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Jordan Peterson, Hero

Clinical psychologist triumphs over ideologically-driven journalistic idiocy

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMcjxSThD54&w=525&h=300]

This 30-minute interview from Britain’s Channel 4 with clinical psychologist Jordan Peterson is INCREDIBLE. If you’re at work, make a note to yourself to watch it when you get home. The interviewer, Cathy Newman, makes a fool of herself. She doesn’t listen to what Peterson says, and keeps badly restating his arguments as, “So, you’re saying that …” — and then completely mischaracterizing him. It is astonishing to watch — and he keeps his cool the entire time!

The interview ought to be shown in journalism classes as an example of what happens when a journalist believes that ideological ardor substitutes for reason, and that contempt for her interview subject should rightly override professionalism.

More than that, what Peterson has to see is very, very sensible. If you’ve never heard of him before, and this interview is the first exposure you’ve had to him, you’re bound to want to know more — and maybe even pre-order his book, 12 Rules For Life. I’ve been a fan of his from afar, but now I’ve got to buy that book when it comes out later this month.

If you don’t have time for the entire interview, at least watch from 22:00 on. At one point, he leaves his interviewer literally speechless, when he puts a very simple point to her about why free speech is necessary for her to do her job. Well done. Brilliantly done.

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