Comments by "L.W. Paradis" (@l.w.paradis2108) on "Jordan B Peterson" channel.

  1.  @JordanBPeterson  Honesty? You don't denounce your father or mother or grandparents. Pfft.
    1
  2.  @ElenaRoche  You still don't get it. I categorically reject the concept of "collective guilt." This is vague, poorly analyzed, and, for something so serious, completely unacceptable. Moreover, if everyone is guilty, no one is, and the very concept is then wielded like a weapon, with the first to accuse very often in a position of unmerited dominance. That's a stupid game. On second thought, maybe you do get it. You will collect the praise. David Riesman was right. (I always edit for spelling and such. Writing is editing. )
    1
  3.  @DP-ym4dg  She was caught in an obvious lie, and was praised. Shows you a lot about the trajectory America is on. This is the rule now.
    1
  4.  @ElenaRoche  For example, "Miss Arendt referred to the post-war climate in Germany -- where those personally innocent during the Nazi period all admitted to their "collective guilt" while the real criminals showed no remorse as "the quintessence of moral confusion." The concept of collective guilt, as opposed to individual guilt, is "senseless," Miss Arendt said, and only serves as an effective "whitewash" for guilty individuals to hide behind." (1964) Precisely.
    1
  5.  @DP-ym4dg  You're probably right. BTW, I'd like to know your reading list. Not kidding.
    1
  6.  @DP-ym4dg  I am so turned off by people who come to America and denounce their families. James Baldwin wrote about that demand, which American society places on immigrants who want to "succeed" (i.e., make money for not doing much). The demand is repugnant, and acceding to it is base. But Americans lap it up. It's part of the culture. No wonder so many people are lost.
    1
  7.  @ElenaRoche  You posted it here. People "face painful truths" all the time without posting. I expected you to take it down, frankly, but the up votes of complete strangers who don't wish you well -- not really -- might be more important to you. That's not called facing truth, that's called assimilating for perceived advantage.
    1
  8.  @DP-ym4dg  No. ;( Speak French, though.
    1
  9.  @ElenaRoche  You could not get me to describe my grandfather as "muttering to himself," and do it online no less, without threatening me with a weapon. For example.
    1
  10.  @DP-ym4dg  If you can follow French, Emmanuel Todd recently gave a great conference at Dialogue Franco-Russe. It was an excellent summary of what most Europeans know, and is not generally known in the US.
    1
  11.  @ElenaRoche  So, this didn't happen; it's not factual, but an opinion. That would explain the impossible date. But then it's not about "facing painful truths," it's about expressing popular opinions, for pandering purposes perhaps. I believe you. It does sound like opinion styled as fact, like all the phony memoirs that became best sellers. I can't blame anyone for that. I think it's kind-of humorous.
    1
  12.  @DP-ym4dg  Baldwin was best in analyzing it, how I miss him! I was living in France when he died there. Have you read, "It's Me, Eddie?" The incomparable BBC documentarian Adam Curtis turned me on to that book, and to the story of Afeni Shakur as well. "It's Me, Eddie," is about as profane as Henry Miller, so it requires a warning, but it's great.
    1
  13.  @DP-ym4dg  Oh well! ;( I tried.
    1
  14.  @ElenaRoche  I see you put in a little edit. Same nonsense, but by changing a key word it avoids confronting the seminal texts and thinkers on the subject, or proposing real solutions to real problems. Your posts are perfect examples of gish gallops -- where does someone start? By sheer accident, though, they happen to pander to the worst prejudices of the target audience. The irony is rich -- it's you who is deftly avoiding "painful truths." I wonder if any of the people who posted in this thread praising you were called to their senses, and resolved not to be duped in the future, or to denounce deceased family members in public. I hope so, and I bet some did. That's what matters. (You do recognize Hannah Arendt, correct?)
    1
  15.  @DP-ym4dg  Find someone to translate Emmanuel Todd for you. Most of what he says you already know, but it's wonderful to hear his theoretical framework, which is unique, and it's nice to know that others are clued in. He did his doctorate at Cambridge, though he is French, and he integrates insights from anthropology and archeology into his analysis.
