The Aurea Foundation just put together another Munk Debate in Toronto, Canada. The four debaters on stage for this battle of the minds were diverse: professor Jordan Peterson, actor Stephen Fry, author/columnist Michelle Goldberg, and professor Michael Eric Dyson.
Peterson and Fry opposed the implementation of political correctness. Goldberg and Dyson debated for the implementation of P.C.
If you haven’t been under a rock then you have seen the culture war play out in real time. Any time a public person tweets something “off script” the mob descends upon them. It is a strange phenomenon. The outrage is palpable from all sides. From where I stand it appears that the left is the least tolerant side. This could always change, but this is the way it is now.
I’ve seen the left reject it’s own kind. I am a big fan of Dave Rubin of the Rubin Report. He is a gay Jewish man, and ally of Jordan Peterson. He has many liberal views, but opposes censorship. He is pretty much a free speech absolutist. Rubin worked as a standup comic for ten years. He values pushing the boundaries of taboo (in speech). A comedian’s palette of colors is words and ideas. I would hate for someone to tell me I can’t use the color red. I would also hate for them to tell me what I can and cannot draw. This is what we are talking about when we battle with the concept of political correctness. Rubin recently gave a talk at University of New Hampshire, and was heckled for most of it. Rubin’s own identity is not enough currency to allow him to dissent. Part of me appreciates that the left demonstrate they are not about minorities. They are about some strange fascistic “group think”. This means the left are eating their own. It also means that they don’t actually value someone based solely on their demographics.
Dyson devolved the spirit of the debate. He ridiculed Peterson by calling him a, “mean mad white man”. It proved the point of the intellectual battle. Dyson doesn’t see Peterson as an individual. He sees him as a representative of all whites. Dyson suggests that all whites are guilty based on their pigmentation. This is tribalism in practice. Humans have no need to go tribal based purely on race. We can fight within groups too, and we do often. Look at the Hutus and Tutsis or the Sunni and Shia. We find little or no reason to fight tribally.
I hope that the ideas of political correctness die out. These public debates are important. We need to see these ideas play out among the public. We can’t all walk on eggshells societally. This is a very important fight. This culture war has nothing to do with race, socio-economic class, sex or religion. This is a battle of freedom (and the first amendment). We live in the west. We don’t live in Stalinist Russia. Ideas and the expression of them is an important liberty worth protecting at all cost.
“First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out— Because I was not a Socialist.
Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out— Because I was not a Trade Unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out— Because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.”
- Martin Niemöller