Luke Ford

Comments at Steve Sailer:

* Why has Vox Day started to attack Peterson? Is it because he has rational, rather than supernatural, explanations for human behaviour?

* Vox: No, it is not because he has rational explanations for human behavior. It is because I correctly scented the unmistakable aroma of bullshit and sulfur, looked into it, and discovered the following:

1. He’s an intellectual fraud.
2. He is pushing an evil philosophy on the unsuspecting and the unsophisticated.
3. He is NWO.
4. He de-platformed Faith Goldy for her associations, but is connected to John Podesta and the UN.
5. His 12 Laws book should be subtitled “A Beginner’s Guide to Spirit Cooking”

* Peterson actually doesn’t believe what he says. He disinvited Faith Goldy from the college free speech event for appearing as a guest on an ethno-nationalist podcast, while he himself appeared on an ethno-nationalist (Tara McCarthy) podcast.

* Vox Day – in your latest post on Jordan Peterson, you write as follows:

“Anyone who is going [to] tell me that I should not take pride in the tradition that my grandfather established for me, for my brothers, and for my children, can go to Hell. I have nothing but utter contempt for that attitude.”

This is a mistake. It all depends on one’s conception of “pride.” On some understandings of the word, one can only reasonably take pride in one’s own accomplishments – i.e., in things that one has earned, and that do one credit.

So, for example, one cannot reasonably take pride in one’s genetic endowments, since one did nothing to earn or to deserve them. One can only reasonably take pride in what one has chosen to do with ones endowments. Similarly, one cannot reasonably take pride in the accomplishments of one’s ancestors, since, again, one did nothing to earn or to deserve those accomplishments.

One can and should, of course, respect and admire those accomplishments, look up to them as an example, seek to emulate them, and so on. But take “pride” in them? On this view, that’s just to misunderstand the nature of proper pride. This seems to be more or less where Peterson is coming from.

Do you really believe that to think of “pride” in this way is evil and depraved? That just seems kind of crazy.

* Vox, I am a fan of your work, but, with all respect, on this issue you’re coming off as a bit unhinged. JP is arguing, through his massive megaphone, that some people are successful because they’ve earned it. They’ve worked hard, they are smart, they have disciplined themselves. He also argues that western culture should not be dismantled, because it works better than others, it has merit. He disassembles our ideological enemies like no one else today. And he inspires young men to DO SOMETHING. God knows they need that message. Sorry if he doesn’t quote Aristotle enough for you or was on a panel with ideological enemies. But as the kids say, whatever. He is doing good. He is teaching an entire generation to doubt and fear the left.

With all due respect, if you’re asking us fellow travelers on the right to choose between Vox and JP, you might not like the result.