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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@Virgin Mary
Your link doesn’t seem to be working 🙁
Looks like the link was missing a colon. Here you go.
https://www.indy100.com/article/white-man-racism-sexism-xenophobia-mcdonalds-brixton-london-watch-video-8724351
It’s funny how the JP fanboys think their attacks are absolutely devastating and will destroy our delicate selves, and yet so many of them run in, lob their verbal Molotov cocktails (or do I mean petards?), and run out again, and if they return, they’re confused when we don’t react as expected. It’s like the PUAs who accuse women of being “wrong” when the “sure-fire dating techniques” fizzle out.
In a way, it reminds me of the European practice of medicine in the Middle Ages, when anatomical studies consisted of looking at illustrations that were considered ideologically pure and therefore accurate. Dissection of actual human cadavers was a rare occurrence, so on those occasions where they had a cadaver on the table and could see what a human REALLY looked like on the inside, it wasn’t uncommon to declare that the cadaver was deformed. It didn’t help that the dissection was done by one person while a group of students (and sometimes members of the public) looked on.
Understandably, the state of the art improved tremendously once we moved away from this model.
@Virgin Mary,
That video illustrates something I try to keep in mind. There’s usually someone or other who pipes up about how we shouldn’t get to worked up about this, they’re all kids on 4chan after all, etc, etc. But they aren’t. These beliefs aren’t restricted to first-year-undergrads and under. The trolls we get are more likely to be closer to retirement than graduation.
A good video. I find it helpful to keep in mind that, for any random dude I meet, there’s a reasonable chance he’s gonna hold the same beliefs as the McDonalds Manvenger here.
@Victorious Parasol,
I know right? It’s fun how they think they’re dropping truth bombs from 40,000 feet. Fellas, Lobstahs, Petersonians – I know you’re reading – you aren’t. you really aren’t.
Stop being so scared, Peterson-friends! Take responsibility for your beliefs, stop letting other people tell you what’s true and false! Come in, sit down, say what you believe plainly and frankly. And when I or someone else dissects those beliefs like those medieval cadavers, pay attention to where your beliefs and reality fail to meet.
It’s difficult, heckin’ difficult! But It’s worth it. Honest, nofoolin’.
@Twilight Sparkle, er, gertzedek
Pretty sure it’s the same old huckster / scam-artist nonsense as has existed forever. Convince someone that their problem is caused by something they can’t control except for this special method, and then amplify the problem whenever the special method doesn’t work. Snake oil salesmen, pickup artists. Nazis. As time goes on the problem is amplified higher and higher until you end up with people saying that genocide is a reasonable response to argument.
Lobstahs, jumping into pots of salty boiling water to own the libs.
@Scildfreja
John Varley once wrote that most people would rather die than discard a preconception. A touch of hyperbole there, but when you see some of these trolls, you realize it’s the merest whisper of a touch.
@Virgin Mary (& @kupo, thanks for fixing the link): “feminists”, “immigrants”, “mangina”, “soy boys”… it’s like an alt-right bingo card.
There is a link at the end of the article to another describing an incident that took place at a McDonald’s in the US. In this one, a white male customer assaulted a black female cashier who had to defend herself. I saw this covered in their usual deadpan fashion at The Root: “But next week, James will return to Wakanda as the keynote speaker at her alma mater, the Dora Milaje School for Wishing a Motherfucker Would.” ? Funny, but as the guy was being restrained, his justification for attacking James was, “I couldn’t control [her]”. Which speaks to the kind of violence women, particularly women of colour, have to put up with, and which, incidentally our pal Jordan Peterson is on the record normalizing and minimising.
If I didn’t like the current name of the blog so much, I’d seriously suggest you change the name to Amazon Utopia.
I figure it’s spot on. People will die before changing their beliefs. We just happen to live in a world where it rarely comes to that.
The second virtue of rationality is relinquishment.
There is only the truth, and that which the truth destroys.
Hey, David, Bonelady’s given me a great idea. Once we’ve survived the Trumpocalypse, what do you think of changing the subtitle to “Building the Amazon Utopia”?
