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Good evening. It's Thursday, March 28.
Tonight: Few ideas have been mocked more viciously over the last decade than the notion of "safe spaces." Whenever various minority groups—marginalized groups as we now call them—have justified the need for censorship and other speech codes on college campuses, that phrase was invariably invoked: unless vulnerable college students—who are adults—are protected from ideas that upset them or make them feel threatened, then they won't feel safe. Not just conservative pundits but also self-styled free speech champions have created a virtual cottage industry—a very lucrative one at that—of mocking the idea that college students—in particular, certain called minority groups—need safe spaces.
Yesterday, Texas's Republican Governor Greg Abbott issued an Executive Order that applies to all universities in his state. What did he say was the purpose of this executive order? To create "safe spaces"- not for all students on Texas campuses, but only for one minority group in particular: Texas Jewish students. This is merely the latest in a long line of legal measures and other forms of special privileges created largely by red states and Republican Governors in the name of fighting racism, bigotry and other forms of prejudice by protecting members of a minority group from certain views. If it sounds like the exact left-liberal culture war mindset that conservatives generally mock rather than embrace, you would be exactly correct, with the only difference being which groups are protected by each side using this mentality.
All of this points to the lurking contradictions that have long plagued conservative politics because of their claimed principles and the willingness of many of them to abandon them in the name of protecting Israel – that have finally emerged in plain daylight since October 7. We will examine this Executive Order issued by Governor Abbott yesterday as well as the reaction to it.
Then: Speaking of the irreconcilable inconsistencies in right-wing politics when it comes to Israel, Ben Shapiro yesterday sat down to speak with Dave Rubin. These two have a lot in common. They have both become extremely wealthy men by championing the cause of free speech and free discourse and opposing cancel culture. They are both among the nation's most fanatical supporters of a foreign country, Israel, and they each embody exactly the burning, consuming contradictions I just described when it comes to their claimed principles on the one hand and their willingness to do anything to protect the country of Israel on the other.
One of the topics both of them discussed is why the Daily Wire – the right-wing free speech outlet founded by Shapiro in 2015 – parted ways with its very popular host Candace Owens over her views about Israel. Within this discussion resides a great deal of insight about how many conservatives have been struggling with issues of free speech and other basic civil rights since October 7 and well before that. The discussion is worth examining for that reason.
For now, welcome to a new episode of System Update, starting now.
