Finally, a balanced overview article in the Guardian...

[MacaroonMama]

The Gender Recognition Act is controversial – can a path to common ground be found? - the guardian

Need to do breakfast! But this is mostly v balanced and optimistic

Jordan Peterson is not "extremely right wing" ffs

Yes, he is. He’s an anti-feminist conspiracy theorist who thinks the education system has been infiltrated by Marxists trying to bring down Western civilisation. He’s batshit.

I'm not sure infiltration is the right word, but it would be hard to deny that the education system tends left.

Peterson is a perfect example of the cliche that the enemy of my enemy is not my friend. I also agree with him that gravity is a thing that exists and I'd assume he'd agree with me that sticking forks into light sockets is a bad idea, but that doesn't mean that we agree on much else politically or would like at each at all. So yeah, like most people he doesn't think that people can change sex and thinks baroque pronouns are silly. The fact that these are currently controversial things to say makes the fact that he's saying them anyway worth noting, but doesn't mean he's a friend to feminists.

@53rdway

Anyone that has listened to Peterson for more than five minutes knows he's not far right or even right wing

The whole purpose of his University course is to teach his students that if they were in Nazi Germany they'd have probably been Nazis and some might even have been Auschwitz guards. The purpose being to figure out how to live to avoid repeating the mistakes of the 20 th century and the millions killed by the far left and the far right

He is anti identity politics, which together with inter sectional feminism is the most common strand of feminism and behind a lot of the nonsense this forum spends most of its time discussing

He is a classic liberal, pro free speech and pro equality of opportunity

Watch the first five minutes of this video and you'll see how nonsensical the idea of calling him far right is

I hate the word privilege when applied to whole groups "white privilege" "male" "cis" etc.
Some people are privileged but I think whether or not someone is privileged is an individual decision and I agree with Clara on that.. I know lots of very unprivileged poor not very bright young blokes. I'm privileged in having a high IQ but intellectual privilege is rarely mentioned probably because it doesn't fit in with any specific theory and sounds a bit eugenicy but I think my high IQ has had more of a positive effect on my life than my colour or "cisness". I don't like most of the formal feminist theories because of all the talk of whole groups having privilege.

I’ve heard a lot of his videos, thank you, fms. I’m fully familiar with him, his claims, his fan base and how he self-identifies as ‘a classic liberal’.

Watch the first five minutes to see how wrong you are, it's not a big request or chunk of your time

I already know you're not well versed in what he says, refusing to watch the video just proves my point

@53rdway

This isn't the Jordan Peterson thread, fm, if you want one to fangirl/fanboy over him on maybe make your own?

I have watched far more than five minutes of his stuff already, thank you. Like I said, fully familiar with where he positions himself.

Oh and then there is this recent article on the folly of calling many liberal thinkers "far right"

mobile.nytimes.com/2018/05/08/opinion/intellectual-dark-web.html

LOL, were you the person trying to convince us all to love Christina Hoff Sommers, fm? Best of luck with that, don't fancy your chances at getting people here to agree to follow the guidance of Gamergate's Based Mom.

@53rdway

Ok then, surely you have lots of evidence to support your position? How's the weather down there in the sand?

Any links for me to check out?

This is also the Jordan Peterson who warned women that if we try to ‘usurp’ men they would rebel and we would have to enslave them, which sounds like a hassle honestly but I’ve added it to the fridge To-Do list.

53rd

This is the article the guardian needed to publish THREE MONTHS AGO when things started to really ramp up.

I'm glad its been done but a lot of shit that has happened lately was unnecessary and could have stopped a lot of entrenchment.

“How’s the weather down there in the sand”? What?

Like AAK said, this isn’t the Jordan Peterson thread. Maybe take the semi-obsessive Peterson fan club stuff back to Reddit or Infowars where it belongs?

anyway, must dash, got some men to usurp/enslave.

Well, that the Guardian for you, always with their finger on the pulse of what the country cares about most.

Is it mean that I literally LOLed at that tweet? Bless, as we're not allowed to say. A tiny wee bit paranoid about the evil scary women attacking him with the sexy jackboots of oppression, isn't he?

@53rdway

Other people e.g. You were discussing (inaccurately) Peterson before I joined the thread

I've corrected you and posted supporting evidence, which you've refused to watch - which indicates you're entrenched in your position.

And the best you can come up with is a tweet, which says nothing about his "far right" political views

@53rdway "Peterson is far right!"

Me "no he's not"

@53rdway "stop talking about Peterson!"

😂😂😂

I don't get that Jordan Peterson quote at all. What's he trying to say? "Women: if you usurp men" - but what does he mean by "usurp"? Take the jobs that are rightfully theirs? Earn more money than them? Treat them as sexual objects and cast them off when we've finished with them?

And "you will have to jail or enslave them"? Really? When's that going to happen? We have several thousand years of human history in which men have enslaved women...but he's worried about men being enslaved by women? What kind of insane scenario is this in which men start a rebellion against the Mighty Power of Women, and then women all group together and begin throwing them in jail and treating them like slaves?

What on earth is he on?

I feel like I'm on Pitchfork and the inevitable "how dare you disagree that Radiohead is the best band that ever existed?" discussion has started again. Fandom is hilarious when viewed from the outside.

Is not, rather.

My theory is that he saw the Indiana Jones film with Elsa the Sexy Nazi in it at an impressionable age and occasionally allows what really ought to be thoughts saved for private moments to spill over into his public politics.

@AngryAttackKittens

Nail. Head.

@Angryattackkittens "I feel like I'm on Pitchfork and the inevitable "how dare you disagree that Radiohead is the best band that ever existed?" discussion has started again. Fandom is hilarious when viewed from the outside."

That's funny because there were at least 9 posts discussing Peterson, some calling him "right of centre", some calling him "left wing", before I joined the thread.

As it stands I'm the only person that posted anything to support my opinion, whether @53rdway watches it or not I'm sure anyone else interested (and not as ideologically entrenched as her) can spare 5 minutes of their time