Daily Wire co-founder Ben Shapiro testified before the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday over free speech, government media censorship, abortion and same-sex marriage during a controversial hearing on Capitol Hill.
The hearing, “Collusion in the Global Alliance for Responsible Media,” was supposed to focus on allegations that government and social media companies have deliberately sought to block speech and viewpoints they oppose.
In his opening remarks, Shapiro stated, “We are in the midst of a trust crisis in the world of media.” He then went on to explain why he thought this was the case and how it’s impacted the Daily Wire.
“When a conservative competitor to the legacy media arises, members of the legacy media and their political allies rush to paint such competitors as dangerous,” the popular host stated. “The commentator Kara Swisher of The New York Times, for example, told the head of YouTube that my videos on Daily Wire were a ‘gateway drug’ that would lead children, including her teenage son, to watch neo-Nazi content. Never mind the fact that I am an Orthodox Jew.”
The Daily Wire host then went on to explain the oversized influence groups such as the Global Alliance for Responsible Media (GARM) hold on what we see online – and what we don’t.
According to its site, “GARM is a cross-industry initiative established by the World Federation of Advertisers to address the challenge of harmful content on digital media platforms and its monetization via advertising.”
Harmful content? Translation: GARM opposes socially conservative ideology and theology and blocks sites that produce and distribute material of that nature.
Testifying Wednesday, Shapiro stated, “GARM purportedly sets ‘brand safety’ standards – objective standards by which advertisers and platforms can supposedly determine just what sort of content ought to be deemed ‘safe’ for advertising. In reality, GARM acts as a cartel. Its members account for 90% of ad spending in the United States–almost $1 trillion. In other words, if you’re not getting ad dollars from GARM members, it’s nearly impossible to run an ad-based business. “
What type of content does GARM consider unsafe?
“GARM doesn’t draw the line at what is criminal, abusive or dangerous,” testified Shapiro. “Their standards include restrictions on ‘hate speech,’ ‘harassment,’ ‘misinformation,’ or my favorite, ‘insensitive,’ ‘irresponsible’ and ‘harmful’ treatment of debated sensitive social issues.”
Eric Swalwell, a member of the House of Representatives from California, seemed determined to try and undermine Shapiro by highlighting his conservative leaning, though libertarian beliefs:
Rep. Swalwell: How about banning the abortion pill?
Ben Shapiro: I think that’s a state by state issue on a personal level…I’m a fully pro-life person, which means that I’m not in favor of the distribution of the abortion pill.
Rep Swalwell: Banning same-sex marriage?
Ben Shapiro: I am in favor of traditional marriage between a man and a woman. And I’m perfectly fine with anyone having any sort of voluntary sexual arrangement they seek. That’s a different thing from whether the government should attach benefits to that personal relationship.
Rep. Swalwell: But you think it’s a sin to have same-sex marriage?
Ben Shapiro: I mean, I’m confused. Are you asking me, as a religious Jew, what I think about biblically?
Rep. Swalwell: I’m just asking, is it a sin to be gay?
Ben Shapiro: Is it a sin to be gay? I mean, how long do we have here? Two minutes. If the basic idea is that sexual orientation is up for government regulation, I’m not in favor of the government regulating the private, consenting sexual activity of adults. That is a different thing. Once again, the government ought to engage in actual benefits for particular sexual arrangements that adults make.
Rep. Swalwell: But again, just you to me. Is it a sin or not?
Ben Shapiro: From a religious Jewish perspective, orientation is not a sin, but activity is. That’s also the perspective of most major religions, so far as I’m aware.
While Ben Shapiro’s beliefs don’t fully comport with evangelical biblical orthodoxy, specifically his view that all consensual sexual behavior is “fine,” the bluntness with which he engaged on Wednesday is a good lesson on how we can and should do likewise.
As Christians, we owe no apology to culture’s elites for holding to multi-millennia old beliefs.
Wednesday’s hearings also remind us that when we frequent social media and news sites, there’s a very good chance we’re only seeing what radical censors want us to see.
As such, you’re going to have to go directly to the sites you’re interested in following. For example, bookmark Focus on the Family’s Daily Citizen, because even if you’re following us on Facebook, you can’t expect to see our updates in your news feed. Chances are, they’re blocking us due to our socially and theologically conservative point of view.
Signing off on the news each night, CBS’ Walter Cronkite used to say, “And that’s the way it is.”
Watching and reading news in 2024, though, thanks to Big Brother and groups like GARM, he might instead say, “That’s the way we want you to think it is.”
Image from Daily Wire.
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