Invited a far-right speaker to campus and my liberal friends couldn't agree on whether to protest or ignore him

Our student group paid $3,000 to bring in a guy known for controversial immigration takes, and half my friends wanted to shout him down while the other half said that gives him more attention. What do you all think, is protesting these speakers worth it or does it just make them bigger?

2 comments

2 Comments

briancampbell9d ago

Driving three hours to hold a sign outside a building where a guy is talking inside for 45 minutes seems like a lot of effort for something that probably just made his YouTube subscriber count go up. I'd bet most of the student body didn't even know he was coming until the protest flyers went up. If the goal is to stop people from hearing his take, ignoring him seems way more effective than giving him a crowd to perform for.

martin.vera8d ago

Did you catch that piece in The Atlantic about how cancel attempts backfire like 90% of the time? It talked about how every protest just feeds into this martyr narrative these guys love, and their fans get even more locked in. I mean, the speaker probably filmed the whole crowd for his next video, calling it "proof the left is scared of debate." The students who drove three hours probably thought they were standing up for something important, but the net effect is just boosting his numbers and making him look more relevant than he is. Ignoring him completely would have sent a stronger message honestly. This is exactly the kind of situation where less attention equals less power for these people.