Nearly Impossible Conversations | Billboard Chris & James Klüg

Students and faculty embrace illiberalism at PSU & UO

I’m attempting to have a conversation with a student at Portland State University. Other students—and at least one faculty member—are blaring speakers, banging on tambourines, and screaming to prevent us from speaking.

On May 3 and 4, I joined child protection activist Billboard Chris and YouTuber and social commentator James Klüg for “street events” at Portland State University (PSU) and the University of Oregon. Both were shitshows.

Chris wore a large sign with “CHILDREN CANNOT CONSENT TO PUBERTY BLOCKERS” written in all caps. Within moments of our arrival at PSU, students, faculty, and what appeared to be administrators attempted to disrupt our conversations. An unhinged trans-identified person continuously sang, drove his bike between us, and encouraged others to disrupt our conversations. At one point he made physical contact with Chris and attempted to steal Chris’ phone.

It turns out that individual is a PSU faculty member. (As of this writing, his faculty page is Temporarily Unavailable.) Having taught at PSU for over a decade, I was far from surprised by this as the university actively fosters, hires, promotes, and cultivates extreme Social Justice ideologues. Nor was I surprised that this individual and others who were screeching at us did not follow PSU President Stephen Percy’s suggestion to take advantage of free “cotton candy, temporary tattoos, and coloring” at safe spaces the university set up for students who were traumatized by our presence.

Other individuals were screaming at us and one aggressively hurled insults targeted at me. When I took my team out for coffee after the event, we bumped into him. He bowed his head and scurried away.

The next day we went to the University of Oregon. Things were almost as deranged in Eugene as they were in Portland. Someone who appeared to be an administrator handed out signs to students expressing support for trans rights. Of course, this is not now, nor has it ever been, about trans rights. This is about exactly what Chris has on his sign: Children cannot consent to puberty blockers. To be clear about my position, I support the rights of trans people to not be discriminated against and I do not think children can consent to puberty blockers.

Here are some things I learned from my experience with Chris and James:

• I learned that conversations changed from, “They are not giving puberty blockers to children,” to, once compelling evidence was presented, “They are giving puberty blockers to children but that’s actually a good thing.” I experienced something similar in conversations with religious believers. The conversations would go from, “My faith is true,” to, “My faith is beneficial.” There was never an acknowledgment that the switch occurred—it remained unspoken until I mentioned it. I did the same thing in conversations about children and puberty blockers—stating that they changed their stance from “this is not happening” to “this is happening and it’s beneficial.” This usually elicited awkward silence.

• Chris and James have different approaches to conversation. My approach is gentler and more oriented toward Street Epistemology, while theirs is somewhat harder on the edges and more forceful. This isn’t a bad thing, it’s just different. One thing we have in common is an abiding concern for the truth and, if I may be blunt, a fearless presentation.

• Not one of the students who disagreed with us could make a basic argument. This had nothing to do with content of the conversation but rather a complete inability to substantively engage an idea, marshal evidence, or articulate rudimentary counterexamples. They did, however, have ample conviction and rely upon personal testimonies.

• Students showed a complete lack of concern for the fact that those on their “side” of the issue were acting like spoiled children. Did it not occur to the individuals who were trying to have a conversation with us that their peers shouting and playing loud music in our ears was illiberal behavior? When I asked this exact question, they shrugged. Students did not seem to recognize that any attempt to shut down discourse should be deeply concerning. Consequently, it did not cause them to question whether they were on the right side of the issue.

My final comment is for educational administrators. Instead of worrying about how your students will react to questions and encouraging them to refrain from discussion, teach them how to have difficult conversations. Specifically, expose them to a plurality of views, teach them how to weigh evidence, explain why changing one’s mind is a virtue, show them how to listen and why listening matters, etc. Then you won’t have to worry because you’ll be educating instead of indoctrinating. (This carries the additional benefit of their degrees having value.) Once you commit to teaching students how to engage ideas, you will begin establishing a real university.

Here’s our team after the Portland event!