Next week, there will be a really big show in Toronto. University of Toronto professor Jordan Peterson will be debating Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Zizek. Bob Hepburn writes:
Tickets for the April 19 event went on sale in March for the 3,100-seat Sony Centre venue and instantly sold out. Online ticket resellers are now charging up to $950 for a seat. So popular is the debate that Peterson and Zizek are live-streaming it around the world — at a cost of $14.95 per view.
It’s another in a long line of sold-out shows for Peterson, who shot to fame in 2016 when he criticized legislation aimed at protecting gender identity and openly refused to use people’s preferred pronouns.
Peterson says he's doing nothing to promote hate:
For years, he has insisted he’s done nothing to promote racism, misogyny, Islamophobia or a stream of other issues that stoke the fires of the far right. That may be true in a strict sense.
Troubling, though, is the fact Peterson has done little if anything to distance himself from white supremacists, racists and bigots. Nor has he done anything to silence those who spread their hate on social media and who cite his writings and lectures as “proof” that they are on the right path.
The worst example of this is a photo taken in New Zealand a few weeks before a white nationalist murdered 50 Muslims in terrorist attack last month on two Christchurch mosques. The photo shows Peterson with his arm around the shoulder of a man wearing a T-shirt with the words “I’m a Proud ISLAMAPHOBE” on the front.
The photo made waves:
Cambridge University withdrew its offer of a visiting fellowship. Cambridge vice-chancellor Stephen Toope said the New Zealand photo was a “casual endorsement by association” of Islamophobia and the message was “antithetical” to the work of the Faculty of Divinity, which made the fellowship offer.
Outraged, Peterson accused the school of “signalling their solidarity with the diversity-inclusivity-equity mob,” adding it was “kowtowing to an ill-informed, ignorant and ideologically addled mob.”
And Peterson's anger has made him rich:
Peterson has also become insanely rich touting what some critics have called half-baked ideas and “the greatest scam of our time.” He has 1.16 million followers on Twitter, 1.5 million YouTube subscribers and nearly 3 million copies have been sold of his book, 12 Rules of Life.
Proof that the Peacable Kingdom is not so peaceful.
Image: The Toronto Star
4 comments:
Honestly, Owen, I have never understood the appeal of someone like Petersen, other than that he gives licence to the intolerant under the aegis of free speech. Snake oil salesmen come in many guises, but we should always be able to recognize them when we them
Perhaps I'm just getting old and simple, Lorne. But it seems to me that some liars are easy to spot. And there are a lot of those around these days.
.. I have zero interest in such people.. I am however extremely alarmed by them.. if as so called adults or 'educators' they will signal their distaste, disgust & cowardly ethics regarding people different than them.. but doing no harm to anyone. Its that 'old stock' holier than thou arrogance. Peterson & Jason Kenney exhibit & flaunt this when they threaten LGBTQ persons overtly or insult them. Kenney mouthing off about legislating to 'out' students to their parents & forcing that gruesome task onto teachers ? And Peterson is just as bad.. I caught his act a ways back.. Who would want to hear Trump's in-house rascist A-hole Stephen Miller speak.. What school of higher learning would offer Peterson a Fellowship ? How about Jason Kenney being given an 'honorary degree' in climate change denial ? Some people love to be around drama, contraversy & drama queens.. how else to explain Faith Goldy's 'following' ? Ezra Levant ? More and more I have to look at such people as diseased.. at the very least disturbingly flawed.
You have to wonder what drives such people, sal. Perhaps it's a deep sense of insecurity masquerading as over confidence.
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