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The death of a public intellectual

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Re: The death of a public intellectual

#351

Post by teachrdan »

mongol wrote: post #348
petsfed wrote: post #340

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not difficult to show that a given statement was meant innocently, but it does require some effort. To whit, Norse pagan iconography is a very common in white supremacist imagery. So while I find the Norse pagan imagery interesting and compelling, I can't just hang it on my wall without preparing to defend myself against accusations of being a neo-Nazi. Is it my fault? Is it the accusers fault? No, obviously, it…

The only time I hear about dog whistles is when liberals say that alt right or similar with opposing viewpoints use them. I start to wonder if it is in their head only, or a rhetorical tool so that they can say "did you hear that? it was a dog whistle! tread carefully!" I hope for better times when we can take what people say at face value and stop second-guessing what they supposedly mean.

This term pre-dates the alt-right by decades. The term "dog whistle" was popularized by William Safire in 1988, who campaigned for Richard Nixon among other things. It's historically understood to be a tool used primarily by social conservatives.

"In 1981, former Republican Party strategist Lee Atwater, when giving an anonymous interview discussing former president Richard Nixon's Southern strategy, speculated that terms like "states' rights" were used for dog-whistling"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dog_whistle_(politics)

Re: The death of a public intellectual

#352

Post by Obscurity4340 »

whiddershins wrote: post #292
dralley wrote: post #283

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>he was briefly addicted to anti-depressants That is a very severe understatement. He was so badly addicted to benzos (for years) that he ended up going to Russia to have himself put into a weeks-long medically-induced coma to go cold-turkey, which resulted in brain damage. (He insisted on that course of action, which Western doctors refused to go along with, for obvious reasons). That left him unable to walk or spea…

Ketamine? Source needed. He said it was a benzodiazepine. A prescribed anti-anxiety drug, which in rare cases is documented to create the exact withdrawal problem he had.

It wouldnt be rare if all the cases were consistent with the duration of Peterson's access to + use of them—which is in turn a far more useful term ("access") to describe his relationship with drugs, in my seldom non-controversial opinion. Everyone bitches about their minor tranquilizer AFTER they're cutoff, smh [sighs]

Edit: also, "slow well-publicized descent unto madness and suicide on a wave of intellectual dishonesty by public psychological expert and academic" or something using a combinatorial variation inclusive of all those words would be just peachy

Re: The death of a public intellectual

#353

Post by Mouthfeel »

KyleJune wrote: post #330
blueflow wrote: post #228

Earlier quoted context omitted.

95% of times when i hear about Peterson, its someone trying to discredit him. Then i go to Youtube, search for what Peterson said about $topic, and can't find shit that i would even bother about. This stuff is getting creepy. Where is all the dislike coming from?

The Majority Report with Sam Seder on YouTube have good videos breaking down things that Jordan Peterson has said. https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Majority+report...

[dead]

Re: The death of a public intellectual

#354

Post by meindnoch »

civilitty wrote: post #299
snorkel wrote: post #251

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can believe it. There are those skilled at performative intellectualism, i.e. sounding very smart and insightful, but the performance itself is the product, it is all they sell and offer. Whenever I hear a public speaker appealing to supposed ancient wisdom of obscure tribes and traditions who had better-than-modern diets, laws, monetary policy, medicine, footwear (or lack iof), etc then that tells me that it’s jus…

I’ve begun noticing this performative art play out more and more often on HN lately, especially in threads regarding medicine and healthcare. Apparently everyone became an armchair doctor and got their public policy degrees while on lockdown. It usually leads to a deep discussion with just one comment buried in the middle of the stack going “uhm, wtf?” I should start a list of red flags in my notes. “Inflammation” co…

The gut is the second brain. I've learned this after I've cured my self-diagnosed ADHD via peptides. (I still take Adderall tho)

Anyway, basically what I'm saying is, if the CO2 levels go above 500ppm in my room, I get extreme brain fog.

Re: The death of a public intellectual

#355

Post by hfgjbcgjbvg »

boringg wrote: post #308
hfgjbcgjbvg wrote: post #179

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nah if you’re good at it. It can be amazing every time. But like anything, it feels like a lot of work before you get good at it.

Amazing every time? Wouldn't it get redundant?

No because every interaction is different. And yes if that’s your mindset, every time.

