Brief: Why Didn’t I Yell STFU at Jordan Peterson in 2017?

In the spring of 2017, Jordan Peterson first went viral by writing this in Canada’s National Post:
I will never use words I hate, like the trendy and artificially constructed words “zhe” and “zher.” These words are at the vanguard of a post-modern, radical leftist ideology that I detest, and which is, in my professional opinion, frighteningly similar to the Marxist doctrines that killed at least 100 million people in the 20th century.
Remember that horseshit, or things like it? Did you guffaw because he was obviously absurd? Did you try to reason with his stans online? Did you see him as a crank influencer, or a dangerous political figure?
Did you hope his ideas would be beaten down in the marketplace of ideas? Or did you seek him out at a public event and shout him down with a bullhorn?
Today, word salad like this is everywhere—including in Project 2025, now driving the Trump admin.
Matthew visits the antifascist woodshed to investigate the liberal manners, free speech naivety, and lack of community alliances that dissuaded him from grabbing the mic during a Peterson Q&A in 2017 and shouting:
“Your ideas are fascist and you should STFU. You are endangering trans people with your bullshit. Why do you care about how they experience their bodies, you whining pervert? Why are you inciting hatred against young people who want a better world?”
Because… look where we are now.
Show Notes
Read the Memo Pausing Federal Grants and Loans - The New York Times
President George H.W. Bush on political correctness (1991)
The History of Political Correctness—Lind
The Pitfalls of Liberalism — Kwame Ture
The Forgotten History of the World's First Trans Clinic | Scientific American
Jordan Peterson: The right to be politically incorrect | National Post
Bill C-16, An Act to amend the Canadian Human Rights Act and the Criminal Code (gender identity or expression)
Jordan Peterson is trying to make sense of the world — including his own strange journey
Postmodern Neo-Marxism — Jordan Peterson’s Shadow
Doug Ford met Jordan Peterson, appointment calendar reveals | CBC News
Why are the Proud Boys so violent? Ask Gavin McInnes — SPLC
Jordan Peterson revealed he once earned $400,000 a month
Antifa by Mark Bray

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Dismantling New Age cults, wellness grifters, and conspiracy-mad yogis. At best, the conspirituality movement attacks public health efforts in times of crisis. At worst, it fronts and recruits for the fever-dream of QAnon. As the alt-right and New Age horseshoe toward each other in a blur of disinformation, clear discourse, and good intentions get smothered. Charismatic influencers exploit their followers by co-opting conspiracy theories on a spectrum of intensity ranging from vaccines to child trafficking. In the process, spiritual beliefs that have nurtured creativity and meaning are transforming into memes of a quickly-globalizing paranoia. Conspirituality Podcast attempts to bring understanding to this landscape. A journalist, a cult researcher, and a philosophical skeptic discuss the stories, cognitive dissonances, and cultic dynamics tearing through the yoga, wellness, and new spirituality worlds. Mainstream outlets have noticed the problem. We crowd-source, research, analyze, and dream answers to it.

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