Crossing the Jordan -Peterson, not the River

Jordan Peterson is angry, again.

"Last November, Peterson, a professor emeritus with the University of Toronto psychology department who is also an author and media commentator, was ordered by the College of Psychologists of Ontario to undergo a coaching program on professionalism in public statements.That followed numerous complaints to the governing body of Ontario psychologists, of which Peterson is a member, regarding his online commentary directed at politicians, a plus-sized model, and transgender actor Elliot Page, among other issues. You can read more about those social media posts here."
Ontario court rules against Jordan Peterson, upholds social media training order | CBC News

It seems to me, just on this issue, that there is a conflict between Peterson's right to free speech in general, but his membership of a body that has its own rules, where the two have come into conflict. Whether or not the case has merit thus involves an argument about membership of a body with rules -and Peterson has said he will take the course, to publicly demonstrate its wrongs- and a broader issue about 'Diversity training' and its related genres. Some of these are just corporate box ticking, but in some cases derived from the inherited prejudices that mean jobs are not distributed equally on merit but through 'established', er, hierarchies (see below).

For a partisan view that supports Peterson, this does a good job-
READ: Jordan Peterson's Free Speech Fight in Canada | Darntons

The problem is that Peterson is a man of contradictions and flimsy intellectual argument. He often argues that there is a 'natural hierarchy' that makes attempts -for example, by Women/Feminists- to demand equality in the workplace a waste of time, though he doesn't explain that if something is 'natural' it should also be desirable.

He is passionately opposed to the 'radical left' but doesn't seem to see any link between the term 'Cultural Marxism' as used in 2023, and the preceding version, KulturBolshewismus as used in Germany in 1933. I agree there is a confusing link at times between Marxism and Post-Modernism (whatever happened to the Class Struggle, comrades?), but that's their problem, and some have argued that he is himself a post-Modernist in spite of what he claims.

This interview with a Feminist philosopher challenges many of Peterson's arguments-
A feminist philosopher makes the case against Jordan Peterson - Vox

I particularly like this: "When you’re accustomed to unjust privilege, equality feels like oppression..."

This list also offers an alternative critique
12 Reasons Why No One Should Ever Listen to Jordan Peterson Ever Again – Unikum (unikumnett.no)

Lastly this: at one time, the British held the League of Nations Mandate over former Ottoman territories in the Middle East. One of them became known as

Trans Jordan.

I will leave it there.

When it comes to Jordan Peterson, I act in the same way as Noam Chomsky, which is I don't pay much attention. Noam Chomsky also referred to this brilliant article when asked about Jordan Peterson and his view on him: https://www.currentaffairs.org/2018/...ual-we-deserve

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Mirgofino

When it comes to Jordan Peterson, I act in the same way as Noam Chomsky, which is I don't pay much attention. Noam Chomsky also referred to this brilliant article when asked about Jordan Peterson and his view on him: https://www.currentaffairs.org/2018/...ual-we-deserve

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Thanks for the link, a good read. As far as his grievance culture goes, there is no sense of what alternative policies exist to remedy the wrongs. And surely this quote could be used to condemn Trump and anyone who thinks like Trump-

"Don’t reorganize the state until you have ordered your own experience. Have some humility. If you cannot bring peace to your household, how dare you try to rule a city? … Set your house in perfect order before you criticize the world. "

The Philosopher King is at it again, twice in the Telegraph. His prediction that under a Labour Govt the UK will become another Venezuela suggests he knows little about the UK and even less about Venezuela, but facts have never been has strong point. The Guardian article does offer a critique if it interests you.

https://www.theguardian.com/commenti...britain-tories

The other article is a long one in which he makes the startling claim that people demonstrating against Israel’s war in Gaza are, in effect, the useful idiots of Hamas and its sponsors in Iran, and that the rationale has been caused by the fusion of Marxism with the post-modern critique of power patented by Michel Foucault, thus confirming Peterson has little understanding of either Foucault or Marxism, which in their 20th century contexts are both of limited value when explaining the appeal of Nationalism, and the endurance of Capitalism.

Yes, Iran has been funding Hamas, were they alone? Not really, and the support Israel has provided is set aside because this truth undermines Peterson’s argument: Israel good, Hamas bad. That the violent radical Salafi Islam of Hamas has its origins in Saudi Arabia and Egypt is also not addressed, and not addressed, again because it undermines his argument and strips it of any value. Not a word on the deliberate isolation of the Palestinians in Gaza and how it became an incubator of violence and hate.

The greatest irony? Peterson insists on the binary reality of gender: man and woman, of morality: good and evil; yet condemns the binary relationship of victim and victimiser that not only shapes the debate on Israel and the Palestinians, but condemns it to a false premise.

So his binary relationships are facts, others are false. As for the subtleties and contradictions of Israel’s policies regarding Palestinians, the often confusing and inept politics of the Palestinians- none of this is addressed at any level other than his own obsession with a cultural war that he claims is destroying western Civilisation from within.

Who is destroying whom? He doesn’t ask the right questions which is why he has the wrong answers.

https://uk.movies.yahoo.com/movies/p...123155996.html

An eloquent critique of Peterson, highlighting his confusing use of language.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5-yQVlHo4JA