An e-mail from Ben Shapiro
Life is odd.
Received an e-mail from Ben Shapiro the other day. He said he knows our politics differ, but he enjoys my books. Told me he discussed it briefly on his show.
Which, he did …
I responded politely, and asked about his love of sports. I then posted something (warm-ish) about the exchange on Instagram, which resulted in a slew of hostile comments about me playing footsie with a MAGA-informed asswipe.
I Googled Shapiro for greater details, and AI (blech) intervened …
And … I dunno. I really dunno.
Like, if someone whose politics you abhor says something nice about you, are we supposed to … ignore? Refute? Fight back? Say, “That’s fine, but, man, I really find your viewpoints disgraceful”? Are we supposed to be nice, friendly, engaging? Do we hope to open dialogue, or do we hope to avoid dialogue?
I honestly, truly, sincerely don’t know.
Sometimes, I hate 2026 more than I hate cottage cheese.
I detest cottage cheese.
Typo in your headline. Keep trying cottage cheese. I hated it forever, tried it again when I was about 75 years old and I now like it a lot, especially with fresh strawberries. Plus it's good for you.
I think we can be gracious and take a compliment from someone we find abhorrent and 1) still not wish to have dinner with them, and 2) take them to task for their abhorrent views (but perhaps not right after they've paid you a compliment).