Its not everyday I start an article with a reference to Aristotle and the rhetorical triangle. Ethos, pathos, logos. These three words can easily be translated into modern terminology: speaker credibility and authority, emotional appeal to sway the audience, and the logical proof or evidence of the topic being discussed.
One side of the triangle is equally dependent on the other two sides. It is vital that a speaker know how to utilize all three to make a convincing point. John Ousley utilizes pathos very well. He likes to play to emotions, cloaked in doom and gloom. Reader, if you have ever listened to him speak, you’ve probably heard one of his favorite phrases: They don’t need your guns if they have your children. Another one is this: Abrasiveness in defense of children is no vice. Playing to the emotions of having a child is something Ousley does very well, and I’ll mention more later in this article.
Logos is another side of the triangle, where Ousley should be presenting facts and evidence in a logical manner, formulating an argument that can stand on its own. There are times he does this, and there are certainly times that he does not achieve that connect. Again, more into that later on.
Finally, there is ethos. If your emotions don’t get quite fired up, or if the argument isn’t really connecting for you, someone listening to Ousley should at least be assured by his pedigree, his credentials, who he is as an authority: ethos. His UnWokable handle started as an anonymous account, which doesn’t lend much credence to trusting the speaker. People like to know the man. Ultimately, John Ousley became known to everyone, and the trustworthy authority figure just hasn’t really mustered.
Let’s explore his ethos, while paying attention to the pathos and logos he sprinkles in.
Ethos of the Freelance Journalist
Journalists should be honest and have the ability to make connections with evidence. Yes, Reader, there are a lot of journalists out there that fail to do this. Lots of conjecture make it onto pages or as social media posts. Ousley is no different. There are many examples, but let’s focus on two within the past year that succinctly brings forth his lack of ethos as a journalist, which is what he claims on his YouTube page.
UnWokble is an educator, freelance journalist, political commentator, and advocate for students in Oklahoma and the throughout United States. In 2021, he created his online persona UnWokable, to fight back against the insurgence and enforcement of Critical Race Theory ideology at the University in Oklahoma and Oklahoma Public Schools via state funded offices of Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion.
If you aren’t familiar with this issue in March of last year, Ousley stated that Breea Clark, who was still the mayor of Norman at the time, had a troll account. When he stated that she was in control of the account, Ousley was quick to show his proof, which was Clark liking a post on Twitter from Okie Troll within seconds of it being posted. As you can see, he mentions metadata in pictures. I’m not aware of any metadata ever being shared on his posts to prove his point. It was merely conjecture. If you go in and check his social media posts (there are multiple accounts to wade through), the only mention of metadata is on his Facebook post above, and once this year on his Twitter account, where he states: [it] is an excellence source of forensic information. This publication agrees, so let’s see it.
Relaying the conversation for the first time, I reached out to Breea Clark last year, asking her about Ousley’s statement, and she said, That man’s obsession with me is getting a little unnerving. But whoever the Okie troll is, they are hilarious! There was a little more to our conversation than that, but the final statement from Clark is that she denies being Okie Troll.
At this juncture, I’m not sure any journalist would feel free to make that claim in print, but Ousley did, with no one pushing back for the evidence. Maybe he has it, maybe he doesn’t. All I can say is that I once had my phone in my hand when a tweet from Candance Owens came across and I liked it immediately within a few seconds. Just for clarification, I am not Candance Owens.
Another incident that occurred last year had to do with closed captioning (CC) during a Ryan Walters’ campaign commercial. On November 4, 2022, Ousley did a live interview with Ryan Walters about his upcoming election for state superintendent. During that broadcast (which ultimately never made it to his YouTube channel but is still on his Facebook), Ousley and Walters talked about the conspiracy behind the CC showing I’ll be voting for Joy Hofmeister on the screen during Walters’ campaign ad. Ousley later admitted that he was wrong, deleting the tweet where he made his previous conspiratorial claim.
So what is the issue? Isn’t this what we would want a freelance journalist to do? Yes, but you see, Reader, you have to look at the whole picture. In the Facebook video with Walters, Ousley makes a statement at the 11:35 mark: This was sent to me by a very trusted source.
