Jordan Peterson and the Young Right: Silencing Dissent

Jordan Peterson speaking with attendees at a 2018 student summit in Florida.

Gage Skidmore

by: Naomi Derfel

Nearly overnight, Jordan Peterson, a clinical psychologist and University of Toronto professor was catapulted onto the world stage by his 2016 YouTube video, "Professor against political correctness: Part I: Fear and the Law.” In the video, Peterson made several staunch claims about Bill C-16, a law that amended the criminal code to extend grounds for discrimination to gender expression and identity. His central thesis was that rather than simply protecting a vulnerable group from violence and hate, the legislators behind Bill C-16 had a more disturbing hidden agenda: eventual mass censorship. Unsurprisingly like his assertion, Peterson’s video was received in extremes of either vehement backlash or resolute support.

Peterson’s video resulted in two student protests at UofT: one led by his adversaries who called for his resignation as an anti-LGBTQ+ bigot, and a second, the armageddon, a standoff between these adversaries and his supporters. The second protest took place on October 11, just under two weeks after the publication of the video. Dubbed the “Rally for Free Speech,” it was a self-proclaimed “space for public dialogue” in which Peterson and Lauren Southern, a commentator for rightwing media outlet Rebel Media, were asked to speak followed by an open forum for discussion. Peterson made several attempts to speak, each time being interrupted and overpowered by a white noise machine the adversaries brought. They shoved one another, shouted slurs and threats, and attempted to attack Southern. On the surface, the rally appeared to be an utter failure.

However, I argue that the rally was somewhat of a success. First and foremost, if conservative students were skeptical in any way about not only their right-wing beliefs but about their anti-leftist beliefs before, the chaos and incoherence demonstrated by the liberal student protestors must have affirmed their stances. In his speech, Peterson did not discuss Bill C-16 nor “sexual politics” whatsoever. What the protestors were actually opposing was free speech, ironically demonstrating the validity of Peterson’s original thesis. Their aggressive opposition also illuminated the relative, and frankly objective as well, moderacy of Peterson’s supporters.

Second, much of academic discourse is done privately: between student and professor, mediated by a sheet of paper. Besides the occasional student raising her hand to ask a question or challenge her instructor, a university lecture is, well, a lecture – a one-way conversation. It is easy for students to believe that leftism is both the norm and the only plausible mode of thinking and way of shaping the world as academia continues to shift away from the center and students lack exposure to different points of view. Conservative clubs exist, but they can never achieve the level of influence of a professor grading a student’s paper with their future in their hands. An event like the Rally for Free Speech drew much needed attention to the simple fact that conservatives in universities exist.

The rally was also a major act of selfsabotage on behalf of the left, who affirmed the right’s characterization of them as emotional, illogical radicals. It is ironic how the proponents of individuality and self-determination – the left – exhibited such a desperate opposition to free speech. I believe this is likely because they feared Peterson for the truth he was to reveal which would undermine their entire movement. If sexual politics were rooted in fact, the left would not be so adamant to shut down conversation that challenged it, and moreover, would not require legislation to mandate it. We do not have laws that state that the earth is round. It simply is. And flat-earthers are free to contest this fact.

Progressives did not suffer any sort of significant defeat in this battle at UofT. And unfortunately, this incident did not occur in a vacuum. Radical leftist protests are like Whack-a-Mole in the West; just when you think you have squashed one (or rather, it has squashed itself), another one pops up seemingly for eternity. Large-scale examples include the Slut Walks, more recent Black Lives Matter protests, and Pride Parades. Radical leftist ideologies such as intersectional feminism, systemic racism, and identity politics continue to be taught as fact. In many of my own courses at Queen's, questions regarding these unproven social theories are asked in the form of true or false or multiple choice.

Every action must have an equal reaction, and therefore it should have come as no surprise that right-wing figures such as Jordan Peterson, and his contemporaries like Ben Shapiro and Candace Owens reached such prominence in the West. Unfortunately, these commentators and their supporters, like the students at Peterson’s rally, were, and continue to be, demonized by the mainstream media and in academia. This demonization has driven moderately conservative students’ views further to the right, and vice versa for the left. Universities have always favoured the left, but never to this extreme. I would argue that they have now become institutions of radicalization. Whether students are being lured to the extreme left or alienated toward the extreme right, universities are, at least in part, programming the political divide we are seeing across the West. And the right is finally fighting back.

Peterson’s rallies may have been some of the first representing this grassroots student uprising against the overtly leftist academia in Canada, but they were not the origin. This movement was already thriving in the United States with the help of Donald Trump and “Students for Trump” clubs at various universities. The US appears to be further down the path of academic radicalization as alt-right clubs with KKK and neo-Nazi affiliations have become increasingly popular. As the moderate right – which I see as Jordan Peterson’s supporters – continue to be repressed and vilified, they will be pushed further and further toward these more radical, dangerous alt-right movements in order to counteract radical leftism. Luckily, Canadian universities do not appear to be there yet.

I have contemplated one of Peterson’s statements from his rally a lot. He told his audience, “You all have consciousness. You all have the ability to think.” I cannot enter another person’s mind, but I can observe how others attempt to make the impossible reconciliation between free will and the deep desire to be socially accepted. Too often does it seem that the former is brushed aside in favour of the latter. How much easier is it to submit to the masses than it is to strive for selfactualization? In essence, humans are animals. Perhaps the current political scene has revealed a cynical theory of human psychology: that we have overestimated our drive to search for truth to free our minds, and that instead, humanity’s fundamental desire is to simply belong. Of course radical movements - on either end of the political spectrum - are illogical. But who cares, when joining one is a free pass to the road of perdition disguised as redemption.