THE “SMARTEST” DECISION I EVER MADE...

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BRAINWASHED: 
How Universities Indoctrinate America's Youth
by Ben Shapiro
published: 2004
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...was to forgo a college “education.” Why? Because I managed to avoid the type of brainwashing that Ben Shapiro so clearly illustrates in his book BRAINWASHED.
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I recently [circa 2004] arrived home from work surprised to find BRAINWASHED in my mailbox. It had been sent to me by a good friend in Kansas (I’ll call him “Kevin” [1]) whose nice Sister I dated for five years over a decade ago. “Kevin” sent it because, as he said, "it’s a good book” and he wrote, “I expect a full review of this.” (This is the review, with footnotes!) 
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Because Ben Shapiro was a columnist for UCLA’s newspaper, THE DAILY BRUIN, and because I have a significant connection with UCLA, “Kevin” thought I’d find the book particularly interesting. He was right. I was born a “Bruin” at the UCLA Medical Center in 1959 [2] and worked for the campus Parking Department for nearly a decade. I remember all too well the dogmatic Liberalism of the indoctrinated students and the pronounced Leftist lean of the school’s Socialistic bullhorn, THE DAILY RUIN. [3] (I’d try reading it over dinner at The Cooperage food court but it would invariably “ruin” my appetite!)
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Ben’s book is very good, and though I’ve given it an overall grade of Four Stars, if you have a son or daughter currently (or soon to be) enrolled at ANY university in this country, then you should consider this a Five Star book and run -- don’t walk -- to acquire a copy of it. [4]
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In BRAINWASHED, Ben addresses many pillars of Liberalism and shows how they are promoted throughout the university system. One of the most cherished, of course, is Affirmative Action which provides us with “Diversity” which is that essential tool for creating the strength of “Unity.” [5] On page 53, we meet that rare Latino student who approves of Ben Shapiro’s anti-Affirmative Action protest because he doesn’t “want everyone thinking whatever I do in life, I got the opportunity to do it because of my race. It’s insulting.” That reminded me of “Kevin’s” Sister. I met her on the UCLA campus while she was a student. One trait that attracted me to her was her independent stance and determination to make it in life on merit and not a “gimme.” She was half Mexican [6] and therefore eligible to check the “Hispanic” box when applying to UCLA, but she told me she marked “White” instead because she didn’t want to always wonder if she was accepted merely because of ethnicity. [7]
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Another section of Ben’s book that elicited some very personal UCLA-related memories for me was titled RODNEY KING AND THE LOS ANGELES "UPRISING". I was a UCLA employee at the time of the L.A. Riots and I still find it somewhat ironic that the first night that rioting broke out, I was meeting my best friend from the department -- I’ll call him “Lonnie” [8] -- after work for video game competitions, which we commonly referred to as “Ass-Whuppins”. [9] “Lonnie” was Black. [10] That the jury found the police officers innocent in the beating of Rodney King was reprehensible. The aftermath even more so.
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Back then, I was supervising student employees and responsible for training them in various aspects of special events preparation and equipment maintenance. One student I remember fondly was a young, Black comic book artist whom I’ll call “Stephen”. [11] Shortly after the Rodney King riots, he and I discussed the issue and I explained many factors that the media, the politicians, the police, and the citizens were either ignoring or not cognizant of. Afterwards, “Stephen”, this young Black man, paid me one of the finest compliments I’ve ever received. I won’t state what he said [12] as it might seem boastful and self-serving, but his ability to set aside emotion and preconceived judgments in order to gain real understanding of complex dynamics filled me with hope for our young, Socialistically-indoctrinated university students.
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Under Partisan Politics, Ben discusses minimum wage laws. He understands the folly. I got an object lesson in it many years ago: Being an ice cream junkie, I was a regular at Dairy Queen. One day I noticed that the price of their “Blizzards” had gone up and I enquired about it. The manager answered honestly, “The minimum wage went up, so our prices did too.” 
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Got that? The companies aren’t going to see the wage increase cut into their profit margins so they pass the increased cost on to you, the customer. Now, who generally earns a “minimum wage” in this country? Young people who are employed at fast food restaurants, video stores, convenience markets, music shops, smoke shops, etc. Where do young people spend most of their money? Fast food restaurants, video stores, convenience markets, music shops, smoke shops, etc. Their minimum wage increase gets absorbed into the market the moment they receive it because of the raised prices to cover the wage increase. Their financial situation therefore hasn’t improved one whit, but don’t the Leftist politicians look so “humanitarian” when they fight for the Little Guy?
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The only area in which Ben Shapiro needs to do a little more “homework” is The War On Terrorism. He is misguided by the Neo-Conservative party line in this regard and needs to ask hard but reasonable questions and insist upon reasonable answers. I found Chapters 8 and 9 to be the obvious weak links in an otherwise very good and important book. (But Genetically Modified Crops make me nervous, Ben! Can we REALLY improve on God’s “nature”?)
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On page 78 you’ll find the whole heart of the matter -- as accurate a statement as can be found in any political book by anyone. Ben is undoubtedly more percipient than even he realizes. We’re led to believe that the “solutions” to all of our problems (which were deliberately created by pseudo-Socialists in BOTH major political parties) “is Global Socialism”. What a surprise! [13]
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I highly recommend BRAINWASHED by Ben Shapiro. And though the writer is a Conservative, I have it on good authority that this one doesn’t burn books, drown cats, mug old women, steal candy from children, or even blow deadly secondhand smoke into the faces of liberals. Read this book and then you’ll understand why colleges are referred to as “institutions of higher education”. [14]
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FOOTNOTES:
[1] Because that is his name.
[2] After putting my Mom through 9 months and 3 weeks of pregnancy, and 40 hours of labor. Obviously, I was very eager to come into your world.
[3] Uh… I meant, “The Daily Bruin”.
[4] Before your child is transformed into a morally impaired Marxist marionette.
[5] Hee-Hee! To quote Jo Van Fleet from the movie, East Of Eden, “If you don’t think that’s funny, you’d better not go to college.”
[6] It was her left half.
[7] I always did like intelligent women.
[8] Because that was his name.
[9] I usually gave more than I got.
[10] Unfortunately, I’ve lost touch with him, but I’m guessing he still is.
[11] Because that was his name.
[12] He said, “It’s just as well you never went to college. They have nothing to teach you.”
[13] See my guide titled “(BE FIRST ON YOUR BLOCK TO) WAKE UP TO THE POLITICAL MATRIX.”
[14] Because nowhere will you find teachers “higher” and more in need of being “institutionalized.”
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~ Stephen T. McCarthy
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