Look how different this retraction is on his Facebook page:
Ousley went from very trusted source to naming the source, which is not what a journalist should ever do. So much for journalistic integrity and ethics. And who is Chris Banning? He is a Republican House Representative with District 24, who won his seat during the primary election on June 28, 2022. In essence, Ousley burned a representative elect over a stupid closed captioning video. This also forced Banning to come out and make his own video, talking about how he is to blame and that he and Ousley should have vetted the video and the circumstances behind it.
Ethos of the Father
If that subheading makes you cringe, read on. This is not an attack on Ousley being a parent, but his call to pathos as a father, which defines his social media ethos. Remember what I wrote above about him evoking emotion by using children? It continues throughout. Let’s harken back to last year, once again.
When I first asked Ousley for an interview, we finally agreed to meet. When that day came, he told me had just found out about his wife being pregnant, and he needed to reschedule our interview. I congratulated him, but I also stated that a delay would not work for me, again offering a few other options, which included sending some questions via email for him to respond. I woke up the next day completely blocked by him on social media before I ever asked him a single question.
I don’t remember the exact date, but a little while later, Ousley was supposed to speak at a Republicans’ meeting in Chickasha. I attended the event. At one point, I looked over to my right, seeing Ousley look into the room. There wasn’t much to look at because there was likely only ten people in the giant room. The event was also live on social media, and I have no idea how many people were actively watching. When it was his time to speak (they actually hoped to get him to start a little early), Ousley could not be found. After about 15 minutes of asking around, it became known that he apparently left, stating his wife was having a issue with her pregnancy. This is completely understandable, but the organizers were unaware of what was going on when they expected him to be there.
Remember that video where Ousley talked about his infidelity, posted it to YouTube and then took down? At the 3:19 mark, Ousley states this: The night that Fox 25’s anchor Wendy Suares posted…that was the night we found out that we were having a daughter. Again, this is a call to the emotional, using a child as a shield. Also, are you starting to see a pattern? The night in question was September 4, 2022. Within two weeks, this would spawn into something else completely.
On September 19, 2022, Ousley posted about Fathers Defending Daughters for the first time. This was, and still is, a GiveSendGo campaign for $100K dollars. That amount is not a typo. The justification for this amount and its purpose is not clearly presented by Ousley. This is what it states:
Always doing my due diligence, I looked to see if Fathers Defending Daughters is any kind of business or charitable entity. From my research, it does not appear to be anything, outside of an ask by Ousley. The above emotional plea does not say how $100K would be used to defend daughters. It doesn’t say how it will fight against the attack on children. It doesn’t say how it will mobilize fathers. And let it be clear, not a single dollar has been given to this campaign as of this writing.
But Ousley didn’t stop there with this campaign. On September 22, 2022, Ousley posted this to Twitter:
The date is important because this is six days before Chris Elston (Billboard Chris) sat down and did a live interview with Ousley, which you can find on his YouTube channel. As you look at how he wrote the tweet, it implies that Ousley is already working with Chris, along with Matt Walsh and Recover Republic, whoever that is.
In the live interview, Ousley goes on to make this statements at the 51:55 mark: That’s what I’m calling on here in Oklahoma with some dads, you know, Fathers Defending Daughters, whatever we call them, I don’t care. I want to bring Billboard Chris down here. Let’s all get our boards on and go out and actually show him some backup.
When Billboard Chris visited Oklahoma in December of last year, I reached out to him, asking him some questions about Ousley, which centered around his Fathers Defending Daughters campaign and Ousley’s attack on Chris for coming to Oklahoma. Multiple aspects were discussed, but I will relay these two statements, which I believe is relevant and revealing for this article:
No he didn’t ask for funding, and I don’t know the ins and outs of Oklahoma politics, but I’d say politicians are wising up to him. He’s alienated himself from many other constituents who also have the ear of Oklahoma politicians.
When he published my DMs I think he made it clear why he went on the attack. He felt he should be “in the room” even though I had exactly zero plans at that point, and I should be making that trip about him.
Like I mentioned in my last article, Ousley easily demonstrates that there isn’t a relationship he is willing to destroy to get what he wants, even publishing DMs.
Finally, I will leave this section with this. My last article stated that I would talk about Ron Causby and Tim Reiland, the Loud Mouths. They pulled out from wanting me to speak about their issues with Ousley, and I respect their decision.
