Canadian psychologist Jordan Peterson: the ‘anti-snowflake’ crusader speaks out
To his fans, Canadian psychologist Jordan Peterson is a hero of rationality — but to his critics, he’s an alt-Right transphobe. Katie Law meets the controversial professor
This week Jordan Peterson has taken London by storm. The Canadian psychologist-turned-anti-snowflake crusader has been giving sell-out talks to promote his new book, 12 Rules for Life.
On Monday night at the Emmanuel Centre in Westminster, the 1,000-seat conference hall was packed to the gills with mostly white young men, from bearded hipsters to bespectacled nerds, already clutching copies of his book. Extra seats had been laid out and were quickly filled. Rock music was playing and the windows were lit with dramatic red spotlights that flanked an enormous black and white photograph of Peterson, who walked onto the stage to the roar of loud applause. It was as if their messiah had finally arrived.
Earlier in the day I met Peterson in a Holborn flat rented by his publisher to discover what all the fuss is about. A word-of-mouth phenomenon, according to his Penguin publicist, the 55-year-old professor of psychology at the University of Toronto lectures on subjects from the dangers of identity politics and use of gender-neutral pronouns, to the power of mythology and the Bible, to why the works of Jung, Nietzsche and Solzhenitsyn matter today more than ever.
Peterson’s fire-and-brimstone views form the basis of the 12-chaptered book, which offers positive advice about telling the truth always, avoiding losers, finding meaning, standing up straight, doing tough-love parenting and listening to others, among other things.
2017 was Year of the Snowflake - but are millennials misunderstood?
It is precisely the kind of hardline counselling for which he has long been revered, especially by 25 to 40-year-old men, who thank him profusely for helping turn their lives around. Peterson’s videos have clocked up 150 million views and he has 300,000 Twitter followers. But he is also accused of being an alt-Right, racist transphobe, and “the stupid man’s smart person”. In any event, he despises the far-Left and believes all ideologies are inherently evil.
The world's 20 best cities for millennials to live in
“I lived through a tumultuous times when I was writing this book,” says Peterson, adjusting a pencil-slim gold tie that one of his fans has just given him. “Particularly around my actions in relation to Bill C-16.” This Canadian bill, which passed in 2016, means that it is now a criminal offence to refuse to call a person by their chosen gender pronoun, which Peterson has argued is an infringement of free speech.
“When I made a video saying I wasn’t going to abide by Canada’s new speech laws there were demonstrations at the university and a huge backlash against me — but only to begin with. Then I had a huge wave of public support. The trans-activists videotaped the talk in an attempt to discredit me but the comments were about 50 to one in favour of what I was saying.
“I’ve had letters from trans people supporting me because they’re not happy. We’re in this weird time when if someone claims to be a member of a minority group and claims persecution of that group, then they can put themselves forward as valid spokesperson and everyone says OK. But, no, it’s not OK. Just because you’re a trans person doesn’t mean you’re a spokesperson for trans people.”
'Calling young people 'snowflakes' could damage their mental health'
Soon after this Peterson became embroiled in the case of Lindsay Shepherd, an English graduate teacher at Wilfred Laurier University, Ontario, who was hauled up before faculty members after playing a video clip of Peterson on the gender- neutral pronoun debate to her students without first condemning it. She was told her actions were “like playing neutrally a speech by Hitler or Milo Yiannopoulos”. Shepherd covertly taped her inquisition and took it to the media. The story went viral, after which the university issued a public apology to her.
Peterson says this bears out his fears about the bill. “Except it was worse, since it was used to persecute an innocent person.” As for his own role, he says, half-jokingly, “I turned out to be Hitler himself. Or was I Milo Yiannopoulos? Take your pick. That shows exactly the intellectual level at which these ideologues play — they can’t even get their insults sorted out.”
Six things millennials should be giving up to buy a house
It’s easy to see why Peterson attracts controversy. You get the sense he enjoys it, or rather that the evangelical zeal with which he talks compels him towards its flame. With his prairie cowboy style — he grew up in Fairview, northern Alberta — and intense gaze, he speaks in a high-pitched, torrential stream of invective, occasionally shouting, and repeating words to emphasise a point, sliding his wedding ring on and off his finger.
“And then there was James Damore,” he starts up. Peterson video-interviewed the Google engineer after Damore was fired for a memo he wrote questioning the benefits of diversity programmes and suggesting that biological differences may explain why there is not an equal representation of women in tech and leadership.