    1
  16.  @ElenaRoche  It's an opinion. No problem. You claim terrible things about your family. No problem. Le champs vous est libre. There was no USSR in 1997, as several posts already pointed out. 1997 was during Clinton's second term, when Russia was being subjected to neoliberal looting. But we can opine about anything we like. No one asked about age. (I'm the one who disapproves of oversharing confidential matters online, remember?)
    1
  17.  @ElenaRoche  Anyway, I have better things to do. So long.
    1
  18.  @DP-ym4dg  The conference is great, though, at Dialogue Franco-Russe, with current demographic data on the US and Russia. All in one hour. His books are dense. (Well, academic, you know?)
    1
  19.  @ElenaRoche  If you need to believe I'm the fantasist (and you need to let everyone know, in this group of strangers), well then you will. You can't pass it up. Rereading your first post, your denunciations of your own family are uglier than I had remembered. That fires up the masses here. Perhaps you should consider speaking to a real person about your issues, rather than relying on a YouTube personality.
    1
  20.  @ElenaRoche  You thought I questioned the date not because it is an obvious historical falsehood, but because you look young, and you think someone else has fantasies? I didn't look at you.
    1
  21. Obviously false. Infant lives matter more than any other, and they don't even know about others' lives. Adults who do not respect the lives of others may still repent. Predatory animals' lives may have value that people with diverse value systems can nevertheless agree on. There's three examples right there.
    1
  22.  @debbylou5729  Did either of you read it? I'm reading it now.
    1
  23.  @katyt7470  So consider: I am not allowed to develop an argument, but tossing off a word like "insipid" without justifying it is fine. What do you think about that? I think we couldn't be in a worse way as far as communication is concerned.
    1
  24. @katyt7470   Look, I'm being scents er . . . d again! I can't say names of books. In general, contemporary interpretations of classics risk being appropriated purely for contemporary goals -- especially now, when everything is politicized -- and that of course falsifies the meaning of the work. See what people said about Jane Eyre when it came out. That's what I'm basing my opinion on. I remember misunderstanding Jude the Obscure in a similar way, thinking Hardy ultimately approved of the conventional morality he described, or at least that he saw no way to advance beyond it. Wow, what a mistake. These are both radical works.
    1
  25. @katyt7470  I think that's a great interpretation. Very eloquent as well. The notion of a "church of one," and God in direct communication with one's own conscience, is very much an American notion, and is highly anachronistic for England. The God you describe could also be the God of Judaism, Islam, and to a great extent Plato as well, not to mention Antigone. In other words, it is a very abstract idea, and just happens to be Christian (or seem to be Christian) because Jane happened to have been born where she was. You're exactly right, the established church of that time thought it was scandalous, which is a totally different issue. America had no such thing as an established church even then. So in some ways, we can see more in Jane Eyre because of that, not less.
    1
  26. Doesn't this sound like dystopian fiction? That wouldn't be popular as dystopian fiction, too weird?
    1
  27. What do you mean?
    1
  28. In two years, this sure did not age well.
    1
  29. ​@Flowersandtrees And force them to take . . . You know. Forget it.
    1
  30. @callak_9974  Why is it that the very best school systems in history did no such thing?
    1
  31. @emilymiller1792  Notice how every supposed "solution" is more or less dubious for one simple reason: it has no solid historical record of having worked consistently and well anywhere. But one thing the "solutions" all have in common is that someone will make money. True of charter schools, true of DEI "instructors."
    1
  32.  @callak_9974  Show me where this has worked. Is McDonald's going under? Pfizer? Facebook? A mantra does not make it so.
    1
  33.  @emilymiller1792  Too bad about the scents or sheep here.
    1
  34. @emilymiller1792  No, not usually. They are hired by private businesses or by school systems to teach employees how to "interrupt racism." (Before the recent war in Gaza, Norman Finkelstein wrote some pretty funny commentary on that.)
    1
  35. @emilymiller1792  Answered your question but it's _______ .
    1
  36. @emilymiller1792  Exactly! I shall not say more. (This is sad.)
    1
  37. Oh wow, this "genius" of the history of warfare cannot pronounce the name of the general who defeated the Nazis in Operation Barbarosa. He doesn't come close.
