I recently had lunch in Toronto and overheard a conversation that went like this:
- “Welcome to Jangles.”
- “Hi, my name is Bill and this is my friend Fred. Fred’s pronoun is zer. So if you pop by later to ask if we want coffee and Fred’s not available, don’t say ‘and what about him?’ Please say ‘and what about zer?”
- Waitress said “Got it.”
It was the coolest thing I ever heard but you know this kind of thing will eventually land in court. Because somewhere along the way, some teacher is going to call one of them Zaire and a shitstorm will get started. I can see the courtroom now.
- “Okay, what happened?”
- “Well, I submit my pronoun every day and I carry one of those little tent cards. But sometimes he calls me Zaire.”
- “And you. What do you have to say for yourself?”
- “Heck, your honour. There’s a billion of them. How am I supposed to remember them all? But I’ll try to say Fred.”
- “Okay, nobody wins. Now get back to work.”
U of T’s Jordan Peterson says forcing language is how the communists got started. He doesn’t appear to like any of this political correctness, but I think it’s great. Like when’s the last time you heard the term “fudge packer” or called anyone a fag? We don’t say things like that anymore and I think it’s good.
There’s a trans guy at my deli. I call him TJ and he seems to be fine with it. And now that we’re talking about names, how about all the things we call fat people? I don’t like the word “tubby.”
Dr. Jordan says these new laws violate our entitlement to free speech. Specifically, you can now be charged with a hate crime in Ontario by failing to comply. So as a public employee, he can lose his job by not using these government specified pronouns. He says that when we stopped calling Chinese people oriental and shifted to calling them Asian, it came organically, not through law. And this is the way it should be.
But that’s not my concern. I don’t like how he’s being treated. Peterson has been accosted and attacked ever since he spoke up. He’s being associated with Nazism, white supremacy, being a gender-hater, and every other evil term out there. I think there’s something wrong with that.
Freedom
This debate has shifted from pronouns to one about freedom.
Peterson does a lot more than just argue about words. Other than being a prof, he’s a clinical psychologist who’s deeply learned in a number of areas and has written a few books. He was scheduled to speak in Edmonton in February. After booking space at the local, publicly funded theatre, Jordan was notified the reservation had been cancelled because management didn’t agree with his views.
So does the facility have the right to deny anyone service because of his or her beliefs?
In the US, a bakery tried to deny a gay couple the ability to buy a wedding cake. The Supreme Court ruled in favour of the couple. They said the freedom to purchase comes before the freedom to sell. So even though a pub can bounce you for being drunk and disorderly, they can’t refuse you service because of sexual preference. Just like you can’t be refused for race, colour, ethnicity, religion, or what type of spaghetti sauce you like.
Now in defense of my transgender in-laws, I’m sure there’s a good argument in favour of adding more terms than just him and her. I’m also sure of a few more things: political correctness works best when it occurs naturally—it shouldn’t be legislated. Jordan isn’t Jim Keegstra denying the holocaust—his speech was to be predominately about his new book, 12 Rules for Life. And if denying service is against the law in the US, it should be against the law here.
Conclusion
Decide for yourself. Here’s an interview with Jordan and another exiled prof on Joe Rogan. (To add insult to injury, the guy is from Alberta.) I sure hope he sues. In the meantime, TJ and I are going for a drink.