Wednesday, February 2, 2022

Jordan Peterson has Gone (Almost) Full Deplorable on Covid

 

And we are better for it.

If you were trying to create the perfect conditions for public skepticism about vaccines in the midst of a pandemic, could you have done any better than this?

-          Norman Doidge

Jordan Peterson has gone further into unpacking the false narratives and manipulation regarding covid at a pace that seems to be quickening.  He recently released a three-hour video on the topic.  All Peterson did in this video was to introduce Norman Doidge (a psychiatrist and psychoanalyst), who then spent the three hours reading his (obviously) very long analysis of the covid road.

The analysis is entitled “Why so many are hesitant to get the COVID vaccines, and what we can do about it.”  It is in four parts, with chapter one here (and links to the other parts are included).  It was published on October 27, 2021.  A thirty-eight page “printer friendly” version is also available.  Then you have my brief notes and summary.

I have to say, except for diving into the “whys” of the mainstream narrative and government actions of the last two years, Doidge has most of the issues that that honest doctors like Malone and McCullough have pointed out, or that readers of banned or blacklisted websites like Lew Rockwell or Infowars would already be very well aware.

I said most.  No mention of alternative treatments and how these were crushed.  No real dive into the data, demonstrating that there was no “pandemic.”  But still, overall, a very good report.

Here I will only offer some examples: he opens with an examination of what he calls the behavioral immune system (BIS).  I only introduce it here because he spends a good amount of time discussing it.  It would seem a good topic of conversation to have amongst Doidge, Peterson, and Dr. Desmet.  This BIS explains, for Doidge, why….

… someone drives alone wearing a mask, or goes for a walk by themselves in an empty forest masked, or when someone—say with good health and no previous known adverse reactions to vaccines—hears that a vaccine can in one in 500,000 cases cause death, but can’t take any comfort that they have a 99.999% chance of it not happening because it potentially can.

You all know such people.

There are the positive aspects of vaccination – smallpox being a major example.  But he also covers the many tragedies – and, in many cases, purposeful abuses: the Tuskegee experiments, forced sterilizations, etc.

None of the public health abuses during this period involved informed patient consent, and yet they were government-sponsored, lauded, and justified in the name of the greater good.

Until the Nazis came along.  Then the experimenters got a little cautious – or, I wonder, just more discrete?  In any case, we got the Nuremburg Code and the Declaration of Helsinki: informed consent would now be mandatory.

The connection between the pharmaceutical companies and the FDA that regulates and approves the manufacture of vaccines is made – regulatory capture.  Further, the regulators often have financial incentive to approve the drugs which they regulate – and Fauci is named directly.  Finally, the swinging door from regulator to industry and back (although there were also several resignations mentioned as well).

He continues to list the numerous multi-billion-dollar fines paid by companies in the industry – Pfizer, Glaxo, Abbot, Eli Lilly, Johnson and Johnson, Merck, etc.  Oxycontin, Vioxx, and the like.  Ghost-written papers – papers written by big pharma but pawned off as independent research.  Delay the reports of side-effects until the patent runs out, then use the side-effects to kill any generic use and come up with modifications to secure a new patent.  The list of corruption is endless.

Tuesday, February 1, 2022

Perhaps There is No Opposition….

 

…even in Canada.

A short 150 second video by Jordan Peterson, entitled “Message To Canadian Leaders: Seize The Day,” in which he implores Canadian political conservative leaders and leaders of the opposition to make a strong message in support of the Canadian truckers and those beleaguered by the various measures of tyranny riding on a pale horse.  There is no time like now:

“Our prime minister has literally abandoned the city – run away, as far as I can tell – citing security concerns because I think he believes his own propaganda about the nature of the people sitting in Ottawa, and then lying about it, justifying it as a consequence of being exposed to covid, despite the fact that he is double-vaccinated and tested negative.”

Well, Trudeau must have watched this video, because the news suddenly changed:

Ottawa (CNN) – Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has tested positive for Covid-19, he announced Monday…

No, definitely NOT Ottawa.

