Jordan Peterson to get “retrained?”

[George K]

[George K]

WSJ today:

The Campaign to Re-Educate Jordan Peterson

For speaking his mind, the psychologist could lose his license.

You would think Canadians had learned by now not to tell Jordan Peterson what to say. The psychology professor became an internet sensation in 2016 after arguing that Canadian legislation amounted to “compelled speech” on gender pronouns. Now the College of Psychologists of Ontario is demanding that Mr. Peterson acknowledge he “lacked professionalism” in public statements and undergo a “coaching program” of remedial education.

The College of Psychologists, the profession’s governing body in Ontario, appointed an investigator in March to examine complaints about Mr. Peterson’s comments on Twitter and the popular Joe Rogan podcast. On Nov. 22, the College’s panel released a decision. Per images provided by Mr. Peterson, the panel ruled: “The comments at issue appear to undermine the public trust in the profession as a whole, and raise questions about your ability to carry out your responsibilities as a psychologist.”

What are these comments? Calling Elliot Page, the transgender actor, by his former name, “Ellen,” and the pronoun “her,” on Twitter. Calling an adviser to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau a “prik.” A sarcastic crack at antigrowth environmentalists for not caring that their energy policies lead to more deaths of poor Third World children.

Calling a former client “vindictive.” Objecting to a Sports Illustrated swimsuit cover of a plus-size model: “Sorry. Not Beautiful. And no amount of authoritarian tolerance is going to change that.” In Canada even offenses begin with “sorry.”

“The impact risk in this case is significant,” the panel found, because the comments “may cause harm.” It counseled Mr. Peterson that coaching would help “mitigate any risks to the public.” The College of Psychologists declined to comment on the case, citing confidentiality.

Mr. Peterson responded sensibly: “Who exactly was harmed, how, when, to what degree, and how was that harm measured”? He says there have been about a dozen formal complaints since 2017, each one demanding a formal reply. One complainant cited Mr. Peterson’s Twitter response to a critic worried about overpopulation: “You’re free to leave at any point.” Mr. Peterson thinks the investigations aren’t about mitigating harm but preventing free expression, and that “the process is the punishment,” giving online detractors an effective way to badger him.

Professional bodies are supposed to ensure that practitioners are competent, not enforce political orthodoxies or act as language police outside the office. But that’s the trend in Western medical associations and beyond. The Law Society of Ontario had pushed a mandatory diversity pledge for all lawyers until a members’ revolt took over the board and nixed the pledge in 2019. At the time, an Ontario lawyer objected to the “ever-expanding mission to socially engineer the profession.”

Sounds like an issue of id, ego and superego. You could ask a psychologist about it.

[George K]

"Here are the demands made of me with regard to my re-education. I have formally indicated my refusal to comply @CPOntario"

[Jolly]

I'd tell them to pound sand.

[Horace]

I suppose it will help his public intellectual career to be fired over this.

[Jolly]

It's worse than fired. It's his license on the line.

[George K]

[Horace]

[Mik]

You can’t say anything that might hurt someone’s feelings. Ridiculous.

[Catseye3]

I dunno . . . being kicked out of this group might be a good thing.

I'm reminded of Groucho's joke about not caring to belong to a club that would have him as a member.

[George K]

@Catseye3 said in Jordan Peterson to get “retrained?”:

I dunno . . . being kicked out of this group might be a good thing.

If he loses his license to practice, it might not be so good.

[Horace]

If he still practices, it is for the principle of it. He doesn’t need the income.

[Aqua Letifer]

@Catseye3 said in Jordan Peterson to get “retrained?”:

I dunno . . . being kicked out of this group might be a good thing.

Having a clinical license revoked due to the politics someone holds isn't good. It's bad. You should be able to see why the implications are bigger than the incident.

[Renauda]

@Aqua-Letifer

Agreed. Not sure if he has even been in clinic the past number of years. Too busy on the lecture circuit, then rehab then back to being a media persona on all topics including those the he has no clue such as international affairs and security.

