By David Futrelle
Jordan Peterson is mightily miffed. In an angry statement first published on his blog yesterday (and then in Canada’s National Post), the Intellectual Dark Webster accused Cambridge University of “kowtowing to an ill-informed, ignorant and ideologically-addled mob” after Cambridge’s Divinity School rescinded its offer of a two-month fellowship.
According to Divinity school officials, the short-tempered Canadian Lobsterprof had “requested a visiting fellowship at the Faculty of Divinity, and an initial offer has been rescinded after a further review.” A University spokesperson added that “we expect all our staff and visitors to uphold our [inclusive] principles. There is no place here for anyone who cannot.”
Peterson is so intolerant of so many groups it’s hard to know which particular brand of bigotry bothered the folks at Cambridge most. Was it his transphobic tantrum about using the proper pronouns for trans people? Was it his weird uneasiness about the very presence of women in the workplace, or his advocacy for some form of “enforced monogamy” to ensure that potentially murderous incels can get dates? (Why he’s convinced it would be a good thing for women to date men capable of going on shooting sprees I couldn’t tell you.)
Was it his tendency to threaten critics with lawsuits or literal slap-fights? Was it his contention that entire academic disciplines that he doesn’t like, including “women’s studies, and all the ethnic studies and racial studies … have to go and the faster they go the better.”
Or perhaps, in the wake of the New Zealand massacre, they were troubled by his many weird statements about Islam, including his repeated insistence that Islamophobia isn’t really a thing and is just a term made up by evil leftists and/or “fascists” trying to shut down “debate” on Islam?
Or perhaps they were concerned with Peterson’s marked lack of intolerance towards outright anti-Islam bigots, perhaps best symbolized by the picture (above) of him posing proudly with a fan in New Zealand whose t-shirt announces his hatred bluntly, accusing Muslims of an assortment of crimes including “Pedophilia, Rape, Wife-Beating” and “Praying for Violence.”
Would Peterson have happily stood next to someone wearing a shirt declaring “I’m a Proud Anti-Semite,” blaming Jews for alleged crimes like “hoarding money,” “killing Christ,” or “cucking white men with interracial porn?” Would he have posed with someone wearing a “Proud Racist” shirt attacking blacks for “being lazy” or “raping white women?” No, of course not. But he’s happy to put his arm around someone attacking Muslims in similarly bigoted ways.
I’m guessing the Cambridge Divinity School had issues with all of these things, as they well should have.
Many of Peterson’s fans, naturally, are crying “censorship,” as if Cambridge’s ultimate refusal to give a bigot a paid position were some kind of attack on free speech.
In case you’re worried, that last tweet is not from the official account of the band The Who, but from a fellow who describes himself in his Twitter bio as a
#MRA #mgtow #redpilled activist. rightwing. contrarian. not pc ideas. oppose SJWs. friendly. debater, im a believer in Jesus
Peterson, for his part, didn’t actually claim that he was being censored, which would have been a little weird, given that he devoted much of his angry rant on Cambridge’s disinvitation to bragging about how many books he had sold and how many hits his YouTube videos get.
According to Peterson, videos of some of his recent lectures on Genesis (the book in the Bible, not the prog-rock-turned-terrible-pop band)
have received about 10 million hits (as well as an equal or greater number of downloads). The first lecture alone — on the first sentence of Genesis — has garnered 3.7 million views just on YouTube …
It’s also the case that my books, 12 Rules for Life and Maps of Meaning both rely heavily on Judeo-Christian thinking … The former has now sold 3 million copies (one million in tongues other than English), and will be translated into 50 languages; the latter, a much older book, was recently a New York Times bestseller in audio format.
It’s also rather telling that this man whose speech has been so tyrannically silenced is saying all this in a newspaper with a daily circulation of roughly 140,000.
But if Peterson, unlike many of his fans, doesn’t think Cambridge’s disinvitation is censorship, exactly, he does seem to regard it as a symptom of “the collapse of rationality and reason,” to borrow a phrase from Ian Miles Cheong’s tweet above.