And then, as if to test how much covidiocy people still hold to in this most transparently nonsensical narrative (I won’t add “in my lifetime,” as there have been too many from which to choose):

"This morning, I tested positive for COVID-19," tweeted Trudeau, who is fully vaccinated and boosted. "I'm feeling fine -- and I'll continue to work remotely this week while following public health guidelines. Everyone, please get vaccinated and get boosted."

Because, my fellow Canadians, you see how well they worked for me.  Yes, vaccines work – but not at stopping covid.

Returning to Peterson, and his message to the political opposition: “Remove these mandates that are crippling our businesses and interfering with our private lives and stopping us from being able to travel.”

“What in the world are you waiting for?  It’s your moment.”

While I was watching this video, all I could think of was Mitch McConnell.  If the Canadian opposition is no different than the “opposition” presented by McConnell (and almost all other republicans), then Peterson’s pleadings are in vain.  There is no opposition, not in any meaningful sense.

I noted in my comments about Peterson’s recent video on the Canadian Constitutional Crisis that, despite being greatly in agreement with Peterson’s comments, there was some area of hesitation.  It was on this point, where Peterson and his guest were critical of those who thought there was little to be done about the way things are going.

Well, when all sides of the political aisle and all sides of the bureaucratic machinery and the entire weight of a police state and the machinery of corporate media and technology are against the people, what, exactly, is there to be done about it? 

Most people – those who are aware of the tyranny – will look to themselves, family and friends, a circle of people whom they trust and will defend.  Some will speak out, for the benefit of their conscience and in the hope that a few might listen.  But beyond this?

When a summer of looting, burning, and murder goes unpunished, and peaceful people rot in prison for a year and counting, what other action might “we the people” consider?  When clear evidence of voting…what shall we call them…irregularities is ignored, what comes next? 

The end of this road is violence.  It is a possibility that few normal human beings relish, and none will enjoy.

Conclusion

Which brings me to something I have been thinking about regarding these Canadian truckers, those who supported them financially, and those who cheered them on as they drove through the Great White North: what if this was happening in the United States?  How would these people be treated?

We know what would happen, because we have seen the recent evidence.  But there is an added dimension here: how to clear the streets?  This will be interesting to watch in Ottawa. 

Canadians consider themselves much more civilized than their southern neighbors, and in some measure with justification.  This could all change, depending on how the streets are cleared.

Saturday, January 29, 2022

Back in the Game

 

When Jordan Peterson first came back to the public spotlight after his illness, he was slow to engage again on some of the topics that brought him to the fore during his first big wave.  This, of course, is understandable given what he apparently went through with his illness.  However, it was clear that the lack of his voice would be detrimental to exposing the underlying causes of the meaning crisis and resultant convulsions in the West.

This was most sorely missed in the context of the insanity behind everything covid.  Unlike Bret Weinstein, who began speaking out against many of the policies and reactions to this not-a-plague, Peterson was quiet.

This has changed.  In the last couple of months, there were signs of his re-awakening.  I recall a clip – I don’t remember from where – where he said something like “well, perhaps shame on me, but I took your damn vaccine.  Why won’t you leave me alone?”

Recently he was on Joe Rogan.  More than four hours, and I will summarize – not from the video, but from the first items that come up on a google search:

·         Scientists slam climate denialism from Jordan Peterson as ‘absurd’ – CNN

·         Jordan Peterson on Joe Rogan’s Podcast echoes the lunacy of Netflix’s ‘Don’t Look Up’ – Forbes (I have no idea what the show is about)

·         Joe Rogan and Jordan Peterson eviscerated by experts for ‘whackadoo’ and ‘deadly’ interview on climate crisis – YAHOO!News

·         Jordan Peterson, Joe Rogan Wax Idiotic on Climate Change and Race – Rolling Stone

·         Joe Rogan guest Jordan Peterson says being trans is a 'contagion' – NY Post

·         Jordan Peterson on Joe Rogan is DAMAGING – You Tube

I do recall reading that Peterson also poked at the entire covid narrative in this interview, but even when I added the word “covid” to the search, only one item came up in the first couple of pages.

Peterson recently released a discussion he had with Brian Peckford, entitled “Canadian Constitutional Crisis.”  From the show notes:

Brian Peckford and I discussed his reentry to the political arena after denouncing the Canadian Government for infringements on the Canadian Charter of Rights--a document he played a key role in drafting. In this intense conversation, Peckford outlines a combined plan of action against the Canadian Government over their COVID-19 response and ongoing use of power.

