Jordan Peterson Put Himself on a Much-Needed Twitter Time-Out

It’s a bitter pill when you try to troll the libs but get dunked on

Unfortunately, Jordan Peterson is still out there rambling to live audiences, giving unsolicited and unhinged rants on podcasts, weeping in every single appearance, and has been tweeting his thumbs off.

I’ve made my thoughts on the man public on numerous occasions, and recently met with a friend who loves him, and we had a very fun back and forth while getting a hefty gin buzz. I’ve admitted there could be some value drawn from his personal development riff-raff, but overall believe he’s a massive net negative. In my opinion, writer Nathan Robinson said it best, “If Jordan Peterson is the most influential intellectual in the Western world, the Western world has lost its damn mind.”

But it’s a free country, he has every right to spew his nonsense wherever people want to hear it, and he’s going to continue his chaotic senseless speeches bouncing hectically from Stalin to God to radical feminism to freedom to all-meat diets while zoned-out audiences try their best to follow the long-forgotten thread.

But he won’t be as active on Twitter.

After a slate of recent controversies and murderous ratio-ing, he is taking a break from the platform, stating in a series of tweets, “I recently stopped accessing Twitter for three weeks as an experiment. I had some of my staff post video links etc. It was a genuine relief. I started to read & write more. I started using it again, a few days ago, and I would say that my life got worse again almost instantly…The endless flood of vicious insult is really not something that can be experienced anywhere else. I like to follow the people I know but I think the incentive structure of the platform makes it intrinsically and dangerously insane…So I told my staff to change my password, to keep me from temptation, and am departing once again. If I have something to say I’ll write an article or make a video. If the issue is not important enough to justify that then perhaps it would be best to just let it go.”

I don’t disagree with him there. Twitter is a dumpster fire of insults and trolling. And the algorithm and incentive structure are flawed and promote controversy. That’s why I’ve never tweeted and hadn’t created an account until this March to follow specific journalists and get updates on the war.

It’s just not worth it to mix it up on that platform. It can have utility if you’re a public figure with an audience, but to get into spats and tweeting wars is absolutely senseless.

It’s all about trolling, triggering, and scoring imaginary points; that’s it.

Post that you’re having a live event, that a new podcast episode dropped, or the release date for a new book. That works.

But if you post political opinions, you have to be ready for some vicious counters. You have to have thick skin because people are going to call you every name in the book with the sole intent of pissing you off.

Jordan Peterson can’t handle that. I’m not sure what is up with his mental health, but it is worrying. Literally every time I see a clip of his appearances he’s weeping, usually out of nowhere. He does not seem to be mentally healthy at all, and therefore shouldn’t be on Twitter.

He definitely shouldn’t be trying to troll people on Twitter.

But that’s exactly what he did.

…he’s going to continue his chaotic senseless speeches bouncing hectically from Stalin to God to radical feminism to freedom to all-meat diets while zoned-out audiences try their best to follow the long-forgotten thread.

As a public figure, he could use the platform in a low-key fashion and stick to posting updates and links to videos or podcasts. In a clearly overly emotional state with questionable mental health or personal problems, he should be looking to keep it as positive and drama-free as possible, but of course, he wasn’t.

He was tweeting dozens of times a day and got into a back and forth with progressive political commentator David Pakman. Pakman is a clever, professional, and fair dude. He’s not my favorite but his content can be very informative.

He made a video criticizing Jordan Peterson for weeping while giving a speech at a graduate school. JP is a climate change skeptic — one of the many reasons he’s a massive net negative — and was crying about climate activism, insinuating we shouldn’t tell kids about what’s happening to the planet because they get nihilistic — I love when right-wing ‘rational Western science lovers’ ignore the science that doesn’t fit their ideology. Let’s not make a sustainable society, reverse global warming, and save the planet. Let’s lie to kids so they don’t get upset and protest.

As I said, Pakman is usually fair and wasn’t overly critical of JP but rightly thought the segment was bizarre as Peterson is demeaning, rambles, gets heated, swears, mentions Mao, and then bursts into tears.

