com.
Factual distortion
In at least two instances in "Brainwashed," Shapiro,
a former Bruin Viewpoint columnist, states that
Student Media at UCLA – which encompasses The
Bruin, UCLAtv, KLA radio and several newsmagazines
– receives funding from student fees.
Student Media receives no money from the
university or student tuition and fees and is
completely self-funded.
In chapter 11, Shapiro writes that "part of tuition
at UCLA includes a required payment to the student
media. For example, my tuition money pays for
Nommo, the black magazine on campus, despite
the fact that I disagree with their viewpoint."
He adds at the start of chapter 12 that "groups like
the African Student Association, Gay and
Lesbian Association, Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano
de Aztlan (MEChA), the Muslim Student Association
and their media outlets, like Nommo, TenPercent,
La Gente de Aztlán and Al-Talib all receive tuition
money to spout their radical agendas."
Student groups receive funding through fees, but
Nommo, TenPercent, La Gente de Aztlán and Al-
Talib fall under Student Media and do not.
They are also independent publications that do not
serve as media outlets for student groups.
In addition to factual mistakes, Shapiro makes
multiple errors when quoting. He misquotes Seidler
-Feller in more than one instance.
In a segment about a memorial for Holocaust
victims, Shapiro writes: "Seidler-Feller spoke to
the crowd of students, comparing Israeli treatment
of Palestinians to Nazi treatment of Jews."
But Seidler-Feller says this wasn't what he said
at all.
"I have never compared Israeli behavior to Nazi
behavior. It's an outrageous assertion – it's both
outrageous to say that and outrageous to say I said
it," he said.
Shapiro continues in the same paragraph, quoting
Seidler-Feller as saying that Jews being victimized
in the Holocaust does not mean they are "immunized
from victimizing others."
The Bruin story Shapiro cited read: "Seidler-Feller
urged people to realize that just because Jews were
victims does not mean they are 'immunized' from being
victimizers."
A second time, Shapiro writes: Seidler-Feller strode
to a microphone and challenged (Dennis) Prager's
honesty and his arguments, stating to Prager that
he was "exaggerating the case" for Israel.
The quotation Shapiro used never appeared in the
DailyBruin story he cites in his footnotes.
Instead, the story said Seidler-Feller supported
most of Prager's argument but "did challenge him
on a few points he said Prager exaggerated. ...
Seidler-Feller asked if it was necessary for Israel
supporters to exaggerate to get their point across."
Shapiro also puts quotation marks around
statements that he should have paraphrased,
giving the impression people said things they
did not.
In a segment about partisan politics, "Brainwashed"
reads: "Albert Carnesale, the chancellor of UCLA,
says that 'a missile defense shield is not the answer
to the threat of weapons of mass destruction.'"
The excerpt was drawn from a Daily Bruin story in
which the part Shapiro puts in quotation marks was
not reported as a direct quote.
Misrepresentation
Shapiro also misrepresented the views of many
people he quotes in "Brainwashed."
In chapter two, Shapiro cites English Professor
Robert Watson's submission to The Bruin's
Viewpoint section, in which Watson writes: "If
you decide to characterize as radical-leftist the
determination to ask hard questions about the
things a society has been most comfortable
assuming, then, yes, a large proportion of those
who have devoted their lives to intellectual
inquiry will appear to you to be radical-leftist."
In "Brainwashed," Shapiro drops Watson's statement
"if you decide" and writes that the professor
"describes radical leftism as 'the determination
to ask hard questions about the things a society
has been most comfortable assuming.'"
"That wasn't really what I said, and I assume he
must know that," Watson said.
He said his intention was to state his belief that a
person who interprets challenges to society's
assumptions as radical leftism would naturally
define many involved in academia as radical leftists.
"(Shapiro) contrives to misunderstand what I said in
a way that would make it false when he presumably
should be able to comprehend what I think are
pretty clearly made assertions," he added.
Also, some of the over 750 footnotes in the back of
Shapiro's book are incorrectly cited.
