Lindsay Shepherd and Jordan Peterson Bring (Independent) Lawsuits Against Wildfrid Laurier University
Been meaning to mention this that DA was whining about--thanks, DA! I hope Shepherd takes 'em to the cleaners. As for Peterson...well...I mean...Shepherd's profs are ignorant morons who can't tell the difference between their own loony, quasi-religious political commitments and scholarship...but...is it slander? I mean, I'm all for bringing some kind of hammer down on the neo-Lysenkoists who have taken over the humanities etc....but...I'm not so sure this is the right hammer to bring down. I expect that they really are stupid enough and dogmatic enough to more-or-less think that Peterson is like Hitler. IANAL...and IANA Canadian...so I especially ANACL...but...isn't sincere ignorance a defense?
But, as for Shepherd...get 'em, girl!
But, as for Shepherd...get 'em, girl!
posted by Winston Smith at
2:36 PM
6 Comments:
I seem to remember the professors from the Laurier incident going on a PR spree labelling Peterson the usual isms in order to defuse the well-deserved controversy, but I'd have to go back to hunt for the news at this point. The original incident seems like a stretch to be considered slander, but the follow-up would have been, at least under the prosaic meaning of the term (if my memory is correct).
I wasn’t whining, but I’m amused that a man who wants to return to basics goes to that bloodless civilized alternative of the courts. He should’ve challenged the TA to a duel, preferably lobsters at twenty paces.
And this brings us back around to the whole "Intellectual Dark Web" thing. This case suggests the same ridiculous pattern. This is not deep thinkers being oppressed for their heretical great ideas. These are insecure, thin-skinned people with silly ideas, playing victim when other silly people make silly statements about them. Everyone gets to play victim. No one seeks to actually build up more understanding or reasoned debate. Instead, everyone just gets to dig in on their own silly positions. It's not the Intellectual Dark Web. It's the Intellectual Derp Web. And now it's attacking free speech, while pretending to be staunch defenders of free speech. Derp.
https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20180622/00523140087/supposed-free-speech-warrior-jordan-peterson-sues-university-because-silly-professor-said-some-mean-things-about-him.shtml
Bring back the luminiferous ether!
Yeah, none of that seems right to me, DA, for very obvious reasons. This is one single case of a guy going to the courts in a slander case. He was plausibly slandered. He either wins or loses. I'm not wild about it, as I said. If you're going to stand up to the PCs, you're going to be called Hitler--and a whole lot of other stuff. You know that going in.
On the other side is a full-court press across much of academia and the rest of the cultural superstructure to suppress ideas...and, e.g., call people Hitler when they disagree... Those people are totalitarians and idiots. (Which, I suppose, is better than being *smart* totalitarians...) They're the actual threat...not one guy trying to strike back / teach them a lesson. Even if he's misguided, it hardly seems to be a big-ass deal.
You've really gotta give up the "intellectual dark web" complaint. It is, indeed, a silly term developed by some third party. Nobody cares about it. When Stalinists are in danger of taking over, it seems a bit foolish to harp on one silly name some dude somewhere gave to the anti-Stalinist opposition.
Uh, Bari Weiss wrote the original article talking about “The Dark Intellectual Web”. Peterson is full of hot air.
As for suppression, you are correct, one wouldn’t expect a Biology department to sponsor a Lysenkoist, or a Physics department to sponsor a seminar about proof for the luminiferous ether.
Except for Pierce, you know how to pick them.
You're not even trying anymore, DA.
You just rehearse progressive talking-points.
Peterson *does* talk some shit...but he's right about the pronoun insanity--which is, of course, what's at issue in the present case.
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home