“Remember when pride was a sin? And Ellen Page just had her breasts removed by a criminal physician.”
For tweeting these words, renowned psychologist, author, and public intellectual Dr Jordan B. Peterson has earned a “strike” from Twitter, meaning his account, which has 2.8 million followers, is suspended until he deletes the tweet. Twitter forces those who violate their inconsistent, arbitrary, and ideological “rules” to delete their wrongspeak themselves, in keeping with the communist practise of extracting confessions of defying their ideology.
The screenshot posted by Peterson’s daughter, Mikhaela, reveals Twitter believes he posted “hateful conduct.” Hate speech, of course, is a nebulous term used by the Left entirely for the purpose of attacking ideological dissidents – those who commit mortal sin against the unholy trinity of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, which Peterson presumably did by:
- Suggesting that pride is sinful, as the Bible teaches, and this during “Pride Month” (although this could be a coincidence)
- “Deadnaming” and “misgendering” “Elliot” Page
- Connecting “Elliot’s” post-surgery selfies to the sin of pride
- Calling those who perform such surgeries criminals
Dr Peterson is correct on all these points, but the ideologues at Twitter HQ disagree, so they’ve suspended his account until he confesses his alleged wrongdoing. The psychologist has since dismantled Twitter’s arbitrariness and ideological zealotry in a video on his other social media platforms. Basically, it’s up to him to interpret how his words were “hateful,” and he’d “rather die” than delete the tweet. In fact, he considers his suspension a “badge of honour,” and rightly so.
It’s fitting that his suspension from Twitter coincides with the recent announcement that he will be joining the Daily Wire and hosting exclusive content on their new streaming platform. The more the Marxists censor and silence, the more appeal such alternative services have.
It’s ironic that Peterson, a man who has studied the horrors of the Soviet Union in depth, is being subjected to something resembling a Soviet show trial. Though not as serious, it’s the same in principle. Twitter is telling Peterson: “Admit that this obviously true thing you said was wrong or admit that you did something you clearly didn’t do, and we’ll let you off the hook.” The truth doesn’t matter on Twitter, what matters is that you don’t transgress the prevailing Woke religion its employees adhere to.
The University of Toronto professor rose to prominence in 2016 when he publicly opposed Canada’s Bill C-16, which essentially made contradicting someone’s “gender identity” or “gender orientation” a criminal offense, and a violation of one’s human rights. In other words, if a man says he’s a woman, and you say he’s a man (which is true) then you’re a criminal. Dr Peterson, having studied totalitarianism, rightly saw that this amounted to “enforced speech,” and that it was a draconian imposition on thought itself. Now he’s in the thought police’s crosshairs again over virtually the same issue.
As is the case with all truth-tellers, Jordan Peterson’s opposition comes solely from those who have something to lose if people are permitted to think and speak freely, and he has observed that Old Testament prophets served God and the people by speaking truth to power. The truth shines light on wrong ideas, inconsistencies, and hypocrisy, and is thereby instrumental in toppling tyranny. It serves as a warning signal, a call to repentance, to people who are being enveloped by lies and having their consciences increasingly infringed upon. The intersectional ideologues simply can’t have someone stating the obvious, lest their grip on people’s thoughts be weakened, and they can’t respond to Peterson on any meaningful level, so they must resort to censorship, baseless accusations of having impure motivations, and threats. That’s cancel culture in a nutshell. Remember, Socrates was executed for corrupting the youth of Athens because he was teaching them how to think.
Jordan Peterson won’t relent to Twitter’s demands. He’s a man of principle, committed to telling and seeking the truth, whatever the price may be. After all, the 8th of his 12 Rules for Life is “Tell the truth – or, at least, don’t lie.” Speaking true words, and not allowing yourself to utter false ones, is central to Peterson’s philosophy of life. It’s an axiomatic principle, as he might say, for ordering one’s life towards the good, towards a proper aim, and thereby minimising the murkiness of chaos in one’s own life and in the world. His commitment to truth has helped countless people, primarily lost young men, both by his courageous example and by teaching them that the truth serves as a compass to navigate the tempest of life. Men like Peterson who live this way, and encourage others to do the same, always tick off those for whom the truth is inconvenient.
When asked on the ABC’s Q&A program about how to respond to cancel culture, Peterson replied, “If you haven’t done anything wrong, do not apologise.” Why? One reason is that it never works. The cancel culture mob never forgive. They’re out for blood, hoping to publicly humiliate their opponents and frighten others away from daring to voice opinions that threaten their worldview.
Another, more fundamental, reason is that one of Peterson’s heroes, Gulag survivor and author of The Gulag Archipelago, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, said this:
“Even if all is covered by lies, even if all is under their rule, let us resist in the smallest way: Let their rule hold not through me!… And as for him who lacks the courage to defend even his own soul: Let him not brag of his progressive views, boast of his status as an academician or a recognized artist, a distinguished citizen or general. Let him say to himself plainly: I am cattle, I am a coward, I seek only warmth and to eat my fill.”
Solzhenitsyn understood that the horrors of the Soviet Union were only possible because people allowed themselves to be ruled by maxims that they knew weren’t true. That’s why Twitter’s ideological presuppositions and arbitrariness with dispensing account suspensions matters. It paves the way for more lies to possess us. Peterson understand this, too, so if Twitter won’t allow him to speak the truth, then to hell with Twitter. The chain of falsehood must be broken at some point.
What Peterson tweeted is true. It’s also true that there’s more to being a man than simply not having breasts. Being a man is about courage – including the courage to speak truthfully in the face of tyranny, and Jordan Peterson has once again exemplified that virtue. May we follow his example and live not by lies.