    1
  38. @BlessedTruly, my friend's nephews live in a conservative Republican state and still were asked their pronouns. They live in a nice suburb.
    1
  39.  @BlessedTruly2014  I was surprised, too. :/
    1
  40. Hierarchical struggle as the motor of history is "absolutely true," and characterizes all human societies as part of our biology, according to Peterson? Marshall Sahlins addressed this. NEVER did Marx suggest that the bourgeoisie was the repository of all "evil" -- MUCH to the contrary. He considered it a great revolutionary force that embodied progress. He did not think history began with capitalism. My God. Peterson is misrepresenting the Communist Manifesto so much by minute 10, and in favor of the unscientific mysticism of a Jung? This is sad. Only people who have already made up their minds are impressed. More proof no one reads, and votes up self-serving discourses. Actually, communists were never as corrupt as capitalists. Communists prevented at least two nuclear exchanges, capitalists dropped two bombs as a demonstration of power, not to end the war.
    1
  41. 13:03 No real leftist would say any such nonsensical, scurrilous thing. Ask, say, Clementine Autain.
    1
  42.  @TheBigJord  You think she is wrong about the 1980s? Why?
    1
  43.  @blakebunch4485  You were there. Interesting.
    1
  44.  @larryc5361  She is married to an Army veteran who is a private security analyst.
    1
  45.  @blakebunch4485  Oh really? That leading professors who were lauded everywhere and who had control over MANY other people's careers were in fact using their positions to demand sexual favors with impunity is just another "me too" story? First of all, Wolf came out with her accusations YEARS ago, long before it was fashionable, and many have corroborated her account concerning the atmosphere of impunity at Yale during those years. You just haven't been paying attention. No, this has more in common with the Jeffrey Epstein story, as far as I'm concerned. Just add three to five years to the ages of the victims. I think people are just jealous of anyone who went to an Ivy. Maybe she earned it. She recently went back for a doctorate, later in life, to fulfill her dream despite not needing it in any material sense. She went to Oxford for that. She likes to work hard, clearly. Her current husband (only her second, nothing strange there) is a US Army veteran, by the way.
    1
  46. What I find interesting is that it was Naomi Wolf who demanded accountability and consequences for bad acts, and somehow she is getting dismissed. When Dr. Peterson points out how important accountability is, and brushes aside excuses, everyone praises him. Why is that? If you didn't hear that, listen again. Start from the top.
    1
  47.  @TheBigJord  "Blind rage?" So, all Americans are unhinged now. I should have figured that out by 2021 if I didn't know in 2008. Her point was about personal responsibility, something that liberals are always accused of forgetting. I never have. Neither did she, as was clear when she refused to follow the crowd and shut off her own thinking processes and her own questions concerning the COVID vaccines. I can write. That doesn't mean I'm "emotional." That means . . . I can write. :)
    1
  48.  @TheBigJord  This was all I said to you directly: "You think she is wrong about the 1980s? Why?" I also made the general statement about holding people accountable for their actions. And you found "blind rage." You know, in France, where wine is a part of the diet, if a rape is committed while drunk, the perpetrator can receive up to five more years in prison. Drunkenness is an aggravating factor. I find that interesting. They are puzzled why anyone would consider it exculpatory in any way.
    1
  49.  @TheBigJord  All I said was, why do you think the 1980s at Yale were not as she describes them? (And why would alcohol be an explanation instead?) As Naomi Wolf said, when people at a place like Yale know there will be serious consequences for bad acts, then they don't risk those consequences. These are Yale people. They calculate. They have $omthing to lo$e. Simpler than you're making it. Don't confuse her remarks with contemporary "hook up" culture, binge drinking, frat parties where strippers, spiked drinks, and alcohol poisoning are not rarities, and the bizarre and horrible Title IX abuses of today. Those did not exist back then. The lady will be 60 this year. She could be the grandmother of a college student.
    1
  50.  @TheBigJord  "The blind rage to me comes in with you assuming that I’m against her on every point when I never said that. You want to create a bogey-man out of me so bad when there isn’t any need for it. " Huh? Are you sure you meant to direct this to me? Honey, talk to someone nice tonight.
    1