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1) So, turns out the "debate me" & "facts don't care about your feelings" conservative guy can't actually handle a robust debate & gets so upset so fast that he has to walk out of an interview (with a conservative).
Watch the full @benshapiro meltdown:
Watch the full @benshapiro meltdown:
@benshapiro 2) I'm torn on whether you give a platform to the likes of Shapiro, people who have said some horribly racist & extreme things, but if you're gonna interview them, this is how you damn well do it. Tough, to the point, well-prepared. And don't back down. Kudos to @afneil & BBC.
3) A couple of caveats: I wish Andrew Neil had mentioned that Shapiro was a hero to the Quebec mosque shooter who checked Shapiro's Twitter feed 93 times the month of the massacre. Or Shapiro's many dodgy and racist claims re Muslims. 3/
politifact.com/punditfact/sta…
politifact.com/punditfact/sta…
4) Also a shame that Shapiro was able to get away with his shameless lie that the YouTube videos that are headlined as him "destroying" his opponents - cited by Neil - have nothing to do with him. A blatant, brazen, demonstrable falsehood:
5) We also can't pretend though that there isn't a cost to the BBC platforming extremists like Shapiro, & introducing them as mainstream, even if Shapiro is robustly interrogated for those extreme views. The IPPR's @TomKibasi is rather succinct here:
6) My friend - and former boss! - BBC editor of live programmes @RobBurl mounts a strong defence of their decision to interview Shapiro here:
7) The Shapiro interview aside, the BBC has a lot of questions to answer about giving fairly uncritical public platforms to right-wing extremists over the years - eg the disproportionate BBC coverage given to Nigel Farage versus an actual elected Green MP @carolinelucas.
8) And this is a crucial point that I've made before many times, including on @latenightseth last year: too many US interviewers are too deferential, too mild, aren't armed with facts, & are obsessed with access & keeping good relations with their guests:
9) But I'm still chuckling that Shapiro accused Andrew Neil (!) of being on the left, which is a reminder that 1) Shapiro doesn't do basic research before opening his mouth (hello Google!), and 2) US conservatives are now so far right that Neil comes across as left-wing to them!
10) Also, to walk out of an interview when confronted with your own quotes is (a) hilarious, and (b) a sign that you are the ultimate "snowflake".
Btw, did the King of Conservative Debaters really say "I'm popular and no one has ever heard of you"? Boom!!!!!! Or...maybe not.
Btw, did the King of Conservative Debaters really say "I'm popular and no one has ever heard of you"? Boom!!!!!! Or...maybe not.
11) Finally, it's sad that it took a conservative British interviewer to show what an angry fraud Shapiro is while, in contrast, it was the liberal New York Times that called him "the cool kid’s philosopher, dissecting arguments with a lawyer’s skill":
nytimes.com/2017/11/23/us/…
nytimes.com/2017/11/23/us/…
12) So all those US journalists enjoying the BBC/Andrew Neil takedown, and chuckling as Ben Shapiro trends on Twitter after his meltdown, should asks themselves why it took a *British interviewer* to do something so simple. Doesn't the US media need to make some changes? *ENDS*
