next mass shooting. the former defense secretary jim matus recounts his military career and has thoughts on leadership in his book callsign chaos. >> the book is called panic attack. the author is the associate editor of reason magazine who are these young radicals? these are activists who are particularly causing issues on college campuses. they are different from the left that was all about free speech, due process aclu values. what we are seeing now is a lot of attempts to shut down speakers who come to college campuses.

even the professors who are on the left as well. they say they can't have conversations with the students anymore. if they do offend them their jobs could be in trouble. it's really changing our culture very quickly and dramatically towards us cancel everybody. it's coming from the activist contingent on the young left. >> and it's all on the left and the right. i do spend a chapter in my book talking about the illiberal liberalism of the right. it has gotten some attention over the last few years like the radical left small in number but loud vocal and has have a huge effect in that the realm of social media.

it is the operating system of the modern left what does that mean. it is a term that comes to us from sociology. it was coined in the late 1980s. it was used to describe how if you are a person of color historically you would have experienced racism. multiple sources yet multiple sources of oppression working against you. that theory it makes total sense to me. but in the practice and activism you are supposed to give the most oppressed person the most authority. only they can be the experts on sources of expression. it starts to get a little thorny when does this make me the most depressed person. it is also lent itself towards an increasingly fragile mental health kind of activism on campuses because i see young people who i think are exaggerating the extent of their ptsd. i think it's probably doubtful.

having that gives you authority as an activist in these circles. how did we get here. >> is a difficult question because we are talking about broad social and cultural change. happening over a long time there is no easy answers. the changing regime and norms of safety culture. in schools and parenting have probably led to a generation that through no fault of its own is a little bit more coddled than the previous generations or less resilient. i'm not blaming young people for that it is our schools that have changed dramatically. you will not find a police

officer at a single school anywhere in america. there are police officers in half of all public high schools. they are actually very safe. the headlines are misleading. in crime has fallen dramatically. they are less at risk than kidnapping than ever before. he would get the idea from going through school and seen parents arrested for letting their kids play by themselves. he would get the idea that it is dangerous in the purpose of school is to protect me. when safety gets stretched to include emotional safety as will i think that is when you start to see this the words that wound or words that hurt. >> is this in your view a good trend or not. i thing it's very concerning. i'm critical of the right as well. i don't want to be causing too much alarm. i don't think it is a generational problem so much people were talking about a small subset of a radical fringe. however they are having a really poisonous effect on our

social kind of a discussion in the culture right now. we are seeing young adult novel authors are canceling their books because their young sensitivity readers saying you can't say that. you give as an example in your book panic attack the movie and the documentary. a very progressive liberal arts college. they invited kimberly pierce who is the director of that really groundbreaking film that exposed american audiences to what it would be like for a transgender person. in the activist at this college they shut down the event.

they would not let kimberly pierce speak. my all things. but why, she have what they think is progressive film. having cast this. only at trans person should have been playing a trans role. it is so short sighted and self-defeating it would not had been a big film then. that is just an example of the really at each other's throats and self-defeating tactics that some of them are embracing because of the influence of intersection alley. he and the professor who invited him both injured. >> they were physically assaulted by protesters who thought it was so important to stop what was supposed to be a debate.

with the left centered perspective. they don't want that to happen. when i interviewed for the book. don't you think you make charles murray or whoever is. if you're actually using violence against them. and don't you think you are driving people toward them and we are about safety. safe from the harm of the words in views. we had contributed to the emotional and mental unrest of the people we care about. it is the root of so much of this. hundreds of thousands nation wide. the far right shows up.

and then they throw things at each other. the news is thing that happens. the challenge is contextualizing them. and not making these things seem like they're happening more often. he is gay but because he is critical of these activities they said that he has no right to cover us. and they beat him up. they reject the idea. that the far right should have rights. i believe it is sort of catching on a little bit. but their philosophy that my

enemies should not had rights. >> do you see a solution and you also want that for panic attack. is to just answer that speech with more speech. i will like to hear charles murray talk about a different perspective when the event happens seen up and say no i would like to hear this. i like the professors to be able to talk to their students about the robust history. into and to not feel like their jobs are going to be at risk if they say the wrong thing. and to take this. they don't have to arrest students. then to make a safe space if they well.

and have those people not suffer consequences for doing so. >> i have ideological beliefs but interestingly it sort of puts me in the center of this stuff. i'm sympathetic to some of the goals. i talk about black lives matter in the book. i think our criminal justice system has been flawed. you say that you only need the most radically progressive people are the ones that you want to organize with headcount as the good guys that's gonna be like six people at the end of the day. >> what attracted you to libertarianism? i have a boring story. i grew up in a republican household.

i grew up in the detroit area. that is what i am. i found reason magazine. and now i work there. we are the author of this book. young radicals in the age of trump. think you for joining us on book tv. >> nextep on c-span to a look at the relationship between confederate generals and stonewall jackson. and then journalists that all starts now here on book tv. good