He twice attributes parts of one of Watson's quotes,
in chapter three and then again in chapter 13, to a
submission Watson wrote titled "Conservatives quick
to excuse war crimes," instead of to "Link between
leftists, intellectuals no accident," the piece in
which the quote appeared.
He attributes another chapter three quote found in
the same piece to a different submission titled
"Johnson fails to accept need for dissent in life."
In quoting University of Massachusetts Professor Bill
Israel saying the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks were "the
predictable result of American foreign policy,"
"Brainwashed" footnotes in chapter eight an opinion
piece written by Shapiro.
The quote does not appear in that piece.
Daily Bruin dismissal
Shapiro, a Viewpoint columnist for nearly two years,
was dismissed in 2002 for appearing on a radio show
without first telling his editors, said Cuauhtemoc
Ortega, the Viewpoint editor at the time.
In the book's introduction, Shapiro writes that he
was fired from The Bruin "for revealing the
newspaper's systematic bias in favor of the Islamic
community."
The book's jacket says Shapiro was fired for his
conservative views.
He said The Bruin refused to publish two of his
stories about Muslims and spoke about the issue
on Larry Elder's radio show shortly before being
dismissed.
Ortega said Shapiro was let go not for speaking
on the Larry Elder program, but for going on the
program without telling an editor first.
After a different columnist was misidentified as a
reporter on "The O'Reilly Factor," the Viewpoint
editors drafted a "zero tolerance" policy that
stated columnists could not appear on other media
without first informing editors.
"It was mandatory. ... It was very clear," Ortega
said.
But in his book, Shapiro writes that "columnists
were not required to sign the policy, and were not
legally bound by it."
Ortega said the two Shapiro pieces were not run in
the paper because they were "intolerant and really
insensitive to Muslim people."
Ortega said that "you can only go up to a certain
point" before breaking communications board
guidelines that advise against publishing or
broadcasting "articles to perpetuate derogatory
cultural or ethnic stereotypes."
The Bruin is not obligated to follow the guidelines,
but editors choose to do so at their own discretion.
A vocal path
The cover art of the book consists of four plastic-
like graduates dressed in green – "cookie cutter
dolls," Shapiro said in an interview the day his book
came out – with blank looks on their faces.
He laughs as he says they're reminiscent of the
Stepford Wives and says he chose the design
because it symbolizes his belief that universities
churn out students with liberal views.
Shapiro, a political science student and Burbank
native, entered UCLA when he was 16. He speaks
with a fast pace, his words flying out of his
mouth in short staccato steps. He still lives off-
campus in the Los Angeles area and drives to school
where he's finishing up his college language
requirement by taking Hebrew.
In person, he's well-spoken and passionate about his
beliefs.
He has short brown hair and expressive
eyebrows that complement hand gestures as he
speaks.
Shapiro insists that students aren't exposed to a
variety of viewpoints at universities and that those
who don't have strong opinions will be overwhelmed
by an atmosphere dominated by liberal instructors –
even if discussion is encouraged in classrooms.
"Most professors are very open to discussion. They're
not sitting down and going, 'How can we brainwash
the students today?'" he said.
Described as a "staunch conservative" on his Web
site, benshapiroonline.com, Shapiro doesn't bow to
critics. He chooses words carefully, and they're
often confrontational. Close to home for many
students, Shapiro refers in one opinion piece to
his peers as "those crying the loudest for money
from the pockets of others...
the gimme generation."
Though he's loud about what he thinks, Shapiro says
his intentions aren't to portray himself as a cut
above the rest.
"I'm not like a lot of radicals – on both sides – who
only want to hear themselves talk," he said. "I'm
certainly not above anyone else."
Even so, he concedes that his readership consists
largely of people who share his perspectives and
that few people his own age read up on what he has
to say.
To reach out to fellow collegians, Shapiro recently
took a speaking tour on the East Coast, covering
ground that included Boston College, Columbia,
Princeton, Harvard, Brown and the University of
Pennsylvania.
