Ben Shapiro
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Ben Shapiro (born 1984 in Burbank, California) is an Orthodox Jew and conservative political columnist and author from Burbank, California. He attended YULA high school in Los Angeles, but graduated early. Shapiro enrolled at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) at the age of 16, majoring in political science. A graduate of YULA[1], he enrolled at Harvard Law School in Fall 2004.
Shapiro is a strong traditional conservative who is known to take very controversial stances on social issues. He favors stronger military and law enforcement spending, as well as more restrictive laws against abortion, pornography and "seditious" speech that undermines America's war efforts abroad. He has also spoken favorably of tighter immigration restrictions and expanded government wiretapping powers of suspected terrorists. Shapiro is also strongly critical of fellow Jewish-Americans who are liberal, and has referred to moderate-Democratic pundit Alan Colmes as a "Self-hating Jew" for criticism of Israeli retaliation against Hezbollah militants in 2006.[2]
During his time at UCLA, Shapiro clashed with professors and students, whom he considered excessively liberal. He has written for the Orlando Sentinel, the Conservative Chronicle, and Townhall.com. He has written a book on his experiences in college, titled Brainwashed: How Universities Indoctrinate America's Youth (ISBN 0-7852-6148-6), which was published in 2004. His next book, Porn Generation: How Social Liberalism Is Corrupting Our Future (ISBN 0-89526-016-6), was published by Regnery in June 2005. He is also a staunch critic of so-called judicial activism, supporting judges whom he believes interpret the United States Constitution according to its original meaning.[3]
Shapiro was hired at age 17 to become the youngest nationally syndicated columnist in the U.S.
