It needs to be noted that much of the negative reaction here on the BBS isn’t directed at the man himself; it’s the rabid fandom that’s so repellant.
“Come unto me, feeble mortals with your pathetic ideas and useless lives; let me guide you to true enlightenment.”
That’s obviously hyperbole, but the condescending tone is completely accurate. Were it not for the man’s overzealous fans, I’d have no opinion about him one way or another… mostly because I’d never even heard of him until a few weeks ago.
Those in privilege are so very often astonished to discover that the systems benefiting themselves at the expense of others can be viewed as anything other than “natural.”
Thanks, that was useful.
Looking at that, his reaction to the bill is unreasonable. Even so, I have a hard time seeing him as the cartoon villain some people want to create.
Welllll, a lot of the folks from other threads think of him less as a cartoon villain and more an opportunist when it comes to building wealth and influence. It’s been mentioned that his Youtube channel nets him $80k a month (granted, that’s probably in Canadian dollars…).
Dude isn’t being attacked by mobs. If he’s an academic who can’t take some serious criticism, than he needs to get out of the academy. Equating criticism of Peterson’s NON-academic work (noting that much of what he talks about as a public intellectual isn’t really in his field of study or in his subfield as an academic) to a mob is quite a shitload of hyperbole there.
As a historian, that pisses me off no end, too. It’s blasé attitudes like that which keep Americans from actually fully engaging and coming to terms with our past.
Fair enough, my intention was to describe an “internet mob”, should have been more precise.
However, gratuitous slander and insults does not constitute “criticism”.
I don’t think anything that’s been said about Peterson here constitutes slander. Again, a very specific term that doesn’t apply. And if he can’t stand some insults, he needs to head out of academia. We’re a prickly bunch at times.
That image I posted is exactly why I stand up for anyone who is systematically marginalized, oppressed and/or persecuted.
It’s why I’m so frustrated with other people of color when they willfully engage in bigotry against others, as if they’ve never been victimized in the exact same ways themselves.
We all bleed red, and anyone who insists that we ‘need’ to tear down someone else in order to build ourselves up is part of the freakin’ problem, IMO.
While this is true, this is a counter-productive attitude to express.
It is indeed, not our obligation. And I never intended to post on this topic again, but here I am.
Oh, darling, if you think poor Dr Peterson was slandered and insulted, you should hear what he has to say about trans people. And women. And muslims. And people of colour. And atheists.
You can find an entire wall of shit he’s spewed right here:
I can’t be bothered to dig deeper, but there are even larger lists of more disturbing shit he’s said out there.
Peterson is, at best, misguided and misinformed. At worst, he is an alt-right adjacent preacher hiding in a cheap psychology suit. And he’s a terrible therapist.
This is my final post in this thread. I am not obligated to respond, and I will not. Take it up with JBP if you have an issue with me pointing out that he’s said some pretty fucked up things.
