pretty shocking poll in the Wall Street
Journal today that says that a majority
of Americans 56% say that the United
States is a racist society only 40%
believe the opposite so how did we get
here that's where we start tonight with
Ben Shapiro editor-in-chief of The Daily
wire calm and the author of the new book
just out today how to destroy America in
three easy steps which Ben thinks is
quite possibly underway Ben good to see
ya thank you for being here tonight and
thanks for having me so what's your
reaction to that number when you see
that fifty six percent believe that
America is an overall racist society not
that there is racism that exists in the
country but that the overall society is
racist
I mean it's shocking and devastating
because it means one of two things
either a majority of Americans believe
that their family friends and neighbors
are actually racist because American
society is racist or they believe that
the institutions of American society are
so deeply corrupt and systematically
racist that they have to be razed to the
ground that of course is the argument of
the folks over at the 16:19 project
which is that America was not founded in
liberty and freedom America was instead
founded in slavery and bigotry the only
solution if you believe that the society
society at this moment in 2020 is
systemically racist or inherently racist
is complete destruction of the system
and this of course is the case that's
overtly being made by people ranging
from Robyn D'Angelo to Abram Kenzi in
their quote/unquote quest against anti
racism this anti racism amounts to
tearing down the system from within yeah
I mean you can see how these ideas take
hold they're sort of hammered over and
over and I think in some ways people are
indoctrinated beyond what you know that
the data may tell them or their own
understanding of America might tell them
we know one of the things that we've
seen is an increase in the acceptance of
black lives matter now I always say you
know there's a lot of different ways to
look at black lives matter I mean for
some kids and you know have a t-shirt or
a sign they they're looking for equality
and unity in the country but the roots
of it as we well know the people who
founded it
our Marxist so that's increasing you've
also got an increase in people who say
that they think it's it's acceptable and
understandable for athletes to kneel for
the national anthem what do you think
you know I wonder how much of this is
just a certain amount of cultural
pressure to hey
to a particular narrative pushed by the
media you're not gonna get called out or
canceled if you say that you believe
America is systemically racist and that
you are all in favor of people kneeling
for the national anthem or for the
American flag you won't get canceled if
you if you say the opposite right so the
fact is that I don't know that a
majority of Americans believe this the
fact that a majority of Americans
believe they they either have to say it
or that they believe it overtly is
obviously really bad for the future of
the country you cannot have a nation
that is successful without any sort of
shared philosophy history or culture and
what we are watching right now is the
American philosophy being reduced to
racism and bigotry we're seeing the
American culture reduced to
reinstallation of hierarchies of power
we're watching American history be
reduced to a story of exploitation and
brutality
how exactly are we supposed to live
together in that society when we don't
really share anything in common other
than what hatred of the system so that's
what you talk about in your book the
difference between unionism which is the
basic fundamentals that the country was
founded on which I think you know the
education system has failed us in many
ways that people don't have a clear
understanding of what those things are
in terms of the achievements you know
against Nazism against communism as you
have talked about and then the other
side is disintegration ISM which is
basically a rebellion that insists on
tearing all of those structures down
right absolutely I mean the basic idea
is that the American system because it
results in inequality has to be torn
down in favor of something new that all
inequalities can be attributed to the
system that all evils all sins can be
attributed to the system if we just get
rid of the system then a new sort of
human being will flourish well we've
seen that sort of utopianism before in
other societies it doesn't go
particularly well to tear down the most
successful free prosperous and in fact
tolerant country in the history of the
world on behalf of a sort of utopian
vision is not only bizarre at this point
of time it's it's pretty terrifying and
pretty terrible and the fact that so
many Americans have gone along to get
along is really a tragedy and as you're
right it's a failure of our educational
system it's a failure of conservatives
to get involved in the cultural fight
rather than getting involved in the
political fight Republicans it turns out
are very good at electing republicans
they're not very good at winning
cultural battles and that's a huge
problem so you know I I'm asking you
know to win that battle right you really
have to have leaders who articulate the
difference between the two things that
you're talking about in a clearer way so
that Americans and voters
hey I want to go that way or I want to
go that way and you know you look at
these polls president Trump's handling
of race relations sixty-three percent
disapprove so we're four months now from
an election and both Biden and Trump
will try to articulate a vision for
America how do you think they're doing
on that front I mean I think that Joe
Biden is basically alighting the
question I think Joe Biden has run a
very smart campaign where he doesn't
give honest answers to a lot of
questions but he will give answers that
he thinks most Americans agree with so
when it comes to tearing down statues
they'll say yes get rid of the
Confederate statues but keep Columbus
and keep Washington and keep Jefferson
now he's never been asked by anybody on
the Left why he would keep those folks
and I'd love to hear his answer
President Trump has defended the statues
but then he's also tweeted about Bubba
Wallace five seconds later so that's not
exactly the best way of representing the
unionist viewpoint I do think that it is
still a majority proposition a vast
majority proposition for Americans that
they believe in the basic principles of
the Declaration of Independence of
natural rights of Liberty of rights that
pre-exists government and a limited
government instituted to protect those
rights I still think most Americans
believe in equality before the law but I
think that there's a very powerful push
against those things and unless you
clearly and effectively explain why
those things continue to be good and
important and why the opposite is
terrible then you're gonna lose the
culture yeah before I let you go and
it's just a quick answer to this if you
can do you think we're gonna see a big
increase in home schooling post Cove a
because I I was never a big proponent of
that idea but the combination of what
we're talking about you know how lacking
certain things are being being taught
and you know what we've been through
with this virus and the way school looks
when kids go back if you're sitting in a
box you know that's sitting on top of
your table it's not really an engaging
experience do you think we're gonna see
a big climb in homeschooling absolutely
and not only that I think the next step
in the culture war is going to be an
attempt by certain politicians to shut
down home schooling because they
recognize so many people are opting out
of the system I think you're right Ben
thank you very much great to have you
here today how to destroy America in
three easy steps ben shapiro available
today always great to see you