“I think that it is deeply unfortunate that the authorities at the Divinity school in Cambridge decided [to kowtow] to an ill-informed, ignorant and ideologically-addled mob,” Peterson declared.
Given the continued decline of church attendance, the rise in atheistic or agnostic sentiment, the increasing irrelevance of theological education and the collapse in interest in such matters among young people, wiser and more profound decisions might have been made.
Apparently his planned lectures on Exodus were the only thing that might have been able to hold off the atheist hordes that will destroy civilization any day now.
You see, it matters whether people around the world understand these ancient stories. It deeply matters. We are becoming unmoored, because we no longer share the structure these stories undergird. This is psychologically destabilizing. It’s producing a pathological and desperate nihilism that is increasingly common and, at the same time, a pronounced proclivity for the ideological certainty that mimics but cannot replace true religious belief.
No, he’s not talking about the “ideological certainty” of the Lobsterboys who think he’s pretty much the next best thing to Jesus; he’s talking about the people who aren’t part of his cult.
I believe that those at the Faculty of Divinity who rescinded their offer to me — and handled the rescindment in a manner that could hardly have been more narcissistic or self-congratulatory — don’t give a damn about the perilous decline of Christianity. I think that it is no bloody wonder that the faith is declining (and with it, the values of the West, as it fragments) with cowards and mountebanks of the sort who manifested themselves in this action.
Kind of a bold move to suggest that someone taking away a temporary academic gig you were kind of looking forward to is a sign of the impending collapse of Western Civilization, but hey. the dude does get a lot of hits on YouTube!
I wish them the continued decline in relevance over the next few decades that they deeply and profoundly and diligently work toward and deserve.
I believe this is just Petersonspeak for “fuck y’all motherfuckers.”
Alas, for poor Jordan Peterson — and possibly for Reason and Truth and Civilization itself — the good professor is also facing an attack from a New Zealand bookstore chain that has decided, in the wake of the Christchurch killings, to remove his books from their shelves.
As far as I know, Peterson hasn’t yet responded to this egregious assault on … the convenience of New Zealanders who will have to get the book from other bookstores or maybe online. But some of his fans are already crying foul for him.
Huh. Is that Lady Liberty wearing a ball gag, and pasties on her possibly augmented breasts? This Free Speech Fundamentalist dude doesn’t seem to be so much interested in free speech as he is in freejacking, at is were, and I don’t mean the 1992 sci-fi-racecar thriller starring Emilio Estevez and Mick Jagger.
And what flag is that on the pasties, anyway?
The culture war is weird.
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Oh boy, I’m not looking forward to the Trump tweetstorm.
@Victorious Parasol
I am already set for disappointment.
Well, obviously. When your religion includes something as important and serious as blood sacrifice, you need to rehearse the ceremonies beforehand. Can you imagine how furious Lord Moloch would become if the real thing were performed incorrectly?
@Ooglyboggles
I don’t know what to think at this point.
https://twitter.com/JBPorCleric/media
This twitter link has 55 quotes labeled as “Jordan Peterson or Islamist Cleric?” They are clearly misogynist and/or pro-male statements… and from having read WHTM for lo these many years, I recognize each vile statement as a Jordan Peterson claim.
What’s funny though is that the person who runs the page has superimposed the quotes over angry Muslim men for the purpose of leading you to believe that Jordan’s ghastly beliefs are actually from the lady-hatingest parts of Islam-country.
@Victorious Parasol
Like we’ve been waiting for more than two damn years. What else is there to surprise us legally speaking?
Scildfreja Unnyðnes
I read somewhere that the best way to assist someone being harrassed is to focus on them (i.e. ask how to help them, escort them to a safe place, etc) and totally ignore the harasser.
The temptation is to dress down the harasser, but this creates a scene, may distress or embarrass the victim, and possibly escalate the attack.
IOW, it’s about supporting the victim, not venting your spleen.
Let’s do some math.
