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Chrys Weedon<\/strong> | Entertainment Editor<\/span><\/p>\n Joey Gibson, defendant in multiple lawsuits for defamation, negligence, trespassing, intentional infliction of emotional distress and several other charges, visited ÀÖ²¥ÊÓƵ June 4, 2019 after being invited to speak by the College Republicans club. Gibson is also the founder of a conservative activist group titled \u201cPatriot Prayer\u201d who advocate for \u201cfree speech,\u201d gun rights and are against big government.<\/span><\/p>\n I\u2019m not going to talk about what Gibson preached about while he was at Western. Honestly, what he has to say isn\u2019t really all that revolutionary \u2014\u00a0his rhetoric isn\u2019t anything that other people haven\u2019t already said. In that way, his visit was pretty anticlimactic \u2014 no violence broke out, which was unusual for him. He spoke about God. He spoke about free speech. He spoke about how much of a victim he is, and about how a group of people within America that have historically had the most privilege \u2014 white-passing, straight, Christian, cisgender dudes \u2014 are under threat.<\/span><\/p>\n Gibson claims he follows a nonviolent ideology. Of course, the evidence points to the contrary, but he still claims it. In fact, almost all of Gibson\u2019s rallies have ended in violence. A simple Google search shows that wherever Gibson goes, violence follows.<\/span><\/p>\n But, of course, Gibson is extremely careful to make sure he isn\u2019t caught openly advocating hate and destruction. In his speeches, he talks entirely in generalizations and blanket statements and makes sure to put himself in the position of the victim and the martyr. Like many other alt-right hate groups, Gibson paints \u201cliberals\u201d and \u201cAntifa\u201d as the enemy, while standing on the soapbox of protecting \u201cAmerican values\u201d and \u201cthe constitution.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Gibson is a master of manipulating rhetoric and tactics of deflection, and it\u2019s one of the reasons he gets away with claiming to be \u201cnonviolent.\u201d Gibson has a knack for letting his followers do the threatening. Then, when counter-protestors inevitably make their presence known, everything that happens can be claimed by Gibson to be \u201cself defense.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n One clear example of this is Gibson\u2019s connections to the Proud Boys. The Proud Boys are an alt-right organization recognized by the Southern Poverty Law Center as a hate group. They are regularly in attendance at Gibson\u2019s rallies and protests, and are known to incite racist, sexist and homophobic violence. Gibson has \u201cdenounced\u201d alt-right groups on several occasions, although according to an article written by William Bradford Nichols for thehumanist.com<\/a>, he has used them as \u201csecurity\u201d for multiple Patriot Prayer events. Patriot Prayer and hate groups such as the Proud Boys often show up decked out in full faux-military gear carrying loaded weapons. So, is this all in the name of self defense? Or is \u201cself defense\u201d simply a thinly-veiled excuse to be as violent as you want while avoiding the consequences? Are people really supposed to believe Gibson \u201cdenounces\u201d these hate groups?<\/span><\/p>\n Gibson is right, in a way. He is allowed to say anything he wants. As a journalist, I also value the first amendment. I also value integrity and adherence to the facts, but I doubt Gibson and I would agree on that. But just because he\u2019s allowed to say anything he wants doesn\u2019t mean he\u2019s immune to the consequences. For example, Gibson recently called Luiz Marquez, left-wing activist, a pedophile, despite having no evidence. So now, Marquez is suing him. Weird how that works.<\/span><\/p>\n In all honesty, I think Gibson is just another out-of-touch Christian dude crying \u201cvictim\u201d who is fueled by a need for attention. The College Republicans knew this and invited him. I wouldn\u2019t expect more from them.<\/span><\/p>\n I expect more from the administration. They approved a speaker who has a history of bringing violence everywhere he goes. They invited an individual who is vocally against sanctuary cities on his YouTube channel (titled Joey Gibson) to a sanctuary city \u2014 an individual who is currently being sued by multiple people as the result of his actions and the actions of his group. They allowed this individual to speak after he publicly went after the Senate President of ASWOU.<\/span> <\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/files\/2019\/06\/rightwingspeaker_-6-819x1024.jpg\")
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\n<\/span>Gibson being invited to campus quickly became about a bigger issue than free speech. It became about just how much the administration values its student body and its students from minority communities who are actively threatened by Gibson\u2019s poisonous ideologies and the groups he surrounds himself with. The administration should know better than to let the students deal with the fallout of their poor decisions.<\/span><\/p>\n