Patriots: For over 26 years, your generosity has made it possible to offer The Patriot Post without a subscription fee to military personnel, students, and those with limited means. Please support the 2024 Patriots' Day Campaign today.

June 13, 2018

Patriarchy Defender

“Shame on you! Shame on you!” chanted protestors after psychology professor Jordan Peterson said he’d refuse to obey a law that would require everyone to call people by the pronoun they prefer — pronouns like “ze” instead of “he” or “she.”

“Shame on you! Shame on you!” chanted protestors after psychology professor Jordan Peterson said he’d refuse to obey a law that would require everyone to call people by the pronoun they prefer — pronouns like “ze” instead of “he” or “she.”

It wasn’t just radical college kids protesting. Hundreds of Peterson’s academic colleagues signed a petition demanding that the University of Toronto fire him.

The totalitarian Left doesn’t just demand that its own point of view be heard. It wants resisters like Peterson never to be heard. When he gives speeches, it brings bullhorns to drown him out.

The pronoun controversy seems silly. “If somebody wants to be called ‘ze’ or ‘zir,’ why not?” I ask him for my next online video.

“I don’t care what people want to be called,” he answered. “But that doesn’t mean I should be compelled by law to call them that. The government has absolutely no business whatsoever ever governing the content of your voluntary speech.”

What if I politely asked him to call me “ze”?

“We could have a conversation about that,” says Peterson, “just like I would if you asked me to use a nickname. But there’s a big difference between privately negotiated modes of address and legislatively demanded, compelled speech.”

That sounds like a reasonable, libertarian take on the issue, but for comments like that, Peterson is called a “bigot,” “Hitler,” “transphobic piece of s—t.”

“That it has to do with transgender people is virtually irrelevant,” replies Peterson. “The issue is compelled speech.”

Somehow, he remains calm while people shout at him and interviewers twist his words. Peterson sensibly says differences in average temperament between males and females might explain why many choose or thrive at different professions. It’s not all discrimination.

That drove one anchorwoman into a frenzy of baseless accusations, including, “You’re saying that women aren’t intelligent enough to run these top companies?”

“No, I didn’t say that at all,” Peterson replied, deadpan.

As Father’s Day approaches, his message resonates with young males, not because he insults women but because he tells men there is value in the old-fashioned ideal of being a responsible, tough individual, not just a sensitive, passive person.

His book 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos lays down some advice for becoming a responsible person (of whatever sex). One example: “Set your house in perfect order before you criticize the world.”

The problem is not that Peterson says shocking or outrageous things. It’s that the Left, especially on campuses, has become so extreme that just stating facts of life offends it.

Peterson observes, correctly, that the world poverty rate has been cut in half in the 21st century, while the description of the world heard on campuses is that things are worse than ever, mostly because of inequality, oppression and patriarchy.

Part of the problem, says Peterson, is that “social justice” courses on campuses change the meaning of the word “justice” from rightfulness or lawfulness into a demand for justice for groups, based on the assumption each group must be equal to every other. Men, women, blacks, whites — all should have the same income, job preference, everything.

In a free society, that’s impossible to guarantee, even if everyone is equal under the law.

But students are taught that every time there’s a difference in outcome, it’s an injustice, a new reason for outrage. The anger never ends.

Peterson says the activists who are so angry about injustice should be happy they live in societies like America, places founded on individual liberty and free markets.

“Everyone is doing better here than anybody has ever done on the face of the planet throughout recorded history, and the whole West is like that!” he told me. “To call that all a tyrannical patriarchy is indicative of a very deep resentment and ahistorical ignorance that’s so profound that it’s indistinguishable from willful blindness.”

That’s opened some young people’s eyes.

But as Peterson has learned, these days some on campus get very angry if you try to open people’s eyes.

COPYRIGHT 2018 BY JFS PRODUCTIONS INC.

Who We Are

The Patriot Post is a highly acclaimed weekday digest of news analysis, policy and opinion written from the heartland — as opposed to the MSM’s ubiquitous Beltway echo chambers — for grassroots leaders nationwide. More

What We Offer

On the Web

We provide solid conservative perspective on the most important issues, including analysis, opinion columns, headline summaries, memes, cartoons and much more.

Via Email

Choose our full-length Digest or our quick-reading Snapshot for a summary of important news. We also offer Cartoons & Memes on Monday and Alexander’s column on Wednesday.

Our Mission

The Patriot Post is steadfast in our mission to extend the endowment of Liberty to the next generation by advocating for individual rights and responsibilities, supporting the restoration of constitutional limits on government and the judiciary, and promoting free enterprise, national defense and traditional American values. We are a rock-solid conservative touchstone for the expanding ranks of grassroots Americans Patriots from all walks of life. Our mission and operation budgets are not financed by any political or special interest groups, and to protect our editorial integrity, we accept no advertising. We are sustained solely by you. Please support The Patriot Fund today!


The Patriot Post and Patriot Foundation Trust, in keeping with our Military Mission of Service to our uniformed service members and veterans, are proud to support and promote the National Medal of Honor Heritage Center, the Congressional Medal of Honor Society, both the Honoring the Sacrifice and Warrior Freedom Service Dogs aiding wounded veterans, the National Veterans Entrepreneurship Program, the Folds of Honor outreach, and Officer Christian Fellowship, the Air University Foundation, and Naval War College Foundation, and the Naval Aviation Museum Foundation. "Greater love has no one than this, to lay down one's life for his friends." (John 15:13)

★ PUBLIUS ★

“Our cause is noble; it is the cause of mankind!” —George Washington

Please join us in prayer for our nation — that righteous leaders would rise and prevail and we would be united as Americans. Pray also for the protection of our Military Patriots, Veterans, First Responders, and their families. Please lift up your Patriot team and our mission to support and defend our Republic's Founding Principle of Liberty, that the fires of freedom would be ignited in the hearts and minds of our countrymen.

The Patriot Post is protected speech, as enumerated in the First Amendment and enforced by the Second Amendment of the Constitution of the United States of America, in accordance with the endowed and unalienable Rights of All Mankind.

Copyright © 2024 The Patriot Post. All Rights Reserved.

The Patriot Post does not support Internet Explorer. We recommend installing the latest version of Microsoft Edge, Mozilla Firefox, or Google Chrome.