Jordan Peterson Unclear On What People's Problem With Jordan Peterson Is
The 'incel king' gets weepy on Piers Morgan.
This week, Jordan Peterson appeared on Piers Morgan's Fox Nation show "Piers Morgan Uncensored ," and as you may have heard by now, he cried.
Earlier this month, in Interview magazine, director Olivia Wilde told Maggie Gyllenhaal that the villainous cult leader played by Chris Pine in her new movie, Don't Worry Darling , was based on Peterson.
"We based that character on this insane man, Jordan Peterson, who is this pseudo-intellectual hero to the incel community. You know the incels?" Wilde asked. "They’re basically disenfranchised, mostly white men, who believe they are entitled to sex from women. And they believe that society has now robbed them — that the idea of feminism is working against nature, and that we must be put back into the correct place."
"Well, they must be psyched." Gyllenhaal responded. "Things are going really well for them."
Piers Morgan brought this up to Peterson, who was not so much insulted by the idea that he was an intellectual hero to these sorts of men, but rather desperately saddened by the fact that anyone would think that it is a bad thing to reach out to "disaffected men."
Via Mediaite:
“Is that you? Are you the intellectual hero to these people?” Morgan asked.
“Sure. Why not?” Peterson replied as his voice cracked. “You know people have been after me for a long time because I’ve been speaking to disaffected young men. You know, what a terrible thing to do that is?”
“I thought the marginalized were supposed to have a voice,” Peterson cried. “It’s very difficult to understand how demoralized people are, and certainly many young men are in that category.”
“You get these casual insults, these incels — what do they mean? Is it like, well, these men, they don’t know how to make themselves attractive to women who are very picky and good for them. Women, like, be picky. That’s your gift, man. Demand high standards from your men. Fair enough. But all these men who are alienated, it’s like they’re lonesome and they don’t know what to do, and everyone piles abuse on them,” he added.
Yes, Jordan Peterson, you've been speaking to disaffected young men and we are all very mad about it. That is our issue with you, that you are reaching out to these lonely young men and trying to help them be better. We hate men and want them to be sad and lonely forever.
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The problem, of course, isn't just that Peterson is speaking to these "disaffected" young men — much like the problem with Charles Manson was not that he was speaking to "disaffected" young men and women — the problem is what he is telling these disaffected young men. And what he is telling these young men is making them exponentially worse than they were on their own, because as Olivia Wilde points out in the interview, he "is someone that legitimizes certain aspects of their movement because he’s a former professor, he’s an author, he wears a suit, so they feel like this is a real philosophy that should be taken seriously."
It is also worth noting that there are many different reasons people are marginalized. There are people who are marginalized because other people are assholes and then there are those who are marginalized because they are assholes. Incels, MRAs, MGTOWs, Red Pillers, etc. are marginalized because they are assholes. They can change this at any point, simply by not being assholes anymore. That is not the same thing as someone being marginalized for their skin color or gender or sexual orientation or because they are trans and their professor gets his jollies by publicly humiliating them in the classroom. As committed as these people (and Jordan Peterson) are to being assholes, being an asshole is not an immutable characteristic and avoiding people who are assholes is a reasonable thing to do.
This is not hard.
If he were speaking to these men and helping them to hate women less or to be less terrible in some capacity, that would be great! People would think he was great. I would think he was great. The problem is not that he is speaking to them, but that he is actively making them worse. He is validating their world view and giving it a pseudo-intellectual backing.
We are talking here about men who are deeply poisoned. Who spend their days saying absolutely vile and disgusting things about women. Who have violent fantasies about raping and murdering women. Who have even gone on killing sprees because they hate women so very much.
Peterson's response to one of these killing sprees was to say that the thing that would stop them was "enforced monogamy." As much as Peterson complains that he was misunderstood here — that he wanted socially enforced monogamy, like in olden times, and not a vast, government-led redistribution of the sexual wealth — the idea that these men would be better or less violent if they had girlfriends or that it is somehow women's responsibility to keep them in check is a pretty horrific take. It's also what the incels themselves have long advocated for.
They blame the sexual revolution for their romantic problems, claiming it created a system of "hypergamy" wherein a small amount of men get to have a large number of women and those at the bottom have none. This is literally no different from what Peterson tells them.
Sure, he does his little "tough love" thing by telling them to "clean their rooms" or whatever, but he ultimately agrees with and affirms the worldview that makes them so toxic and, indeed, so repulsive to women. He is right there with them, every step of the way, modeling that behavior. As much as incels are furious that women are "too picky," they themselves frequently have incredibly high standards for the women they would deign to be interested in, and seething anger at women they consider unattractive. Peterson, too, is very angry at women he does not personally find physically attractive being held up as being physically attractive by others.
One thing I think about a lot is something that an older French woman I worked with at a boutique said to me once about a man she fancied: "He likes woman. I like man who like woman." Not only did that sound very glamorous, because it was said in a French accent, but it was kind of profound, in a way. Because it's true. One of the most attractive things a man can do is to genuinely like and enjoy the company of women. That's why none of this Jordan Peterson/Andrew Tate shit actually does anything but make these men absolutely repulsive.
In a nutshell, the problem with these disaffected young men is that they hate women, and the problem with Jordan Peterson is that he is encouraging them to hate women more. Therefore, as much as he may feel their pain, as much as their plight may bring tears to his eyes, he is not helping them.
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I use them as insults.
I think you assume too much.