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I do question the wisdom of his envisioning being prosecuted by the ghastly and contemptible social justice tribunals, being sentenced to a fine, refusing to pay it, being imprisoned for contempt of the judiciary, once it is induced to legitimize the oppressions of the tribunal, and then conducting a hunger strike in prison. At the time of writing, no tribunal has yet agreed to hear a complaint against Prof. Peterson, let alone imposed any fine, which is not to say he will be spared these outrages in the future. But talk of a hunger strike is a bit premature, and quite an escalation, which I viewed as a tactical error. My concern for Prof. Peterson is those who are just being introduced to this subject may see his vow to go on a hunger strike as a disproportionate response to the situation as it stands, potentially inhibiting the perception of reasonableness his position deserves. He, not I, is fighting this battle and has every right to make whatever tactical decisions he judges appropriate; I greatly admire his resolve and withdraw my tactical advice, as this is his gig and I have no standing to advise him.

But I return to the subject to banish any thought that this is a trivial question. In his response video prompted by my column last week, Prof. Peterson expresses the view that I am in violation of the law under Bill C-16, as I have and continue to urge against and dismiss as absurd and outrageous the demand that those who purport to be in a transgender condition that is neither male nor female, have a right to be addressed in a new vocabulary of their devising. This opens up an unlimited range of additional genders and lays waste the allegedly restrictive and outdated division of people and other species into male and female. It vests in those claiming such status the power not only to impose limits on free speech but to compel the involuntary use of invented language as a matter of right on anyone who might speak or write to them, in this case, Jordan Peterson in his capacity as a university professor.