Commentary

Im 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 nations capital, the two are linked.

Starting each day with a completed task such as tucking the sheets in is among Jordan Petersons tips in his book 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos, which has now been on Amazons list of best-sellers for 256 weeks. He may be internationally renowned as a leading public intellectual, but in Canada some people want him shut down.

Three dozen self-described Ottawa community organizations want their city council to ban Peterson from speaking on Jan. 30 at the Canadian Tire Centre.

As we approach the one-year anniversary of the so-called Freedom Convoy, the last thing we need is a spokesperson of the far-right taking centre stage in our city, Jaime Sadgrove, manager of communications and advocacy for the Canadian Centre for Gender and Sexual Diversity, told the Ottawa Citizen.

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 itsome 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, theyve been stunningly successful in shaping the conversation to their liking. Really, theyve run the table and as it stands theres no reason to think they wont 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 racializeda 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, its now accepted that all white people are irredeemably racist. Nerves are so raw that, for instance, theUniversity 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.

Its 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 its true or not just doesnt matter.

Just ask J.K. Rowling who, although she has never spoken one harsh word against a member of the trans community, continues to be given the bums rush from polite society, as Brendan ONeill put it recently in the Spectator.

What has really happened is that belief in biological sex has been redefined as bigotry, he wrote. Standing up for womens sex-based rights has been rebranded as transphobia. So Rowlings 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 moderatesthe sort of people who like to make their beds every morningare now the extremists. Resist and you risk being branded an ally of all the evils listed above.

Hyperbolic neo-puritanism isnt just winning, its 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.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.

Peter Menzies is a senior fellow with the Macdonald-Laurier Institute, an award winning journalist, and former vice-chair of the CRTC.

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