I’m not quite sure when counselling people to make their bed every morning became a seditious act of far-right extremism, but according to a coalition in the nation’s capital, the two are linked.
Three dozen self-described Ottawa community organizations want their city council to ban Peterson from speaking on Jan. 30 at the Canadian Tire Centre.
Fae Johnstone, a critic from the trans community, chimed in on Twitter: “Proud to join over three dozen organizations across Ottawa calling on the @CdnTireCtr to cancel their upcoming event with misogynistic, racist and transphobic Jordan Peterson.”
And as Johnstone told the Citizen: “His message puts marginalized folks at risk.”
And there you have it—some pretty clear outlines of the arguments that will be used to suppress speech in Canada in the coming years. Disagreeable phrases, or even thoughts, put people “at risk.” Never mind Peterson (he can take care of himself), the real concern going forward for the rest of us is how deftly the radical left has led the charge for censorship.
So far, they’ve been stunningly successful in shaping the conversation to their liking. Really, they’ve run the table and as it stands there’s no reason to think they won’t continue to do so.
They have done it by conquering the narrative. Words that offend have swiftly transitioned from “offensive” or “eew” to acts of “hate” that can inspire violence. When they choose, even “silence is violence.” People of colour are now “racialized”—a far more active term which has swiftly been adopted, unopposed, by most corporate human resource departments. Inconvenient facts are unashamedly labelled “disinformation.”
Catholic priests are about to be banned as chaplains in the Canadian Armed Forces because their church maintains views that allegedly make them incapable of spiritual compassion when it comes to women and gay soldiers and sailors. They, it is feared, may feel more uncomfortable in the chaplains’ presence than they are grasping for the salvation of their immortal souls.
Most of us may never have met one, but public servants are taught in education sessions that white supremacists and their attitudes are stitched throughout the fabric of society and, as critical race theory gets adopted unimpaired by intellectual review, it’s now accepted that all white people are irredeemably racist. Nerves are so raw that, for instance, the University of Southern California has removed the term “field” from its curriculum due to racist connotations. In reports concerning cancer screening, some media refer to “people with cervixes” rather than use the term “women.”
It’s a minefield. And a very cleverly designed one at that.
It is the foundation upon which Heritage Minister Pablo Rodriguez will build legislation restricting freedom of expression. As most folks know by now, governments can legitimately argue for restricted speech when it is linked to harm. To put it simply, a trained psychologist like Jordan Peterson standing up on a stage in Ottawa and claiming that people with penises might not be actual women is the 21st-century equivalent of shouting “Fire!” in a crowded theatre. And whether it’s true or not just doesn’t matter.
“What has really happened is that belief in biological sex has been redefined as bigotry,“ he wrote. ”Standing up for women’s sex-based rights has been rebranded as transphobia. So Rowling’s perfectly normal views, which are likely shared by most people out there, can be talked about as hate crimes when they are nothing of the kind.”
British author and political commentator Konstantin Kisin, who is about as middle of the political road as it gets, has similarly found himself shunned by some media for his efforts to bring reason to the woke, recently through a very popular speech to the Oxford Union. And yet:
“Funny how people attack me for going on right-leaning media,” he tweeted. “Do you know that not ONE left-leaning publication or TV show has invited me on to talk about my speech? Not one.”
Thoughts and words that once were viewed as merely contentious or disagreeable are now subjected to the most severe opprobrium from segments of society previously deemed radical but which are now termed “moderate.” The moderates—the sort of people who like to make their beds every morning—are now the extremists. Resist and you risk being branded an ally of all the evils listed above.
Hyperbolic neo-puritanism isn’t just winning, it’s poised to codify its victory in legislation, after which there will be no going back. And, as history teaches, those who suppress free expression never turn out to be the good guys.
