Teacher Gives Master Class in Rethinking Premises After Student Asks Him About 'Transphobe' J.K. Rowling

"Harry Potter" author J.K. Rowling has taken an intense amount of heat and hate from the woke left over the last several years over the crime of coming out in support of a British woman who had been fired from her job for stating some inconvenient truths about the biology of men versus women.

Rowling has faced cancellation attempts over her position, and death threats as well. And at one point, left-wing wacktivists actually published photos of her home including its address on social media in a clear (and dangerous) attempt at intimidating her into silence.

But Rowling has stood strong in her position despite the barrage, even saying in an October 2023 tweet that she would be willing to go to prison in defense of her views should it be made a crime in the United Kingdom to use the wrong pronouns on someone.

READ: J.K. Rowling Has Perfect Response to Suggestion She 'Bend the Knee' in Gender Identity Debate

As is the case for most people who share similar viewpoints, Rowling has been accused of being a "bigot" and "transphobe," which was something asserted during a recent exchange between a teacher and student as shown in a video posted to the Secret Scholar Society channel on YouTube.

The channel is run by a filmmaker named Warren Smith, who has also taught classes on his craft and has conducted workshops on filmmaking according to the bio on his website.

At the beginning of the clip, you hear a male student asking Smith about Rowling and his thoughts on her considering her "controversial past." Specifically, the student asked Smith if he "still liked her work despite her bigoted opinions."

In turn, Smith questioned the premise of the student's question and for the next four or so minutes, similar exchanges occurred, with Smith never telling the student what to think but instead getting him to rethink the basis of every question or statement he made about Rowling and what's been said about her by her critics.

By the end of the clip, the student admitted to Smith that he felt like "an idiot" for framing his original question the way he did now that he realizes that his (the student's) opinions are in reality very similar to Rowling's.

Watch:

This is utterly brilliant. A student accuses @jk_rowling of being transphobic. This teacher skilfully dissects the claim and challenges it by asking questions.

He teaches not what to think, but how to think critically.

Watch until the end.
You see the epiphany in real-time. pic.twitter.com/x00gWdOugc
— Lee Harris (@addicted2newz) February 3, 2024

Their back and forth reminded me in many ways of the legendary October 2023 "interview" between a leftist reporter and Canadian Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre. Every question the reporter asked was liberally biased, and Poilievre questioned the premise of every assertion, including the ones where the activist journo would pull the classic "some people say" tactic as a way of inserting their personal opinions into what they're asking.

But back to Smith, what he did there should be done by every teacher and professor in America when a student, speech attendee, media figure, or what have you asks them a question from a slanted viewpoint.

While there's absolutely nothing wrong with having opinions on things and sharing them openly, it's imperative that when a person does so they can back them up with facts. Because when they can't do that, they end up coming off like this student did, as someone who makes snap assumptions and just falls for what they hear without doing any critical thinking to determine if what they've heard is valid or not.

Further, these same educators not only should question the basis for these types of loaded questions but they should also refrain from trying to "lead" the person they are addressing in any sort of direction beyond trying to simply get them to think for themselves, which is what Smith did above.

Think about what a better place this country would be if we had a lot more Warren Smiths in public school and higher ed teaching positions (especially as it related to journalism classes) and a lot less Laurence Tribes and Jay Rosens. Boggles the mind in terms of the good that could be accomplished socially, culturally, and politically under such a scenario.