Filmmaker Rick Bienstock intentionally avoided confrontational, Michael Moore-style interviews. By passively letting subjects speak freely, she allowed the 'lunatic' nature of their ideas to reveal itself organically, a more powerful method than attempting to debate or trap them in contradictions.
The documentary reveals that the most damning figures are often not the student activists, but senior administrators who fail to lead. Evergreen State's president is shown passively absorbing extreme verbal abuse, demonstrating how administrative weakness and a desire to placate mobs allows extremism to flourish on campus.
When Black rhetoric professor Eric Smith challenged a prevailing idea, colleagues subjected him to a 'degradation ceremony' on a listserv. They didn't just disagree; they used accusations like 'Stockholm syndrome' to ridicule him, silence his dissent, and publicly demonstrate the consequences of breaking ideological ranks.
The core issue in modern free speech debates isn't legal prosecution but social ostracization. Academics weren't jailed; they were 'dogpiled' and professionally ruined by colleagues. This 'social death'—losing friends, jobs, and reputation—is an extremely powerful deterrent to expression, shifting the battleground from courts to social networks.
Despite reputations for progressive orthodoxy, the CBC and BBC funded a documentary critical of campus illiberalism. The key was the filmmaker's track record and a compelling 5-hour rough cut that proved the story's complexity. Impressed by the depth, both broadcasters doubled their order to a two-part series.
Documentary filmmaker Rick Bienstock embedded herself within volatile US student protests because her status as a relatively unknown Canadian seemed less threatening than a recognizable American journalist, especially one from a partisan outlet like Fox News, would have been.
Professor Asao Inouye's theory—that grading English promotes white supremacy—was presented not at a fringe event but as the keynote at his field's biggest conference. This shows how radical ideas can become centrally accepted dogma within academic fields, making dissent from peers seem heretical.