tickets available here<\/a>, by the way: ) or not, as they see fit. But none of those fine details matter, because this sentence was only written to justify the next, the kicker\u2014around which the statement truly revolves in its entirety:<\/p>\n\u201cAs many in our community have been disturbed and angered by Mr. Peterson\u2019s racist, misogynist, and transphobic views, we would like to use this opportunity to reiterate our commitments and values to all of you as your elected representatives.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\u201cAs many in our community\u2026\u201d<\/strong> — Who? Best that they remain anonymous, I suppose, for their supposed safety and peace of mind. How many? That is not something that needs to be stated or known, apparently \u2013 and how convenient for the denouncers that such is the case.<\/p>\n\u201cHave been disturbed and angered\u2026\u201d<\/strong> Why? Justifiably or unjustifiably? Because of their sensitivity, or because of what was said? What was said that was so disturbing and angering, by the way? Of course, none of that matters in the least, because if anyone anywhere is \u201cdisturbed and angered\u201d about anything whatsoever then whoever is blamed for that disturbance and anger is deemed in keeping with such thought as (1) guilty and (2) reprehensible.<\/p>\n\u201cRacist, misogynistic and transphobic views\u2026\u201d<\/strong> That\u2019s quite the evil triad. I\u2019m a racist and I hate women (or disapprove of them, or something of that sort). I\u2019ll ignore \u201ctransphobic\u201d as it\u2019s a word I despise, although trans people are welcome to go to hell in a handbasket or ascend to heaven in their own particularly manner, as far as I am concerned, as long as those of them who are activists keep their damned mitts off the rights and responsibilities I bear in relationship to my words. Note as well (and this is also of primary import): this statement is not written merely to denounce me. No: it\u2019s written to denounce everyone who has the temerity to buy a ticket to this event. If my views are \u201cracist, misogynistic and transphobic\u201d then clearly everyone who wants to hear me express them is deplorable in the same manner.<\/p>\nNote that the writers provide no documentation whatsoever to indicate that these allegations are true: no quotation, no sourcing, no evidence whatsoever that any of the denouncers are familiar in the least with anything I have actually said or done. Furthermore, since the allegations are put forward merely as a matter of fact, the statement is written to imply that all those who are good will unquestioningly hold such opinions (since no proof of their validity is necessary). And then, a mere two sentences later, this claim: \u201cThose who seek to exclude or deny the humanity of others will find no comfort here.\u201d<\/strong> I presume by \u201cothers\u201d the writers mean \u201cgroups of others\u201d because they certainly have no problem generating and distributing serious allegations against identifiable and particular individuals (myself, the DPAC administrators and all those who wish to attend my lecture) when they feel warranted to do so)<\/p>\nSo far, the writers aimed at the following ends:<\/p>\n
1) To avoid responsibility and point a finger of blame at erstwhile colleagues.
\n2) To denounce me and my hypothetical audience (and claim moral superiority)<\/p>\n
This does not yet satisfy their ambitions. Next,\u00a0a little egregious and self-serving electioneering is inserted, based upon that avoidance, blame and denunciation, in case the readers have failed to notice that the writers were career politicians: \u201cwe would like to use this opportunity to reiterate our commitments and values to all of you as your elected representatives.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\nEven that does not suffice. Following that, in sequence? A lengthy and cliched declamation of the self-evident virtues of the left, written to ensure that the writers and everyone who encounters the article is left with no doubt about just who is on the side of the angels and who is not \u2013 complete with all the requisite gestures, identity-politics references and ideologically appropriate buzzwords:<\/p>\n
\u201cWe believe that Durham is a place for all of us – black, white, Asian, Latinx, indigenous, and mixed-race, trans and cis, gay and lesbian, queer, and straight, disabled and able-bodied, young and elderly, women, men, and non-binary, native and immigrant, secular and people of faith.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\u201cWe believe that everyone in our city should have the opportunity to thrive in an equitable and inclusive community.We understand that this opportunity has been intentionally and unjustly denied to many of our residents on the basis of race, class, gender, and other aspects of their identities.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\u201cWe honor single parents, non-nuclear families, gay, lesbian, and queer families, and chosen families who are building lives full of love and support for each other and for the children in our community.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\u201cWe believe that all types of families raise healthy children who are prepared to succeed and make a positive contribution to the world.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\u201cWe believe that men and women are equally competent leaders and thinkers and that women should be in leadership roles in our community. We believe that violence against women is horrific and unacceptable under any circumstances. Women do not owe anyone access to or any level of control over their bodies or sexuality. We honor trans and non-binary residents and believe that respecting each other requires a commitment to using the names and pronouns that each of us identifies with. We will do all that we can to ensure that trans and non-binary people feel safe and respected in our community.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\u201cWe invite the Durham community to recommit ourselves to these values as a city and a community and to reject and resist bigotry wherever we encounter it.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\nEverything that is reprehensible about the radical and ideologically-possessed left \u2013 all the moral self-righteousness, the platitudes, the clich\u00e9s, the mindless celebration of diversity for the sake of the demonstration of tolerance, the naivete, and the appalling malevolence of casual denunciation \u2013 is on painful display in this missive. Exposure to such a piece of writing left me with a strong desire for a hot shower accompanied by plenty of soap and a scrub brush.[\/fusion_text][fusion_table]<\/p>\n
\n
\n\n\n<\/p>\n Mayor Pro Tem Jillian Johnson<\/th>\n | In closing (to paraphrase a well-known dead white male):<\/strong><\/p>\n O most pernicious woman!<\/strong><\/p>\nO villain, villain, smiling, damn\u00e8d villain!<\/strong><\/p>\nMy tables\u2014meet it is I set it down<\/strong><\/p>\nThat one may smile, and smile, and be a villain\u2014<\/strong><\/p>\nAt least I am sure it may be so in Durham.<\/strong><\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n\n\n<\/td>\n | <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A few days ago (July 6, 2018) Mayor Pro Tempore Jillian Johnson and her colleagues on the Durham city council saw fit to release\u00a0a statement on FaceBook concerning my upcoming 12 Rules for Life Tour appearance September 10 at the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":38351,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[57],"tags":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jordanbpeterson.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38364"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jordanbpeterson.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jordanbpeterson.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jordanbpeterson.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jordanbpeterson.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38364"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.jordanbpeterson.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38364\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":44957,"href":"https:\/\/www.jordanbpeterson.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38364\/revisions\/44957"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jordanbpeterson.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38351"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jordanbpeterson.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38364"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jordanbpeterson.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38364"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jordanbpeterson.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38364"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}} | |