Peterson took to Twitter for a short rebuttal and caught some flack. Then he posted that aforementioned tweet about the platform being ‘a vicious flood of endless insult.’

Again, he has every right to tweet at Pakman, but he should be ready for the counters.

That wasn’t the worst part of it. He was already mixing it up and could have cooled the situation down by laying low or posting about his favorite cut of beef, but he didn’t.

Instead, that same freaking day, he took to Twitter to post this:

He couldn’t help himself. Sports Illustrated had a plus-sized model on its cover, and he had to tweet his opinion. Authoritarian tolerance? Please, dude.

Nobody forced him to post this ridiculousness. He went out of his way to tweet that he didn’t find a woman on the cover of a magazine attractive. What the hell was he expecting was going to happen?

Of course, he got absolutely shredded and ratioed to high heaven. Here are a few of my favorites:

But Jordan, you look like a lizard that perished in a tub of old yogurt. @JuliusGoat

When did incel Kermit become the arbiter of what qualifies as beautiful? — James Fell

I need all of my twitter followers to know that I just saw a plus sized model in Sports Illustrated and I am definitely offended and not horny at all… please know that.— Forrest Miller @AlwaysFlacko

my guy you look like a child’s skeleton covered in mayonnaise with dryer lint on the top. you’re in no position to be assessing anybody’s beauty you rickety junkie. — K. Thor Jensen

Again, what the hell was he thinking? Have all the shitty opinions you want JP, but the moment you go out of your way to post that you’re going to get dunked on.

Obviously, women and critics are going to pile on scorn, ridicule, and insults. But it’s very typical of right-wing pundits to say horrible and stupid sh*t, catch a ton of flack, get made fun of, get ratioed, and then play the victim.

Even many of Peterson’s fans were getting in on it.

I love you so much JP, but that broke my heart. I am a mother of four with a body that very much resembles this beautiful woman. I am rarely offended and agree with you almost always, but I am hopeful that when my husband tells me that my body is beautiful I can believe him. @TheBeastMom

i love your talks… but this comment is beyond disappointing. you may not even know on how many levels this is disturbing. try interviewing more young women on your podcasts. you’ve got a lot to learn. until then, stop criticizing women’s bodies. @Alexandthecats

Very disappointed in you Dr. Peterson. I’ve been a fan for many years. Have defended you and recommended you to many “non-believers.” How do you justify tweeting something like this? @kallistiad

How does he justify posting such garbage? He’s a freaking Ph.D. Again, he completely brought it on himself. He’s always so whiney, angry, and insulting. And then is surprised when he gets pushback.

He knows he’s been a controversial figure since the second he emerged in the popular consciousness by misrepresenting a bill about trans rights as mandatory speech.

He knows — or at least he should — that he’s a loathed figure by many. He can embrace that and post whatever sexist science-denying rubbish he wants, but he has to be ready for the backlash.

If he can’t handle it, which it appears he cannot, then he is definitely making the right move by getting off the platform.

That’s quite a bit of self-awareness for a man who posted this:

So yeah, get off Twitter, JP. Have your staff change your password and only post video clips and tour dates. Don’t read the comments. Have a good cry session on camera when talking about 1960s French philosophers that really grind your gears. Grill another ribeye and some liver for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

Collect those six-figure checks to give non-sensical drawn-out speeches to hoards of impressionable young men. Keep amazing yourself by the profundity of the basic thoughts that rattle around your mind.

But know that if you venture into the ‘marketplace of ideas’ that is Twitter, where everyone has a voice, and you bring your science-denying-pristine-masculinity-versus-shrill-radical-feminity talk, the trolls will win every time.

The inflating of the obvious into the awe-inspiring is part of why Peterson can operate so successfully in the “self-help” genre. He can give people the most elementary fatherly life advice (clean your room, stand up straight) while making it sound like Wisdom. — Nathan Robinson