Jason Riley and Richard Fowler squared off in a debate that involved controversial topics such as identity politics, social justice, voting rights, capitalism and more.
Riley is an author and member of the Wall Street Journal editorial board, while Fowler is a host of the Richard Fowler Show, a liberal talk radio program.
The debate was hosted by The Steamboat Institute, a nonprofit organization based in Steamboat Springs, CO whose mission is to “promote America’s first principles and inspire active involvement in the defense of liberty”, according to the organization’s website. It was moderated by Philip Wegmann, White House correspondent for RealClearPolitics.
The central question of the debate was whether or not the social justice movement was the new civil rights movement.
Riley argued that there were fundamental differences, but Fowler was more sympathetic to the idea.
One of Riley’s arguments was that, according to his research, African-Americans actually had a higher voter turnout than white Americans. Meanwhile, Fowler responded with evidence of African-Americans in southern states having to wait hours to vote, or having only one working machine because others couldn’t be plugged in.
While Riley and Fowler ideologically battled, attacking and defending their positions with vigor, at the heart of the event was the debate itself. It was free speech and the willingness to debate and hear other views that brought Riley and Fowler together.
“These conversations might be tough, they might be difficult, they might be emotional and they might not be conversations that you want to have. But if we make the choice to have them, we’ll actually make this country a lot better,” said Fowler.
Part of the reason for this debate is in response to attacks on free speech in recent years. For example, media censorship, e.g. “misinformation”, and the canceling of would-be college speakers.
“I think it’s very important for students to hear points of view that I think they’re increasingly unlikely to hear on campus these days. Campuses are becoming very intolerant of points of view that go against the grain, or are more conservative, or even simply less liberal,” said Riley.
Of course, not all classes or college campuses are assaulting free speech.
“[In my English class] we have been urged to speak our minds […] and [our professor] asks us questions, said Hailey Langner, Graphic Design freshman.
Ultimately, Riley believes that it is up to college faculties to defend free speech.
“It’s really up to the adults in the room. College students have been college students for a long time in engaging in this sort of [anti-free speech] behavior and the faculty has really fallen down on the job here. When I was disinvited [to a speaking event] it was an administrator who disinvited me. If you hear speech you don’t like you go after it with more speech. You out argue people you disagree with, you don’t try to muzzle them or cancel them,” said Riley.
