I finally watched a banned campus talk and it was nothing like the hype

There was this speaker at Ohio State last semester who got protested hard, and the school almost cancelled them. I went in expecting some wild extremist stuff based on the flyers and hot takes online. Turned out their talk was actually pretty dry, mostly about data ethics and free speech law, and the real controversy seemed manufactured by outside groups. Has anyone else actually sat through a controversial campus speaker and felt the public narrative totally missed the point?

2 comments

2 Comments

ericp6727d ago

manufactured by outside groups" hit the nail on the head. I used to buy the hype on these stories too. Thought any speaker getting protested must be saying something crazy. Then I watched a guy get shouted down at my school over a talk about housing policy. Turned out his actual points were boring zoning stuff. The loudest people online never even watched the thing. Changed how I read every campus controversy now.

skylercooper26d ago

Man, that's the trick, actually watch the thing before you form an opinion.