Any Islamist society is roughly composed of 50% children and 50% adults; of the adults 50% are women.
Therefore, any Islamist society is composed of 25% adult men and 75% women & children – who are the primary targets of the abuses (listed on Peterson’s BFF t-shirt) by the men.
Why would I, as a feminist, hate a group of which 75% are already victims? Why would I want to heap more racial & religious bigotry on them?
Peterson seems to think that societies are comprised only of men.
I think that Peterson should examine his own unconscious. He seems desperate for the validation of women to pat him on the head, feed him a cookie, and tell him “Your the man, Jordie. Oh, yes, you are. You’re my big manny-wanny!”.
Oh, David. I know. I know.
Because the “men who run society (mwrs)” make a compact with the “men capable of going on shooting sprees (mcogoss)”. When the “mcogoss” feel angry & frustrated by being kicked around by the “mwrs”, they are allowed to go home and rape their wives and beat their children without society intervening. After all, domestic violence is a private family matter.
In turn, the “mcogoss” are not permitted to take their anger out on the property (i.e. women and children) of the “mwrs”. If they do, society will punish them.
If a few women and children suffer and die, it’s a worthwhile sacrifice to keep society humming along smoothly for all menfolk, both the “mwrs” and the “mcogoss”!
OT, but Moon_custafer, I’m sorry for misspelling your ‘nym! My device hates me and thinks I’m stupid; it likes to correct my spelling…
@ Diego,
It’s a little ways back in the comments, but this paragraph of yours really hit home. I think you make a great point.
I bolded that one sentence; those words “obvious intent”… that’s precisely what it is. That’s also what’s at play with those poor teachers in that active-shooter drill. It’s their clear, smug awareness of their true intentions that really gets to me. No one is fooled by their charade. I don’t know who they expect to convince with their posturing about Freeze Peach; their supporters are in on the joke, and their opponents see straight through them. Is it all a wink-wink act meant to pull in anyone not educated/aware enough to know these issues or hear the dogwhistles? And then convince them to vote a certain way?
I don’t know if I actually mentioned Marois/Quebec earlier (meant to, may have forgotten), but although I watched all that unfold from a bit of a distance, that was always the sense I got from her. Nothing but dogwhistling; true hateful intentions pretty clearly on display, but with that thin overlay of plausible (ha) deniability.
It’s very late and I think I’m not making much sense…kind of an exhausting day. Good night, all!
You’re making perfect sense. Unfortunately. I see the same implausible deniability all over the place and I fear the US is headed toward more serious violence quite soon than one more spree shooter … perhaps even toward a genocide.
If you’re inside its borders you might want to leave, or at least get prepared to be able to do so on quite short notice.
I didn’t get several of the teaching/tutoring jobs I applied for, either. Clearly, people want to silence my pro-semicolon views. If we don’t revere the ancient semicolon, we’ll get THE DECLINE OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION, writ large (because I just writ it large, you see).
More seriously –
@Bookworm in hijab – Sadly, that BS still going on here. Now there’s a more conservative party in power (the CAQ with Francois Legault) pushing another law to prohibit civil servants from wearing religious symbols (mainly hijabs).
This extends to teachers. Some of the people I’ve tutored, who are applying for their Quebec teaching certification, would be directly affected. It’s just not fair, and the justification is ridiculous. How is banning hijab-wearing schoolteachers promoting women’s rights??
Quebec government: “Oh, we’re not like Saudi Arabia, where the government tells women what to wear. We tell women what NOT to wear, this is CLEARLY DIFFERENT.” :/
You know how I said good night? Yeah, that. I’m still up, lol…
@ Epitome of incomprehensibility, I hadn’t known that about Quebec and it freaks me out. I’m also in Canada, and while we do better than the States, we are also very smug about how we are better than the States. I fear that we will head that route (or the Canadian equivalent, just as nasty in a different way).
