Not a “Safe Space”
When the National Gallery of Canada invited Dr. Jordan B. Peterson to speak, they had no idea the controversy they would be in. Since the invitation, Dr. Peterson has been criticized for refusing to use “genderless pronouns” (such as zie, tey, or ey instead of he or she) when talking to his students.
Dr. Peterson (who, in all the news articles I read, is mysteriously no longer called “Dr.” at all…), psychology professor at the University of Toronto, is currently scheduled to speak on the Psychology of Creativity next week.
An article from CBC news quoted a LGBTQ advocate, Amanda Jette Knox. Speaking out against Peterson’s appearance at the National Gallery, she made this astonishing statement,”Art itself has always been, historically, a safe space …”
Really? ART? Now maybe she was trying to say that art has always been a “place” where there is freedom of speech – at least, artists have always pushed to be free. But that can’t be it – since she’s advocating quelling someone’s freedom of speech. So what on earth did she mean?
Art is NOT a “safe space”. Art is the place for social criticism, for revolution, for praise and for condemnation. It’s “bad art” that tends to be “safe” – isn’t it?
Freedom and care for one another should certainly be foundations of Canadian society. But if Canada is going to be a place where our places of learning are “safe” from anyone who disagrees – and where our “art” is now and “historically” a “safe space” – where in the world are we allowed to think and disagree and push for justice and change in society?
Sorry – art isn’t and never has been a “safe space”.