Red letters, brightly emblazoned against an ominous black background: 

“Hell awaits you! Rev 21:8.”

“Sin is slavery.”

In white letters, it condemns all manner of sinners:

“Justifiers of the wicked, sorcerers, weed smokers, drunkards, money lovers, crossdressers.”

Idle crowds, lightly incensed, ferociously texting, taking pictures and sharing to their Instagram story.  A few of the audience members, a bit angrier than the rest, scream from the front of the stationary group at one man.

“God impregnated a 14-year-old!”

“You’re gay! You’re gay! You’re gay!”

“See you in hell, motherfucker!”

“You still like dick!”

“God hates fedoras!” (This one was greeted with a response of “God does not hate fedoras!”)

“Do you miss taking it up the ass?”

“Answer the question!”

“Answer the question!”

The yells grow louder, and the crowd grows larger.

The recipient of these insults shares more bible verses, and his smile grows wider as more gather around and more abuse is heaped onto him. Most of us, perhaps, would be less than happy with such a reception, but he is getting exactly what he wants.

He ran the gamut of condemnation — peppered in with thoughts of salvation and Jesus’ love — declaring gay love as no more than lust (as an apparently former gay man himself), and people continued to engage, growing more enraged by the minute and accomplishing nothing at all.

This “preacher” chose a day when he could be assured of the spectators being easily provoked — April 16, just a couple of hours before and a few hundred feet away from where Kyle Rittenhouse was set to speak.

This was incorporated into his manifesto, as, concerning Rittenhouse, he said, “Whenever he pulled the gun and shot them, that wasn’t sin, that was protection.”

He was in no way unique in his quest. From Sister Cindy and other anti-LGBTQ+ Christian groups to anti-abortion organizations, there have been a slew of conservative groups looking to garner attention and little else in the past year alone.

Notably, none of these groups came to campus with the intent to change peoples’ minds or evangelize. Rather, they all cut their platforms down to a few soundbites of their rhetoric. Sister Cindy had students chanting “Ho No Mo,” and the Center for Bio-Ethical Reform depended solely on gory images with no interest in debate.

Tuesday’s visitor was much the same. After hearing him speak only a few words, it was quite clear to me that he wasn’t interested in discussion or debate. His primary concern was engagement and attention.

Something taught in every conflict resolution class and seminar is the basic skill of recognizing when the person you’re talking to has any possibility of changing their mind. When someone is set on maintaining their views and opinions, there’s unfortunately little point in attempting to engage in a debate or meaningful conversation.

This was apparent to most of the people on the K as well, but many of them chose to resort to lewd remarks and taunts. Given the crusader’s extensive insults and shutdowns based on gender or sexuality, these students can hardly be blamed or unjustified in their response.

That does not, however, make it reasonable. What these methods of engaging led to was greater anger, his message being spread to more people and him getting more exuberant with each jeer.

From the multiple body cams, though partially for his protection, it appears rather likely that he posts clips of these micro-protests online. When his mission so clearly has little to do with Jesus, external validation and social media engagement become the likely motivators.

Is there any point to these arguments? Not so much.

Was this a man who appeared to be willing to have a rational discussion — or, indeed, appeared to be rational at all — I wouldn’t deny the benefits and compassion of approaching him or someone similar. As it stands, only harm could result from such a response.

When someone is spewing hateful rhetoric, especially when it’s directed at you on the merit of your gender, race or sexuality, it can be extremely difficult to not respond in kind. Though that sort of confrontation can prove to be both satisfying and even entertaining, as testified by the number of people who watched for hours, it generally only serves to spread the message that is causing harm to begin with.

Next time you come across an individual or a group like that, a simple “Go to hell” and walking on might be the way to go.

Virginia Doherty is an opinion writer. Contact her at [email protected].