Kerby Anderson

Ben Shapiro says the latest riots are evidence of a “scavenger mentality.” The term comes from his upcoming book, Lions and Scavengers. The scavenger mentality doesn’t build anything but instead seeks to tear everything down. He observes that mentality in everything from the riots over immigration to students who have taken over universities to support the terrorist group Hamas.

Society, he explains, is constructed on success. “It is founded on achievement. It is reliant on those who actually believe that they are called to act in accordance with moral duty, that they are responsible for creating and innovating and building up the societies in which they live.” These people are what he calls the lions.

On the other hand, you also have the scavengers. They “seek to tear down, who believe that their own failures are the fault of the society in which they live and that the only cure for inequality of outcome is evisceration of that society.” We see them in most of the western world because many in leadership feel the need to cater to the scavengers.

Fortunately, Americans aren’t as inclined to cater to the scavengers. One YouGov poll of 4,000 adults found only a third (36%) approved of the protest and riots. The rest either disapproved of them or were unsure. Another poll done by InsiderAdvantage found that nearly six in ten (59%) approved of President Trump’s decision to deploy the National Guard to downtown Los Angeles.

Americans have been very tolerant over this last half decade of the protests and riots. Free speech and public protests are one thing. Destroying property and tearing down society are quite another. They are seeing many protesters for what they are: scavengers.