The millennials taking over the design scene this year
“To understand Damore,” he says, “you have to understand engineers. Damore was asked by the HR department to a session about diversity, equity, inclusivity, white privilege and all those buzzwords these people use now. He was told they wanted comments, and being an engineer he thought they meant that they wanted comments, because engineers think that when you say something you actually mean it. Engineers aren’t political and there’s a reason for that, which is that if one of the dimensions in which people vary is their interest in ‘people’ versus ‘things’, and one of the biggest gender differences between women and men is their interest in ‘people’ versus ‘things’, then engineers are way the hell over on ‘things’.”
He's delighted that Damore has just launched a lawsuit against the company for unfair discrimination “against a white male” at the same time as it faces another one over the gender pay gap. “Google is in the wonderful position as far as I’m concerned of being harassed legally on both sides, which is exactly what they deserve for playing identity politics.”
Nor does it end there. “Look up ‘white couple’ on Google Images,” he says suddenly. “Then look up ‘black couple’, then ‘Asian couple’.” Peterson and I look together. If you Google ‘white couple’, the first four images on the top row show a white woman with a black man. “This is way more terrifying than you think, because it means that Google is messing about with algorithms that present information to the public according to a built-in political agenda.”
Millennials will surely bring some balance to Brexit
Hardly surprisingly, he is just as contemptuous of #MeToo identity politics and can hardly contain himself when asked what he thought of Hollywood’s leading ladies parading in black dresses at last weekend’s Golden Globes. “What, you mean really sexually provocative black dresses? Those ones?” he snorts. “That says it all. If there’s one industry that capitalises on the exploitation of casual sex, it’s Hollywood. There are all sorts of reprehensible ways that men treat women, obviously, and I’m not saying Harvey Weinstein’s victims invited their own victimisation, but I’m not impressed by the fact that this went on forever and no one said anything. The issue isn’t male sexual misbehaviour, it’s sexual misbehaviour on the part of women as well as men. But we can’t have an intelligent discussion about that, because all the women are good and all the men are bad.”
Take responsibility for your own actions, he says, and it’s ultimately the message of his book. “You can put things straight in your own life and have a massive effect on the world around you. It’s why the victimisation ideology is so corrosive,” he says in parting.
Whether you agree or not, whether you think he’s a maniac or a messiah, or a little bit of both, Jordan Peterson is here now, and here to stay.
Jordan Peterson Interview
Jordan Peterson Interview
Interesting backlash against the 'snowflake' generation interview. It's painful on the interviewer at times.
Massive stalker
I like his take on the Google guy.
Why maniac or messiah? He's just a regular guy who refuses to be fed and regurgitate PC bullshit. Kudos to him.
Why maniac or messiah? He's just a regular guy who refuses to be fed and regurgitate PC bullshit. Kudos to him.
- Lucky Lucan
- K440 Knight Captain
- Reactions: 761
- Posts: 22525
- Joined: Fri Mar 04, 2011 12:24 pm
- Location: The Pearl of the Orient
Yeah, what the fuck is up with that Google search?
I was expecting something more like this:
I was expecting something more like this:
Romantic Cambodia is dead and gone. It's with McKinley in the grave.
-
- Permanently Banned
- Reactions: 94
- Posts: 1970
- Joined: Tue Feb 02, 2016 10:42 am
this is the guy who says that if he was only allowed to have one piece of information about a potential employee it would be their IQ , he also believes that there are differences in IQs between the races and the average IQ in sub Sahara Africa is 80 .
-
- Permanently Banned
- Reactions: 94
- Posts: 1970
- Joined: Tue Feb 02, 2016 10:42 am
Can you back that frame up with evidence?Fred Edwards wrote:this is the guy who says that if he was only allowed to have one piece of information about a potential employee it would be their IQ , he also believes that there are differences in IQs between the races and the average IQ in sub Sahara Africa is 80 .
None but ourselves can free our mind.
Peterson is a notorious figure in the alt right and a spokesman for hatred and bigotry. He often times cites the antisemitic works of Alexander Solzhenitsyn and says that Carl Jung has had the greatest influence on his life and his world view. For those who don't know, Carl Jung was obsessed with "Aryan" and Nordic mysticism and referred to black Africans as primitives. Carl Jung also led a reprehensible personal life. He exploited his patients and even slept with one of his patients. This is completely unethical and unacceptable behavior and this is Peterson's rolemodel.
If anybody needed further evidence that Harold is one fry short of a Happy Meal, this is it.He often times cites the antisemitic works of Alexander Solzhenitsyn
Always funny the deranged SJW Pavlov.Harold wrote:Peterson is a notorious figure in the alt right and a spokesman for hatred and bigotry. He often times cites the antisemitic works of Alexander Solzhenitsyn and says that Carl Jung has had the greatest influence on his life and his world view. For those who don't know, Carl Jung was obsessed with "Aryan" and Nordic mysticism and referred to black Africans as primitives. Carl Jung also led a reprehensible personal life. He exploited his patients and even slept with one of his patients. This is completely unethical and unacceptable behavior and this is Peterson's rolemodel.
