IGNORANT BIGOTRY

Yesterday I responded directly to a tweet posted by an American university's socialist student group which tarred Dr. Jordan Peterson with the label "transphobe". They were exhorting followers to sign a banning petition against Dr. Peterson. I rarely write direct responses on Twitter. But the socialists' tweet had used the rainbow flag to advertise its petition to ban Dr. Peterson from speaking at their campus. They may as well have waved a red flag in front of a charging bull. I was incensed. 

I addressed my response to the LGBTQ+ socialists of the group to inform them that Dr. Peterson has never been proven to be "transphobic". First, anyone who has listened to Dr. Peterson objectively realizes he isn't likely to be irrationally afraid of much, let alone people with gender dysphoria. Second, nobody with an IQ over 80 is likely to have an irrational fear of people with gender dysphoria, since this population is self-admittedly rather a small and generally discreet minority. So, this whole "transphobe = Nazi" outrage seems rather inflated. I believe it is a false (rainbow) flag. 

I noticed that the tweet and my response were deleted this morning. I have no idea why.

What is gained by trying to convince people that someone intelligent is irrationally afraid of you? And why wouldn't a university have at least one adult who would point this out to these youthful idealists? And where are the voices of the rational gay-lesbian professors and students at a university when the rainbow flag is appropriated for such vile misrepresentation? 

Coincidentally, yesterday my domestic partner, a thin man of 68 years, was elbowed off a sidewalk in our neighborhood by an obese female adolescent, a member of a small group who passed him. Peter was alone. This was more than microaggression. It was battery. But it is hunting season against old White men, even in this bourgeois suburb. 

The attack on Dr. Jordan Peterson's character and right to express himself when invited by a university to speak is symptomatic of a demographic and economic shift on the ground in the U.S.. Our cities are rapidly developing wealthy cores, surrounded by disenchanted rings of struggling urban and suburban populations. More Americans are living in large cities and around them. The ability to squeeze out of the struggling external rings of cities into the luxurious centers is rapidly growing out of reach for the greater majority. The education-debt trap has made this more painful for adolescents and young adults as they look to the future. The process of growing up into an autonomous adult has become slowed and, in the case of the less intelligent, blocked. Misguided doting by parents and educators has exacerbated the problems as well. 

The attack on Peter was symptomatic of resentment. Media have portrayed old White people as privileged and withholding demons for some years now. The preponderance of Nazi references, usually aimed at older White men, is interestingly ironic. Demographically, White men in the U.S. will inevitably become a minority. Is all this Nazi referencing a subconscious threat about what will happen to White people when they do become a minority?

The Nazis blamed Jews for the oppression of Germans after WWI. Will a majority of non-White Americans blame Whites in a similar fashion? Is what is happening in South Africa a preview? I hope not, for the sake of all Americans. 

Dr. Peterson's messages are based in behavioral science and his attained wisdom after years of clinical practice. I personally disagree with some of his conclusions and opinions. But I respect the man, his obvious eloquence and his ability to converse with people who disagree with him. I do not respect ignorant bigotry and name-calling. I do not respect bullies or mindless mobs. It seems to me that those with the loudest claims of oppression today in the U.S. are the most aggressively oppressive. Banning, shouting down and even rioting are their methodologies. This is not progressive. This a misguided payback based on historical grudges, some of which have no roots in reality or any conceivable sense of social justice.