Shapiro: That's okay, no, no, that's okay. Student: F*** you, I'm talking. Shapiro: Guys, I actually want to hear...
Student: No, no, no. Shapiro: I want to hear, it's
okay, it's okay, I want to... Student: I promise he wants to hear me. Shapiro: I want to hear, let's
at least hear the argument. Let's hear it, let's hear it, go. Student: Do you come
from Holocaust survivors or are you a Jewish family that didn't? Shapiro: My great, great
grandparents arrived here. A lot of our extended family was killed in the Holocaust, but our immediate family did not. Student: Your great, great grandparents, but not your grandparents. Shapiro: Right. Student: Do you have
friends whose grandparents were Holocaust survivors or anything like that?
Shapiro: Of course, many of them. I've helped write memoirs of Holocaust survivors.
Student: Yeah, yeah. Their families are kind
of messed up, right? My family is very messed up. Shapiro: If you go through a trauma like the Holocaust, I would imagine it would have impact.
Student: They teach that trauma between generations. You know what I mean? Shapiro: Trauma very often,
in a lot of circumstances, is passed down. I know some kids of Holocaust survivors
who turned out fantastic and some who didn't. That's the way it goes. Student: Okay, so you are officially woke. That is what wokeness is about. It's like, people's grandparents or their great grandparents were slaves. [audience boos]
Shapiro: That's okay. No, no, that's okay.
Student: F*** you, I'm talking. Shapiro: Guys, I actually want to hear...
Student: No, no, no. Shapiro: I want to hear... it's okay, it's okay, I want to... Student: I promise he wants to hear me. Shapiro: I want to hear, let's
at least hear the argument. Let's hear it, let's hear it, go. Student: He wants to hear me. Shapiro: I do want to hear
it, it's fine, let him go. Let's hear it.
Student: Come on, come on. I'm talking. Shapiro: Explain how that's woke. Student: The whole thing is... During Silent Cal, Calvin
Coolidge's administration, do you know about the
great Mississippi flood back in the 1930s? Shapiro: I understand
that American history is filled with racial evil. Student: Yeah, yeah, yeah. And that causes some
intergenerational trauma which affects people's ability to be... Shapiro: Okay, so let me...
Student: Affected, things like that.
Shapiro: Fine. Let me ask you a question. Student: Yeah, yeah. Shapiro: If the idea is that
history has consequences, of course that's true. That's not wokeness, that is not wokeness. What wokeness suggests is
that fundamental institutions in American society are so...
Student: No, it doesn't. Shapiro: Yes, it a hundred percent does. Student: I ran Elizabeth
Warren's campaign. I helped organize her
volunteers around here. [audience boos] I am a representative of wokeness. And this is all it is. Student: When I went to
go get my first tattoo, the guy had lightning bolts
and 88s tattooed on his neck. And as a Jewish person,
that's really messed up. It's basically a threat. Shapiro: There are
racist people who exist. The argument that you're making, and I'm going to close with this because this is going in weird directions, and I don't really want to...
Student: No, no, no. Shapiro: I don't really want to get... Just hold up a second. I let you get out your arguments, now it's time for me to respond. Because I let you say them full out. Student: I'll let you respond, but... Shapiro: No, no, not
but. Now it's my turn. Student: You are not characterizing what I'm saying accurately. Shapiro: Now it's my turn. Your definition is inaccurate. The reason your definition is inaccurate is because any sentient
human being would acknowledge that history has consequences. Student: Right. Shapiro: But that's not what wokeism is. Wokeism is a different thing. Wokeism suggests that
all inequalities of today are attributable to not
only historic injustices, but also continuing injustices in the now, and that all disparity is
attributable to discrimination. Not just that... Student: I want to know, why is it that conservatives are the only people who
define it like that? Why are conservatives the only people? Shapiro: We're going to have to stop here because this is going nowhere. Student: What's up? Shapiro: I'm going to have
to stop with this with you because this is going nowhere. All I'm going to say is this to sum up. Student: I just am trying to
understand your perspective. [audience boos] Just one more second. You say...
Shapiro: On a fundamental level, you are shifting definitions to avoid the consequences
of your own argument. And if the idea is... [audience cheers] Student: This is not free
speech, this is being censored. Shapiro: And final point. If
you are going to... hold on... If you are... Also, just final point to sum up there. [audience cheers] Final point to sum... I just want to make, honestly, I want to make one final
point to sum up there. If the idea is that traumas of the past invariably bleed down into the present, that does not explain why certain groups that have been historically
not only marginalized, but slaughtered in mass genocide are some of the most successful
groups in our society. So if the idea is...
[audience cheers] If the idea is that past trauma always equals current
inequality or that my actions in, say, robbing a convenience
store are attributable to bad actions that
happened in Alabama in 1930, the answer to that is no, don't
rob the convenience store. The only way that you're going to be able to break the chain of history
is to make good decisions. What people on the left
don't like to talk about is actual solutions. What they like to do
is bitch about problems that existed 60 years ago and blame those for
failures to solve them now. [audience cheers]
