This is a ten minute podcast from Canadian Broadcasting recorded in March 2016 before the Canadian government enacted a law last year (2017) that compels citizens to address trans people how they wish to be addressed.
There’s no other way to describe it other than compelled speech and its just the beginning. ‘I decided a long time ago that I was going to pay for saying what I thought’
Peterson’s points are basically that 1 — Language has never evolved via legislative fiat and ideology, it evolves over time with repeated use. 2 — Because of identity politics central to the debate, as soon as you allow your political adversaries to define the linguistic landscape and the language you use, you lose. 3 — Its not for governments responding to the pressure of activists to decide what language you use as you go about your day.
(Incidentally, University of Toronto Clinical Psychologist Jordan Peterson has a three city tour in Australia next month)
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All his Australian venues are booked out….