By David Futrelle
I wrote a quick post on Jordan Peterson earlier this week — just some brief commentary on a couple of videos Sam Seder did on the Canadian crackpot. It must have gotten linked someplace Peterson fanboys gather, because a small army of them invaded my comments section.
“The misinterpreted information in this article is not only stupid is very calculated stupid,” charged someone called Bren, which is almost a compliment, suggesting that my stupidity is something I do on purpose instead of something I can’t help.
Another took issue with my choice of words.
Wow. The amount of hate Peterson gets is really high. I mean, the man speaks about passionate subjects but I don’t think he deserves to be called a “cornball weirdo”.
Au contraire, mon frère! A cornball weirdo is what he is.
There were the inevitable claims that Sam and my critiques of Peterson were invalid because we focused on, you know, specific arguments he has made rather than EVERYTHING HE HAS EVER WRITTEN IN ITS ENTIRETY. Some suggested in unison that we were all a bunch of NPCs in an echo chamber — or, as one of them put it, an
ECHO…..Echo…..echo…..CHAMBER…..Chamber…..chamber…..you Neo-Marxists are hilarious. And extinct (Just like the Mammoth!) in about 5 years as the population turns on your tiresome bullshit.
Bu my favorite of the bunch was a fellow called Jason D, who showed up with this impressively sententious opening statement:
A warning from a wiser one indeed! Unlike most of the Lobster invaders, who dropped their indignant comments and immediately fled, Jason stuck around for awhile, posting one long screed after another, making grandiose pronouncements, lashing out with insults, linking to studies he clearly hadn’t read. He posted more than 1100 words in all in response to a post of only 350 words. (He also claimed he wasn’t really a big Peterson fan, but whatev.)
He repeatedly suggested that the commenters were, yes, a bunch of “Neo-Marxists” and NPCs who needed to scurry “back to your gender studies course before you miss out on another patriarchal conspiracy.” He praised his own writing as “quite erudite.”
Alternately defensive and indignant, he responded to those who pointed out his assorted logical and grammatical whoppers were “horribly pedantic people” engaged in “some sort of denigration exercise.” Doing his best to affect a blithe unconcern, he mocked those who
apparently have time to write grammatically correct novellas in response to my casual little quips.
Quips? His comments were in total three times the length of my original post,
He demanded that we respond to his specific arguments about the wage gap, and read the small pile of studies he linked to — introducing one link by declaring “[w]ow your world view is going to be rocked.” But when assorted commenters — led by the redoubtable Scildfreja Unnyðnes — tore these arguments to shreds and noted that the studies he was citing did not actually support his claims, he ignored them completely.
“Not a single one of you smug liberal NPC’s has proven any of JP’s assertions as in-correct in these posts,” he sniffed.
Its all pathetic jibes and insults aimed at the man who threatens your perfect little Marxist utopia’s. Typical NPC twitter. Whats your Sociology professor tell you to write as a comeback to this little CHE jr.?
Having answered precisely none of the serious questions raised by his critics, Jason finally fled, but not without issuing one final would-be zinger. “So long,” he declared, “good luck in your Amazon Utopia!”
If you have the time, I’d urge you to read the comments to my Peterson post in full. It’s an entertaining ride; the rebuttals of Jason are quite informative and often, as he would say, quite erudite.
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Always the best when the guys using the npc argument all say the same shit.
@Scildfreja You used the exactly correct number of words in your take-down. He was just petulant because there was no chink in your armor.
Thanks to all the people who played troll piñata yesterday on all the posts by the SurfnTurf crowd. I wasn’t feeling well and you guys kept me laughing.
Scild really took Jason to school. It was a beautiful sight to behold. I learned so much. Thanks for that. ?
I have always been looking for an opportunity to say how much I respect Scildfreja, both for her excellent wordings and her supply of Fluttershies. Her Fluttersupplies.
@Luke, Leon Alan Murray, hi! Come on in, don’t be shy. Those other Petersonians were incompetent, I’m sure you can put up a better defense!
Luke – you know, you could just say “virtue signalling” if you want, that’s a lot more compact.
Leon – that’s really the amazing thing about Peterson. He mixes the blandest milquetoast calls for self-responsibility with the most blatant reactionary bilge and the doods, they just lap it up! Tell me – and this is an honest question here – why does Peterson’s message seem to resonate so well with disaffected dudes when the actual message they seem to take away is the thing their mothers have been telling them since they were five – clean up your room?
(and yes, the question is Socratic)
Daw thank you
A Fluttershy for every occasion <3
Because everyone else posts on the internet in hopes of being ignored?
It’s amusing to see how most antifeminists try to offend their opponents by calling them SJWs or NPCs while they’re all behaving hysterically, with their illusions of grandeur and psychotic messanic “arguments”. Quite amusing, indeed. lol
@Leon Alan Murray:
Not enough to spell his name correctly, evidently.
I agree, his message is “base”. Verily.
I see. Tell me, is leaving quasi-literate drive-by comments on blogs an example of this new-found responsibility or just something you do in your downtime when not groveling at the feet of your new-found guru?