So what books of his did you read? How many of the 500+ hours of youtube have you watched to come to this conclusion?
How many alt-right events did Peterson attend? At how many did he speak?
Do you have a specific example of him inciting hatred and bigotry?
Or do you have nothing more then guilt by association to link him to the alt-right?
But even then....
How is Solzhenitsyn antisemitic? --> I will buy you 100 acres of your "stolen" land if you can make that case
None but ourselves can free our mind.
Have you honestly never read the book "Two Hundred Years Together?" In case you don't have an extra few minutes to spare to read the authorized French or German translations of the work, then you can find an English translation that was recently prepared by neo-Nazis on 4chan.
Antisemtism is common in his work. In 2017, I had the misfortune of reading Solzhenitsyn's "In the First Circle" and in this crude novel there are three Jewish characters and all three are portrayed as communist, cosmopolitan, and defending the ideals of revolution.
Antisemtism is common in his work. In 2017, I had the misfortune of reading Solzhenitsyn's "In the First Circle" and in this crude novel there are three Jewish characters and all three are portrayed as communist, cosmopolitan, and defending the ideals of revolution.
Not surprised you think 4chan is a neo-nazi forum, next thing you're going to claim that the Kekistan flag promotes white supremacyHarold wrote:Have you honestly never read the book "Two Hundred Years Together?" In case you don't have an extra few minutes to spare to read the authorized French or German translations of the work, then you can find an English translation that was recently prepared by neo-Nazis on 4chan.
Antisemtism is common in his work. In 2017, I had the misfortune of reading Solzhenitsyn's "In the First Circle" and in this crude novel there are three Jewish characters and all three are portrayed as communist, cosmopolitan, and defending the ideals of revolution.
So how is portraying three jewish characters as good communists (in a book written in the USSR...) a form of anti-semitism?
None but ourselves can free our mind.
So have you read his book "Two Hundred Years Together?" Throughout the work, Solzhenitsyn cynically and deceptively defends a number of antisemitic historians from the charge of antisemitism. He also tries to blame pogroms on the behavior of Jewish people even though it is clear to most professional historians that pogroms and other violent outbursts of antisemitism were due to an atavistic and bestial reversion to irrationality and xenophobia on the part of the European perpetrators. He often times describes the Jewish community's role in the Russian Empire as predatory, parasitical, and adversarial. Many historians have rightfully condemned and criticized his sloppy piece of scholarship as antisemitic claptrap that promote the same old canards that are to be found in such works as "The Protokols of the Meetings of the Learned Elders of Zion."
I don't have time to re-read the book and mine material to support my case. However, I just now looked at the Wikipedia article and there are some good criticisms:
Richard Pipes, " "[Solzhenitsyn is]too eager to exonerate czarist Russia of mistreating its Jewish subjects, and as a consequence is insensitive to the Jews' predicament"
I cannot find a better and more articulate criticism of the book than this.
I don't have time to re-read the book and mine material to support my case. However, I just now looked at the Wikipedia article and there are some good criticisms:
Richard Pipes, " "[Solzhenitsyn is]too eager to exonerate czarist Russia of mistreating its Jewish subjects, and as a consequence is insensitive to the Jews' predicament"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Two_Hundr ... pes_reviewSolzhenitsyn was criticized by the Northwestern University historian Yohanan Petrovsky-Shtern for using unreliable and manipulated figures, while ignoring evidence unfavorable to his own point of view and, in particular, ignoring numerous publications of reputable authors in Jewish history.[20] Petrovsky notes that Solzhenitsyn claims that Jews promoted alcoholism among the peasantry, flooded retail trade with contraband and "strangled" the Russian merchant class in Moscow (pp. 39–41, 47). According to Solzhenitsyn, Jews are non-producing people ("непроизводительный народ" (pp. 52, 59) and they refuse to engage in factory labor (с. 244–245). They are averse to agriculture and unwilling to till the land either in Russia, in Argentina, or in Palestine (pp. 73, 76, 157, 256, 258, 267–268), and the author blames Jews' own behavior for pogroms (pp. 210, 483, 120). Solzhenitsyn claims further that Jews used Kabbalah to tempt Russians into heresy (p. 20), they seduced Russians with rationalism and fashion (p. 21), provoked sectarianism and weakened the financial system (p. 70), committed murders on the orders of qahal authorities (p. 87), and exerted undue influence on the prerevolutionary government (p. 57). Petrovsky summarizes his critique that "200 Years Together is destined to take a place of honor in the canon of russophone antisemitica."
