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The people trying to silence Peterson have made up their minds, and they don’t want to listen to viewpoints that would challenge their own. This is due to their own intellectual insecurity and the disturbing possibility that they might have to change their minds if convincing evidence were presented to them in refutation. Instead of being intellectually honest, they are trying to impose censorship on all members of society because, as advocates, they don’t want to deal with the consequences of being wrong. This anti-intellectualism is completely inconsistent with what a university is supposed to be about.

While apathy and careerism have always impeded the university’s academic mission, there is another reason professors might not be coming to Peterson’s defence. This is the enactment of “hate speech” legislation and the Supreme Court of Canada’s prohibition on claims that are “likely to expose” groups to “detestation or vilification.” In this area of law, truth is not a defence, as factual claims could provoke hostility toward marginalized groups and justify discrimination.

This assault on the pursuit of the truth has been given additional impetus by the acceptance of postmodern relativism in many areas of universities. Trying to determine what is true is no longer valued by many professors because “knowledge” is perceived to be whatever an oppressed group happens to believe.

While the Peterson affair has focused our attention on one particular instance of how academic inquiry is being constrained by ideologically inspired authoritarianism, the problem lies much deeper. Universities have lost their way and no longer see the pursuit of truth as their telos. The preoccupation with providing emotional gratification to groups perceived to be oppressed is taking precedence over academic considerations. This infantilizes these groups and prevents us, as the great social scientist W.E.B. Du Bois pointed out many decades ago, from “establish(ing) the Truth, on which Right in the future may be built.”

Frances Widdowson is an Associate Professor in the Department of Economics, Justice and Policy Studies at Mount Royal University. She is the Coordinator, Membership Outreach, of the Society for Academic Freedom and Scholarship (www.safs.ca).