He is despised by many on the left, revered by many on the right and more-or-less viewed as a common-sense talker to those around the centre.
Until 18 months ago, Peterson was hardly known beyond the U of T campus. Then he took a stand against
Clearly, Peterson has the intellectual horsepower to look after himself. But it’s the shouting and taunting threats levelled at him from angry mobs on university campuses here in Canada that is most disconcerting. Such encounters are also readily available for viewing online.
Earlier this month, he was speaking at Queen’s University in Kingston. My nephew, who is in first year, witnessed the spectacle firsthand.
“I attended Peterson’s talk and it was quite concerning,” he wrote. “One hundred and fifty protesters were outside chanting and banging on doors. Eventually they began smashing the stain glass windows of one of Queen’s oldest buildings. The atmosphere inside the hall was calm and civil. The saddest part was not a single person of opposing view attended the talk or bothered to engage in a dialogue despite its open forum.”
There were Queen’s professors amongst the protesters, setting a fine example. Protesters hurled insults at everyone going inside, calling attendees fascists and bigots. My nephew was with a friend, a visible minority, and they called that young man a racist, too.
“These people had no intention of engaging in an intelligent dialogue and most had no clue what Peterson was talking about,” he added. “It’s concerning to see freedom of speech attacked especially on a university campus where dialogue and diverse views are the whole point. Peterson put it best when he said ‘those are the barbarians at the gates, they are destroyers not builders.’ It was sad to see my peers engage in such childish behaviour.”
Sad, indeed, that universities seem to be driven by political correctness and are stifling free speech at most every turn.
Last fall, at Wilfrid Laurier University, a teaching assistant was severely chastised by faculty for using a TV clip featuring Peterson in a communications tutorial focusing on the complexities of grammar. The teaching assistant was harangued for saying nothing against Peterson’s views. Three staff members accused her of being transphobic and said her failure to condemn Peterson was akin to remaining neutral on the views of Adolf Hitler.
The incident surfaced only because the teaching assistant discreetly recorded the berating on her computer.
Once the beacons of diverse thought and free speech, universities are in danger of being overtaken by Orwell’s Thought Police.
(Brehl is a writer and author of several books.)