OPINION:
In his novel “1984,” George Orwell created the term “Newspeak,” a language that was imposed by Big Brother for the purpose of diminishing the range of thought.
That perfectly describes what recently happened in Canada to the popular and to some controversial psychologist Jordan Peterson. Mr. Peterson, a professor of psychology at the University of Toronto and a bestselling author, appealed a ruling by the College of Psychologists of Ontario that had ordered him to undergo “remedial social media training” because of his beliefs. Those beliefs include his opposition to climate change hysteria, forced use of gender pronouns and gender change, among other “woke” subjects.
Mr. Peterson appealed the ruling by the college. An appeals court rejected his petition. He argues that “proper culture” and Western civilization are being undermined by postmodernism and neo-Marxism, along with other indoctrinations of political correctness.
He says his “sin” was tweeting opinions the college deemed ’unbecoming of a psychologist.’”
On the social media platform X, Mr. Peterson wrote: “I am likely to soon lose my license to practice as a clinical psychologist in my home province of Ontario, in Canada whose historically prosaic internal politics should by all reasonable standards still be off the international radar. It’s capitulate to the petty bureaucrats and the addle-pated woke mob or lose my professional license.”
According to the U.S. State Department’s 2020 Report on International Religious Freedom, the Canadian Constitution “guarantees freedom of conscience, religion, thought, belief, opinion, expression, and the right to equal protection and benefit of the law without discrimination based on religion.”
Critics are worried those protections are being eroded by the courts. A report released last year by Aid to the Church in Need, an international organization affiliated with the Catholic Church, said that while “Canada is nowhere close to countries where religion is under extreme attack from oppressive governments,” the report “contains substantial mention of growing religious persecution in recent years, from pandemic restrictions to hate crimes to the burning of churches. Canada continues to be a place where the rule of law is respected, but generally, there has been a palpable reduction in respect for religious freedom in recent years, particularly where it has come into conflict with entrenched views relating to equality, diversity, and public health.”
The case against Mr. Peterson would seem to add evidence to that perceived threat. Last year, Canada adopted a law, ironically called “C-4,” which in another context is an explosive. Critics say that law prevents Canadian citizens from quoting Bible verses about marriage and sexuality.
After the appeals court ruling, Mr. Peterson added to his previous post on X: “You won this round. Mark my words, however: the war has barely started. There is nothing you can take from me that I’m unwilling to lose.”
In his book “12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos,” Mr. Peterson writes: “Speak your mind. Put your desires forward, as if you had a right to them — at least the same right as others. Walk tall and gaze forthrightly ahead. Dare to be dangerous. Encourage the serotonin to flow plentifully through the neural pathways desperate for its calming influence.”
It’s that kind of old thinking that has gotten him into trouble with the newspeak crowd. Could such thinking be imposed in academia and elsewhere in America? It already is.
• Readers may email Cal Thomas at tcaeditors@tribpub.com. Look for Cal Thomas’ latest book, “A Watchman in the Night: What I’ve Seen Over 50 Years Reporting on America” (HumanixBooks).
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