We're coming to the end of a slew of Jewish holidays, today being Shemini Atzeret. Ben Shapiro, being a devout Jew, is unable to use technology, with holidays treated as the Sabbath. Ergo he cannot reply to criticisms leveled against him. A perfect time for The New York Times to conveniently drop an OpEd titled "The Hollow Bravery of Ben Shapiro."

Pro-tip: if you're going to accuse someone of "hollow bravery," post your hit piece when the subject can respond. Lest anyone call you, or your organization, cowards. Blatant, obvious cowards.

A note before we continue: I beg for your indulgence, as it'll take a few paragraphs to lay appropriate character foundations; it's important to know who is accusing Ben Shapiro of "hollow bravery" before addressing the qualms directly. Goes to relevance.

Firstly, lemme state that I (note the byline) do not personally know Ben Shapiro. Nor -- it's clear -- does Jane Coaston, the author of the aforementioned OpEd in The New York Times. As of the writing of this post, Ben Shapiro and I have never spoken. What I know of Ben is from what I've gleaned through his debates and speeches (on campus, network news appearances, stand alone YouTube videos), his OpEds and essays posted on across the net (Brietbart.com, Dailywire.com, NationalReview.com, etc), and his Twitter account.

Which means I know more about Ben's work than Jane Coaston. Who tweeted this in response to all the criticism for her ironically titled hit piece:

Oh, dearest Jane.

Metaphorically, Ms. Coaston performed the equivalent of reading one book from the Old Testament. Thinking that enough to form an opinion, she then penned an OpEd titled "God is Vengeful, How Dare He Call Himself God." Choosing passages she thought bolstered her thesis, ignoring points which didn't. These woeful research and analytical skills are more befitting the coupon pages. Alas, somehow this pecking at a keyboard with child-like enthusiasm found itself in the OpEd section. How the mighty New York Times has fallen.

But since this is an OpEd, the opinion is more Jane Coaston, less the Times. You can't see me, but I'm winking at you. Since we're talking about Jane, the internet revealed this piece from our little heroine, published on MTV.com: "On the Punching of Nazis," with the subhead "I support it."

What a great titan of integrity, this Jane Coaston.

Here's my favorite part of that piece, all of which you should read:

So now we know that you can, of course, punch a Nazi in the goddang face.

Should you?

Yes. Yes, you should.

You should punch Nazis in the goddang face. You should do so repeatedly. If you see more Nazis, you should punch them, too.

God bless Jane for refraining from swearing, as she advocated violence against those with whom she found disagreement. In case someone might say I was being choosey, here's more evidence of kind-hearted tweets from our brave heroine:

So, that's Jane. Who doesn't think Ben Shapiro is brave enough to be some kind of conservative icon.

Now we've established the corners of the boxing arena from which we hail, let's get to the piece. The main thrust of the article:

What Mr. Shapiro does on campus is shadow boxing meant to pander to his conservative fans whose values dominate mainstream American culture. If he wanted to be genuinely brave, he’d challenge some of the wrongheaded ideas held by his right-wing fans. Instead, he uses his megaphone — the website The Daily Wire — to reinforce what they already believe.

"Whose values dominate mainstream American culture" is not defined. But from where I sit, a writer in conservative media, I perceive the "American culture" as being largely shaped by Hollywood, mainstream media (CNN, NBC, CBS, MSNBC, ABC, The New York Times, The Washington Post, etc), television (cable, network, online companies such as Hulu, Netflix, Amazon Studios), online behemoth social networks (Facebook, Twitter and YouTube). To name a few. All of which are largely dominated by leftists.

So if Jane wants to educate the rest of us on these "mainstream American culture" values, fans of which Ben is somehow pandering to, I'd love to hear it. Because all I see is a constant push for LGBTQ (the acronym is ever-expanding) agendas everywhere, transgenderism for children on the rise, and Christians shamed into silence for daring to question the leftist campaign devouring the country.

Jane believes Ben isn't "brave" because -- according to her -- he never challenges "right-wing fans" on their "wrongheaded" ideas. Failing to understand the reason Ben is "right-wing" is because he agrees with "right-wing" ideas. But we'll circle back to that in just a second.

According to Ms. Coaston, Ben Shapiro merely slinks along to UC Berkeley amid fluffy Antifa hoodlums, to preach conservatism to mostly college students who'd never heard conservatism before. So immediately, Jane asserts one cannot be "brave" unless one adheres to her specific version of ideological bravery. Not by hiring security to venture into areas threatening him with violence. Where he is compared to a Nazi (thereby excusing any violence against him going by Coaston's own rules).

No, no, that doesn't make Ben brave. According to Jane, in order for Ben to pin a Bravery Patch to his Boy Scout sash, he needs to... tell his conservative audience some of their ideas are wrong.

Please excuse this self-aggrandizing for a second, but I must attest for my attempts to reach out to Jane. Goes to evidence, your honor.

As of yet, no response. I expect none.

Now, Jane's first qualm with Ben is the now-deleted cartoon about Columbus Day (published while Ben was on vacation), and a video about Columbus from The Michael Knowles Show. Wherein Michael Knowles gives historical context, background, and character vouching for Christopher Columbus. Whom the left has universally deemed a puppet master for Satan.

