Juno News - October 20, 2019Toronto Public Library’s stand for free speech
Episode Stats
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Summary
The latest standoff for free speech exists in Toronto's public library system where a prominent feminist writer is due to give a speech that has become subject to protests and attempts to deplatform and even attempts to have the city owned library deny her a speaking space.
Transcript
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Free speech is not hateful. Free speech is not something that oppresses. Free
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speech is not something that marginalizes. Free speech is actually the
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way that anyone in Canada, anyone in a freedom-loving country can find a way to
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work through whatever disagreements and discourses society has. This shouldn't
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need to be utter. This shouldn't need to be driven into people's minds but
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apparently it does. The latest standoff for free speech exists in Toronto's
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library system where Megan Murphy, a prominent feminist writer, is due to give
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a speech in just about a week's time. A speech that has become subject to
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protests and attempts to deplatform and even attempts to have the city-owned
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library deny her a speaking space. Now the reason that this left-wing feminist is
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finding herself at odds with other left-wingers is that she takes the
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radical feminist view of transgender identity namely that you can't just
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become a woman. That if you have a penis you shouldn't be entitled to all of the
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things that are there in society for womanhood like access to women's
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shelters and women's prisons. You may find the point disagreeable but it's her
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perspective and more importantly it's the perspective in a debate that exists
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right now in Canada. A debate that some people on the other
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side of it want to have shut down. Now thank goodness Toronto's library is
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actually standing up for free speech. The city's librarian
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has given a very strong statement defending free speech not even just from
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the idea that we should not have city agencies or government agencies telling
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people no you're not allowed to have a room because we don't like that
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perspective. The problem however is that the left
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does not accept the premise that free speech is a good thing.
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The left accepts that free speech is about finding ways to slice and dice it
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and finding this caveat or that caveat finding all of the excuses possible so as
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to not have to uphold free speech. Like saying oh but it's not free speech if it
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marginalizes other people's free speech or oh what about the rights of the
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people against whose rights she's speaking huh what about them.
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But all of this is made up no one is saying that transgender people
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I would encourage them if they have an issue to book a room at the library
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and have their own discussion have their own session that offers a
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counter-narrative to the position that Megan Murphy is putting in.
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If a private business a private venue wants to say you know what we're not
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comfortable hosting this belief they should have that right. Governments
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however do not. Toronto Mayor John Tory gave a ridiculous statement in which he
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politicians to decide who should get to book space and who shouldn't
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but even so I'm telling the librarian I want her to reconsider.
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The librarian to her credit a woman by the name of Vickery
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has not given in. She has said time and time again she is not going to
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reconsider. She gave an interview with CBC's Carol
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off in which she similarly stood in which she similarly stood firm
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on her support of free speech which she says in a library of all places
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is supposed to be embraced but what she also had to deal with was a question
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that basically tried to pin violence against transgender people
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on those who support discussing transgender issues freely.
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This is the question that Carol off had put to her she said well given what
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trans people have to deal with how is it just about free speech.
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This is a paraphrasing of the question which you can see
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up on the screen there and thankfully the librarian didn't take the bait.
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She said look I'm not at all talking about trampling on anyone's rights
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We are living in times now where free speech is not seen as a virtue.
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It's not seen as an unalienable right. It is seen as something that gets in the way
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of a progressive narrative which makes it all the more important to stand up for free speech.
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Not because it dismantles progressive narratives for the opposite reason.
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Free speech is there for everyone and you'd think that libraries
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of all places would understand that. Thankfully in Toronto they do.
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Before the affront from Central Central Central Central Central Central Central Central Central Central Central Central Central Central Central Central Central Central Central Central Central Central Central Central Central Central Central Central Central Central Central Central Central Central Central Central Central Central Central Central Central Central Central Central Central Central Central Central, 41, 2017