Readers discuss progressives' takeover of Canadian universities, a recent win for free speech, and more
Re: NP View: Congratulations, academia, you’ve gone and radicalized the students — Editorial, Nov. 25
The ideological domination of universities by radical progressives won’t self-correct. Starting with tenured faculty, it was imposed on support staff whose advancement they controlled, and then they captured the administrations.
Enjoy the latest local, national and international news.
Enjoy the latest local, national and international news.
Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience.
Don't have an account? Create Account
The next targets were teachers’ colleges, to ensure indoctrination starts earlier and lasts longer. An example of this in action: high school students with little or no knowledge of the situation walk out of class to protest against Israel and chant Hamas talking points.
This didn’t happen overnight or out of sight; over the past 20 plus years most universities (particularly in English-speaking countries) have altered their mission of providing education and developing critical reasoning skills. The mission of those now in charge is to impose their ideologies on all of society. Every year, an increasing number of indoctrinated students enter the workforce and erode the consensus and ideas that have made countries like Canada the best places to live.
Universities have become tribal — you’re in or you’re out. The approach is zero-sum, so no compromise and they’re increasingly aggressive as their critical mass grows. This is a fight and unless the rest of society fights back and hard, it will only get worse.
Gary Krieger, North York, Ont.
Re: Kissinger’s intellectual capital only increased with age — Raymond J. de Souza, Dec. 3
In Henry Kissinger’s time, the sovereignty of nations trumped the sovereignty of the individual; la raison d’état trumped human rights. Perhaps, we are re-entering a bygone, woebegone New Cold War era just as he makes his exit. But this time, without an international order. Or a global balance of power. Or even a balance of terror. In its place, hordes of non-state actors who weigh terror in the balance.
At least, in Kissinger’s day, terrorists like Baader Meinhof or, in Canada, the FLQ, limited their operations to within the tenants and abuttals of their domestic boundaries. Now, they turn up beyond their borders without the olive branch in the other hand.
Howard Greenfield, Montreal
Re: Trudeau, please take a walk in the snow — Derek H. Burney, Nov. 28
This reference to Pierre Trudeau’s famous phrase will resonate with those citizens who recall Canadian politics of another generation. If only son Justin possessed the same acumen.
Derek Burney’s comprehensive summary of all that ails Canada is timely and should be read by all who recognize that our country is way off course. It’s time for the present Prime Minister Trudeau to resign.
H.K. Hocquard, King, Ont.
Re: COP28 by the (very big) numbers — Robert Lyman, Nov. 29
What Robert Lyman did not discuss in his very informative article was the pollution created by the COP28 climate conference. In addition to the aircraft needed to get the climate czars to Dubai, countless polluting vehicles were required to shuttle the 70,000 delegates to and fro. Perhaps our minister of the environment should have stayed home.
Bill Gruenthal, Burnaby, B.C.
Re: Why we need a COVID royal commission in Canada — Terence Corcoran, Nov. 24; and FIRST READING: Federal commission declares Christmas holiday is ‘religious intolerance’ — Tristin Hopper, Nov. 24
We don’t need any more royal commissions. Yes, we do need to have the COVID era thoroughly investigated to get to the real stories behind what happened on a worldwide scale. But leave it to the investigative journalists, medical scientists and researchers to tell us what happened. I predict that the books will be flooding the store shelves pretty soon. I hope they won’t be banned.
I can’t fathom how any government commission could or would provide any answers that do not parrot or support the government’s point of view. Case in point, Tristan Hopper explains how in exchange for receiving $32 million annually from the federal government, the Canadian Human Rights Commission now lectures us with an inane point of view that celebrating Christmas shows that Canada has a history of religious intolerance.
Why are our taxes paying for this drivel?
Glynis Van Steen, Burlington, Ont.
Re: Court victory for teacher silenced for transgender-book criticism — Nov. 25; and Silenced teacher becomes a hero of the anti-woke resistance — Barbara Kay, Dec. 3
As a democratic society that values freedom of thought, belief, opinion and expression, do we still value debate over controversial topics?
Concerns have been raised that young people are sometimes pushed too aggressively into medical transition. We’ve seen this in instances where children were “affirmed” to transition, both socially and medically, and it was later realized that they had just needed mental health supports to deal with gender dysphoria. This has caused countries around the world to revise their approach to “gender-affirming care.”
And yet in Canada, attempts continue to be made to quash public debate. Thankfully, the Ontario judge in this case recognized that the Human Rights Code “does not prohibit public discussion of anything.” If anything, we need more public discussion about the dangers of Canada’s current approach to gender-affirming care.
Daniel Zekveld, Ottawa, Ont.
Re: Fed up with climate zealotry and immigration, the Dutch lurch to the right — Jamie Sarkonak, Nov. 26
Large numbers of immigrants and refugees have for years been arriving in Europe from countries with different cultures and religions.
Governments try to cope but mostly fail and exacerbate the problems related to refugees. Far-right populist parties are in power or in coalition governments in Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Hungary, Austria, Italy, Switzerland and soon The Netherlands.
Russia has been pushing thousands of refugees into Finland, where budgets are stressed trying to cope with refugees who all need state aid. Moscow is weaponizing refugees to destabilize and weaken Finland; all border crossings with Russia have now been closed. In Sweden there are neighbourhoods the police do not want to enter because refugee gangs control the communities.
Fear and anger are two of the many causes for the rise of populism in Europe. There is fear, mixed with anger, of newness and unfamiliarity, loss of national identity, rapid social change, and fear even for personal safety and security. There is anger at governments perceived to be unable or unwilling to find solutions.
In Europe in the past century, fear and anger contributed to the rise of extremism, and wars.
Reiner Jaakson, Oakville, Ont.
National Post and Financial Post welcome letters to the editor (150 words or fewer). Please include your name, address and daytime phone number. Email letters@nationalpost.com. Letters may be edited for length or clarity.
Postmedia is committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion and encourage all readers to share their views on our articles. Comments may take up to an hour for moderation before appearing on the site. We ask you to keep your comments relevant and respectful. We have enabled email notifications—you will now receive an email if you receive a reply to your comment, there is an update to a comment thread you follow or if a user you follow comments. Visit our Community Guidelines for more information and details on how to adjust your email settings.
The genderless collection features three classic styles
Three buzzed-about holiday beauty bundles we tried this week.
MULTI co-founders Mal Tayag and AJ Addae are working to build an inclusive wellness brand that is built on research.
Hold on to your Santa hats — these under-$20 gifts are about to make this season's spends as merry as they are smart.
A seamless, successful and frankly, fun experience
login
who are we?
contact us
qosheapp
Toi Staff
Gideon Levy
Belen Fernandez
Andrew Mitrovica
Mort Laitner
Rami G Khouri
Ali Fathollah-Nejad
Nikkei Editorial
visit website