To take only the most recent example: On Monday, The Daily Wire published a video that depicted Native Americans as animated savages before the arrival of Christopher Columbus. In one slide, the video lists Native American achievements as consisting of dreamcatchers, tomahawks and cannibalism, while stating that Columbus’s arrival in 1492 assured the arrival of “math” and “the iPhone.” The animated video was actually the second one The Daily Wire posted this past weekend on the subject; the other carried the subtle title “Christopher Columbus Actually Was a Great Man.”

Jane never actually states what her problem is with writing stories about Christopher Columbus as anything other than a genocidal anti-Chirst (as the left pushes every October). Only that how dare the right depict Christopher Columbus as... anything other than a genocidal figure sitting astride the anti-Christ.

I'm already at over 800 words here, so let me spare you an even longer read: Jane Coaston is peeved Ben Shapiro doesn't school conservatives for their conservatism. She is bothered that a conservative leader, who the right has made into some kind of icon with his "Thug Life" videos, would allow for other people to question established leftist narratives such as LGBTQ rights, white cops shooting black people without cause, etc...

Put simply: Jane Coaston wishes Ben Shapiro would tell conservatives to be more liberal. Because he doesn't, he is not "brave."

Let me get this one last pull quote out of the way before presenting evidence to further prove Ms. Coaston is misguided.

I reached out to Mr. Shapiro to ask him about the Columbus Day video. He sent over a statement apologizing for it, saying it “engaged in broad-based stereotyping,” which he also posted on Twitter. In the email, he added, “I think there’s a lot of political ground to be gained in pandering to your own side and confirming their biases. I strive not to do that.”

I encourage everyone to read Jane's full New York Times OpEd. Jane believes the right lives in an echo chamber, that we haven't enough compassion for LGBT issues, white on black crime, and a myriad of other qualms befitting a leftist who advocates for the punching of Nazis. To some extent she has a point, that conservatives can live in an echo chamber. But I'm reminded of a certain house dweller's advice, to not throw stones in a home so fragile and easily damaged. The audience of The New York Times will likely not attend next year's CPAC.

But her assumptions on which she bases her thesis, that Ben Shapiro is somehow fostering this echo chamber, that he never corrects Republicans or conservatives, is as erroneous as labeling all of one's opposition as Nazis. So one might excuse violence against them.

For starters, the Anti Defamation League found Ben Shapiro was the number one target of anti-Semitic hate in 2016 (read the full report) which he received for speaking out against Trump during Donald Trump's rise in the primaries. As a reminder, Donald Trump won the election. Which means Shapiro locked horns with many ideas held by conservatives, Republicans (and the noxious Alt-Right) for all of 2016. I'd also encourage Jane Coaston to search "Ben Shapiro" with "cuck" to read more colorful accounts from people who found displeasure in Ben Shapiro admonishing of their ideas. See also "Ben Shapiro and Milo Yiannopoulos."

Behold, the fruitful evidence of quick internet searches:

Reminder, Ben Shapiro supported Ted Cruz in the primary against Donald Trump.

Here's Ben telling conservatives to CALM DOWN over a Julius Caesar play where Trump was depicted as Caesar:

Here's a piece in The Daily Wire wherein Ben thumps on John Kasich (a Republican), likely upsetting Kasich's supporters.

Here's a piece in, again, The Daily Wire where Ben scolds Marco Rubio (a conservative favorite in the primaries) for his position on immigration. Thus likely upsetting Rubio's many supporters.

These are but a few examples easily accessible via internet search engines. It's not by any means exhaustive. Had Jane Coaston listened to Ben Shapiro's podcast (one of the top podcasts in nation), she'd likely hear Ben Shapiro calling out ideological inconstancies on the regular. Here, I'll help: Ben Shapiro Podcast.

Ben Shapiro has also been a vocal dissenter of all things Donald Trump, and has frequently lectured Donald Trump's supporters over candidate Trump's (now President Trump's), many failings. Alas, for Jane, critiquing Trump is not good enough. Only she gets to decide what is real "bravery" and what deserves a swift punch in the kisser.

Not only was the premise of this New York Times OpEd flawed, it's demonstrably false. It's nothing more than a blanketed attempt to fire upon a rising conservative voice and star. The left will always telegraph who they fear most. Right now it's Ben Shapiro. A fast-talking, conservative Millennial, never seen without a yarmulke. Rumor has it George Lucas first thought up a Shapiro-like figure before settling upon black-caped Darth Vader. What a missed opportunity to strike fear in the hearts of America.

Shapiro's pinned tweet and infamous slogan "Facts don't care about your feelings" scares the left more than DNA evidence haunts gender fluid, hormone-pushing transgender advocates. For leftists like Jane Coaston and her vessel The New York Times, in this brave new world of feelings and agendas taking a tight-fisted rule, any person who heralds the truth, especially as clearly and as fearlessly as Ben Shapiro, must be discredited and silenced. Immediately.

~Written by Courtney Kirchoff