Thought Control and the Decline of Free Speech in Canada

Jordan Peterson Vs The Ontario College of Psychologists

“Dr. Jordan Peterson, the clinical psychologist, best-selling author, hugely popular lecturer, and professor emeritus at the University of Toronto, has announced through his social media posts that the College of Psychologists of Ontario has ordered him to undergo re-education therapy for his very public views, not on professional psychology and science, but mere politics. He is being threatened with the loss of his professional license if he does not submit to this outlandish demand that amounts to thought control.”
– Daily Citizen, Jan 5, 2023 –

Wake up, citizens: professionals are now required to hold their tongue if they believe anything politically verboten.
– Jordan Peterson – Twitter, January 8, 2023 –

Is this the Canadian Liberal/NDP government equivalent of Maoist Re-education?

The roots of re-education or deprogramming are found in Maoism. When China’s Mao Zedong gained power in 1949 he launched the first of his thought control campaigns. The two key elements of thought reform were the requirement that people: confess and renounce past and present ‘evil’; submit to re-education.

What Peterson said to offend a few individuals who read his comments or saw him on the internet: Jordan Peterson’s tweets that prompted complaints to psychologists’ college

The latest investigation against him, filed in March, is focused not only on Peterson’s tweets, but on his appearance on ‘The Joe Rogan Podcast’. How Peterson’s discussions on climate change and other issues raised on that podcast might relate to his professional standing is unclear. The implication here seems to be that only experts can discuss issues in the public domain…
Peterson earned his academic credentials fair and square. And what effect will it have on other clinicians if Peterson is silenced?
– The Spectator –

It should go without saying that in a free country, professionals should not lose their jobs and licenses because they express a political opinion contrary to the licensing body that’s mandated by the government… We’re seeing the idea that someone can lose their job, their status, their ability to study because they express something that is contrary to the government line, and I don’t believe that is the Canada we want.
– Pierre Poilievre, Leader of the Conservative Party of Canada –

Other Articles:
No, Jordan Peterson Isn’t On Trial, Freedom Of Speech Is

Jordan Peterson’s License Fiasco Highlights Why Government Licensing Should Be Abolished

Jordan Peterson: I will risk my license to escape social media re-education

My Kitchen, My Choice

The Gas Stove Story

The American public is being prepped for possible action by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission who say they are reviewing possible health hazards posed by gas stoves and will likely take action to regulate the appliances at some point in the future.

Oddly enough, Canada isn’t jumping on that bandwagon yet, but… early days…

Are Gas Stoves Really Responsible for 12.7% of Current Childhood Asthma Cases in the US?

Recently there have been stories about the risk of childhood asthma caused by natural gas stoves. It has been suggested that this news was one ‘trial balloon’ to influence public opinion on gas stoves.

Pushback about the validity of the Gruenwald Asthma-Gas Stove Research paper came from independent sources such as this:

… the Gruenwald et al paper seems to have some clear challenges that would typically preclude it from consideration in a policy-making process. Its underlying data is of low statistical power. Its conclusion is directly contradicted by more recent studies with significantly greater statistical power and it relies on a statistical tool that is considered invalid in situations with confounding variables yet it is being used to analyze an association that is absolutely rife with confounding variables.
– Blair King, Professional Chemist, Analysis January 12, 2023 –

How Much Pollution?

Stanford Researchers estimate, (based on a study of 53 California homes) that  methane leaking from natural gas-burning stoves inside an estimated 40 million U.S. homes has an annual climate impact comparable to the annual carbon dioxide emissions from about 500,000 gasoline powered cars.

This suggests one stove releases emissions equivalent to .0125 gasoline-powered cars.

To put this into perspective, The U.S. Department of Energy has calculated the annual well to wheels emissions for vehicles (they used an average driving distance of 11,579 miles per year.). An All Electric vehicle emits 2817 pounds of CO2 equivalent. A gasoline vehicle emits 12594 pounds of CO2 equivalent.

