the book is called "panick attack: young radicals in the age of trump." the author is the associate editor of reason magazine or reason.com, robby soave. who are these young radicals? >> guest: these are activists who are particularly causing issues on college campuses although you could find in the streets a places like portland as well who are different from kind of the old left that was all about free speech, due process, aclu values. what we're seeing now is a lot of attempts to shut down speakers who come to college campuses. even the professors of activist students who are purported on the left as well, progressive

left say they can't a a conversation with the students anymore, at the risk of finnigan and if they do, their jobs could be trouble because they could be investigated. it's changing our culture very quickly and dramatically towards this cancel everyone at what is problematic as we run out of public life and that's come from this kind of activist contingent on the young left. >> host: and it's all on the left not underwrite? >> it's very much on what is understand the chapter in my book talking about the illiberalism of the right, particularly alt-right which is a white nationalist group that has gotten some attention of the last few years, like the radical left small in number but loud, local and has had huge effect in the realm of social media primarily interesting people and making it unpleasant to be online. >> host: you say intersectionality is the operating system of the modern left. what does that mean? >> guest: it's a term that

comes to us from sociology. it was coined in the late 1980s. it was used by sociologist to describe how, if you're a person of color, historically you would express racism, if you're a woman sex of the so on and so forth, but if you're a black woman of multiple sources of oppression working against you. that theory makes total sense to me but in intersectional practice and activism, you are supposed to give the most oppressed person in the activism circle the most deference. only they can be the experts at source of oppression and on activist. it gets a little thorny while this is make me the most oppressed? what about these? also lent itself towards i think an increasingly fragile mental health kind of activism on campuses because i see young people who i think are exaggerating the extent other ptsd. when i talk to the professors and is everyone in my question

says their survivor of trauma, i think it's doubtful but they're saying that because having ptsd gives you authority as an activist in the circles. it's incentivizing people to see themselves as mentally unwell which i think it's a bad thing. >> host: how did we get it? >> guest: it's a difficult question because we talking about broad social and cultural change happening over a long period of time so there's no easy answers. i do think that the changing regime or norms at safety culture in schools and parenting have probably led to a generation that through no fault of its own is little more calm than the previous generations or less resilient. and i'm not letting young people for that. it's our schools have changed dramatically. if you were to go back to 1970 you would not find a police officer in a single school in america. today there are police officers and half of all public high schools. schools are very safe. the headlines to the contrary are misleading.

schools are the safest place for the kids for the longest period of time and crime has fallen dramatically. that people less the risk of kidnapping and for, all those things. but you'd give you a different going to school seen parents arrested letting the kids they by themselves, all those things. you get the idea it is dangerous point the purpose of school is to protect me, is to make me feel safe. when safety it's stretched to include emotional safety as well i think that's when you start to see this tide against words that wound or hurt. i need to be protected from that the same way the school is responsible for my physical well-being. >> host: is this in your view a good trend or not? >> guest: it's very concerning and i'm critical of the right as well and i don't want to be causing too much alarm. i don't think it's a generational problem so much that people were talking about a small subset of a radical fringe. however, they are having a real

poisonous effect on our social discussion and culture now. it's miserable to be online. we're saying young adult novel authors are canceling their books because their young sincerely resourcing you can't say that, that's problematic. that's cultural preparation. we can do that. a lot of conversation being closed off because a small number of militant radical people on the political extremes are saying so. i think that is bad. >> host: you give as an example in your book, "panic attack", the movie, the documentary, or the movie boys don't cry. what happened? >> guest: they invited at reed college a very progressive liberal arts college in portland, they invited kimberly peirce was the direct of that groundbreaking film that expose american audiences to what it's like to be a transgender person, a sympathetic portrait of a transgender person. the activists at this college,