You’ll not find a place online more dedicated to the notion that “men need to grow up and take on responsibility” than here. All Peterson does is give his followers some hoary old platitudes wrapped up in a big old blob of cod-psychology and misogyny to make them feel good about themselves while he picks their pockets, like every snake-oil salesman that’s ever walked the earth. There is no “growing up” with Peterson’s ideas, no “taking responsibility”; like every other huckster in the guru racket he wants his marks pliant and unthinking. Like you and all the other stans on the other thread. You call us NPCs but you’re the ones whose comments could be generated by a script they’re that cookie-cutter and predictable.
The irony is, I myself am much more qualified than Jordan Peterson to say anything whatsoever about philosophy. At least I actually have a degree in it.
@Luke
If only Peterson cultists had any capacity for self restraint or independent action, instead of hunting down every negative article about their guru and regurgitating cliches all over the comments sections there. Feel free to stop clicking those links. No one is forcing you.
The sad thing is that I don’t think you’re all sock puppets… you’re all different people who still choose to say the exact same things regardless of context and fail to see the irony in calling everyone else NPCs.
Ps: you realize that Peterson is only doing this for attention and money, right? Pandering to manchildren and blithering about lobsters is astonishingly lucrative.
I wrote this particular post mostly to amuse the regular readers and all those who enjoy mocking Peterson fanboys.
I didn’t write the previous Peterson post in an attempt to lure angry Peterson fans here, and I’m not sure why that particular post got so many of you worked up. It was just a quick post, a way to pass along some videos I liked. My other Peterson posts have generally been much more pointed. This post today didn’t get any more traffic than most posts.
FWIW, I have zero incentive, at least financially, to try to garner hate clicks from Peterson fans or other manosphere types. Not only do I have no way of knowing which posts will piss those dudes off, but I have no incentive, at least no financial incentive, to try to go for hate clicks, because I don’t run ads any more. I rely on donations, and hate clickers don’t donate.
The only benefit of the unexpected flood of Peterson fans to my last post about him was that it gave the commenters here some trolls to play with and gave me material for this post. Not that I’ve ever starved for material, but this was at least more entertaining and less depressing material than usual, so thanks, Peterson fans, for being the dunderheads you are!
@Leon Alan Murray
No, no, no, Leon Alan Murray! Please don’t say goodbye. We SJWs are starved for attention from alt-right guys. You never call, you never write, you never send us Candygrams.
And yes, you nailed it: Feminists hate the thought of men taking on responsibility — and because of that, we need all the luck we can get.
To reiterate, please don’t leave us!
I like how this guy tries to criticise valid arguments with childish, lackluster sarcasm, and strange appeals to some pseudo-support group echo chamber.
The article has an amusing introduction, I must say, although long winded and boring by the time one gets to the body. It’s nearly anaesthetic by the conclusion. Work on your execution, read some books about sentence structure, and (more importantly) learn how to spell-check your articles before publishing them.
On the other hand I’m only here because Google’s algorithm randomly suggested this article for me, and piqued my interest for being so out of place, so what do I care?
P.S your comment section rules are genuinely hilarious. I’ve rarely seen someone adhere to the liberal white knight stereotype so strictly.
@Leon Alan Murray
That sounds like a noble goal. So when are you planning on growing up and taking responsability?
Thank you David for this post. Without it, I never would have revisited the comments on the original, and the last hour would have been far less enjoyable. Well done to our eminent regulars!
Did Leon Alan Murray just flounce in his first post?
@Shadowplay: Rory’s track is a bit more upbeat than Joy Division’s for sure ?
https://youtu.be/juD4ayBbHdY
@Bakunin:
He might have lost track of which sock he was posting from.
@Cat Mara
They are cheery souls, aren’t they! 😛
Still, sometimes they’re perfect for the mood.
Flouncing in the very first post seems to be a common thing with lobsterboys. Maybe because they learned while they were in gamergate that the more they stick around and try to defend their views, the worse they look. Leaving a drive by comment makes them feel like they told the SJWs what’s what without having to actually, you know, take responsibility for their argument by backing it up.
I for one would be delighted if men would grow up and take responsibility instead of blaming male violence on women and are lack of ability to be simultaneously sluts who will pity fuck any troubled man and chaste monogamists who are saving ourselves for the right misogynists.
This is like endorsing as healthy a recipe that calls for anthrax and broken glass because it also contains kale and EVOO.
“X also contains good things” is not a refutation of “X contains bad things”.
@Scildfreja Unnyðnes
The funny thing is that that pattern (making reactionary filth more palatable by mixing in a bit of really basic advice) seems to be a wider Manosphere thing, not just JP. The Red Pill subreddit is the main example that springs to mind…they sucker desperate guys in with basic dating advice (e.g., be confident, groom yourself, work on losing weight/getting fit, &c.) and then convince them that it’s working because TRP knows the truth of womenkind, so they should start hating women and viewing dating as a sick zero-sum game of exploitation.
Look at this guy.
His parents should ban him from the internet :/
Angry white man in MacDonalds
The only Jordan Petersen fan I know is an annoying older alcoholic male (David from Queens, NY) who is often sent to the mental institution for his delusions, sent to AA by his job, and thinks he’s a radical atheist that is going to cure the world of religion.
When he drinks, he drinks Coors Light, which sums up his taste in things.