Old habits die hard.
As a long-time follower of the Trish Woods Is Critical podcast, I was disappointed by Trish’s portrayal of the recent Posie Parker story in Auckland as a solely feminist story.
“This is what happens when women try to speak?” Really!?
To: Trish Wood Re: The “Let Women Speak” episode with Kellie-Jay Keen
This is the kind of headline statement made by journalists that reveals them to be seekers of sensational stories that divide people by some personal characteristics such as colour, race, religion, etcetera. Women are not the only people who experience “social justice” public debacles. Recall what happened when Dr. Jordan Peterson was accosted at the University of Toronto about five years ago when he unexpectedly faced a gang of angry students who insisted that he call them by their preferred pronouns. Jordan paid the price for not submitting to compelled speech and the policy dictatorship of Ontario’s Human Rights Tribunal. The price Dr. Peterson paid to defect his constitutional rights is likely greater than what Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull (aka “Posie Parker”) will suffer from her Auckland event.
My point is, woke ideology, in all of its manifestations, is a problem for everyone who expects to be protected under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms in Canada, and the equivalent constitutional rights in other democratic nations.
If the headline had read “This is what happens to anyone who chooses to publicly exercise freedom of speech in today’s ‘woke moment’ of history”, I would not be writing this. The fact that it was portrayed by you, Trish, as a case of female victimology and primarily a “feminist” issue, was disappointing to me as an “old school” man. I am a long time supporter of your show and have come to expect more of you than this spin of the Auckland event as a potential “turning point” for the cause of feminism globally.
I don’t doubt that your life lens was shaped by your long and successful career in journalism, especially with the Fifth Estate which evidently trained you well to seek sensational stories and leverage them to attract readers/viewers. “Eyeballs that pay” are good for business - I get it! I don’t blame you for trying to expand your customer base. I am simply disappointed that you chose to portray this story as a feminist issue and not an issue for every ‘freedom lover’ who feels threatened by growing public ignorance (an instance of mass formation psychosis?) and an aggressive manifestation of an increasingly balkanized society.
Yes, I feel sad that Kelly-Jay became a public victim that day in Aukland, but I wish you had made the story about the decline of Democracy by a thousand cuts rather than about one unfortunate event that could have occurred to either a man (like Dr. Peterson) or woman. Fight for all of us, Trish, not just women. Put away your “old school feminist” persona and replace it with a media avatar (think Wonder Woman) who champions the cause of freedom and safety for everyone equally without favouring one cause like feminism.
