'White Messiah': Austrian Woke Media Pillories Jordan Peterson By Proving his Arguments Correct

Who would have guessed *that*, coming from the woke hate-mongers over at Der Standard…they're even more stupid than even I'd thought

I’ve been meaning to write more about our ongoing ‘cultural revolution’, so, why not start with a portrayal of Jordan Peterson. Here’s the link to the ‘original’ content, written by Brigitte Theißl, over at Der Standard.

Before we get started: what do I mean by invoking the term ‘cultural revolution’? As you all know, the term relates to a series of policies implemented by Mao Zedong, which lasted, generally speaking, from 1956 through 1976 and cost hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of lives. It was certainly a tragedy, and then some.

Compared to this, is it even possible to speak of woke-ism as a ‘cultural revolution’? Sure, Marx would agree (even though I’m unsure this is a winning argument per se…), for in his Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte (1851), he opened with this well-known word bouquet:

History repeats itself, first as tragedy, second as farce.

It is, I’d say, quite hard to argue with that notion, for I do think that woke-ism has all the markers of a ‘cultural revolution’, albeit in slow-motion. Perhaps akin to what the late political philosopher Sheldon Wolin had described in his landmark 2003 article, ‘Inverted Totalitarianism’ (The Nation, archived link) and in long form in his book Democracy, Inc. (2008); furthermore, Chris Hedges picked this up and pronounced ‘the liberal class’ dead in his eponymous book (The Death of the Liberal Class, 2010).

So, while I do think that woke-ism is a kind of cultural revolution of the farcical kind, and to buttress my claim, here’s a bit of the above-liked Wikipedia entry (my modifications):

[Woke-ism] charges that reactionary elements had infiltrated the government and society with the aim of restoring patriarchy. Yyoung people are called on to ‘riot, 1619 style’, and proclaimed that ‘justified indignation’. The youth responded by forming various Woke Guards around the country. A selection of references to #staywoke were compiled into the 1619 Project, which became a sacred text for the ‘Woke Superstitious Cult’. They held ‘denunciation rallies’ against revisionists regularly, and grabbed power from government, eventually establishing the revolutionary committees.

So much for ‘definitions’‚ what about deaths? Well, I’d argue that Deaths of Despair, as established by Anne Case and Angus Deaton (2020) and the rising number of suicide, drug overdose, and alcohol-related deaths would qualify. Moreover, since woke-ism manifests itself also as an attack on ‘objectivce truth’, we might even consider (some) of the vaxxing injuries and deaths as part of the woke-deriving culling.

That said, here’s the piece in Der Standard (my translation, emphases), followed by a few bottom lines.

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Caption reads: ‘Jordan does not want to be an aggressive sexist, he prefers to refer to “biological realities”.’

Jordan Peterson: The White Men’s Messiah

An end to social justice and feminism: In the world of the Canadian psychologist Peterson, patriarchy does not exist, and he reaches an audience of millions with it.

By Brigitte Theißl, 27 Feb. 2023

When Jordan Peterson takes to the stage, thousands come. He is currently filling lecture halls across the US and Canada, and only a few tickets are still available for his performance in Toronto—the cheapest tickets costs 336 Canadian dollars. The clinical psychologist talks about his new book, Beyond Order: 12 More Rules for Life, which is the sequel to his international bestseller 12 Rules for Life (2018).

Peterson’s career as a public figure took off in 2016 when he protested a proposed law in Canada. Bill C-16, passed in 2017, would provide trans people with more comprehensive protection from discrimination [fact check: it amends the Human Rights Act and the Criminal Code]. Peterson saw freedom of speech at risk and had himself celebrated as a martyr who would face an—imagined—prison sentence. Media interviews followed, his YouTube channel exploded. The former university professor has around 6.5m subscribers there, and he has long since ceased to rely on traditional media.

[two things to note: first, as a non-native English speaker, I’m unsure if that awkward phrasing ‘had himself celebrated’ works; I think it’s technically correct, the original phrasing is ‘ließ sich als Märtyrer feiern’, but I’m unsure it works in practice: if one’s a martyr, would one be able to ‘let oneself be celebrated’? Second, why is that Peterson’s fears of censorship and curtailment of freedom of speech is somehow ‘bad’?]

