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The Right Side of History

How Reason and Moral Purpose Made the West Great

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The Right Side of History

By: Ben Shapiro
Narrated by: Ben Shapiro
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About this listen

America has a God-shaped hole in its heart, argues New York Times bestselling author Ben Shapiro, and we shouldn't fill it with politics and hate.

In 2016, Ben Shapiro spoke at UC Berkeley. Hundreds of police officers were required from 10 UC campuses across the state to protect his speech, which was -- ironically -- about the necessity for free speech and rational debate.

He came to argue that Western Civilization is in the midst of a crisis of purpose and ideas. Our freedoms are built upon the twin notions that every human being is made in God’s image and that human beings were created with reason capable of exploring God’s world.

We can thank these values for the birth of science, the dream of progress, human rights, prosperity, peace, and artistic beauty. Jerusalem and Athens built America, ended slavery, defeated the Nazis and the Communists, lifted billions from poverty and gave billions spiritual purpose. Jerusalem and Athens were the foundations of the Magna Carta and the Treaty of Westphalia; they were the foundations of Declaration of Independence, Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation, and Martin Luther King Jr.’s Letter from Birmingham Jail.

Civilizations that rejected Jerusalem and Athens have collapsed into dust. The USSR rejected Judeo-Christian values and Greek natural law, substituting a new utopian vision of “social justice” – and they starved and slaughtered tens of millions of human beings. The Nazis rejected Judeo-Christian values and Greek natural law, and they shoved children into gas chambers. Venezuela rejects Judeo-Christian values and Greek natural law, and citizens of their oil-rich nation have been reduced to eating dogs.

We are in the process of abandoning Judeo-Christian values and Greek natural law, favoring instead moral subjectivism and the rule of passion. And we are watching our civilization collapse into age-old tribalism, individualistic hedonism, and moral subjectivism. We believe we can reject Judeo-Christian values and Greek natural law and satisfy ourselves with intersectionality, or scientific materialism, or progressive politics, or authoritarian governance, or nationalistic solidarity.

We can’t.

The West is special, and in The Right Side of History, Ben Shapiro bravely explains that it’s because too many of us have lost sight of the moral purpose that drives us each to be better, or the sacred duty to work together for the greater good, or both. A stark warning, and a call to spiritual arms, this book may be the first step in getting our civilization back on track.

Political Science Politics & Government Religious Studies Human Rights Morality Liberalism Socialism Freedom Capitalism Social justice Law Inspiring Utopian Middle East
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I am positively surprised by the quality of the content presented in this book. As a jew, Ben sharipo knows how to keep his religious views at bay and state things as they are.
Whether you agree with him or not, you will gain from listening/reading this book.

Very good book

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Ben Shapiro is a much needed prophet. Pls read to help save our civilization! Thanks

Excellently written & highly important

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It is fascinating to think of the tension between religious thought and reason as not being a battle of winners and losers but as a continually growing debate that improves the way we see the world and behave. A completely different view that I have been taught and seen explained in media.

A nuanced examination of history

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i tried to keep an open mind and surprising myself somewhat, found very little - if any - room for disagreement in this book. it is what it is and the narrative here is constructed on far more solid foundations with much appropriate referencing (and potentially counter factual hypotheses) than many other theories - old and new - that purport to shine the light on ignorance's darkness. maybe the scope for accommodating alternate worldviews is on thin ice and until reconciliation is possible then it will not be apparent. nonetheless there is plenty to think on in what is presented even if i would be wary of certain logical conclusions of the author's personal outlook being taken as policy prescriptions for national or even global legislative constructs - in sum, there is surely scope for more nuanced approaches to freedom and liberty even if we currently lack much of that balance. the call to 'god-based rationality' (my interpretation and translation of judeo-greco-christian) is clearly being made in context and i think that retaining an open mind of tolerance, life-long learning and a preparedness to be proven wrong without fear of harmful consequences are positive ways to progress. the analogy of a tree made is also prescient and appropriate - our roots need care because if we are not grounded - as individuals, as populations or as a species - then that rush of blood (that national socialism so virulently proved is possible and soviet doctrine somehow managed to stabilize institutionally, albeit temporarily) can result in all kinds of subsequent order consequences that then leave us...

credit where it is due

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i started reading this book in an effort to understand my enemy. in so doing, i found that i agreed with Mr Shapiro on many things. The realisation was instructive and moving. If you're convinced that Shapiro is deplorable, read this book

fabulous

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