10 Bullying Debate Techniques From Ben Shapiro

When it comes to debate techniques to win debates no matter what, Ben Shapiro is a great guy to learn from.

Shapiro is the most successful and ruthless political debater in the English speaking world.

But he is also a deep connoisseur of power dynamics and, sometimes, a bit of a manipulator.
This article will show you all the techniques Ben Shapiro uses to dominate his debates.

#1. Get Under Your Opponent’s Skin

One of the major reasons why Ben Shapiro dominates all the debates is that he’s the best I have ever seen at getting under his opponents’ skin.

This is something of the things he’s done, said or heavily implied to get under people’s skin:

• “you’ve been standing on the graves of dead children”
• “you’re not a real woman” (to a trans)
• “I fell terrible for you” (to a trans)
• “why are you mainstreaming delusion” (to a full panel of journalists)

Getting under his opponents’ skin is a technique Ben Shapiro uses consciously.
And I know that because he bragged about to a room of his supporters.

#2. Strike When They Overreact (ie.: Gaslighting)

This is how Shapiro deploys gaslighting:

1. Manipulate the victim into overreacting (“getting under their skin”)
2. Remain calm as they overreact
3. Point out to the victim that they are overreacting and/or acting crazy and aggressive

The victim, looking their aggressor calm and realizing that they are indeed acting crazy, often ends up feeling crazy.

Gaslighting is a common technique that abusive men use in their highly toxic relationships (Adelyn Birch, 2015). 

When Ben Shapiro makes his victim act aggressively, he makes it a point to highlight while he acts calm and rational.

That way, it looks like he is winning the debate thanks to his arguments, and not thanks to his emotional manipulation.

Ben Shapiro is an intelligent man and a highly skilled political debater.
Yet I’d go as far as to say that most of Ben Shapiro’s claim to notoriety is bad on him gaslighting his opponents (ie.: making them overreact and aggress him and then taking advantage of it).

Why Shapiro Does Not Say His Opponents Are Acting Crazy

When transgender Zoey Tur threatened to physically assault Shapiro, Shapiro could have claimed that threats of violence have no place in a debate.
And he could have made the case that everyone in the studio was supporting violence by not openly condemning Zoey Tur (and it would have been a good point, BTW).

However, he decided not to.
Why?
Because from a persuasion point of view it’s much better if people realize by themselves that people are being aggressive towards Shapiro while he simply makes his case calmly and rationally.

That way, people are actually siding with Shapiro by their own volition rather than because Ben complained or asked to do so.

And that’s much more persuasive.

#3. Convey Authority by Talking Like You’re Gospel

Ben Shapiro talks with an unwavering belief in his values and he talks like he’s speaking unquestionable truths.

That attitude helps Shapiro browbeat his adversaries and it makes him wield outsized power and influence.

Talking with unwavering confidence like you’re delivering scripture works very well both in destroying his debating opponents and in galvanizing his followers’ base.
Most people indeed have an inborn tendency to follow the charismatic leader.

This is a terrible human bias because it actually helps dictators, psychopaths, and snake oil salesmen alike to build a huge following.
But alas, it’s there and it’s real so you better take it into account.

When People Quit Debating Shapiro

Ben Shapiro is so good at conveying power and authority that sometimes his least skilled debating opponents simply give up.

They quit trying to debate him or start asking him questions instead of confronting him.

That’s the hallmark of a powerful debater.
When people stop debating you they are recognizing your superiority. And when they ask you questions they are basically saying “you know more, you are the real leader, know let me learn from you”

#4. Ridicule Your Opponent

Ben Shapiro is a ruthless debater.

And one way he dominates debates is by intellectually destroying his opponent.

He does in all the ways he can.
But one of his favorites and one of the nastiest power moves he deploys is by implying, or sometimes directly stating, that his opponent is an idiot.

He does it with smirks, witty remarks, voice tonality, eye-rolling, and other indicators of contempt.
Contempt also contributes to Shapiro’s gaslighting effect.

Shapiro’s “know it all” attitude is typical of the “smart alec” dominant archetype that we analyzed in “The 7 Archetypes of Dominance“.

