The following is a version of remarks Furey delivered Thursday evening at “Campus Gone Crazy: Is political correctness damaging our universities?”, an event at the University of Toronto.

Political correctness has never been nuttier than it is now. And it’s only going to get worse.

The PC mob tries to shame people into silence for supporting politicians like Rob Ford or Donald Trump.

Fringe activist groups demand money and power from the system and then use those resources to tell us how to think and speak - like what’s happening with the current gender-neutral pronouns debate.

Often some of the key stories underlying social justice warriors’ grievances are exposed as bogus. Like the fake stories used to prop up the rape culture narrative. You’d think this would be enough to knock them off their high horse. But these days the truth is no defence.

And the university campus is ground zero for this insanity. It’s become tough for young people who don’t subscribe to this suffocating groupthink to know what to do. How can they be a voice for sanity in an increasingly crazy time?

Here are three tactics to help stop political correctness from controlling our campuses and, in turn, the future of broader society:

First, don’t let them make you think you don’t matter as an individual: The far left has used identity politics as a weapon for years. They reduce human beings into nothing more than their gender, colour of their skin, sexual orientation and so on.

It’s reckless and counterproductive in such a diverse day and age to focus on what makes us different, rather than on what we have in common. It divides us. It doesn’t unify us.

If identity politics is less prevalent in our culture, then the PC crowd has lost the key leverage they use to incite their culture wars and gain power. Reject their attempts to divide and conquer us by demographic. We’re complex people, with complicated histories and perspectives. Don’t let them box you in.

Second, don’t let them tell you you’re a bad person. One of the key tactics of PC bullies is to question the motives of people who don’t hold their views. Notice how on many issues they don’t even bother to debate the actual topic? Instead, all they do is rush to label you all of these bad names to seed the idea there’s something deficient with your character.

This is political spin at its ugliest. It makes people afraid to publicly voice important perspectives, like fiscal conservatism. They did it to Trump supporters to the max.

There are many people who hold views I don’t agree with, but I’d never ascribe ill motives to them. For example, a national carbon tax is going to negatively impact low income Canadians. That’s a fact. But I’d never suggest that the likes of Justin Trudeau want to bring harm to people. I just think they’ve got their facts wrong.

Lastly, absolutely do not let them frame the debate. The far left is very good at sanctimoniously stating its opinions as unquestionable fact. They’re good at telling you with a straight face what you can and can’t talk about. Ignore them. Work around them. Don’t play by their rules.

It’s tough out there. You need thick skin to stand up to the politically correct agenda. But keep these tactics in mind and it’ll be easier to take back your campus.