Starting his career as an educator, the Honorable Brian Peckford then served as the premier of Newfoundland and Labrador for nearly a decade. He is also an author, former minister, and notable member of the PC Party.

Peckford was directly involved, forty years ago, in the drafting of and agreement to the Canadian Charter of Rights.  So he has some idea of both the spirit and letter of the document.  He is filing a lawsuit in Canadian court regarding the government’s actions, specifically focused on the violation of the Charter on the point of freedom of association.

I won’t summarize the video, other than to say Peckford is very well read on the nonsensical (so-called) science behind the political reactions to covid.  Oh, and apparently Justin Trudeau’s father Pierre, who was also Prime Minister during the passing of the Canadian Charter, was as big a snake as Justin is.

There are a couple of quibbles I have with the comments, but overall both Peterson and Peckford have their eyes open.

The video is about an hour and twenty minutes.  It seems it was so important for Peterson to release it quickly that there was zero editing – there is nothing polished about the production.  This was by design, as will be explained in the opening – which captures the pre-planning of the video.

Conclusion

When Peterson first returned to the scene about a year ago, I noted, with understanding, his timidity.  It seems he is now finding the strength to break free of this.

Friday, January 28, 2022

The First Humanist

 

Christendom reached a fateful turning point during the fourteenth century.

The Age of Utopia: Christendom from the Renaissance to the Russian Revolution, by John Strickland

The West, according to Strickland, had fallen away from the idea of paradise, understanding Adam’s banishment to mean that man would not again taste paradise until the Second Coming.  Drawn largely from the doctrines of Augustinianism, a sharp line would be drawn between divine grace and human nature. 

This as opposed to the old Christendom view, still held in the East, of a “transformation-centered” piety.  The world was constantly in a process of heavenly transformation.

Before continuing, I would offer my thoughts on where this is headed, because where I see Strickland drawing sharp distinctions between East and West, I see shades, variability, nuance.  Maybe this nuance is enough to make the difference.  Then again, given the failings of Christendom in both the East and West, maybe it isn’t. 

I have noted before that what the East refers to as theosis, someone in the West would describe as becoming more Christ-like.  In both cases, the Christian is striving for transformation, in this world.  Yes, I know that there are examples offered at the extreme to disprove this point (this world is not my home…), but extremes don’t make for good analysis.

Further, I have yet to understand that there is a view of man in the Eastern Church that recognizes anything other than his fallen nature and his inability to solve this problem on his own.  In other words, Christ was crucified and was resurrected for some reason.

Strickland offers that in the East, human salvation is presented as the process of deification; in the West, a one-time release from an impending punishment.  In the East, optimism, in the West pessimism.  But in each case, is it only the one thing and not the other?  Or, to put it differently, can it not be both? 

Not using the stark words of Strickland, but…with salvation comes a life of becoming ever more Christ-like (theosis) and also an avoidance of punishment?  Isn’t this understood both in the East and in the West?  Strickland presents this as a clear distinction, but just because I am presenting his views, it does not mean I fully agree.  It might be so, but I have seen too many examples contrary to this view.

With this, I will continue.  And there are important points made by Strickland to be examined.  We are introduced to Petrarch, known as the first humanist.

But three centuries after the Great Division, penitents like Petrarch found little in Western piety to encourage them.  Most troubling was the system of penances that was now associated with the practice of confession.

Sin and the penances that negated sin were codified.  It was a system more concerned with punishment and satisfaction that it was one of human transformation.  Strickland offers that men like Petrarch could have looked East for a different example, namely Byzantium or Russia, where…

…the paradisiacal culture was flourishing, even if the political system of each was mortally threatened by, respectively, Turks and Mongols.

And this is the bump in the road that I keep running into, and that, as of yet, remains unexplored by Strickland.  Sure, one can point to the decline in the West – greatly evident in the last 125 years, but with signs pointing this way much earlier.  But does not being overrun by Turks and Mongols count as a decline as well?  Not, perhaps in the same sense, but still in a tremendously meaningful sense?