Re: The death of a public intellectual

#356

Post by shusaku »

mjburgess wrote: post #101

I'm not seeing a very sympathetic analysis of this. This phenomenon is as old as time, with Socrate's students hanging on his every word. In my view its an entirely reasonable thing: you encounter a person who can articulate a coherent ideology, method, system (etc.) which is entirely new to you. You use that person as a means of learning this system; and when you've learnt it all, you move on. The key thing is you a…

The social media part exacerbates the issue because the intellectual has direct access to their listeners. In the past, if you wrote an influential book, indeed your fans might go back and comb through your back catalogue. And the basic idea of you needing to write your next great book on the next hot topic to maintain your fame is there. But social media cuts out the book writing cycle, instead you can spend five minutes on a tweet, a few days on a YouTube video, etc. The loop is much tighter, and the effect is accelerated.

Re: The death of a public intellectual

#357

Post by Obscurity4340 »

Obscurity4340 wrote: post #311
JSavageOne wrote: post #266

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nothing you just said disputes any of what Peterson has said. The fact that you mention him being a "drug addict" (he was briefly addicted to anti-depressants after his wife got cancer) and then use words like "whining" to try to discredit him without actually addressing or disputing anything he's said shows you just have an axe to grind with no substance.

> was briefly addicted to anti-depressants This is incredibly wrong and convenient. He was addicted to benzos—not anti-depressants. Benzos are anti-anxiety drugs but it is more helpful to think about them as"alcohol in a pill". Peterson is, in a sense, not distinct from an alcoholic. I'm not one to shit on drug addicts, hell, pot-kettle. But Peterson rubs me the wrong way because of his audacity in acting as if he is…

When Peterson needed the kind of therapy or care you fancy yourself receiving in him, he had to go to Russia. Please, take your time and take that in. Why didn't he just call his own hotline? Lol

Re: The death of a public intellectual

#358

Post by JSavageOne »

dralley wrote: post #283
JSavageOne wrote: post #266

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nothing you just said disputes any of what Peterson has said. The fact that you mention him being a "drug addict" (he was briefly addicted to anti-depressants after his wife got cancer) and then use words like "whining" to try to discredit him without actually addressing or disputing anything he's said shows you just have an axe to grind with no substance.

>he was briefly addicted to anti-depressants That is a very severe understatement. He was so badly addicted to benzos (for years) that he ended up going to Russia to have himself put into a weeks-long medically-induced coma to go cold-turkey, which resulted in brain damage. (He insisted on that course of action, which Western doctors refused to go along with, for obvious reasons). That left him unable to walk or spea…

He was addicted for 18 months, but he was famous well before this. In any case none of this has any relevance to his status as a public intellectual.

Re: The death of a public intellectual

#359

Post by JSavageOne »

Angostura wrote: post #296
JSavageOne wrote: post #266

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nothing you just said disputes any of what Peterson has said. The fact that you mention him being a "drug addict" (he was briefly addicted to anti-depressants after his wife got cancer) and then use words like "whining" to try to discredit him without actually addressing or disputing anything he's said shows you just have an axe to grind with no substance.

> Nothing you just said disputes any of what Peterson has said I thought it addressed it fairly directly: * gives mediocre-at-best self-help advice * goes around whining about wokenes * saying hateful things I suppose we should add add that he claims to speak authoritatively about subjects well out of the areas of his expertise.

Amazing, you've managed to meaningfully discredit thousands of hours of content and a couple books in a couple flippant sentences /s

Re: The death of a public intellectual

#360

Post by JSavageOne »

Obscurity4340 wrote: post #311
JSavageOne wrote: post #266

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nothing you just said disputes any of what Peterson has said. The fact that you mention him being a "drug addict" (he was briefly addicted to anti-depressants after his wife got cancer) and then use words like "whining" to try to discredit him without actually addressing or disputing anything he's said shows you just have an axe to grind with no substance.

> was briefly addicted to anti-depressants This is incredibly wrong and convenient. He was addicted to benzos—not anti-depressants. Benzos are anti-anxiety drugs but it is more helpful to think about them as"alcohol in a pill". Peterson is, in a sense, not distinct from an alcoholic. I'm not one to shit on drug addicts, hell, pot-kettle. But Peterson rubs me the wrong way because of his audacity in acting as if he is…

You realize Peterson was famous well before that 18 month drug addiction, correct?
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