Limits to Free Speech

Jordan Peterson has lost a court case against his employers who demands that he takes training courses on internet sensitivity in order to remain employed with them. The issue at hand is that Peterson has, according to his employers, made controversial statements on various social media platforms. They feel that he's lacking in sensitivity, and that this hurts the integrity of their institution. Peterson on the other hand maintain that he has the right to say whatever he pleases, and that the training proposed is coercion against his right to free speech.

The fact that Peterson is a man that many sympathise with, and others detest, muddles the picture for most commentators. His sympathisers are quick to say that Peterson is persecuted 1984 style. His opponents, on the other hand, are quick to label Peterson's statements as hate speech. However, the truth is neither one nor the other, and this becomes clear if we look at a hypothetical case with a similar frame.

Let's say that a dealership is selling cars of a specific brand, and that they hire a salesman to represent this brand. If that salesman starts talking negatively about the brand on social media platforms, he deserves to be fired, even if the statements were made in the salesman's free time. This would have nothing to do with hate speech nor would it be anti free speech.

As it happens, Peterson's employers are in charge of a woke institution. Making distinctly un-woke comments on social media platforms is therefore a problem. Peterson isn't being persecuted, nor is he engaging in hate speech. He's merely a burden on the woke brand that his employers are promoting.

It's a pity that this is being turned into something that it isn't because the actual issue at hand is just as interesting. Peterson is exposing his employers' woke agenda. No-one can any longer say that the institution that Peterson is working for is politically neutral. Quite the opposite is true. The institution has a clear woke agenda for which its administration is willing to fire popular professors in order to maintain.

Jordan Peterson

By Gage Skidmore, CC BY-SA 3.0, Link