Wednesday, January 26, 2022

Expanding on a Comment Thread

 

This entire comment thread is particularly good by all involved and possibly deserves its own write-up.

-          Nick Badalamenti, regarding a comment thread begun by Walt Garlington, here.

The subject post, The Value of the Protest, reviewed reaction by Protestant Christian leaders to both Covid and to a recent Canadian bill signed into law, a law that now makes illegal conversion therapy.  This Protestant reaction was compared to reactions from more institutional churches – Orthodox and Catholic.

In any case, my response to Nick (who is, perhaps one of my longest-tenured on-line “friends”):

Nick, from my first exchange with Walt on this thread, I have had a similar thought. I will go back and review the thread; if I feel I can do it justice via editing a bit and trying to pull out the main points of the exchange, I will put it together and post it.

I will try to do the thread justice, without copying and pasting word for word.  If you want that, go directly to the thread.  Also, this post is going to be very long – two or three times as long as usual; if you don’t want that, just go read the original thread.  Walt also has included many links for further exposition in his comments; I will include these here only as necessary. 

First, a preamble, and, perhaps, a reminder of my purpose and some ground rules (albeit, sometimes loosely enforced and sometimes violated by me).  I have jumped fully into the examination of the relationship of culture and liberty, and, in doing so, have landed in a spot where it is clear to me that liberty cannot be found or sustained absent the Christian culture from which it sprang.

However, I do not want to turn this into an examination or debate about theological and doctrinal differences between and among Christians.  When I point to these, it is only to examine how these might have impacted, positively or negatively, liberty.

Finally, I have found Walt to be a gracious and thoughtful commenter.  I hope my replies to him have also been seen in the same spirit and I hope to maintain that spirit in this post.

With that, let’s begin.  For shorthand, Walt Garlington will be WG; I will be referenced as BM.  I will not present the comments as presented in the thread; I will try to present them in a dialogue format.  Where I introduce new thoughts, not from the comment thread, these will not be indented.

WG: Lutheranism / Protestantism is a double-edged sword. Because the individual conscience is the sole authority in that system (i.e., no bishops, binding traditions, etc., to restrain a man), there can be swift reactions against bad policies, as with the initiative against C-4 that was mentioned.

This is a good point.  Independent positions can be taken, with little or no approval necessary from a higher (earthly) authority.  This, as Walt is about to point out, also offers a downside:

The downside is that other individuals can go on to decide that their conscience tells them that LGBT ideology is blessed by God based on how they read the Scriptures; and because the individual is the final authority, no one has any ground on which to stand to gainsay them. And so we end up with situations like we have in Canada, the uS, and the rest of the West in which governments must suppress traditional Christian teaching in order to allow the LGBT individuals to live according to their consciences.

Yet, even the very hierarchical Catholic Church has fallen into these same humanity destroying worldviews…. Jonathan Pageau has recently released an excellent video on Weaponized Compassion – using a bastardized and neutered concept of Christian love and yet, somehow calling this “Christian.”

BM: Walt, you have illuminated both the value and the corruption of institutions. There is value in institutions, for consistency and guarding tradition and teaching. 

The wisdom of countless generations in conversation, instead of the inventions of one generation (the current one).

BM: Unfortunately, institutions are ripe for corruption (hence, the West received Luther).

And necessarily so.

WG: If the Orthodox are slower to act, in addition to what Miner said above…

The referenced comment from Delinquent Miner:

A “silent” and “complicit” Orthodox Church, in my observation, comes from their collective experiences under Ottoman, Muslim, Turk, and Communist oppression. It’s a matter of survival.

This seems a reasonable observation.  I will relate, however, one example of just where such a road leads.  The Armenians of the Ottoman Empire – Orthodox, but known as “Oriental” due to a different understanding of how Christ is both divine and man than that offered via the Council of Chalcedon:

During a period in which the Ottoman Empire was losing a great deal of land—particularly the Christian Balkans—the Armenians were seen as the “loyal millet” who did not cause problems for the government.

By the end of the nineteenth century, this loyalty devolved into getting slaughtered.  And during World War One, genocide.  So, such “loyalty” only goes so far.  Sooner or later scapegoats will be found, turned into sacrifices to appease some god or another.