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View Full Version : Why Can't People Hear What Jordan Peterson Is Saying?



Chris
01-26-2018, 02:40 PM
You don't need to know who Sarah Jones is or Jordan Peterson, though I've posted stuff from him before. What's important here is to recognize rhetorical sophistry, the sort we see from the left here quite a bit, where you try to make a serious statement or sincere argument and some troll on the left insincerely twists what you say. You see this nough you start to think it's not mere stupidity but deliberate as a postmodern rhetorical style.

Why Can't People Hear What Jordan Peterson Is Saying? (https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2018/01/putting-monsterpaint-onjordan-peterson/550859/)


...But in the interview, Newman relies on this technique to a remarkable extent, making it a useful illustration of a much broader pernicious trend. Peterson was not evasive or unwilling to be clear about his meaning. And Newman’s exaggerated restatements of his views mostly led viewers astray, not closer to the truth.

Peterson begins the interview by explaining why he tells young men to grow up and take responsibility for getting their lives together and becoming good partners. He notes he isn’t talking exclusively to men, and that he has lots of female fans.

“What’s in it for the women, though?” Newman asks.

“Well, what sort of partner do you want?” Peterson says. “Do you want an overgrown child? Or do you want someone to contend with who is going to help you?”

“So you’re saying,” Newman retorts, “that women have some sort of duty to help fix the crisis of masculinity.” But that’s not what he said. He posited a vested interest, not a duty.

“Women deeply want men who are competent and powerful,” Peterson goes on to assert. “And I don’t mean power in that they can exert tyrannical control over others. That’s not power. That’s just corruption. Power is competence. And why in the world would you not want a competent partner? Well, I know why, actually, you can’t dominate a competent partner. So if you want domination—”

The interviewer interrupts, “So you’re saying women want to dominate, is that what you’re saying?”

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