Terrible author, failed screenwriter, and a man who’s publicly admitted he’s really bad at sex, Ben Shapiro has quite the resume. But, as we’ve learned from the last decade of American conservatism, things can always get dumber, and much, much worse for the thought leaders of the new right — both in terms of embarrassing themselves, and the damage that they do to the country with their hateful rhetoric. And, on Star Wars day, Shapiro has proven himself once again to be both dangerous and an idiot.
First, some context. Remember just a couple of years ago, when we had rioters swarm the Capitol and threaten various politicians, to the point where they had a “Hang Mike Pence” galley set up and many representatives were fearing for their lives? Then there was the relatively recent horrifying hammer attack by a right wing nutjob on Paul Pelosi, the husband of the former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, who the unhinged attacker was looking for. So, with that all in mind, maybe it’s not the best time to be joking about killing prominent American politicians. But Shapiro has never really been one for reading a room well, or doing the right thing, or anything intelligent in general — as shown by his weird, thirsty-yet-judgemental book about sex in America.
So, it shouldn’t be surprising to discover that the nasal former Breitbart editor, and alleged champion debator, responded to a lighthearted tweet by Democratic congressman Adam Schiff about May 4 with a wholly inappropriate gif. The gif is taken from a famous scene in Star Wars Episode III – Revenge of the Sith, in which Emperor Palpatine tells the Sith to execute Order 66.
For the non Star Wars fans, Order 66, sometimes known as just “the order” or Clone Protocol 66, was a top-secret order that was programmed into clone troopers that made them identify all Jedi as traitors to the Republic, therefore making them subject to summary execution by the Republic’s Grand Army. The scientists who designed the troopers — and the behavioral modification biochips implanted in their brains — believed the order was simply a contingency plan to protect the Republic against a Jedi who had gone rogue or was a danger to others, when in fact it was the way in which the Sith were planning on bringing about the death of the Jedi Order. Basically, it was an underhanded way for the bad guys to massacre the good guys.
So, aside from implying that Schiff should be killed by renegade “troops” on the day that multiple people were convicted of sedition for their role in the attempted insurrection at the U.S Capitol, Shapiro has also managed to imply that not only is he a bad guy, but that the epitome of evil. As is often the case whenever Shapiro comments on a piece of popular media, you have to ask: has he ever even watched Star Wars?
Shapiro has a long history of saying and doing dumb, dangerous, and outright creepy things, but calling for the murder of a politician he doesn’t like ranks pretty high up there on the terrible scale. And there’s a lot of competition, too. After all, this is a man who has said the American Civil War counts as an apology to Black people for slavery, and claimed that Trayvon Martin’s death was the fault of the young black man for fighting back after George Zimmerman stalked and attacked him.
It’s not all racism and inciting violence against politicians, though. In a lecture, Shapiro had this to say about climate change:
“Let’s say, for the sake of argument, that all of the water levels around the world rise by, let’s say, five feet or ten years over the next hundred years. It puts all the low-lying areas on the coast underwater. Let’s say all of that happens. You think that people aren’t just going to sell their homes and move?”
Leaving aside that people don’t all own the homes they live in (Shapiro has a long history of forgetting poor people exist) and can’t afford to move, the conservative “intellectual” also doesn’t seem to have the ability to understand that, just maybe, nobody will want to buy a home in a place that will flood constantly thanks to the effects of climate change. Maybe it wouldn’t be such a bad thing if he was “Ratatouilled” after all.
You would think after all these embarrassing and publicly available to see gaffes Shapiro would no longer command the audience he does, especially as he alegedly places such a high value on “facts and logic.” Yet, he’s still a prominent and even respected voice on the right, so we’re sure he’ll continue to do and say terrible things, and thousands will continue to support him. But we can always hope the force won’t be with him for much longer.
