The University of Missouri student who caught protesters physically pushing back media on video earlier this week spoke to Breitbart News, saying the fallout was sparked by what happened previously in Ferguson, Missouri – affirming Breitbart News’s coined term, “The Ferguson Effect.” He added that those students who support the protest are, “coddled liberal arts majors.”
Mark Schierbecker told Breitbart News he had “no idea” that his video would go viral on the internet and on national television news networks.
“I thought it would attract some interest within the Mizzou community. I didn’t expect the widespread support from journalists all over the world… You guys were first, you get that. You guys were the first on it,” he said to Breitbart News on Thursday.
He said the reaction from the student body to his video going viral has been mixed.
“They’re pissed off at me because I – by complete accident – sort of destroyed the integrity of the movement. It totally flipped the narrative and made it about free speech and freedom of the press,” he said, adding he doesn’t believe the protest is valid.
“My friends, I assume, are pretty much split 50-50. There’s really no in-between. I’ve had several friends message me asking why I’m doing this. There’s like a systemic bias that all of the coverage about this is going to be positive toward my cause because they’re journalists,” Schierbecker told Breitbart News, adding that journalists know their rights and understand freedom of speech and that the press is important, but that those who don’t understand are “coddled liberal arts majors.”
“The rest of everyone here is coddled liberal arts majors who sort of support the movement, so right now most of them are pretty [pissed off].”
Breitbart News asked Schierbecker if he thinks the fallout of other college and university students across the nation protesting because of race relations was sparked by what occurred at Mizzou.
“It mostly has to do with our proximity to the epicenter of the civil rights movement in Ferguson,” he said, confirming this has to do with what Breitbart News coined, “The Ferguson Effect.”
“During that thing, there were lots of student groups started up,” he added. “That was the catalyst.”
He also told Breitbart News why the protesters didn’t want to talk to media, but speculated that it wasn’t because they wanted a “safe space,” but rather it was because the media narrative was turning against them.
“They told us that they wanted a safe place for them to reevaluate the situation and get their emotions out. From a journalist I talked to later the next day, he said that was total bullcrap. He said that basically the media narrative was changing and they couldn’t control it anymore, so they basically went full damage control [on the situation].”
“I was there as an observer and recording…I was dressed totally like a civilian so I just got let through,” he recalled of the moment he got inside the wall of students blocking out reporters. “I saw who I wanted to talk to, who was Melissa Click, and I went up to her to ask her why are you doing this basically…she completely turned me down and in fact instigated harassment.”
“She looked the part,” he said of a professor. “This college town has the highest percentage of post-doctoral adults anywhere in the nation, so generally when you see someone like that as part of a student movement, you usually assume.”
Following the encounter with Click, in which she called for “muscle” to remove Schierbecker from the area, he filed charges with the University of Missouri Police Department against her.
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