'The Silencing' author interviewed

Interview here. Excerpt:

'A self-described liberal, Powers writes that the “illiberal left” is trying to dominate the discussion on campus, online and in the media through intimidation. In our discussion, Powers suggests there is an authoritarian impulse at play, one that has been gaining steam in the broader culture.
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BN: One of the things I noticed in the book is there seem to be two sides to this. There are the people who are for “safe spaces” and trigger warnings who seem to be taking a defensive posture. They don’t want to be hurt or offended by something. And then on the other hand you have a group of people who are very aggressive who attack anyone who challenges them. For instance, the feminists who call anyone who disagrees with them a “rape apologist.” One is very aggressive and one is defensive… I’m just wondering how you see them working together.

KP: I actually see them both being aggressive. I see the trigger warnings as being extremely aggressive. I think people have laughed them off frequently and the safe spaces and sort of say ‘Oh, these poor…they’re so frail.’ And that may be true. They are very intellectually frail. They’re unable to deal with different ideas but there’s a real intimidation factor to it. So when you’re Christina Hoff Summers showing up at Oberlin, as happened in April, and you have people portraying you as if you’re creating an unsafe environment for them, to the point that the university has to give you security. And you show up and there’s a sign outside saying, “Warning: You may hear discussions of sexual assault or a person denying your experience,” which is of course nothing she’s ever…she’s never denied anybody’s experience of being raped. And then a safe room in this room. That’s an intimidation tactic. If you’re Christina Hoff Summers, first of all, it’s lying about who you are and it’s meant to delegitimize you and to make it seem like you’re a person who is expressing views that are dangerous. They’re so dangerous that you have to go to a “safe space.”'