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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