And, right on cue, a man publishes a paper showing that men who most strongly believe in “traditional” masculinity are the ones most hurt by it.
https://ktla.com/2019/01/10/traditional-masculinity-hurts-boys-and-men-american-psychological-association/
Right on the next cue, free tickets to the outrage rodeo. Available at any newspaper, magazine or online publication.
@ mildlymagnificent
Do you think that now that a man has explained something women have been saying for decades people will start to think maybe it’s true*?
*yes, I know feminist men have been saying it too, but mostly in feminist spaces.
Tip: Roosh V and his followers are cyberbullying a Toronto therapist and posted rape threats.
https://www.rooshvforum.com/thread-71887-page-2.html
They have posted a picture without her permission and have made her personal number available for harassment.
Should I inform police first or her workplace of this harassment?
@ mildlymagnificent:
Who’s the man? (pardon the non-pun)
The link goes to a KTLA (TV?) article by “Erika Martin”, the paper accompanying the report was by Stephanie Pappas, and the report is APA, no author cited….
Given the overwhelming male dominance in Psychology, I’d bet most of the research is by men, but unless there’s a (white, cis, het, conservative) MAN DIRECTLY CITED… the MRAs aren’t going to be moved.
They’ll be outraged, of course, but will still claim the research is women, SJWs and cucks… you watch.
I’m down with that!!
I suspect they’ll all be like, “of course masculinity hurts men! It’s meant to hurt! We should be working on ways to make it hurt more! Arglebargle!” You know, like when people make joke EXTREEEME products (aside: I miss Allie Brosh), except they won’t be joking. ☹️
MildlyMagnificent – the Usual Suspects on Reddit have been beeping and honking about that for a couple of days already.
There’s a definite ‘counting coup’ mindset among many of our trollkin. I imagine them running back to the treefort clubhouse and breathlessly announcing to the others that they totally ‘moted the Mammotheers with their leet skills.
The consistent theme I’ve noticed among the Lobsters is that they are persuaded that anyone who disagrees with them must not understand the Secret Wisdom. Because if we truly understood what Jeep was saying, we would *have* to agree, because it’s Truth. The idea that we understand but disagree is painful and disturbing, so they try to avoid it. Then the more advanced adepts argue that if we understand and don’t believe, it’s because we are unredeemed, wicked malefactors, consciously working to destroy the shining city on a hill that is Western Civilization. And of course, there can be no accommodating or tolerating such obvious, base evil as ours.
But, hey, nothing political about that! It’s just basic common sense to fight the Feminine Dragon of Chaos and prevent blue-haired trans Maoists from sending everyone to a Gulag.
@Robert:
Someone needs to buy Natalie Wynn a blue wig stat just to watch these shitgoblins’ heads explode ?
Weird (and tired of trumplings) Eddie
I first read it in the Washington Post – citing two men.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/how-traditional-masculinity-hurts-the-men-who-believe-in-it-most/2019/01/12/22d2518a-14fd-11e9-90a8-136fa44b80ba_story.html?utm_term=.cdc1a0b5f223
Hah. Found the guidelines themselves.
https://www.apa.org/about/policy/boys-men-practice-guidelines.pdf
Got to p.25, Acknowledgements. Quick head count. Dozens of names, I identified an overwhelming four, yes 4, obvious women’s names.
Oh, Natalie would look lovely in a blue wig! I wonder how much they are?
Drive by shit posting to own the libs.
@Jarnsaxa:
Redundant statement. Natalie can make anything look good. Actually, I think she’s done blue: check out this reddit post (where I’m not surprised that Tabby was voted her most fabulous look of 2018).
@mildlymagnificent 4 obvious women’s names, and after further research “Wizdom Powell” is also a woman. I’m surprised it got as high as 5 out of dozens.
Sorry I missed this whole thing, but… Does JP and his ilk really believe that preventing women from voting or having work or doing anything really that wasn’t being forced into marriage and having kids was a good thing… are they incapable of seeing women as people with their own aspirations..?
“[C]ornball weirdo” = “hate”? Wow. Just — wow.
@tohka
Yes