Ethos of the Educator
Ousley is an educator, and no one is denying that; however, eight days ago, appearing on Vivek Ramaswamy’s YouTube channel, Ousley made some claims that my research fails to prove. He stated in the video that he was a private school administrator at the 20:13 mark of the video. I reached out to both Vivek and Ousley, neither one replying back to me with any statement to prove what I’m about to bring up to you, Reader.
Let’s go back to 2008, since this is the year that Ousley graduated from the University of Southern Mississippi.
In 2008, according to the Mississippi Department of Education license lookup, a John M. Ousley shows up in their database. I can’t confirm that it is absolutely him, or that he ever taught in Mississippi, and their DOE told me that I would need to reach out to the educator for that information. I don’t think that will work out in this instance.
Where I can begin to confirm his teaching history is right here in Oklahoma. For three years, he is listed having taught in Blackwell Oklahoma, which is also backed up by his LinkedIn page. Here is the Oklahoma DOE’s records of his employment during the FY’08-09, FY’09-’10, and FY’10-’11 school years, as archived by our own education department. If you want to find his name quickly, just hit CTRL + F keys, and then type in Ousley.
The next few years is where Ousley falls off the grid, at least what I can find in research. If you remember from my previous reporting, he had a one-year teaching certificate issued in 2016, which expired in 2017. After his sex tape scandal and teaching resignation in Houston, Texas, he came back to Oklahoma.
Starting in 2017 and ending in 2021, Ousley is paid by the state for his employment at the University of Oklahoma. I condensed a bunch of cells that had no relevant information in them for this reporting.
There are a few things to take from this, which is the account designation of 511150 and the non-pay portion. Here is what the state of Oklahoma says about this account classification:
Again, this states that this classification is for areas other than teaching. I won’t list them here, but other codes are used for that. Why is this important? It goes to show the ethos of Ousley as an educator. Bear with me as I pull you two different directions at the same time.
Ousley has stated multiple times that he has taught at all levels, including higher education.
He has taught in K-12 in public and private. With the code mentioned above, he has served in administration (no details on exactly what that job was), but I can’t find any evidence of him teaching in higher education. Ousley lives in Oklahoma, and his wife is currently working in the Norman school district (public record), so I don’t see him off in another state working at a college or university. For Oklahoma public higher education, there is simply no record of him being paid for that job. This isn’t a one-off statement by him, either.
Alright, let me start pulling you the other way, now. At the 7:11 mark of the video with Vivek, Ousley states he has been teaching for 15 years. Has he? Not to get caught in the semantics, but this doesn’t seem to compute. Saying you have taught for 15 years gives no room for misunderstanding. It’s a simple, bold statement. There should be an easy way to find or prove that claim. Reader, I can’t find it.
I reached out to Vivek, asking if Ousley provided proof of his credentials, and Vivek himself did not respond, but a Tricia McLaughlin did through Vivek’s Twitter DMs. Her final response to me via email was this: Hey thanks so much for making me aware of this. I will have to look more before I can comment with authority. Unless Ousley explains a few simple questions, good luck, Tricia. And let’s not think too much when a presidential candidate is sitting and taking notes from someone’s whose credentials are in question.
The last thing I will bring up with Ousley and his teaching career is this.
Once again, the research is coming up short. Ousley is currently or has been certified to teach in three states: Mississippi, Texas, and Oklahoma. What is the fourth state? I’m willing to go ahead and count Texas, even though his certification is expired.
Needed Answers
It is apparent that Ousley isn’t going to talk with me, so I call on anyone who associates with him to ask him these questions, hoping to get an answer. If the information is given to me, I will gladly update this article with information.
What university (higher education institution) did you teach at?
What private school did you serve as an administrator?
What is the fourth state that you are certified to teach in?
What is the 15 year breakdown of your education teaching experience?
Let’s see if the information that would answer these questions is ever made known publicly, especially since Ousley had made this comment on Twitter about private school information, knowing that the answer to the question is NO.
Finally, if this is your fist time hearing about Ousley, or if you want to brush up on some of the things I mentioned in this article, go back and read my early reporting with the below links:
Semper Fidelis