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There’s a small but telling culture war skirmish playing out on conservative media that tells you everything about where America’s taste-makers are headed. Ben Shapiro recently pushed back hard after Matt Walsh published a video-sized list declaring his picks for the greatest acting performances of our generation, and the exchange—part pop-culture debate, part ideological skirmish—has fans on both sides talking. This isn’t just about who gave the best turn on screen; it’s a fight over who gets to decide what passes for excellence in art and storytelling.
Shapiro’s reaction went viral after he rebutted Walsh’s claim that Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith is among the worst films ever made, arguing instead that Matt had simply seen too few awful movies to be making that judgment. Ben’s point was blunt and unashamedly populist: many Hollywood critics are beholden to trends and ideology, and a lot of truly bad films get praised because they tick the right cultural boxes. The clip he shared on X drew attention not just because of the content but because it showed two conservative voices willing to debate culture without surrendering principle.
This exchange is instructive because both men occupy the same side of the political aisle yet approach culture differently—Walsh often viewcasts with the blunt, contrarian style of a provocateur, while Shapiro defends tradition and craftsmanship even when it means standing up for works that the trendy elite have abandoned. That dynamic should have conservatives cheering: we don’t need a monoculture among ourselves, and disagreement over movies or performances is healthy when it’s grounded in an appreciation for real talent. At the same time, the sparring exposes the weakness of Hollywood’s gatekeepers who confuse ideology for artistry.
Let’s be honest—Hollywood has spent years trying to rewrite what counts as great so it can elevate messaging over merit, and that’s why conversations like this matter. When conservative commentators debate whether a performance is great, they’re doing the work the academy and critics no longer seem capable of doing: judging quality on its merits, not on its political utility. Americans who love movies want truth and craftsmanship, not cultural therapy sessions disguised as cinema, and both Walsh and Shapiro, in their different ways, remind us of that.
Ben’s willingness to call out pretension—naming films he believes are objectively worse and defending the ones the public actually loves—is the sort of cultural muscle we need more of. Conservatives should celebrate an approach that demands standards rather than bowing to the latest critical fad; if that means defending a beloved sci‑fi epic from overwrought moralizing critics, so be it. This isn’t a defense of every old film or actor, but a call to stop letting a politicized elite dictate taste for an entire nation.
At the same time, Matt Walsh’s contrarian streak performs a public service when it forces conversation and refuses to let cultural orthodoxies go unchallenged, even if his tone can rub people the wrong way. Healthy conservative media will contain both the sharp provocateur and the careful defender of tradition—both roles push back against Hollywood’s stale consensus in their own way. What matters is that conservatives keep the cultural conversation alive, arguing with passion over art rather than letting the left alone the field.
If you’re a hardworking American tired of being lectured to about what you’re allowed to like, tune in and judge for yourself. Watch the clips, decide which performances move you, and don’t let credentialed elites tell you your taste is wrong simply because it doesn’t come with a progressive badge. This debate between Shapiro and Walsh is more than entertainment; it’s an invitation to reclaim the standards that built our culture and to refuse the cultural commissars who would trade excellence for ideology.