they shut down the event. they wouldn't let kimberly speak. they put up signs saying expletives at her, like bio things. they hated her. but why? she had what you would think would be a progressive field. she cast hilary swank back in the '90s and she's not a trans person. having cast for this intersection because only trans person should've been playing a trans role. so the hated her for that which is so shortsighted and self-defeating. it wouldn't have been as big a film then if it would've had someone some other than hillary swank in it. that's just an example. the really at each other's throats and self-defeating tactics that some of these activists are embracing i think because of the influence of intersectionality. >> host: charles murray invited to middlebury college. he and the professor invite him both injured. >> guest: thank you right. literally attack. they were physically assaulted by protesters who thought it was so important to stop over suppoo

be a debate, a debate between marie and i left this center perspective. they don't want that to happen. when interviewed for the book and i said don't you think you make charles murray or where what is more sympathetic if you're shutting them down and using violence against them? don't you think your driving people towards them? they say we are about safety. we are keeping the marginalized people in our community safe from harm of charles murray's words and views. if he's allowed to come and speak we have contributed to the emotional or mental unrest of the people we care about. which is a different idea i think about how safety works, that it's the root of so much of this. >> host: how small on these all right and antifa groups that are far on the fringe? >> guest: extremely small, were talking any of these fence talking about dozens of people, maybe hundreds of thousands nationwide. they feed each other because the

far right shows up and then the far left shows up and then they throw things at each other. nbc shows up. because the media, you don't want to -- the news is things that happen so when these happen you have to cover them. the problem, the challenge for the media is making them, is contextualizing them and not making these things seem like they're happening more often than they are. they are happening. it was violence in portland against a journalist, and explicitly right of center journalist who writes for the online magazine -- he's gay but because he's critical of antifa, they said he has no right to cover us and they beat him up when he tried to be to take what they were doing. antifa expressly rejects the idea that people who disagree with them should have rights or the far right should have rights. they are illiberal aesthetic

that ugly this is catching on a little bit. not the tactics but the philosophy that might enemy should not have rights because they are my enemies. >> host: do you see a solution and you offer one in "panic attack"? >> guest: i think the best thing to do on college campuses this just to answer bad speech with more speech, to say no, i would like to someone, i'd like to charles murray talk, i would like your different perspective for the other students or majority to just stand up and say no, please stop. i want the professors, the left of center professes to be get o talk to the students about the robust history free-speech activism on the left and should not feel like their jobs are going to be at risk if they say the wrong thing. that's on the administrators to recognize the rights of faculty and to take -- didn't have to take, there have to arrest students or those of out of the campus. they need to make a safe space if you will to be able to

express ideas how to do students and have not suffer consequences for doing so. >> host: what are your politics? >> guest: i'm a libertarian so i have ideological or ideological beliefs but interestingly it sort of puts me in the center-ish at some of the set because i'm sympathetic to some of the goals of progressive activist or i talk about black lives matter in the book. i agree with a lot of what they would like to compass. i think our criminal justice system is very flawed and has had additional a disparate impe of color. it's from the position of location wanting the left to succeed that i'm critiquing the tactics and say i think this will turn people off, or you are saying you need only the most woke, the most radically progressive people are the ones you want organize with an count as the good guys. that's going to be like six people at the end of the day. even you guys don't agree and all that stuff. >> host: what attracted you to libertarianism? >> guest: i can have a boring the return origin story.

i grew up in a republican hassle but my parents were libertarian. in the detroit area, they were professes but socially liberal and i decided us what i am. then i found reason magazine and a stern ring a lot and now i work there. >> host: robby soave is the author of this book, "panick attack: young radicals in the age of trump." thanks for joining us on booktv. >> guest: my pleasure. thank you. >> here's a look at some books that are being published this week.

>> look for these titles and bookstores this coming week and watch for many of the authors in the near future on booktv on c-span2. >> welcome to brooklyn, new york, for the annual festival. throughout the day authors discuss critical thinking lgbt issue of immigration, the

2020th election, and more. a full schedule is available on our website. now we're going to go inside for the first conversation. this is live coverage on tv on c-span2. .. >> good morning, everyone. i am michael cahill. it has been my pleasure and privilege to serve as dean here at brooklyn law school for just about three months now. it's going really well. [laughter] and, of course, i am happy to welcome all of you here and to welcome those of you watching at home on c-span. we are here, of course, as part of the