Friday, March 16, 2018

Mark Shea ponders Jordan Peterson

Hilarity ensues.  Mark's hatred of everything to the right of center, mixed with his slavish devotion to almost every narrative and doctrine of the political Left, should have put Peterson in the cross hairs months ago. With the exception of "gay marriage", which Mark barely mentions anymore, and abortion, which he blames almost exclusively on capitalism and sexist men, there are few significant differences between Mark and Daily Kos, or MSNBS, or Vox, or any other radical secular Left wing rag.

The problem?  Bishop Robert Barron has spoken and written somewhat extensively on the positive contributions that Peterson brings to the modern table. Of course Bishop Barron points out that Peterson is not a priest expounding the complete Gospel message.  And he, like most I know who value Peterson, can tell where Peterson is in line with the Christian tradition and where he isn't.

Nonetheless, Bishop Barron, who has not bowed before the Leftist juggernaut, obviously sees much value in Peterson and in the timing of Peterson's ascension.  This makes it tough for Mark.  Mark has long praised Bishop Barron as a shining light in modern Catholicism.  And rightly so.  Bishop Barron brings much to the modern debate.  And what's more, he says the same thing about Peterson that most Christians I know say about Peterson.

So Mark does what he can. I was going to write a lengthy piece unpacking Mark's humorous attempts to twist and turn and desperately avoid the obvious points Bishop Barron makes, but I figured I'd do what he did to Barron's review of Peterson - post a link. Read away.  Especially read the comments, since they help explain why so many see value in Peterson, given the appeal to arrogance behind many of his critics.  Not just arrogance aimed at Peterson but, as usual, aimed at any who don't fall in line behind the Left (which one reader seems to think doesn't really exist).  There are exceptions of course. (NOTE: as of now, the comment explaining identity politics/Marxist influences has been removed, though it could be a glitch since there is no note saying it was removed - having been on Patheos, I know it's a different animal to actually erase a comment than merely deleting one..  Perhaps check back later) 

I will say one thing.  Mark compared the kids at Parkland with vets hitting the beaches at Normandy.  It's not like exaggeration is foreign to those on the Left, where every ally is an angelic hero, every problem the next Holocaust, and every opponent Hitler.  And there is something to be said about the comparison, since those who are victims of mass shootings are not trained the way soldiers in war are trained and prepared.

Nonetheless, I have it on good authority that even witnessing the worst of a mass shooting pales in comparison to the horrors and reason defying carnage and slaughter that one experiences in combat, especially modern, industrialized combat.  That sort of exaggeration goes a long way toward nowhere, and does little to elevate the debate, honor the dead, or keep things where they need to be, and that's real.

11 comments:

  1. The comparison also cheapens those kids honored by our military for their service.
    https://www.armytimes.com/news/your-army/2018/02/20/army-honors-three-jrotc-cadets-killed-in-florida-shooting/

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    1. To the press's credit, they did cover the story - to a point. Most activists, however, seem to have been unaware of their stories, since I've not seen many reference them.

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  2. I would perhaps not even post links to Shea, as i know that the folks at patheos get paid by the "hit" to their sites.

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    1. We'll have to teach Dave how to archive.

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    2. I kick it around sometimes, but Mark has come to the point of making false statements and misrepresenting what the Church teaches and what he has said the Church teaches in the past, and that's dangerous. I'd take it to Mark himself, but like so many, he banned me over a year ago and never addressed my attempts to reach him.

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    3. Nate, that sort of thing is beyond my ken.

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  3. I think it is funny that Mark would characterize Peterson as a fad. It probably hasn't sunk in with a lot of people on the left that they are being abandoned by what one might call, old fashioned liberals. (aka non leftist) That, Peterson is but a player, in a larger movement, that is seeing the creation of a new center, political and otherwise, in the life of the West. That each month another outrage sees an individual make the rounds, ( i.e. an interview on Tucker, Dave Rubin, Joe Rogan, and/or others). These people from Peterson, Bret Weinstein, James DiMore, and Cassie Jaye among others, didn't set out to get attention but like that man standing in front of the tanks in Tianamen Square, have simply stood up and said, no to the lunacy of our age. Mark doesn't know that he is one of the people in the Tanks, so sad.

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    1. That's a great insight. I've been noticing the same thing. It especially hit me when I learned Alan Dershowitz is a FOX News contributor. My whole adult life, Dershowitz was a loud voice against the religious right, Christian conservatives and conservatives in general. He was an agnostic liberal all the way. Does that mean he's now a righty? Nope. Still liberal. But while he (like Peterson and a growing list) acknowledged the obvious extremes of the Right, they see the radical Left as every bit as dangerous, if not more because nobody is calling them out. Instead, the worst of the Left is being advocated, defended and promoted in places like universities and the press. That's what Mark seems to miss. Why I don't know. It's like just as soon as Mark decided to jump from Conservative Catholic to the Left, it was when the Left revealed itself in all its glory. All Mark can do is keep the mantra 'to the right of center is all evil, everyone else is swell' and hope nobody notices, or forces him to admit what you point out. In fact, Mark has now joined the Left in saying Christian business owners probably got what they deserved when they didn't want to do gay weddings. That was something Mark once called a naked assault on religious liberty. Now he joins the tanks.

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  4. The thing we have to remember is that it isn't just Mark, but the media both old and new (think google youtube twitter Facebook ), the universities ETC have jumped into this goo right when so many rank and file liberals are looking on going eeuw yuck, get that away from me.

    Let me apologize for introducing something new https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xtf4FDlpPZ8
    A conversation between Peterson and Iain McGilchrist. The next two book I want to read are Petersons 12 rules and McGilchrist's The Master and his Emissary which may be more important. The more I listen to McGilchrist the more I think about the argument between Gandalf and Saruman in TFOTR.

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    1. No, Mark is not alone. Mark's problem is that he is treated like a Catholic voice by Catholics who should know better. His has become a platform for almost any and all anti-Catholic and anti-Life views, as long as you provide the requisite hatred for anyone right of center. The irony is, just as he is becoming more entrenched in the radical Left, so many rank and file liberals, as you point out, are seeing the glaring problems in that movement. I'll admit I don't know McGilchrist that well. But then I don't know Peterson that well either. I've heard of him for a couple years now, but as I've said, mostly see what he offers as what we used to call common sense.

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    2. BTW, I mention Dershowitz as a major eye-opener. In fairness, I think much of his push away from the Left was the shellacking that Israel got under the Obama years. The left's almost brazen 'we don't care if Israelis die' attitude, linked to almost everything that went against Israel's well being, I think had a bigger impact on Jewish support for the Democrats than many have suggested.

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