By extension then, a stove would emit 157 pounds a year, though that doesn’t include emissions from manufacture, etc. Put another way – each year a gas stove releases the equivalent emissions of driving a gasoline car about  144 miles.

In response to the possibility of any mandated ‘mitigation’ strategies, this comment appeared on Twitter a few days ago: “My kitchen, my choice”. I thought this variation of “My body, my choice”  was quite funny and apropos!

“…we currently live in a political climate that prioritizes grand symbolic gestures without regard to unintended consequences or even whether they will achieve their purported goal.
– Tristan Hopper, National Post: You want to ban me? A gas stove makes its case –

The Babylon Bee, a satirical news site, offered this story:  “Biden Calls for Two Weeks of Not Cooking on Gas Stoves to Flatten the Curve”.

Other Reading:

Steve Everley, Managing Director in FTI Consulting’s Energy & Natural Resources, Current Research

Time: The Best Stove for Your Health and the Environment
Gas-Stoving America
Do Gas Stoves Cause Childhood Asthma

Data Sources:
U.S. Department of Energy Emissions from Electric Vehicles
U.S. Department of Energy Alternative Fuels Data
Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment Climate and Health Impacts Natural Gas Stoves
Study on Natural Gas Stove Emissions in 53 Homes

Fifty-Three, But Who’s Counting?

We look pretty good. What is it we’re all dressed up for?
(Helpful hint – put labels on old photos while you still remember the details…)

I have many talents – drawing isn’t one of them – for example The Car Guy is much taller than I am…

The Car Guy and I celebrated our 53rd Wedding Anniversary in 2022. Our Wedding Vows were very traditional, but if there had been an internet back then, I think we would have added some of these vows, which I found when I did some web research:

“I promise to get up and get our remote from across the room, even if it was not I who placed the remote so very far away.”

“I promise to love you through Ikea, be it during the buying or the assembly of furniture procured therein.”

“I promise to replenish the toilet paper that you almost certainly won’t remember the stored location thereof.”

“I promise that I will never ask you to sample anything to see whether it has gone bad.”

“I promise that I will clean up after supper when you cook it.”

“I pledge always to respect your musical preferences while you are driving. However, if you are not driving…”

“I vow never to steal your covers, unless you are hogging them.”

“I vow to agree that you really are the best driver on the road and that you always know exactly where you’re going.”

“I vow to always do all the stuff neither of us wants to do when I know that you really, really don’t want to do it a lot more than I really, really don’t want to do it.”

“I vow that for as long as we both shall live, I will guard you against spiders and mice.”

A wedding anniversary is the celebration of love, trust, partnership, tolerance and tenacity. The order varies for any given year.
– eCards –

For more pithy quotations see this post: Love and Marriage

An Abnormal Normal Christmas

Back to Normal Christmas Letter
For many years I wrote an Annual Christmas Letter for family and friends. There wasn’t much to report on a personal level in 2020 and 2021 because of Canadian pandemic social restrictions. Everything I wanted to say about everything else was on my blog – so I didn’t do letters for those two years.

January 2022 was the end of the pandemic for The Car Guy and I. We promptly got Covid when we left the restrictions in Alberta and moved to the open social life of Arizona – sure made writing the Annual Letter more interesting and easier to write!

An Abnormal Christmas
The Car Guy and I moved up our migration to Arizona to early December 2022. That meant we celebrated Christmas with real family in Alberta in November, while December Christmas was a series of virtual visits with family who were also in small pods in far flung places. Our Christmas Day meal was a simple gourmet BBQ hamburger dinner for two – if that isn’t a stress free holiday recipe, I don’t know what is!

One can never have enough socks. Another Christmas has come and gone and I didn’t get a single pair. People will insist on giving me books.
– Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone –

I always know what I’m getting for Christmas…
fat… I’ll get fat.

I bought my brother some gift wrap for Christmas. I took it to the gift wrap department and told them to wrap it, but in a different print so he would know when to stop unwrapping.
– Steven Wright –

As for this post – “It’s A Wrap” too!