Image courtesy of Wikipedia.
Charlie Kirk, conservative media personality and founder of Turning Point USA, a nonprofit devoted to the propagation of right-wing beliefs among young Americans, is coming to UC San Diego on May 1. Kirk is known for his “change my mind” segments, where he sets up a table on a college campus with a controversial statement tacked to the front and encourages students to debate him.
These events garner mixed reactions. Crowds wearing MAGA hats gather to listen and idolize; dissenters — mostly students — wait in lines to debate him; and often, protestors, by sheer volume and force of will, use their voices to disrupt Kirk’s events.
As Kirk’s visit approaches, students will have to decide for themselves how to engage with him. Although many students will be tempted to disrupt his upcoming event, shouting over Kirk is an ill-advised and self-defeating response to his presence on campus.
Overpowering someone else’s speech is always a bad way to protest, no matter how egregious or offensive the speech may seem. Doing so undermines principles that are fundamental to a free democracy: faith in the unrestricted spar of ideas and trust that the best ones eventually emerge victorious. It takes bubbling narcissism or ignorance — or a mix of both — to convince yourself that, out of millions of Americans, you, in particular, should have the final say in which ideas are heard and which are not. This urge is a manifestation of a patronizing attitude many in my generation hold: They have so little faith in those around them that, akin to parents deciding if an R-rated movie is appropriate for their child, they believe it is their duty to protect others from engaging with ideas they find controversial or offensive.
I have more faith in us.
Liberal principles aside, shouting Kirk down is a stupid way to protest for a much simpler reason: It’s what he wants. Disrupting a controversial public speaker almost always ends up amplifying their message. Jordan Peterson, another popular right-wing figure, saw his internet notoriety explode when protestors disrupted his talks about Canada’s controversial C-16 gender pronoun enforcement bill. Kirk’s social media pages are already covered in clips of protestors disrupting his events, screaming at him, and even stealing his signs. Besides underscoring Kirk and his supporters’ caricature-like portrayals of liberal college students, these protests ultimately do little more than grow Kirk’s online following and influence.
I understand why people want to shout at Charlie Kirk. He is inflammatory, he is a Jan. 6 apologist, and he supports aggressive immigration policies, like those that cost 17 UCSD students their visas and resulted in one being deported. These issues are salient to students, and Kirk’s brazen opinions prod at these sensitive realities with an abrasive certainty aimed at domination, not debate. But yelling at him won’t accomplish anything.