Episode 15: Cameron Whitten

Episode 15: Cameron Whitten


Cameron Whitten is, in his own words, a “shameless agitator” from Portland, Oregon. He became politically active during the Occupy Portland movement and, at twenty, made a bid to become the mayor of the Rose City with endorsements from the Green Party and Oregon Progressive Party. As of this posting, Whitten is on day 44 of a hunger strike designed to encourage the Portland City Council to address issues of housing inequality.

We spoke about Occupy, equality, and the idea of The Conversation. For Whitten, The Conversation is a first step to addressing issues of class inequality, which he considers the greatest crisis our era. This marks the first extended discussion of class in The Conversation, but it is worth juxtaposing Whitten’s view next to the belief in incremental improvement that pervaded my talks with Max More, Colin Camerer, Chris McKay, and Ariel Waldman.

Interestingly, Whitten also brushes aside the issue of population growth that has surfaced in conversations from Jan Lundberg to John Zerzan. There are abundant resources, Whitten claims, rather the question is one of distribution.