Author tells stories of rebellion at Flint Center

Beginning by calling himself a downgrade in comparison to past Celebrity Forum speakers, Malcolm Gladwell spoke about Alva Vanderbilt, a women’s suffrage activist, and delved into the roots of rebellion on Feb. 18 at the Flint Center.

Gladwell, named one of Time magazine’s 100 most influential people in 2005, was born in England and schooled in Canada. He is a staff writer for The New Yorker and author of five books that have been on the New York Times Best Seller list.

Evidenced by the audience’s cheers and applause, the author was not as much of a downgrade as he thought. Flint held a packed crowd of adults, seniors and sparse students.

Vanderbilt’s story is of misery, oppression and rebellion, Gladwell said. The choices she made in life were derived from women’s second-class citizenship.

Vanderbilt was seen by the public as a conspicuous consumer because of the luxurious houses she designed and decorated, but Gladwell described how the houses were symbols of frustration, not consumption.

“If you deny people legitimacy, they will one day, by one means or another, rise up and defeat you,” Gladwell said. Legitimacy is a main theme in his most recent book, “David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants.”

Gladwell linked Vanderbilt’s story with the Ferguson protests, conveying how anger becomes the ignition for activism.

“Ferguson was an extraordinary moment in American history that we brushed under the carpet and forgot all too quickly,” he said.

Audience members said they found Gladwell’s capacity for great storytelling to be awe-inspiring.

“Malcolm Gladwell is the kind of person I would like to have as a friend,” usher Virgil Klein said. “I wasn’t sure what to expect from him so I was amazingly impressed by his storytelling.”

Gladwell ended by taking questions from the audience about a wide variety of topics.
“Everyone’s job is inexplicable to someone who doesn’t have that job,” he said about being a writer. “It never occurred to me that your job was something that wouldn’t make you happy.”

When an audience member asked what his opinion was of the American college system, Gladwellsaid he’d avoid it all together.

“I would not want to destroy the teenagers’ peace of mind while simultaneously bankrupting their parents,” he said.

In the next few months, Gladwell will release a podcast about campus food and its influence on students’ desire to attend certain colleges.

With humor and intellect, Gladwell held the audience’s undivided attention as he entertained from one topic to the next.

Questioning rebellion and elite institutions, Gladwell left his audience inspired to question on their own.