Note how he also leverages the “podium” and “speaker” position of power by getting the audience to laugh along with him (learn here how to speak with power).
That’s similar to Obama’s social-climbing BTW. 

#5. Use (Or bend) Data & Statistics to Increase Your authority

We live in a society that, righteously, celebrates science, data and statistics.

People who drop quotes, names, data, statistics and studies, sound well-informed, intelligent, and… “right”.

Ben Shapiro loves to drop a copious amount of statistics that make him sound like the ultimate authority on the topic.

If you have been following this blog though you know that statistics can be manipulated to say almost anything you want to say (Darrell Huff, 1954).
Furthermore, few if any people even check whether what you’re saying is based on good data (or on any data at all, also check “popular but wrong self-help myths“).

Example of Bending Researches

For example, in his crusade to refuse to call men going from male to women “she” Shapiro often quotes research which says that the suicide rate among transexuals is the same whether people recognize them for their preferred gender or not.
For anyone familiar with basic psychology and sociology, this makes little sense.

Being recognized or ostracized by the people around has a huge impact on people.

So I looked up the research.
Turns out, it was pretty much as I expected it would turn up and pretty much disproving what Shapiro stated.

I quote:

Respondents who experienced rejection by family and friends, discrimination, victimization, or violence had elevated prevalence of suicide attempts

Now, based on that, what do you think forcing a “he” does to a trans who wants to become a “she”? Might that qualify as a rejection for her?
I definitely think so.

And this is what another research says:

Social support, reduced transphobia, and having any personal identification documents changed to an appropriate sex designation were associated with large relative and absolute reductions in suicide risk

And:

Interventions to increase social inclusion and access to medical transition, and to reduce transphobia, have the potential to contribute to substantial reductions in the extremely high prevalences of suicide ideation

Basically: don’t listen to what Shapiro says about transexuals. Frankly, I find it nasty and it only increases the level of pain and hurt in this world.

#6. Play The Victim

There is a strange tendency among human beings. 

And that tendency is to think that if one has been victimized he can hardly be a victimizer himself.
Funny, because that’s actually the opposite of how it goes (Glasser, 2001).

So what Shapiro conveniently says is that he is against abuse and bullying because he’s been the victim of vicious bullying as a kid.

That helps him deflect a lot of bullying accusations and, when he’s accused of bullying, it gives him an easier way out.

It’s a bit like the abusing partner who says to his wife when she accuses him of being emotionally abusive:

Him: How can you say that to me, you know what my father did me!!

Ben Shapiro’s Next Level Victim Power Move

Playing the victim is a dangerous technique though. It’s very easy to overdo it and end up sounding like a complainer or like a powerless, submissive victim (check here body language of submission).

And you can’t dominate debates as the weaker party of the interaction.

But of course, Ben Shapiro is too smart to fall into that trap, and he finds indeed a strong, powerful way of presenting himself as a victim.

Basically, it sounds a bit like this: “I’m ready to debate fair and square with anyone… But they prefer to shut me off, protest me and aggress me instead of debating”.

That way he sounds intellectually superior to his opponents while still painting himself as the victim of abuse.
It makes him look like a 21st century Robin Hood.

#7. Hide Your Power Source

In “The 48 Laws of Power” Robert Greene says you should play a sucker to catch a sucker.

Indeed, it’s often best to hide your power source. When people are confused as to what your real sources of power are, they can’t easily attack them.

And when they are not sure as to what actually makes you powerful, they can’t easily copy your debating techniques.

As we have seen Ben Shapiro’s debating techniques often resort to emotional manipulation and bullying.
Yet he loves to paint himself as a “small Jewish guy who’s been viciously bullied”.
That’s very convenient, isn’t it?

Of course, that makes little sense because your threat in debates is not conferred by your physical size.
But it helps Shapiro hide his darker power sources which are, at times, bullying and manipulative.

#8. Accuse Your Opponent of Your Own Faults

This is another common technique of abusive men (Bancroft, 2002).

It consists of “beating your opponent to the punch” and accusing him of using your own manipulative technique.
Let’s imagine you are verbally bullying someone and then accuse your opponent of being a verbal bully.
When you do it:

1. You get under his skin and he will surely overreact
2. He will look like he’s following your lead and reacting to your leadership when he will counter-accuse you of being a bully
3. People tend to believe the accuse more than the defendant

As a matter of fact, the more he overreacts and accuses back, the more he will look like a bully, and the more likely you are of winning the debate.

