This will guarantee me some flammage but my take on Mr. Shapiro is that although he obviously is a high IQ over-achiever, his age precludes any possibility of deep political insight on his part. To gain an understanding of the complexity of affairs on a local, state, national, global or any combination thereof requires a degree of personal(read LIFE) experience which cannot be obtained from books, university professors, political mentors or even your parents. How much LE is necessary ? Who knows ? Anyone can talk the talk but if you haven't taken the time to walk the walk first, all that you would be doing is parroting someone else's crap.
The Right has mounted a serious campaign to influence young people and Mr. Shapiro is obviously another tool in their box. Who believes that he is wise enough to see that ? In him we have a good example of an unaware indoctrinaire !

BennyShap's bio on Townhall does say that he is the son of two Reagan Republicans so there's a good chance he is just parroting older members of the right, including the parents that may have indoctrinated him from a young age. But please don't say that people who are young don't have the complexity to formulate real opinions about the issues because they lack personal experience. Some people (perhaps including BennyShap) have deeper personal experiences and therefore a more realistic view of the world at 20 than others do at 50. It's not about how long you've lived, it's about what you have learned in the time that you have lived.

I said nothing about not having " the complexity to formulate real opinions about the issues because they lack personal experience."

In USMC boot camp as an eighteen year old my senior drill instructor imparted some of his life experience to us along these lines:

(Analogy removed by administrator for profanity)

Apparently you have devined his wisdom in my opinion.

My assertion concerns a vague quality I termed " deep political insight." Equating that term to be a simple " opinion " perhaps only serves to illustrate my point !

In no way should my comments be considered an attack on young people. Mostly a warning against hubris is all I intended with Mr. Shapiro as a prime example.

oops I misspelled "divined" oof da

Shapiro? Seriously? He couldn't even get basic factual information about his own school right,then he cancelled an interview when he found out he was going to be confronted with the info. Shapiro's proof that any rightie who can put crayon to paper can make big bucks in the right-wing echo chamber.

A rebel? Countered the culture? He has done nothing but counter common sense which is not being a rebel but clear evidence of being moronic (no matter where you go to school or what age you are). How is it being rebellious when you simply go with flow of the majority in the country, especially one that asks no questions of its leadership?

There aren't too many college students with books published about how bad American Universities are.

I mean, c'mon, let's think about what we're saying here. Being a "conservative" might not seem counter-culture to 40 year-old mortgage payer, but in college, let me just guarantee to you that any ideology that even remotely suggests self-restraint is absolutely destested.

I find it amazing that there are so many haters who have yet to achieve any of what this young man has but they speak with this disdain for him, I guess if he were the typical tailor made "liberal anything goes parrot" He would be heralded as brilliant. Congratulate people you may not dig his ideology but recognize and respect the above average drive of this young man!

Advocate, High ^5.

Oliver Willis seems a tad bit jealous.

I adamantly disagree with the notion that Ben Shapiro is too young to have a world view or speak about politics. Outside the touchy feely world of liberal theology, you really don't need alot of life experience to form an educated world view.

About 2/3 of political saavy comes from a fundamental understanding of market economics and how government interacts with the fundamentals thereof. Market theory is not contrived. It's backed up with hard data. Life experience whether 1 year or 50 years does not tally up to a good study of hard data. Maybe for liberals, experience is the totality of tools available to self deny the data.

Moral clarity most often is established prior to adulthood. Generally, moral life experience is how long one has to explain away your own moral failings and apply it to the world around you or confirm what you inherently knew by puberty. Children are not inherently prejudiced or hateful. It takes experience to get there.

The notion that Shapiro hasn't lived long enough to formulate a valid world view is pure nonsense.

Respectfully,
Vann

I think you've all done a fine job of dismantling the notion that having deep political insight is directly tied with age. Now of course if I was exalting Ayinde Jean-Baptiste, wunderkind and liberal revolutionist, it'd be a different story right?

Wisdom is timeless. If principles are understood, they can be cross-applied to any sphere of life.

I met Ayinde when he came to speak at my college.

Speaking of too young to form a political opinion, didn't the Democrats showcase an 11 or 12 year old girl at their National Convention last year to bash Vice President Cheney?

Remember what Indiana Jones said?

"It's not the years, it's the mileage."