Ben Shapiro praising The New York Times? Yep, that happened.
The Daily Wire co-founder, best-selling author, and host of “The Ben Shapiro Show” sided with the “paper of record” Thursday after a woke mob of some 200 Times contributors signed on to an open letter criticizing its coverage of the transgender phenomenon. Shapiro noted the newspaper appeared to be standings its ground – for a change.
“The New York Times in the last six months has decided to finally cover the fact that there is something controversial about genitally mutilating minors,” Shapiro said. “There might be something controversial about giving kids untested sterilizing drugs because they have a mental disorder that suggests they are a member of a sex to which they are not, in fact, a member.”
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The Daily Wire and other conservative news outlets have decried the exploding trend of confused children being steered toward irreversible chemical and surgical treatments aimed at altering their gender. While left-wing media has been mostly supportive of the procedures, the Times has covered both sides of the debate, including the scandal at a U.K. clinic where autistic children were pressured to undergo gender changes and the banning of such treatments by several European nations.
“They have actually been covering the news,” Shapiro said. “Now, this is something the Left is not used to. And you’ve got to sympathize with the Left because for literally decades, all The New York Times did was basically cover the left-wing agenda and do so in glowing fashion.”
The New York Times is now under fire from LGBTQ+😺-&$☂️# activists who insist that the Times stop objectively covering the evils and predations of the radical trans movement. Trans radicalism can only succeed in censorship. pic.twitter.com/yLqg34gntb
— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) February 16, 2023
The contributors, which Shapiro noted is a title which can be claimed by anyone who ever wrote for the Times, including him, addressed their letter to Philip Corbett, the newspaper’s associate managing editor for standards.
“We write to you as a collective of New York Times contributors with serious concerns about editorial bias in the newspaper’s reporting on transgender, non-binary, and gender nonconforming people,” the letter began.
It went on to say that some reporters at the paper cover trans issues fairly, but lamented that their work is “eclipsed” by an estimated 15,000 words the Times has devoted on its front page over the last eight months to debate the propriety of medical care for trans children. One article was deemed problematic for referring to a trans child seeking a sex change as “patient zero,” a term the letter writers said “vilifies transness as a disease to be feared.” Another article seemed to question the idea that schools could coach a child to be transgender without his or her parents knowing.
“And now the alphabet people are very, very angry at them,” Shapiro said. “And they’re looking to cancel The New York Times and particular writers. They want those writers punished. That’s really what this is about.”
Shapiro said the entire episode has left him conflicted.
“One, The New York Times’ reporting on this has been shockingly decent,” he said. “Two, The New York Times deserves every iota of this. You guys decided to feed, pet, ride, join with the alligator.”
“And now the alligator is eating you. And you guys have it coming,” he added. “I’m sorry to break it to you.”
