http://www.townhall.com/columnists/benshapiro/bs20050615.shtml



Rescuing a generation

Jun 15, 2005


by Ben Shapiro




I'm 21 years old, a columnist, an author, a graduate of UCLA, a Harvard
law student -- and a virgin. And I'm proud of it.

by Ben Shapiro
I'm 21 years old, a columnist, an author, a graduate of UCLA, a Harvard
law student -- and a virgin. And I'm proud of it.

http://www.townhall.com/columnists/benshapiro/bs20050615.shtml



Rescuing a generation

Jun 15, 2005


by Ben Shapiro




I'm 21 years old, a columnist, an author, a graduate of UCLA, a Harvard
law student -- and a virgin. And I'm proud of it.

As I explain in my new book, "Porn Generation: How Social Liberalism
Is Corrupting Our Future," in today's America, being a proud virgin is
no easy task. Those with values are under attack in a culture that
treasures "tolerance" above morality. It's no wonder that because of my
outspoken advocacy of traditional morality in general and of virginity
in particular, I've become a favorite target of Internet leftists, who
often refer to me as "The Virgin Ben."

The Internet is riddled with writing like this: "In [Ben's] case, it
is helpful to remember that some people choose celibacy, while others
have it thrust upon them. Poor Ben. He no more chose abstinence than
Clarence Thomas chose to be black." "The Virgin Ben also apparently has
never had a really great Saturday night ..." "The Virgin Ben, indeed.
This guy's 'interview' so completely reeks of repression that I almost
feel violated having read it. Like I stepped into someone else's wet
dream. It's freakin' eerie, man." "You know I'm starting to feel sorry
for this kid. I look into his future and I can see that not once is he
ever going to get to have really good hot sweaty sex with Miss Scarlet
in the parlor with a bottle of lube. That kind of sex may not approach
godliness, but for a few brief moments and a lifetime of memories, it
sure feels like it."

Such heated, inarticulate and unreasoned hatred for moral standards
should not be shocking. Social liberalism seeks to promote a "live and
let live" society wherein all types of deviant behavior is tolerated
and accepted. Those on the left have thrust their notion of a
"civilized," amoral society upon all of us. The fact of the matter is
that "live and let live" directly contradicts the notion of communal
society; we all have to abide by certain rules to live together. An
amoral society minimizes the rules under which we live together; any
change in those rules is bound to affect all of us.

And it has. By discarding traditional morality in favor of amoralism,
we have catered to the lowest common denominator. Social liberals have
taken control of our culture through music, film, television and other
mass media. R-rated films today often include soft-core pornography;
television shows like "Friends" promote a fun-filled, promiscuous
lifestyle with no consequences; rap music is misogynistic, glorifying
its own degradation; pop music holds aloft cultural wrecking balls like
Madonna as empowered feminist heroes. Advertisers take advantage of the
"sex sells" phenomenon to push our culture to new lows, while teen
magazines for young girls push boy-craziness and dispense dating and
sex advice.

They have used sex education as a means of indoctrinating children
into a cult of moral relativism and hedonism. Following in the
footsteps of Alfred Kinsey and his trumped-up research, the sex
education movement has viewed its goal as the promotion of an acceptant
and inevitable attitude about teen promiscuity. "[Our goal] is to be
ready as educators and parents to help young people obtain sex
satisfaction before marriage," wrote Planned Parenthood staffer Lena
Levine in 1953. "By sanctioning sex before marriage, we will prevent
fear and guilt." Fifty-two years later, Levine's dream has come true;
we live in a society where condoms are dispensed to seventh-graders,
where 12-year-olds are told about the glories of oral sex and where
children are given the "opportunity to develop their values and
increase self-esteem," to quote Debra W. Haffner, former president of
the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States.

The most extreme manifestation of the new culture is the mainstream
acceptance of pornography. Pornography is no longer relegated to the
dark corners of the newsstand or the skuzzy box in the video store;
it's now in your inbox. It's on the radio, the television and the
billboards. We live in an America that makes Paris Hilton a cultural
icon and Jenna Jameson a New York Times best-selling author.

We have successfully defined deviancy down; the deviant is now
considered normal. Meanwhile, we have defined deviancy up; the normal
is now considered deviant. And the effects upon my generation -- the
porn generation -- have been disastrous. We are apathetic about
morality, and that apathy translates into nihilism and narcissism --
and in the end, into generational self-destruction. Like it or not, the
porn generation is the future of this country.

But the future is not yet lost. Social conservatives must not retreat
and cloister themselves; they must fight back against the continuing
destruction of standards. Together, we can restore America's innocence.




BEN SHAPIRO


Benjamin Shapiro was born in 1984 in Burbank, Calif. Brought up in the

home of two Reagan Republicans, where intelligent conversation about
politics and philosophy was encouraged, Shapiro quickly developed into
a reasoned political thinker and a powerful writer.


He entered UCLA at the age of 16. Never afraid to antagonize his
political opposition, he was the only counter-protester at an
Affirmative Action Rally that drew over 1,500 people on UCLA's campus,
and he has repeatedly challenged liberal professors and faculty.


As a staunch conservative on the modern politically correct campus,
Shapiro faces the political liberals head-on. From exposing the leftist

tilt of the professoriate on college campuses to addressing the
conflict in the Middle East, Shapiro's confrontational approach always
draws a hailstorm of response.


Shapiro was hired at age 17 to become the youngest nationally
syndicated columnist in the U.S. His columns are printed nationwide in
major newspapers and websites, including Townhall.com,
WorldNetDaily.com, Frontpagemag.com, the Riverside Press-Enterprise and

the Conservative Chronicle. His columns have also appeared in the
Orlando Sentinel, Honolulu Star-Advertiser, RealClearPolitics.com,
Jewish World Review, and he has been quoted on the O'Reilly Factor, in
the Wall Street Journal and the New York Press, and in The American
Conservative magazine, among many others.


Shapiro is a regular guest on dozens of radio shows around the United
States and Canada. He is also the author of the national bestseller,
Brainwashed: How Universities Indoctrinate America's Youth (May 2004,
Thomas Nelson Inc./WND Books).


An Orthodox Jew, virtuosic violinist, and hack golfer, Shapiro
graduated UCLA in June 2004 with a B.A. in Political Science. He is
currently a student at Harvard Law School.

http://www.townhall.com/columnists/benshapiro/bs20050615.shtml



Rescuing a generation

Jun 15, 2005


by Ben Shapiro