A second petition has been started in response to the first one, which sought to block Jordan Peterson from appearing at Prospera Place at the end of the month.
To oppose the plea to cancel the event that KelownaNow wrote about yesterday, Ryan Patterson established a petition on change.org asking Mayor Tom Dyas and council members to support Peterson’s upcoming tour visit.
As part of his Beyond Order globe tour, Peterson is anticipated to visit Kelowna on May 26 and give a speech at Prospera Place.
A few days ago, a petition was started asking the City to prevent the tour from taking place in Kelowna because it had angered several locals.
According to the petition, which has 800 signatures, “Mr. Peterson’s views directly jeopardise the safety and well-being of marginalised communities, especially women, transgender people, and gender non-conforming people.”
Peterson replied on Twitter, writing that “better people than this sorry lot have cancelled me.” narcissistic censorious virtue-signalers.
The most recent petition on the subject paints Peterson in a very different light.
It states that Peterson “has been a voice of reason in an increasingly polarised world” and that “his lectures and writings have inspired millions of people throughout the world.”
Social media posts about the trip reflect the polarising nature of the Peterson debate in local communities throughout the nation.
A coalition of neighbourhood organisations and a municipal councillor petitioned for the event to be postponed before Peterson was scheduled to speak in Ottawa as a stop on his tour in January, but that was not the case and the event went ahead as scheduled.
The recent back-and-forth amongst neighbourhood residents who are petitioning adds to the division that has surrounded Peterson.