What Exactly does Ben Shapiro's Book on Hollywood State?

Having just published Hollywood in Blackface, a new book written by Ben Shapiro caught our eye. Titled Primetime Propaganda: The True Hollywood Story of How the Left Took Over Your TV, Shapiro's book seemed like it might mirror many of the arguments we made.

Picking it up from a local bookstore, we promptly returned it upon finishing Shapiro's screed against Disingenuous White Liberals (DWLs) in Hollywood and their immense power in shaping the public's perception.

Flipping to the appendix of the book, Shapiro lists the top conservative shows of all-time. No. 1 is 24, followed by The Cosby Show. What exactly makes 24 conservative?

Here is what Shapiro states qualifies 24 as conservative (p.354):

You knew this would be number one. It is, with one caveat: After season four, the show began to die. The first few seasons, the show was pure conservative adrenaline. Bad guys had to be stopped, and if Jack Bauer had to torture terrorists to do it, he would, no questions asked. "We're running out of time!" was the battle cry - and it was an accurate battle cry. The show embodied the ethic of the War on Terror - we were in a battle for survival, and we didn't always have time for the Marquis of Queensberry rules. "People in the [Bush] administration love the series," Surnow noted. "It's a patriotic show. They should love it."

That's it? It automatically becomes the top-rated conservative show just because "bad guys had to be stopped"? If you want to stop Islamic terrorism, the kind Jack Bauer only faced in one season, hell, just don't allow immigration from Muslim countries.

The War on Terror is over anyway; right? Osama is dead. Oh, but wait. An entire police state apparatus has been erected that recruits people via pizza box employment notices, hasn't it, one that employs Black people at a disproportionate percentage compared to the rate at which they can secure employment in the private sector and to their percentage of the population.

Sorry, Shapiro. We're not buying that logic. So what makes The Cosby Show "conservative?" (page. 354):

A show about a black middle-class family that doesn't rip the American government, doesn't fall into the self-victimization of the "racist society," doesn't portray whites as either idiots or bigots, and encourages black children to get an education, get married, and have a family. Revolutionary, even if its creators meant it to be a statement on racial tolerance.

Sanctimonious White Conservatives (SWC) in a nutshell. Black people "acting white" and transcending their Blackness automatically disqualifies from being a lowly Black person and into the rarefied air of conservatism. Family values, pursuing an education, getting married, these things, according to Shapiro, automatically qualify as "whites-only" activities that allow Black people to be welcomed into the club of 'whiteness.' How revoltingly arrogant a statement from Shapiro.

Believing that Black people only succeed because they embrace one way of thinking is... disingenuous. What did we write about Thomas Sowell vs. Norway again?

How... pathetic.

The one part of the book we enjoyed was the discussion on COPS (read Mangan's take here) on pages 204-205:

Because Cops is a law-enforcement support show, it has become the target of hard-left types like Michael Moore, who interviewed producer Richard Hurlin for his hit-piece documentary Bowling for Columbine. Hurlin tells Moore, "If you look liberal up in the dictionary, I think my picture will be in there somewhere." Moore then proceeds to grill Hurlin about the supposed racism of the show, saying that racism raises the ratings.

"Maybe because we in the television business tend to demonize black and Hispanic people, then those watching it a home are going, 'I don't want to help those people. I'm not going to do anything to help them because I hate them now because they may hurt me.' You know what I'm saying?" Moore asked/demanded. Hurlin, who clearly did not know what Moore was saying, answered, "I know what you're saying, I don't know that's what we're doing. I'm not sure we're demonizing black and Hispanic people particularly." 


Cops does have a lot of minority criminals, but that's because there are a lot of minority criminals. John Langley, the creator of the show, rejected Moore's argument head-on. "What irritates me sometimes is critics will watch Cops and say, 'They misrepresent people of color,'" Langley fumed. "That's not true. Au contraire, I show more white people than is statistically what the truth is in terms of street crime. If you look at the prisons, it's sixty-something percent people of color and thirty-something percent of white people. If you look at Cops, it's sixty percent white and forty percent people of color, it's just the reverse. And I do that intentionally, because I don't want to contribute to negative stereotypes."

What? How would that be a stereotype? Wouldn't showcasing people of color as criminals just be a reflection of reality? Is it that Hollywood must put white faces on crime lest the true statistics of black criminality become common knowledge?

The fact that every white person with the means to do so, whether they be Stuff White People Like (SWPL) white people or Untouchable whites, moves away from the Black Undertow should be evidence enough that everyone already believes the stereotype of the aggressive, criminally-prone people of color 'myth'.

So Shapiro's book is really dull. 24 wasn't that good of a show, but it should tell you all you need to know about Shapiro's brand of "conservatism" when he ranks it the best show for right-wingers. That The Cosby Show is runner-up tells you even more.

We recommend you pick up Hollywood in Blackface. Shapiro is right that those in control of Hollywood and television push a certain agenda; and our book details what that agenda actually represents. That agenda? Simply the creation of positive images of Black people. Hey, the guy who produces Cops admits they have to show more white people as criminal than they do black people. That's what we call Black-Run America in action.