Fighting Marxism

In terms of content, Peterson delivers little that is new; he succeeds in the field that other conservatives and right-wingers have already ploughed: that of the defensive struggle against so-called social justice warriors who are allegedly infiltrating our society and especially the universities. [do see my introductory remarks above: it’s not an allegation, it’s a matter of fact]

Marxism is wrong about everything, Jordan Peterson knows [me too, and ‘even’ Vladimir Putin agrees]. And not only that: in its new guise, Postmodernism, it threatens to lead the West into tyranny with its concept of equity, he says. Patriarchy, the oppression of minorities, white privilege are all constructs that serve to perpetuate the narrative. And that is what needs to be fought against.

Unlike seemingly strange figures from the right or aggressive conservative commentators, Jordan Peterson scores points with the habitus of the reflected university professor. The 60-year-old always appears in well-cut, somewhat old-fashioned suits, presents himself thoughtfully and as an interested listener. [I found this projection to be almost too good to be true: it’s actually true: he’s just that, a thoughtful professor (meritocracy!) who dresses to the occasion and, as a licensed psychologist, I damn hope he’s ‘an interested listener’. I think Ms. Theißl is either disingenuous and believes these aspects are somehow ‘bad’ (without making an argument) or stupid.] This goes down well with his audience, which consists mainly of young white men who virtually adore him. For them and their suffering from modern society, he also likes to shed a tear in interviews [nothing wrong about that, also, although I’m unsure this is a ‘winning argument’ with Ms. Theißl and her ilk, Bismarck was famous for tearing up to achieve his aims…]

Lobster Society and Women who want Children

‘There is something cult-like about his appearance’, says social psychologist and masculinity researcher Rolf Pohl [Prof. emeritus, U Hannover, bio here; I’m so glad that other professors manage to comport themselves, too, and also display the ‘habitus of the reflected university professor’ (/sarcasm): Pohl merely engages in name-calling without offering any evidence]. Peterson has perfected his appearance [again, hate of achievement]—and thus his business [I suppose this would qualify as a transferable skill]. He picks up young, insecure men with the feeling that they are not getting anything. ‘And then he offers them simple solutions that give them support’, says Pohl in an interview with Der Standard. Gender relations are at the centre of Peterson’s work, he laments a crisis of masculinity as well as young men who are not sufficiently valued by society, especially by feminists [now that’s a compression of Peterson’s views if there ever was one: lying by omission].

Male privilege and patriarchy: mere constructs. Hierarchies are completely natural, Peterson is convinced. He likes to explain this using the example of lobsters, which release more serotonin when they dominate others. ‘Stand up straight and with your shoulders back’, is one of his simple rules that promises a dominant habitus. In general, it is important to work diligently on oneself, to put one's own house in order.

Young men who follow his advice will achieve one thing above all: more attractiveness for women. Women, after all, prefer to look for dominant partners for reproduction, alpha males who have learned to deal with risks. [the flip side of this coin is this, then, by implicit admission: most self-identifying ‘allies’ are thus: beta or worse males]

Dangerous Female Powers

Of course, Jordan [now we’re on a first-name basis, for whatever reason; it’s a discursive break with the previous style] does not want to be an aggressive sexist. He likes to refer to ‘biological realities’ and the results of his psychological research [again, this piece reeks of anti-meritocratic condescension and the declaration that ‘biological realities’ that are, it would appear, something that needs to be placed in air quotes: WTF]. Peterson himself has coached highly successful professional women, but the fact is that women are simply not happy with a professional career, and by their late twenties at the latest, the desire to have children dominates. [what a contradictory paragraph]

Peterson also admits that women wield great power: being young and beautiful as a woman is even the ‘highest possible form of wealth’, he explains in an interview: ‘"If you were to ask a super-rich, 80-year-old woman whether she would give up 99% of her wealth to have the body of a 20-year-old, she would most likely do so’. [no evidence is provided, i.e., there’s no reference]

