Quote:
Originally Posted by PsYcNeT
Go ahead and google the name of Yiannopoulos' latest speaking tour, and his justification for it, and tell me that he's trying to create valid discourse about "tough topics".
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I'll take a swing at this.
His tour was basically a trolling festival, but it does have the "valid discourse" element that in his view, being a troll on social issues is important to push the limits of what is acceptable discourse because he's a free speech absolutist. He's basically of the view that people in college should be exposed to views they disagree with and might even find crazy or offensive, and is enacting the most extreme example of that. The reactions he got on campuses like DePaul actually made his point about the deterioration of campus culture better than any carefully worded and constructed argument ever could. I'm getting most of this, by the way, from this interview.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O9VikXNZ4Gk
I think there's actually a reasonable debate to be had on that point. Does being a provocateur and making statements in the most over-the-top, dramatic, hyperbolic way actually serve a purpose? I'd suggest it does, but that the drawbacks outweigh the benefits because stupid people can't parse what you're doing.
I don't think you actually care about any of that, though, and are likely to simply dismiss it all as irrelevant, because I don't think you're actually committed to thinking critically about any of it.