The debate was about the use of gendered pronouns, in
particular for Professor Peterson the force behind the use of compelled speech
that underlies the pronoun question (See the full video of the TVO debate here). After alleged
claims of an undisclosed number of student complaints Shepherd was called to a
meeting.
The Meeting
In this meeting were Supervising Professor Nathan Rambukkana,
Associate Professor Herbert Pimlott, and Manager of Gendered Violence Prevention
and Support Adria Joel along with Lindsay Shepherd. In the meeting Shepherd was
accused of being “Transphobic” and “Creating a toxic climate.”
Professor Rambukkana stated in the interview that by playing
this debate as she did that “This is like neutrally playing a speech by Hitler
or a Milo Yiannopoulos speech from Gamergate.” When Shepherd asked to know the
number of complaints or who is making the complaint Rambukkana said both were
protected by confidentiality.
At one point Lindsey said “In a University all perspectives
are valid.” To which Professor Rambukkana replied “That is not necessarily
true, Lindsey.” Begging the question, who gets to determine which perspectives
are valid and which are not.
Rambukkana also stated that “Laurier is being blanketed with
white supremacist posters. There is another debate in society which is, whether
or not North America should be a set of white nationalist states and that it
should be ethnically cleansed of other people.” The claim about the posters
could not be verified at this time. As for the claim of ethnically cleansing
people from North America being a debate going on in society is outright ludicrous.
Outside of a small fringe movement of the Alt-Right no one is debating this.
Adria Joel at one point makes the claim that showing the
video is “Gendered based violence, transphobia, in that policy [gendered
and sexual violence policy], causing harm to trans students by framing
their identity as invalid or their pronouns as invalid… potentially invalid,
which is under the Ontario human rights code is a protected thing, also something
that Laurier holds as a value.”
Lindsey replied “Okay so by proxy me showing a YouTube video
I am Transphobic and I caused harm/violence, so be it, I cannot do anything to
control that.”
Prof Rambukkana chimed in “Okay so that’s not something you
have an issue with, the fact that that happened, like are you sorry that…?
Both Joel and Rambukkana believe that showing a video that
was aired on television in Canada is a form of violence and harm. They are
working from the foundation that words are harmful and a form of violence
against people, particularly Trans-people in this case.
Associate professor Herbert Pimlott said “Nazi’s actually
used issues around the free speech idea in the 1920’s Wiemar Germany, which is
what they are using now.” He is attempting to equate freedom of speech with
Nazi’s. Understandable from someone who believes that words are violence, but
foundationally incorrect.
The Apology
Unbeknownst to the other members of the meeting Shepherd was
recording the whole conversation (full version here and abridged
version here). She
released this recording to the press.
On November 21st the media coverage forced Wilfrid
Laurier University and Professor Rambukkana to issues public apologizes to
Lindsey Shepherd (President and Vice-Chancellor Deborah MacLatchy apology
letter here
and Rambukkana apology letter here).
The letter from the University apologizes for “the WAY the
meeting was conducted” not that the meeting was conducted at all. In the next
line MacLatchy tries to play the victim card claiming that the “staff and
students involved in this situation have been targeted with extreme vitriol.”
No evidence has been provided to substantiate these claims.
The apologies were only issued because of the media coverage
and public outrage over this incident.
The Legal Framework
The Canadian Parliament passed Bill C-16 earlier this year
which added gender expression and gender identity to the human rights code.
Professor Peterson argued that this law and its surrounding legislation would
produce a system that compels individuals by force to use words other people
want them to use. Essentially compelled speech backed by force of law.
He also argued that refusal to do so would be a crime in Ontario.
The action taken by University of Toronto a few days after his videos were released
on YouTube vindicated him. This action by Wilfrid Laurier University also
vindicates Peterson’s concerns about the passage of this bill.
The Wilfrid Laurier University Gendered and Sexual Violence
Policy and Procedures defines Gendered
Violence as, an act or actions that
reinforce gender inequalities resulting in physical, sexual, emotional,
economic or mental harm. This violence includes sexism, gender discrimination,
gender harassment, biphobia, transphobia, homophobia and heterosexism, intimate
partner violence, and forms of Sexual Violence. This violence can take place on
any communication platform (e.g., graffiti, online environments, and through
the use of phones).
The inclusion of emotional and/or mental harm in this
definition allows it to be applied to anyone claiming to have experienced these
actions. No objective proof can be obtained and no clear definition can be
given to what emotional or mental harm entails. Under this definition I could
claim the rainbow flag causes me emotional and mental harm because it discriminates
against my cis identity and would fall under gender discrimination.
Of course this claim is as crazy as it sounds, but the
Policy continues to get worse. In a section titled Policy the first paragraph
8.00 states Laurier condemns Gendered and Sexual Violence of any kind. Laurier
recognizes that Gendered and Sexual Violence impacts people of all genders but
it does not impact everyone equally; therefore, responses, prevention efforts,
and supports will take into consideration the complexities of violence as
experienced by people with Intersecting Identities.
This means that
they will consider those with Intersecting Identities above those without.
Clearly a form of discrimination and one based on sexism, racism, etc. Do not
take my word for it, they define Intersection Identities in section 3.03 as Intersecting Identity/Intersectionality: an
understanding that people and their experiences of Gendered and Sexual Violence
are shaped by their connection to different social locations (e.g., race,
ethnicity, Indigeneity, gender, class, sexual identity, geography, age,
disability/ability, migration status, religion).
To take into consideration Intersecting Identities means the
university will use those Identities in determination of the outcome. This
means that the above mentioned identities will have to be weighted differently
for each identity with the result that some identities will be weighed or
considered more than others.
Under this policy a gay white man would have less
consideration than a Bi Trans Black Woman. The foundation under this sort of
policy or definition is that all people of any Identity group are exactly the
same unless they have Intersectionality with another Identity group.
The problem with Intersectionality is that we have already
figured this out in Western Culture. If you follow Intersectionality to its
logical conclusion you end up with individuality due to the fact that you can
break each individual person down into a near infinite number of Identities
throughout time.
Beware
These sort of policies are not exclusive to Canadian
Universities. In fact they are not exclusive to Canada or Universities. Large
corporations like Google and Apple have diversity officers and departments,
News organizations, such as the BBC, have hiring quotes based on race (see
article here),
and legislation is being passed at all levels of Government.
Hate Speech laws have sent people in the UK to jail for a
tweet or Facebook Post (see article here).
These sort of laws, policies and regulations are permeating our culture and
they are limiting liberty far more than anything else.
In this case Lindsey Shepherd was able to stand up to the
bullies of academia and come on out top, but the underlying policies wait just
under the surface ready to drag off into the night those who dare to think
differently.
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