The campaign for ‘free speech on campus’ mimics US and UK tactics of using a manufactured crisis to further the goal of increasing conservative political influence in universities.
Jordan Peterson speaks to a crowd during a stop in Sherwood Park, Alta., in February 2018. Peterson is suing an Ontario university and three of its staff for defamation.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jason Franson
Jordan Peterson’s lawsuit against Laurier is hardly the action of a free speech advocate. Here’s how he resembles Cleon of ancient Greece.
The recent crop of so-called free speech warriors. From left to right: Gad Saad, Ben Shapiro, Lindsay Shepherd and Jordan Peterson.
From left to right: (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ryan Remiorz/AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli/Lindsay Shepherd, still from YouTube video/THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jason Franson)
Though the cultural origins of free speech are progressive, there is nothing actually liberal about the current crop of free speech warriors in the Canada and the United States.