Doug Bush, director of political affairs for College
Republicans of Boston College, said he met Shapiro
and chatted with him for a while when he spoke at
the school. Bush said he found Shapiro "a bit of a
radical," but intelligent and well-read for his age.
"I don't know if I believe in everything he says, but
he has a lot of information to share," Bush said.
"We had some people that really opposed his
positions asking him some really difficult questions.
He was really good at thinking on his feet," he said.
Bush said Saturday he ordered Shapiro's book online
but hadn't yet read it, so he couldn't comment on it
or any errors it contained.
Shapiro began working on "Brainwashed" the
summer of 2002, and said he finished writing in
nine weeks. He updated it in 2003, and it was
accepted for publication shortly after.
The dedication is to his parents, "who taught me the
difference between right and wrong and gave me the
strength to confront falsehood."
Shapiro says while his social conservatism stems
from his upbringing as an Orthodox Jew, his
financial conservatism comes more from researching
– "You read up and figure out whether this
is what I believe," he said.
He says he hasn't chosen a set style of writing yet
but added, "I can do an Ann Coulter – one liners,
very caustic ... Or less caustic, more factually
oriented."
And while Shapiro says he's leaning toward the
latter – work that's based more on straight
argument – his book contains a lot of jokes and
sarcasm.
"The book is more abrasive. ... People need to laugh
a little bit," he said.
In addition to his book, Shapiro is a nationally
syndicated columnist, with his columns running
regular on such forums as Townhall.com and World
NetDaily.com.
Ortega, who worked with Shapiro during the
columnist's entire tenure at The Bruin, said
Shapiro's writing has, in the past, had a pattern
of overexaggerating. He added he was not surprised
to hear of inaccuracies in Shapiro's work.
"I wouldn't go so far as to say he tries to construe
facts in the wrong way. I just think he's overzealous
and because of that, he's not careful," Ortega said.
"It's your opinion, and it's your job to describe (the)
opposition. But you have a responsibility to not
distort what your opposition is saying, and he does
that without any kind of remorse," he said.
Shapiro's book was released by Christian publisher
WND books, a division of Thomas Nelson Publishers.
Online, the publisher advertises a book alleging
the Oklahoma City bombings had connections to
Islamic terrorists.
The forward in "Brainwashed" is written by David
Limbaugh, author of "Persecution: How Liberals
Are Waging War Against Christianity" and other
books.
Shapiro appeared more conservative than many of
his peers at Yeshiva University High School, where
students are generally right-leaning because of
their backgrounds, said Paul Soifer, his high
school U.S. government teacher.
That Shapiro "would take a conservative position on
how he would perceive a university like UCLA, that
wouldn't be terribly surprising," Soifer added.
And though Shapiro has made a name for himself
among conservative voices, Soifer remembers him
as just another student– inquisitive and a good
researcher, but still just one in a whole class
of "seniors with early senioritis."
"Nothing specific sticks out," Soifer said.
After 20 years on the West Coast, Shapiro's
heading to Harvard Law School for the fall.
Of his move to Massachusetts, Shapiro said
he's looking forward to taking up residence
in a bastion some consider more liberal than
California.
"It's going from the frying pan to the fire –
next I'll have to go to Cuba," he said laughingly.
Correction: May 12, 2004, Wednesday
In "Book misconstrues facts" (News, May 11), the
story should have said the Daily Bruin drafted a
"zero tolerance" policy on staffers' appearing on
other media not because a columnist was
misidentified as a reporter, but because of
editors' concerns that a staffer would be seen
as speaking on behalf of the newspaper's staff.
Due to a production error, the last sentence
of the same story was cut short and should have
read: "'It's going from the frying pan to the fire
– next I'll have to go to Cuba,' he said laughingly."
Grammar and punctuation of article solely
that of the *senior* from UCLA.
Update: March 31, 2005.
My bad. Edited most punctuation. Had to. html really screwed since switching template.
Dare I say it's a tad biased?
Good Heavens!!!
A CHRISTIAN publisher.
DANG!
The sky is falling on your head, or was that bird poop?
Gag me with a spoon!
