Another anti-free speech shitstorm brewing in New Zealand?
New
Zealand was not always this intolerant.
The
old-fashioned liberal adage was always "I disagree with what you
are saying but I will defend your right to say it"
That
has now become " you have a right to your opinions so long as
they are the RIGHT opinions"
Last
year we had the most disgusting spectacle of Stefan Molyneux and
Laura Southern being more or less hounded from the country for
expressing an opinion - or rather trying to get people to have a
conversation.
Now
we seem to be having a repeat of this with a pretty pathetic attack
on the popular Jordan Peterson who is about to tour this country
TEG Dainty and Nice Events are excited to announce that renowned professor, clinical psychologist and international bestselling author Dr. Jordan B Peterson will bring his 12 Rules for Life Tour to Australia & New Zealand in February 2019.
Following
sold out dates in 2018, the new show will expand on previous
discussions and feature revolutionary talks on overcoming life’s
biggest obstacles, how to improve oneself, the psychology of
religion, mythology, and much more.
This is a press release from Auckland Peace Action:
Jordan Peterson threatens everything of value in our society
Monday,
11 February 2019, 7:41 pm
Press
Release: Auckland
Peace Action
Jordan
Peterson threatens everything of value in our society
From:
Auckland Peace Action
Date: Monday 11th February
Date: Monday 11th February
“In
the lead-up to Jordan Peterson’s visit to New Zealand we have a
duty to condemn his sexist, queerphobic, racist and deeply
reactionary views,” says Iris Krzyzosiak of Auckland Peace Action.
Jordan
Peterson, Professor of Psychology at the University of Toronto turned
right-wing media celebrity, is in New Zealand to promote his
book Twelve Rules for Life. This book, while offering
superficially useful life advice to an audience of disaffected white
men, promotes a reactionary, misogynistic view of the world utterly
in opposition to New Zealand values.
“While
we as a country have many problems, we can be justly proud of our
values of gender equality, egalitarianism and social inclusivity,”
said Ms Krzyzosiak. “Jordan Peterson is actively trying to
undermine these values. This is distinctly unhelpful.”
Dr
Peterson is well-known for his objectionable opinions. He has
bemoaned the fact that men cannot “control crazy women” by means
of physical force. He has stated that feminists tolerate the US’s
alliance with Saudi Arabia because of their “unconscious wish for
brutal male domination”. And he claims that being expected to use
correct pronouns for trans people is equivalent to Stalinism, a claim
that astoundingly manages to both belittle those millions of people
murdered by Stalin and equate the simple respectful act of referring
to someone by their chosen description with an ideology of brutal
authoritarianism.
Peterson’s
associations are equally objectionable: he’s appeared on noted
racist and misogynist Stefan Molyneux’s Youtube channel no fewer
than three times, and he has publicly defended Lauren Southern’s
attempts to disrupt rescue operations in the Mediterranean.
“While
we have any number of better things to do than picket his talk, his
presence in this country is worrying as it threatens many of the
basic values of our society,” said Ms Krzyzosiak. “We strongly
encourage the media and citizens of New Zealand to be very wary of
Jordan Peterson’s statements and subject them to careful critical
analysis, lest we fall victim to an ideology that will inflict more
suffering on those people in our society who are already
marginalised.”
****
I am happy to see that not everyone on the Left (the true Left - not the 'Woke Left' - a term that baffles me has caught the same disease.
****
Now, if they were to devote their energies to opposing the various wars being waged - from Afghanistan, to Iraq, Syria, Yemen and now - potentially Venezuela they might have had me with them.
But I don't see much evidence of that:
From a quick perusal of their website they seem more interested in identity politics than peace to me.
Now
we seem to be having a repeat of this with a pretty pathetic attack
on the popular Jordan Peterson.
The language of the above - stringing together as many epithets and insults as possible in lieu of a debate - is very familiar to me from my youth in which time I dabbled in a left wing that was replete in such rhetoric although it was never directed towards "identity politics" in those days.
In short it is the language of the Far Left which appears to me to have been co-opted by the Establishment for their own ends. Put another way, these people are being manipulated by people they should (by rights) be opposing.
That baton seems to have been handed over to the "Alt-Right".
The leader of this movement stupidly agreed to appear on the radio with the combative journalist, Sean Plunket who quite correctly in my mind, ripped into him (most with simple questions, I must say) while he reacted like a deer caught in a car's headlights.
Don't get me wrong.I have no particular love for Sean Plunket, certainly after his ad hominem attack on writer, Eleanor Catton four years ago.
But I was right with him in this exchange and cheering him on from the sidelines.
I am happy to see that not everyone on the Left (the true Left - not the 'Woke Left' - a term that baffles me has caught the same disease.
Even if he describes Molyneux and Southern as 'crypto- fascists' (something I've never understood - it's just yet another meaningless and inaccurate epithet attached to them) Bradbury does NOT approve of this latest action, albeit for very different reasons.
One
would have thought the Woke Left had learned the mistakes of their
anti-free speech campaign that only empowered two visiting
crypto-fascists and Don Brash last year.
One
would have thought.
Sadly
I don’t think the Woke can help themselves and so they have
launched an anti-free speech attack on
the person who can manipulate their stupidity and convince more young
men who feel lost without an identity that feminism is their problem.
I’ve
written many times that I see why Peterson is popular, but that there
are crucial places his theories fall down, unfortunately, rather than
debate Peterson, the Woke scream and try to deplatform him.
This
always ends terribly and actually serves only to empower Peterson.
Can
the woke Auckland Peace Action fuck up as badly as People Against
Prisons Aotearoa did with the Pride Parade?
Let’s
see shall we? I
predicted last year that woke activists wouldn’t
be able to help themselves when Peterson visited this year. Let’s
hope I’m wrong.
PS
– Phantom Billboards deciding THIS is
acceptable to censor while promoting an anti-free speech campaign is
pretty funny.
I
have just come off listening to Plunket talking to Jordan Peterson
and I have to say I was VERY, VERY impressed in the way he talked to
the young people who rang in. It is as clear as day that he has
reached a lot of young people who find themselves lost in various
ways and has managed to instil a sense of meaning into these young
people.
And
yet this twerp is saying Peterson is threatening "everything
of value in our society"
I
won't even mention planting fake bombs at a film festival by way of
protest.
***
Vinny Eastwood, who I see as bit of twerp, but for whom I have some affection has produced his own rant on this:
I am a great fan these days of allowing people speak for themselves rather than following what others are saying about them.
Firstly,
because Iris Krzyzosiak raises it so inaccurately some words
about why the hell the new wave of feminists refuse to condemn Saudi
Arabia for its repression of women, or, I might mention, defend women
in Sweden or Germany raped by Muslim migrants,
And, finally the sort of discussion (from Swedish TV) that we should get (and don't) on our pathetic mass media.
As a final word I would say that irony and sophisticated argument seems to be as dead as a dodo in our academic scene.
Life is complicated and messy and, in almost every case we can say "on the one hand.. but on the other".
Unless we wish to tear each other apart as as society collapses in the wake of war, economic collapse and the destruction of human society by abrupt climate change and the new wave of extinction we should learn to get on with each other and LISTEN.
Whatever his views, whether or not I agree with him or not, i thank Dr. Jordan Peterson for inviting us to have the conversation no one wants to have.
Listen to Sean Plunket interviewing Jordan Peterson HERE
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