There is also danger in this feminine [note that this isn’t the same] power. In Peterson’s work, the feminine symbolically stands for chaos and the threatening, explains Rolf Pohl, while the masculine creates order and is clearly superior to the feminine: ‘This message is attractive to his male audience’, says the masculinity researcher. [this is as much a compressed, ‘alternative’ consideration of whatever Peterson says, whose argument is about complementarity, not superiority, as claimed by Pohl: fail, Herr Professor, please do your homework] ‘And in the end, Peterson always comes back to the same point: it’s about increasing reproductive attractiveness.’

The Right-Wing Dams Are Breaking

Family and partnership are always heterosexual in Peterson’s mind [same here, I’ve yet to find something he said where this is true—apart from the disingenuous argumentative sleight of hand by which Ms. Theißl proclaims to know what goes on in Peterson’s mind…], he also repeatedly drew attention with trans-hostile statements. He was temporarily banned from Twitter for a tweet attacking actor Elliot Page and condemning his transition. [so, calling out experimental medical procedures, such as ‘gender realignment surgery’, as being ‘criminal’, is somehow construed as ‘condemnation of Page’s ‘transition’] He was brought back to the platform by another self-declared fighter for freedom of expression: Elon Musk. [and whatever you’d like to think about Musk, freedom of expression is bad]

Peterson has since resigned his professorship at the University of Toronto - not without leaving behind a letter of rage. In the National Post, he raged that diversity, inclusivity and equality were destroying universities and that his male, white, heterosexual students were now disadvantaged. [here’s the op-ed, in case you’d like to read it and compare—contrast—it to the claims made by Ms. Theißl]

Where Peterson is to be located politically is disputed. When asked about the Alt-Right movement, the best-selling author usually reacts indignantly—and vehemently distances himself from concepts such as white supremacy. Conservative commentators also like to jump into the breach for Peterson: the psychologist is an important, conservative thinker who even prevents the public from drifting to the right. [it’s a Hobson’s choice for Peterson: he can’t say anything that won’t be attacked; I personally commend his spirits]

Meanwhile, in February, new videos of a conversation appeared on the net [yes, on his Youtube channel: here’s the video]. One positive side effect of the sexual revolution was that rape was perceived more as a crime against women and less as a property crime, says author Louise Perry [here’s her book on the subject]. ‘It’s complicated’, counters Peterson. Rather, if rape is a crime, he says, it needs something to get men on the woman’s side. To be a real deterrent, it must be made clear: ‘You enrage all their male protectors.’

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Bottom Lines

This is as much journalistic as professorial malpractice. Both Ms. Theißl and Prof. Pohl intellectually wetted themselves by cherry-picking this or that line by Peterson. As such, this is nothing new, but I’d argue that in doing so, they show that woke-ism is currently washing ashore in Central Europe—with a vengeance. Hence, their proactive smear campaign is perfectly understandable.

Please watch Peterson’s conversation with Louise Perry and (or) read her book:

The levels of hypocrisy, ignorance, and lack of professional standards—in journalism and academia—is mind-boggling, to say the least.

They are also indicative of woke-ism’s continued long march through the institutions.

Expect the culture wars to heat up just as Europe is getting ready to fight Russia for the next decade.

War-fighting itself is, of course, a hyper-masculine, tragic, and heroic endeavour. We’ll quite likely find out just how well ‘woke-ified’ Western ‘men’ would do against Russians fighting for the perceived survival of their country and civilisation.

Hence, we may, somewhat ironically, return to Marx:

History repeats itself, first as tragedy, second as farce.

The woke ‘cultural revolutionaries’ may be tragicomically inept and living in their own socially constructed variety of ‘reality’ (no worries, it’s fake and delusional), but woke-ism holds such vast, powerful amounts of influence in legacy media and among the professoriat that it will get worse before it may get better.

We’re in for quite a ride, and we’ll soon see the traffic accident masquerading as woke-ism and political correctness meeting objective reality in Europe.

Brace for impact.