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I find this news of this backlash unsurprising. There's a really big difference between airing different viewpoints and giving a platform to someone with a known history of bigotry and misogyny. Hate and disinformation is not a difference of opinion. Some greatest hits: https://twitter.com/ErikWemple/status/1349816251045081088
Shapiro has suggested the solution to disparities in the crime rate is for Black people to "stop committing crimes." https://www.courant.com/education/hc-uconn-ben-shapiro-20180124-story.html
He believes survivors of sexual assault should be treated with skepticism, and that survivors of rape and incest should be forced to remain pregnant. https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2018/01/is-ben-shapiro-a-conservative-liberals-can-count-on.html
He has likened being transgender to "magically [changing] your age." https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/23/us/ben-shapiro-conservative.html
The list goes on. And I know this guy thrives on being a provocateur and that his followers are thrilled by this controversy to cry "censorship" and "snowflake" and to play the victim, so RIP my mentions. But all of us make choices about who we give voice to, including Politico.
And if we learn from Jan 6th, we know we have great responsibility to pass the mic to individuals who seek truth, compassion, and a commitment to human dignity. It's every reader's decision to decide whether that happened here. That's not censorship, that's the free market.