I cannot find a better and more articulate criticism of the book than this.
-
- Permanently Banned
- Reactions: 94
- Posts: 1970
- Joined: Tue Feb 02, 2016 10:42 am
An old debate
Prof. Mikhail Agursky, now a Soviet expert at Hebrew University in Jerusalem, was one of several Jewish dissidents in the Soviet Union who defended Mr. Solzhenitsyn against charges of anti-Semitism. He has not changed his mind. ''He is a strong supporter of Israel and always has been,'' said Professor Agursky. ''If you support Israel the way Solzhenitsyn does today, you are not an anti-Semite. And I don't think his idea of a Russian state founded on the Russian Orthodox Church means that Jews would not have full rights. How about Israel? Let's call a spade a spade. In Israel, religion is not separate from the state. Solzhenitsyn's Russia would be built on the same principle.''
Writing in his own defense, a highly unusual event, Mr. Solzhenitsyn said in letters to this reporter that he is dedicated to the study of history ''just as it was,'' which he feels is necessary ''in order not to repeat the horrors that humanity perpetrated on itself in the 20th century - all types of revolutionary and ethnic genocide.'' His critics, he indicated, have arbitrarily ascribed anti-Semitism to him because in pre-revolutionary Russia, a period dealt with in his most recent books, ''a Jewish question existed and was a burning issue. But at that time, hundreds of authors, including Jews, wrote about this; at that time, precisely the omission of mentioning the Jewish question was considered a manifestation of anti-Semitism -and it would be unworthy for an historian of that era to pretend that that question did not exist.''
Referring to the cycle of historical novels of which ''August 1914'' is the first part, the author wrote, in English: ''I am developing 'The Red Wheel,' the tragic history - how Russians themselves in folly destroyed both their past and their future - and in my face is flung the base accusation of 'anti-Semitism' (cynically used as a club by some), and a string of false arguments is basely ascribed to me. http://www.nytimes.com/1985/11/13/books ... wanted=all
Prof. Mikhail Agursky, now a Soviet expert at Hebrew University in Jerusalem, was one of several Jewish dissidents in the Soviet Union who defended Mr. Solzhenitsyn against charges of anti-Semitism. He has not changed his mind. ''He is a strong supporter of Israel and always has been,'' said Professor Agursky. ''If you support Israel the way Solzhenitsyn does today, you are not an anti-Semite. And I don't think his idea of a Russian state founded on the Russian Orthodox Church means that Jews would not have full rights. How about Israel? Let's call a spade a spade. In Israel, religion is not separate from the state. Solzhenitsyn's Russia would be built on the same principle.''
Writing in his own defense, a highly unusual event, Mr. Solzhenitsyn said in letters to this reporter that he is dedicated to the study of history ''just as it was,'' which he feels is necessary ''in order not to repeat the horrors that humanity perpetrated on itself in the 20th century - all types of revolutionary and ethnic genocide.'' His critics, he indicated, have arbitrarily ascribed anti-Semitism to him because in pre-revolutionary Russia, a period dealt with in his most recent books, ''a Jewish question existed and was a burning issue. But at that time, hundreds of authors, including Jews, wrote about this; at that time, precisely the omission of mentioning the Jewish question was considered a manifestation of anti-Semitism -and it would be unworthy for an historian of that era to pretend that that question did not exist.''
Referring to the cycle of historical novels of which ''August 1914'' is the first part, the author wrote, in English: ''I am developing 'The Red Wheel,' the tragic history - how Russians themselves in folly destroyed both their past and their future - and in my face is flung the base accusation of 'anti-Semitism' (cynically used as a club by some), and a string of false arguments is basely ascribed to me. http://www.nytimes.com/1985/11/13/books ... wanted=all
-
- Similar Topics
- Replies
- Views
- Last post
-
- 9 Replies
- 3593 Views
-
Last post by ផោមក្លិនស្អុយ
Sun Oct 17, 2021 1:30 pm
-
-
Interview with immigration department about FPCS
by Alexandra » Sat May 30, 2020 7:10 pm » in Cambodia News - 51 Replies
- 11667 Views
-
Last post by Beaker
Tue Jun 30, 2020 4:20 pm
-
-
-
US Embassy Refuses to Give Visa to Cambodian Woman Who Must Go to US for Citizenship Interview
by Bong Burgundy » Thu Jun 22, 2023 11:46 am » in Cambodia News - 9 Replies
- 1238 Views
-
Last post by Cambodiacious
Mon Jul 17, 2023 1:27 am
-