Jordan Peterson, a University of Toronto professor, is taking on fire from both his campus and the internet as he has dubbed himself as “politically incorrect.” Peterson has refused to accept the idea of different genders, other than the historical male and female. The professor posted a video on YouTube explaining why he can be politically incorrect, and was disdained that people would dare call him unfair to the LGBTQ+ community. In the video, Peterson says, “The laws scare me; the doctrines of the law scare me […] the people behind the doctrines also scare me. They are resentful and uninformed.” This man, who was insulted that he was stereotyped into the “angry white male” group, begins his long speech by stereotyping a group of people he has never gotten to know or even met.
The new ideas behind gender and gender identity are, to some, frightening. Many are tired of the fight for the “new” genders that have arisen, and do not care enough to take a stand and change the way we as humans view gender. These people are the ones that are not uncomfortable in their assigned role as male or female, and cannot see the impact it has on a life. To walk a mile in someone else’s shoes is the message many non-gendered, non-binary, transgendered, etc. people are trying to convey. You can’t imagine what it is like to feel like an alien in your own body. People like Jordan Peterson do not think about the feelings of others, only how it affects themselves. Which in these terms makes hardly any sense. Just because he is a scared man, as he points out many times in his speech, does not make him right. To fear a gender change is quite frankly, spineless. No, what the professor fears is the idea of change. Set in the mind of old, this man, and many others like him, are being selfish in a way they can’t even see. What harm will come of you to be politically correct? Many people who preach that hate speech should stay legal do not have the empathy and sympathy required to think about others.
Peterson rants about all the laws that do not say it is illegal to misgender someone. The law he took certain offence to was Bill C-16, an amendment of the Canadian Human Rights Act and Criminal Code that would add gender identity and gender expression to the list of prohibited grounds of discrimination. His idea is that freedom of speech should be just as — if not more — important than Bill C-16. However, there is a difference between freedom of speech and hate speech. Purposefully ignoring a gender and pushing the idea that there are only two genders is not freedom of speech, it is discriminating against a group of people that just want to be acknowledged and free to be whatever gender they truly identify with. We don’t have laws compelling us to be kind to each other and practice decency, neither should we need them. This is kindness. This is respect. You do not need laws to determine how kind we should be to other members of humanity. A member of the staff at U of T, physics professor A.W. Peet, was upset by Peterson’s lack of understanding of gender identity, and voiced his concerns to the university. The physics professor identifies himself as non-binary, which is any gender that is not exclusively male or female. As reported by the ***National Post, Peet commented saying, “If someone is going to claim that non-binary people don’t exist, I take issue with that, […] ‘Hello, yes, I am a real person.”
The movement to accept that non-binary genders exist is only getting stronger, and people stuck in the past are only going to be swept aside to allow freedom. The University of Toronto has now issued two warning letters to Peterson, one a slight warning to reconsider how he runs the classroom, and the second a full warning that “the impact of your (Peterson’s) behaviour runs the risk of undermining your ability to conduct essential components of your job.” Bill C-16, and the rules of conduct for the U of T are forcing the professor to keep his opinions “silenced” as he likes to claim. However, there is a difference from freedom of speech and straight out discrimination against a large group of people. There should be freedom to be who you are and feel who you were born to be. No one is born knowing of hate speech and naivety.
