Canadian librarian - absolute shero

[Macareaux]

Librarian stands up for freedom of speech and talk by Meghan Murphy, in the face of considerable criticism

https://www.cbc.ca/radio/asithappens/as-it-happens-thursday-edition-1.5324424/i-m-not-going-to-reconsider-toronto-s-top-librarian-refuses-to-bar-speaker-critical-of-transgender-rights-1.5324431

Well Carol Off came across as incredibly bigoted.

Chilling.

The cold condemnation in that interviewer's voice was quite something. A woman expressing open disgust with another woman for enabling women to talk about legislation affecting their own human rights. In 2019. In a 'liberal' country.

We should all be afraid.

Wow, the interviewer sounds absolutely demented. That is not a journalistic tone at all.

That's what I thought - I started fearing for Ms Bowles towards the end f that 'interview' it was getting a little preachy and manipulative at the end there. It ended with several questions which amounted to 'what about the trans' asked in slightly different ways.

Wow, the interviewer sounds absolutely demented. That is not a journalistic tone at all.

FFS this crap again. It is a talk, words can hurt yes, but they are NOT violence - no body is UNSAFE. I'm sick to death of hearing 'safe' used in this context. It is used all the time against this board, used about social media and now a talk at a library. Seriously if you feel so 'unsafe' around words don't attend, get off social media don't read and go and see someone because feeling 'unsafe' because someone disagrees with you is YOUR issue not everyone else's and you need help.

How do you think a trans person ... would feel sitting in the room with this panel discussion? Do you think that they would feel safe?

I'm sorry the second bolded bit above should have been this question from the interview not Kittens quote twice.

How do you think a trans person ... would feel sitting in the room with this panel discussion? Do you think that they would feel safe?

I emailed Vickery Bowles to express my admiration. The address seems to be [email protected], in case anyone else wants to.

twitter.com/cbcasithappens/status/1184963624537853954?s=21

Looking at the replies to CBC's tweet, it seems the majority support the library.

Who is the interviewer - I won’t say journalist as that an insult to journalists.

Sheena Goodyear has pronouns in her Twitter profile. She also retweeted this, apparently without irony:

mobile.twitter.com/RosieBarton/status/1182483598508744704

Jesus, the tone of that piece. It's a thoughtcrime interrogation, not an article.

Apologies, it was Carol Off who did the interview. Sheena Goodyear wrote article.

That interviewer has got problems.
And Vickery Bowles is an absolute legend!

That was a great interview. Not the interviewing, I mean the measured response. I loved her analogy with a library stocking books that would not appeal to all customers. Thanks for the link Macareaux.

I also loved the outrage in the interviewer's tone when she said 'Meghan Murphy has said people cannot change biological sex'. I personally am more than happy to use people's preferred pronouns and avoid misgendering anyone but if you are a person, not a seahorse, changing biological sex is not a question of opinion!

Thanks Terfykins, have emailed.

There is also a petition to support Bowles and the library:

www.thepetitionsite.com/en-gb/394/904/789/thank-toronto-library-for-standing-for-free-speech-and-not-cancelling-meghan-murphy/

There is a TRA petition going on too and the starter of this one would like to match the number of signatures on that if possible.

Thanks for the petition link, mostbeautifuldog. I just signed it.

What a pair of ovaries. Go Vickery Bowles 💪🏻.

Journo (using that term loosely) either frightened to go off script or O'd on the kookaid.
Sadly, yet another example of media bias (corporate capture). I've signed..

That was a really interesting interviewer.

Alas I am not surprised by Carol Off, I have noticed that she uses this approach a lot.

It's just less noticeable when it's something less important or that I agree with her about. In general CBC journalists are terrible with any typical SJ issues. Even when I agree with them, once you see what they are doing, it's really obvious that they are not asking the hard questions, or trying to consider different perspectives, and that they are just accepting as given certain ideas or narratives. It's frustrating, there was a man on this morning on the morning show here talking about racism in a particular context, and I kept wishing she'd ask him harder questions as I really wanted to know what he'd say, he was interesting in the little he was given the scope to talk about. But nope - not at all.
The strong impression is that they don't think their biases can stand any really challenge.

I am happy to see a librarian standing up though, finally. Freedom of information is so fundamental to libraries, I've been so angry and sad to see that disappearing.

free speech!

Petition signed - thank you, MostBeautifulDog.

You do have to wonder if it's ever occurred to that "journalist" that their own ability to do their job effectively relies upon freedom of speech being both enshrined in law and respected by society.

I wonder this now all the time. So many ideas that are being accepted and promoted on the left now are things that once would have been considered immoral or wrong or even filthy. Generally we are not that kind when we talk about people trying to shut down the views of campaigners in the civil rights movement. But ultimately it was possible for people to be heard because of free speech. ( And some of the ideas being tossed around weren't what I would consider good ones, either, most movements have some factions that are more extreme or weird etc.)

From what I can see, these guys have convinced themselves that because they are representing the minority or oppressed group, it is ok for them to try and repress the speech of the oppressors. They have really got the wrong end of the stick on the whole idea of free speech, they are looking at it not from a liberal democratic POV, but as a tool to
elevate the oppressed and silence the dominant society. (It's at moments like this that I am somewhat sympathetic to Jordan Petersons wonky understanding of Marxism.)

@ThePankhurstConnection and yet rape and death threats on Twitter against Terfs are just fiiiine.

I find Woke Canadians' approach to Indigenous people odd. On the one hand they do a lot to acknowledge and own the fact that the land was stolen and terrible crimes committed that ultimately benefited White Woke Canadians, and on the other hand it seems like a lot of hot air to soothe their own egos without doing anything to actually rectify the wrongs like... give the land back and stop profiting from it

That is one creepy interview

The interviewer actually sounded quite sinister

Yes I was thinking all the way through how robotic and creepy she sounded. And the questions were so loaded. All in all a bizarre interview!

I find Woke Canadians' approach to Indigenous people odd. On the one hand they do a lot to acknowledge and own the fact that the land was stolen and terrible crimes committed that ultimately benefited White Woke Canadians, and on the other hand it seems like a lot of hot air to soothe their own egos without doing anything to actually rectify the wrongs like... give the land back and stop profiting from it

I think the constant refrain of "we acknowledge that.." is essentially a kind of performance. Part of that though is what you are suggesting, giving the land back, really is not possible, even a lot of the talk that goes on about reparations or about self-governance gets into tricky areas when you try and figure out how it would work. I don't imagine that any of the countries my ancestors sailed over from a few hundred years ago are keen to have me back, even the UK where the most recent of my family members emigrated from after WWII isn't likely to want me.

no one expects the Canadian inquisition!

Signed the petition and emailed the librarian with my thanks.

I heard the interview yesterday as I was driving home, sadly, the tons of the interviewer is exactly what I’ve come to expect from the CBC.