Ben Shapiro capped off the year by walking through the most ridiculous viral moments of 2025, and his rundown is exactly the sort of clear-eyed, no-nonsense take the country needs right now. From a boots-on-the-ground look at cancel-culture freakouts to mocking the media’s obsession with celebrity spectacle, his clip reminded patriotic Americans that we don’t have to bow to every manufactured outrage. If you missed his year-end take, the Daily Wire posted the segment as part of his roundup of the year’s biggest viral stories.
One of the biggest culture-war blips was the American Eagle campaign starring Sydney Sweeney that leaned into a pun — “genes” versus “jeans” — and immediately triggered an army of online virtue-signalers. What should have been a harmless, even nostalgic ad turned into a national feeding frenzy, with critics accusing the company of invoking discredited racial theories because the model happened to be blonde and blue-eyed. The debate wasn’t about clothing or commerce; it was about the Left’s relentless appetite to read poison into anything that doesn’t fit their cultural checklist.
The predictable result: the brand got crucified by activists and lionized by conservatives, and despite the outrage the ad drove sales and enormous engagement among younger shoppers. Far from collapsing, American Eagle saw a surge in customer traffic and impressions as the company’s marketing gambit translated into real revenue — proof that ordinary Americans are tired of elite scolds and still vote with their wallets. The marketplace does not apologize for common sense and decent marketing, no matter how loud the coastal elites scream.
Even Sydney Sweeney herself eventually admitted that staying silent only widened the divide, which should be a lesson to anyone tempted to let mob outrage do their talking for them. The moral here is simple: when a publicity storm hits, retreating into silence hands the narrative to the worst actors and lets the professional outrage machine dictate the story. Conservatives have been saying for years that fear of being canceled is how the Left enforces conformity; watching this episode play out in real time was confirmation.
On the other end of the absurdity spectrum was Katy Perry’s suborbital ride with Blue Origin — a PR spectacle sold as empowerment and historic firsts as millions watched a pop star float for ten minutes and sing while strapped into a rocket. The flight on April 14, 2025, was presented as a feel-good moment, but it became another example of celebrity theater: a carefully staged spectacle that uses buzzwords like representation and inspiration while elites cash checks for a few minutes above the Karman line. There’s nothing wrong with exploration, but we should be honest about who bankrolls these joyrides and why they’re promoted as moral victories.
Blue Origin and its partners sold that mission as a triumph of progress, but conservatives are right to point out the mismatch between flashy elite stunts and the hard work most Americans do every day. The company’s announcement and subsequent coverage made the mission sound like a cultural milestone, yet the substance was shallow: a short suborbital hop turned into prestige theater for wealthy insiders and media influencers. If we want real advancement we should celebrate engineers and entrepreneurs who build sustainable industry, not just celebrities who get photographed coming down the capsule stairs.
Taken together, these viral moments show the rot at the heart of our media and cultural institutions: manufactured controversies that burn reputations and celebrity spectacles framed as moral progress. Ben Shapiro’s takedown was more than entertainment — it was a reminder that hardworking Americans should refuse to be bullied by the outrage mob and refuse to be dazzled by elite spectacle. If 2025 taught us anything, it’s that conservative common sense still understands what matters: honest work, free markets, and the courage to call out hypocrisy where it exists.
