The Happening

In 1966 The Supremes had a hit song titled “The Happening.” The chorus went like this:

“One day you’re up, then you turn around

You find your world is tumbling down

It happened to me, and it can happen to you”

I thought of this song when I read about what is happening to Jordan Peterson in Canada. Peterson is a clinical psychologist who has just been mandated by The Ontario College of Psychologists to undergo “re-education” program over his past comments and speech that “may cause harm.”

Reeducation about what? Well apparently Jordan Peterson has said some things that have upset “those that know best” in Canada. Things that “those that know best” do not politically agree with.

Note that none of what he has said has anything to do with his twenty year practice of clinical psychology. None of the complainants were his patients … not now, not ever.

Peterson is to work with another professional to “review, reflect on, and ameliorate [his] professionalism in public statements” and complete a “Coaching Program.”

According to a Wall Street Journal op-ed, the College of Psychologists of Ontario last March appointed an investigator to examine complaints about Peterson’s Twitter comments as well as things he said on a Joe Rogan podcast.

More from the Journal:

What are these comments? Calling Elliot Page, the transgender actor, by his former name, “Ellen,” and the pronoun “her,” on Twitter. Calling an adviser to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau a “prik.” A sarcastic crack at antigrowth environmentalists for not caring that their energy policies lead to more deaths of poor Third World children.

Calling a former client “vindictive.” Objecting to a Sports Illustrated swimsuit cover of a plus-size model: “Sorry. Not Beautiful. And no amount of authoritarian tolerance is going to change that.” In Canada even offenses begin with “sorry.”

The complaints against him, he says, are due primarily to his views on politics. He identifies four specific complaints, including making a joke about New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, retweeting Pierre Poilievre, the Conservative party leader, criticizing Trudeau and his former principal secretary Gerald Butts, whom Peterson last February called a “stunningly corrupt and incendiary fool,” prompting threats of legal retaliation from Butts.

So in summary what we have is a well known clinical psychologist whose political views do not agree with “those that know best.” What are the “woke” politicians and psychologists threatening to do? … They are threatening to suspend his license to practice, unless he undergoes “re-education,” such that his new enlightened viewpoints agree with theirs. The frightening thing is that if they are successful here with Jordan Peterson, what is to stop them from threatening other professionals, e.g. doctors, lawyers, teachers, etc. who do not agree with their political views in Canada? 

As the Supremes sang:

It happened to me, and it can happen to you”

1/14/23

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