A Basic Truth Denied is a Gaslight on Fire

So when Candace Owens says, “I don’t know know, but I know,” that’s retarded, and we are all more retarded for having heard it. Ben Shapiro, speaking at Turning Point's annual AmericaFest conference in Phoenix, Arizona on December 18, 2025

"Saber" and "Conocer."

Two ways of knowing. I learned about them in my first year of high school Spanish. "Saber" is to know facts. "Conocer" is to be familiar. You can "know" facts but not really "know" them unless you have a more tactile and first-hand experience with them. This distinction came to Spanish from its Latin roots, which recognized many different types of knowing.

I know my best friend. I can describe her to a stranger, omitting no detail and even showing him a picture, but he doesn't know know her.

The theologian might know everything about Jesus, but he doesn't know know him like the peasant woman with a tear and rosary.

This is a fundamental truth of knowledge: it's layered. Any two-bit philosopher at the bar after his third Schlitz knows it. The most obdurate eighth grader can comprehend it.

Everyone knows you can know something without knowing it.

Except Ben Shapiro.

Which is absurd. You'd have to be a retard to think he doesn't know there are different ways of knowing. He knows damn well his statement is wrong at the most fundamental level of truth.

But he said it.

The most biting point of his speech was flat-out, fundamentally, untrue.

But he said it.

The gaslight is a totalitarian Establishment's preferred method of influence. If you doubt it, watch The Death of Stalin. If you don't want to spend the $3.99 to watch it on Prime Video, just think about the stream of gaslights that guided us through Covid. It's a miracle all the methane didn't kill us.

The road to Hell might be paved with good intentions, but the road is illuminated by gaslights.

I've long resisted the idea that Shapiro is merely a pole on the right side of the Establishment's circus tent. I like Shapiro. I thought "Benocide Shapiro" was funny but nothing more. I really like the team at Daily Wire. Knowles, Klavan, Walsh, and now Fradd. I can't believe those four gentlemen are shills for the Establishment.

But Shapiro?

I'm thinking those thugs who grabbed Rümeysa Öztürk from the street wore masks because Shapiro didn't want anyone to see his face.