[Doctor Phibes]

@Renauda said in Jordan Peterson to get “retrained?”:

@Aqua-Letifer

Agreed. Not sure if he has even been in clinic the past number of years. Too busy on the lecture circuit, then rehab then back to being a media persona on all topics including those the he has no clue such as international affairs and security.

Yes, if he loses his license the irony is he'll be unable to talk about the stuff he really knows about and be free to pontificate at great length on all the things he doesn't.

[Horace]

@Doctor-Phibes said in Jordan Peterson to get “retrained?”:

@Renauda said in Jordan Peterson to get “retrained?”:

@Aqua-Letifer

Agreed. Not sure if he has even been in clinic the past number of years. Too busy on the lecture circuit, then rehab then back to being a media persona on all topics including those the he has no clue such as international affairs and security.

Yes, if he loses his license the irony is he'll be unable to talk about the stuff he really knows about and be free to pontificate at great length on all the things he doesn't.

I haven't heard him pontificate about stuff he knows nothing about. Where he errs, at times, IMO, is in giving platforms to people who allegedly know what they're talking about, but are off the deep end on those subjects.

[Aqua Letifer]

@Horace said in Jordan Peterson to get “retrained?”:

@Doctor-Phibes said in Jordan Peterson to get “retrained?”:

@Renauda said in Jordan Peterson to get “retrained?”:

@Aqua-Letifer

Agreed. Not sure if he has even been in clinic the past number of years. Too busy on the lecture circuit, then rehab then back to being a media persona on all topics including those the he has no clue such as international affairs and security.

Yes, if he loses his license the irony is he'll be unable to talk about the stuff he really knows about and be free to pontificate at great length on all the things he doesn't.

I haven't heard him pontificate about stuff he knows nothing about. Where he errs, at times, IMO, is in giving platforms to people who allegedly know what they're talking about, but are off the deep end on those subjects.

Least he gives it a shot, I'd say.

[Renauda]

@Doctor-Phibes said in Jordan Peterson to get “retrained?”:

@Renauda said in Jordan Peterson to get “retrained?”:

@Aqua-Letifer

Agreed. Not sure if he has even been in clinic the past number of years. Too busy on the lecture circuit, then rehab then back to being a media persona on all topics including those the he has no clue such as international affairs and security.

Yes, if he loses his license the irony is he'll be unable to talk about the stuff he really knows about and be free to pontificate at great length on all the things he doesn't.

True enough, however I will cut him some slack on the question of Putin’s personal psychology.Peterson is spot on as far as I’m concerned. As he should be, after all, human psychology is his profession and I am confident that he is more than just a little competent in that area.

In the following clip Peterson fails to mention in his defence that the reason he was criticised was his stated reliance on the dubious analysis of the conflict of John Mearsheimer:

Link to video

He really ought to stay close to human and social psychology and not stray too far beyond.

I truly do think he has a lot of valid points in his sphere of expertise.

[Horace]

Good conversation with lots to think about here, between Jordan and his daughter:

Link to video

We often hear from the left that the right represents an "existential threat" in various ways, but those ways are inevitably some broad-scale slippery slope where an entire society might be wrested into the control of tyrants.

To cherry pick one small point he made during the discussion - Jordan says that fear can be classified into two categories. Fear of biological deterioration such as death, injury, and infirmity, and fear of social exclusion. Both classes of fear are equally meaningful and existential. As the left bandies about the idea that the right represents these abstract existential threats, it also wields as a weapon, the threat of social exclusion against anybody who doesn't toe their line ideologically. From an evolutionary standpoint, social exclusion really did mean death. That's a point I've made here in the past. It's why, if you don't consider cultural programming as central to the thoughts and feels of the masses, you're missing out on the the best way to make sense of anything at all. The price of not following along with the culture, is existential. We're wired that way, and it's why, if you want to understand people's thoughts and feels, you have to understand their programming. You also have to understand, which side is able to make credible threats of social exclusion?

[Horace]

Link to video