Fox News host Martha MacCallum and conservative commentator Ben Shapiro discussed the wider implications of a recent NBC/Wall Street Journal poll that showed the importance of patriotism, God, and having children is plummeting among young people.
Shapiro said that the poll indicates that “a lot of the common social institutions and philosophies around which the country was formed, and has continued to progress, are dissolving.”
“If you get rid of patriotism, an innate belief that the country and the principles upon which it was founded are wonderful; you get rid of religion, which is the main social institution that has been upholding a free society for the last couple of hundred years here in the United States; and then you get rid of even a care for the future, meaning people don’t care about parenting or having children as much, the question becomes: What exactly are the ties that are supposed to bind us together other than watching the Super Bowl once a year together?”
Shapiro went on to argue that the withering sense of national pride in American young people could be traced to the prevailing narrative that the country’s institutions are corrupt and that its history is founded on oppression. “I think there have been two stories about American history that have been in America,” he said. “One is that America was founded on eternally good, true, and wonderful principles. We have not always lived up to those principles, but the story of America is an attempt to fulfill those great principles and is essentially a story of triumph over both the odds and our inner demons, as well.”
Shapiro said the other story about America is that it’s “rooted fundamentally in evil, slavery, sexism, racism, bigotry, homophobia, and that all of our institutions are rife with these things. So why would you be patriotic about institutions that are so thoroughly corrupt? It seems like that latter narrative is winning the day these days, and that’s what you’re seeing with younger folks.”
Moving on to religion, MacCallum said, “I remember ‘the me generation,’ which people thought was sort of a passing phase. But it seems to become a way of life now, and when me is at the center of everything, I don’t think that you need to go out of yourself and ask God to save your soul or anything along those lines. So I don’t see how you put that genie back in the bottle, unless most people are ultimately dissatisfied with that life.”
Shapiro agreed, arguing that religion leads one to focus on God and others, which stands in sharp contrast to the “self-fulfillment” that the majority of young people claim to value, according to the poll.
“I think that people eventually are going to find that the hedonistic self-fulfilling attempt to please yourself, your subjective perceptions, is not going to be as fulfilling,” Shapiro reflected. “They are going to look for something beyond themselves. In fact, I think they’re hungry for that now. It’s leading to a lot of depression and upset, I think.”
Moving at last to the poll’s finding that “hard work” and “tolerance for others” are what young people value most, Shapiro doubted whether the “tolerance” of the rising generation is genuine. “I think that what they mean is if you judge me in any way, you’re being intolerant because I’m not judging you,” he said. “Except if you’re judgmental, in which case I judge you, and I’m intolerant.”
“Tolerance itself is not a value,” Shapiro maintained. “Tolerance is of value; it’s a strategy to use when you’re talking about what exactly is acceptable behavior in a free society and it seems that young people are espousing a strategy above an actual value.”
The two closed out the segment by concluding that young people not desiring to have children is the natural and predictable result of valuing themselves above all else.
“It’s expensive, it’s difficult, it’s a giant pain in the ass,” Shapiro said of child-rearing. “It’s the most fulfilling thing that you will ever do, but why exactly would you walk through those thorns in order to get to the occasional rose?” He said such a sacrifice only makes sense if one is committed to “something beyond yourself.”
The discussion between MacCallum and Shapiro echoed the sentiments recently expressed by former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, who attributed the recent surge of violence in the U.S. to a spiritual crisis that has consumed young men especially.
“We’ve created a culture in which we said there is no God and human life isn’t really worth that much, and life is expendable, and there are lives that are disposable,” Huckabee said in the wake of back-to-back shootings earlier this month. “And when a young man believes his life is disposable and expendable, he thinks the lives around him are, too. So why are we so shocked that he would be taking mass killings as his avenue of expressing his rage?”
