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Why Critical Thinking Is Dead - Warren Smith

May 02, 2026 • 1h 4m

Summary

⏱️ 11 min read

Overview

Warren Smith discusses his journey from high school teacher to YouTube content creator after being fired for a viral video about J.K. Rowling. He shares his experiences navigating institutional pressure in education, the rise of postmodernism in academia, and the importance of teaching critical thinking skills. The conversation explores cancel culture, intellectual conformity, team-based thinking versus principled reasoning, and how modern education systems have failed to foster genuine debate and analytical thinking.

Warren's Background and Firing from Teaching

Warren was a high school media teacher who created viral content examining students' claims about J.K. Rowling through a critical thinking lens. After a video went viral and garnered millions of views, school administrators gave him veiled threats and eventually terminated him midday over a technicality related to student releases. The experience thrust him into full-time content creation despite having under 50,000 subscribers at the time, creating significant financial uncertainty but ultimately opening new opportunities.

  • Warren was teaching media content creation when a video about J.K. Rowling went viral, opening doors to YouTube
  • School administrators summoned him to meet with lawyers who said 'congratulations, I hope you don't make any mistakes' - described as 'mafioso' language
  • He was fired and escorted out midday with no chance to say goodbye to anyone
  • At the time of firing, Warren had under 50,000 subscribers and YouTube wasn't financially viable yet
" I hope you don't make any mistakes. That was their language. It's kind of mafioso isn't it? "

The Viral J.K. Rowling Video and Its Aftermath

The video that started Warren's troubles featured a student asking how his views on Harry Potter changed given J.K. Rowling's 'bigoted opinions.' Warren walked the student through logical analysis, helping him recognize he lacked evidence for his claims. The student ended up changing his mind, demonstrating critical thinking in action. School administrators were unhappy because many teachers disagreed about J.K. Rowling, and the video's viral success with millions of views created institutional pressure.

  • The video showed a student questioning Warren about J.K. Rowling's 'bigoted opinions' - a claim with presuppositions baked in
  • Warren helped the student realize he didn't have evidence necessary for his claims, and the student changed his mind
  • Many teachers were unhappy about the video because they disagreed on J.K. Rowling
  • Elon Musk tweeted the video, ensuring everyone at school knew about it before Warren could address it
" It was actually a very good example of someone applying critical thinking to an issue in good faith "

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