This is also a technique that Donal Trump used quite often.
Also read:

• Trump debating technique
• Win a debate like Donal Trump
• Win Bigly (analysis of Trump’s persuasion techniques) 

#9. Frame The Interaction (the way it serves you)

Whoever gets to frame the interaction holds a huge advantage in debates.

Sometimes people will pose you a question and frame it in a way that it presupposes you said something or that you agree with something.
If you’re not aware of it you end up debating something you don’t even believe that much.

Or as you speak someone might move the conversation towards a frame that is better suited for his position.
For example, a frame to support capital punishment might be “what we’re really talking about here is about proper punishment for the most heinous crimes like torture, pedophilia and mass murders”.

Ben Shapiro is very good at framing the conversation in a way that supports his own views.
For example:

 “which is what we’re talking about here”, see? He is the one who frames the conversation.

The way he does also give him huge power in the interaction because he’s implying that the woman is rambling on and babbling and he is the intelligent one who is now bringing the conversation towards its central proposition.

Also read:

• Basics of frame
• 10 Frame control technique

#10. Seek Peace (Only) When They’re On Their Knees

People remember mostly how things begin and how they end (Elliot Aronson, 2011).

This is highly relevant to an aggressive debater like Ben Shapiro, because if all he did was to aggress and deride, then people would leave with a very bad impression of him.

Instead, I have noticed he often ends with a more conciliatory tone. That allows him to take rather extremist positions but still makes it seem like he’s quite open.
But mostly, it allows him to shred his opponents to pieces, then offer an olive branch in the end and look like he’s a very magnanimous dude.

His opponents, browbeaten during the whole arguments, are often more than happy to take that olive branch which is a way of saving (some) face.

To people looking from the outside, that seems like Shapiro destroys his opponents with hard facts, data and strong arguments. 
And then, he is nice enough to end in friendship.

yeah, great, now AFTER he destroyed everyone, he even looks sensible and magnanimous

Ben Shapiro Personality Traits

Researching Ben Shapiro I have realized that is possibly the most ruthlessly effective debate I have seen so far.

He is better than Tucker Carlson and, in some ways, more effective than Jordan Peterson, author of The 12 Rules For Life.

Here are some of Ben Shapiro’s superpowers:

• Icey cold under stress (the way he remained cool in front of the physical threat was nothing short of astonishing)
• Does not take things personally (also read: Ego Is The Enemy, The Antifragile Ego)
• Quick-witted (he owes his notoriety and skills to his quick-wit as well)

Ben Shapiro’s Debating Fundamentals

Ben Shapiro uses plenty of power moves and unfair debating techniques, but don’t get me wrong: he is also skilled with the basics.

For example:

• He embodies his values by living them, which gives him huge credibility
• Knows his topics really well
• Researches before going into a debate
• High degree of mastery in the English language
• Separates himself from his arguments (this allows him to take strong criticism without taking it personally)

What I Think of Ben Shapiro

This was a rather critical analysis of Ben Shapiro debating skills and personality, but it’s not meant as an attack against Shapiro.

I strongly disagree with his stance on transexuals and on his insistence on calling them by their biological pronoun.
That’s really unhelpful and only adds to this world’s misery. And if there one thing we should all strive on is in reducing misery and increasing people’s well-being.

I do very much enjoy and also very much agree with some of his video comments though.
Especially the ones which lay bare the hypocrisy of certain people, awards, ceremonies, and news cycles. His criticism of Oprah Winfrey’s speech is spot on, for example.
And I has a column up where he publicly airs his dirty laundry and his past mistakes, which is cool (and something I want to mimic).

SUMMARY

Here is the truth:

If you want to win debates, then you need to master the dark side of the debate techniques.

Ben Shapiro is one of the most successful political debaters around, and there is much to learn from him.

His debating dominance though does not only rely on facts and skills but also resorts to manipulation and bullying.

My personal invite to you is to build bridges, rather than “dominating” the opponent.
But with this article, you will know how to defend yourself against Shapiro-like debaters.