Is the Quebec thing all rather geared toward forcing a separatist vote, do you think? Like “Les maudit anglaises veulent nous obliger de blah blah blah alors REFERENDUM!!!11!!1!” I feel like a hijab ban wouldn’t pass the Charter, so they’d never get it through, but to be seen to be forced to do something by Ottawa…
Of course, your semicolon comments are ALL SO TRUE.
#epitome of incomprehensibility
What! I’m with you, happy to fight to the death — and into the afterlife if need be — over the virtues of the oft-misunderstood; semicolon.
(Kat; please don;t forget to include? me in you’re plan;s!)
Ok, even I’m not THAT tired…
Aaa, I just wrote a punctuationally-excessive response to Kat, and it disappeared! I am? so; sad to lose! it.)
@Epitome of Incomprehensibility, I was just re-reading your post, and someting’s been bugging me. I honestly don’t get what’s so horrible about hijab, that is is the symbol par excellence of Things We Must Ban For The Good Of Western Civilization.
I mean, clearly I’m biased, but even from the standard of someone who thinks all-religious-dress-is-evil-and-oppressive, this is literally the weirdest thing to focus on. I can *kind of* understand (though I don’t agree) when they go after niqab, but does no one in this country wear a toque in the winter? Or a bandana ever?
I can honestly say that my eyeglasses cause me more discomfort on a daily basis than my headscarf. I literally do not even notice it’s on. As oppressive garments go, it’s waaaayyyy below, say, high heels in terms of restricting a woman’s mobility, physical comfort, safety, or long-term health.
I know it’s all about the obvious-symbol-of-difference thing, but of all the symbols to hate on, it seems kinda…not worth the bother?
ETA: Oh, there’s my other post…
@Bookworm in hijab
No way would I forget a fellow bookworm;
Happens all the time.
This semi-colon expression reminds me of how certain Twitter cats communicate, especially my favourite, Bilbo (a lovely ginger boy who supports trans rights with all his furry heart). For example:
@Mish
That Bilbo is quite a Q-T! I’m gonna check him out as soon as I make a late dinner, eat it, etc.; etc.
@Kat, he’s adorable! Enjoy your dinner <3
Fuck Jordan Peterson and the lobster he rode in on.
@Mish
Ate dinner, coconut-oiled the girl cat (at almost 19 and having only three legs, she gets lumps in her fur), and had a look at Bilbo the super adorbs kitty of Twitter. “I am the dirtboy somehow.” So, so funny.
@Bookworm, Epitome
I still remember the shitstorm when someone photoshopped a hijab onto Marois that time. Such an outrage! Especially since they picked a scarf that completely suited her, and she looked absolutely lovely. That must have been the part that hurt most.
As for the hijab as evil marker, I’ve always found this to be the perfect response:
I mean, seriously, if you’re not complaining about that, what are your grounds for complaints? How are you determining if the little old lady in a headscarf is charmingly fashionable or evilly oppressed? (Don’t tell me, I know, it depends whether she’s brown or not.)
(Somewhere out there there’s a great meme of the Queen looking grumpy in a headscarf saying something along the lines of “They were right, let the Muslims in and see what happens,” but unfortunately I can’t find it.)
Hmm, going back up – thread a bit, a few stories from the Bible grab my attention, with lessons taken from them, not necessarily religious.
There’s Jonah – circumstances may force you to act in ways you might not willingly choose. David and Goliath raises another idea – it’s not wise to take a sword into a gunfight. Job says something else – shit happens.
There’s also some fun to be had spotting literary allusions or even outright Biblical plot appropriation. In the Dune tales (that milieu crops up a lot here) I believe there’s a part of the story after Paul (I think) has wandered off into the desert, and a preacher crops up, claiming to be associated with his regime, who attracts a large following. It seemed the parallels between Paul then Leto II, and David followed by Solomon, and Ecclesiastes were pretty blatant.
Would he have posed with someone wearing a “Proud Racist” shirt attacking blacks for “being lazy” or “raping white women?” No, of course not.
Let’s not jump to conclusions! ?♀️