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September 9, 2024 6:07 AM Subscribe
I joined Jordan Peterson's online school to dispel "woke nonsense": This is what I learned. (slTorontoStar) (archive.ph link here)
Ooh, I hope they have a biochemistry course that will help me understand how drinking a bit of apple cider vinegar caused Peterson not to sleep for 25 days (a thing he's actually claimed [CW: Peterson's irritating voice]).
posted by senor biggles at 6:47 AM on September 9 [6 favorites]
posted by senor biggles at 6:47 AM on September 9 [6 favorites]
When conservatives rail against "indoctrination," what they really mean is that they want to be the ones doing the indoctrinating.
posted by Ben Trismegistus at 6:58 AM on September 9 [44 favorites]
posted by Ben Trismegistus at 6:58 AM on September 9 [44 favorites]
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/moms-liberty-chapter-apologizes-quoting-adolf-hitler-newsletter-rcna90662
("He alone, who OWNS the youth, GAINS the future.”)
posted by torokunai at 7:08 AM on September 9 [3 favorites]
("He alone, who OWNS the youth, GAINS the future.”)
posted by torokunai at 7:08 AM on September 9 [3 favorites]
I love that the person the article goes to for quotes about Peterson is CJ the X!
posted by surlyben at 7:24 AM on September 9 [5 favorites]
posted by surlyben at 7:24 AM on September 9 [5 favorites]
So this online collection of video lectures has decided to identify as a "University," and asks us to talk about it that way, even though it doesn't embody any of the features traditionally associated with that word? Sure, sure.
posted by Western Infidels at 7:42 AM on September 9 [28 favorites]
posted by Western Infidels at 7:42 AM on September 9 [28 favorites]
Please, whenever discussing Disgraced Pseudointellectual Jordan Peterson, let us afford him the respect merited by his station, and refer to him by his full title of "Disgraced Pseudointellectual Jordan Peterson".
posted by mrjohnmuller at 7:46 AM on September 9 [39 favorites]
posted by mrjohnmuller at 7:46 AM on September 9 [39 favorites]
When conservatives rail against "indoctrination," what they really mean is that they want to be the ones doing the indoctrinating.
As I keep telling my friends, with fascists an accusation is always always always a confession.
(Not literally true, I exaggerate for effect, but 90% of the time you're not going to go wrong making that assumption.)
posted by Pedantzilla at 7:51 AM on September 9 [12 favorites]
As I keep telling my friends, with fascists an accusation is always always always a confession.
(Not literally true, I exaggerate for effect, but 90% of the time you're not going to go wrong making that assumption.)
posted by Pedantzilla at 7:51 AM on September 9 [12 favorites]
It's cheaper than a real university, but most of what it's doing is adding sheen on top of the same rightwing talking points you can get from social media for free.
posted by tommasz at 8:18 AM on September 9 [5 favorites]
posted by tommasz at 8:18 AM on September 9 [5 favorites]
There is one critical part missed by Popular Ethics' comment above:
Antoine Panaioti, an associate professor of philosophy at Toronto Metropolitan University, is the first to admit that he’s the sort of left-wing academic distrusted by conservative critics like Peterson. ..posted by jeffburdges at 8:19 AM on September 9 [14 favorites]
As someone who has written a book on Nietzsche, he says, based on the first of Peterson’s lectures, the scholarship here is fairly “shallow” and “not up to the standard” of a university course. There’s a simplistic reading of the philosopher, with his focus on individual self-determination, that’s become “something of a hook” for some more conservative movements, he adds. “The notion that the Peterson Academy, and in particular, Jordan Peterson’s lectures, would be devoid of ideology is farcical,” he says.
It would be cool if they asked someone in recruiting or HR about that employer related claim.
posted by Selena777 at 8:50 AM on September 9 [1 favorite]
posted by Selena777 at 8:50 AM on September 9 [1 favorite]
Loose to nonexistent admission criteria, dumbed-down curricula, no direct interaction with instructors, AI-generated 'tests,' vague talk about future accreditation, even more vague talk about job-search benefits, non-obvious way to get a refund... not saying this is a textbook fake college scam, but it does seem to hit the bullet points.
If this thing has any legs at all, there will soon be a piece where people are encouraged to take out student loans to pay for it. There's just one thing missing.
Vervaeke has taped three courses, including the one already available, for which he was paid a fee — one he says is in line with other online platforms for which he’s taught courses — plus an undetermined future share in profits.
Oh, there it is.
posted by box at 9:21 AM on September 9 [18 favorites]
If this thing has any legs at all, there will soon be a piece where people are encouraged to take out student loans to pay for it. There's just one thing missing.
Vervaeke has taped three courses, including the one already available, for which he was paid a fee — one he says is in line with other online platforms for which he’s taught courses — plus an undetermined future share in profits.
Oh, there it is.
posted by box at 9:21 AM on September 9 [18 favorites]
For conservatives, "ideology" means "something I disagree with", the same as how "politics" means "people I don't like doing something".
posted by Reyturner at 9:48 AM on September 9 [10 favorites]
posted by Reyturner at 9:48 AM on September 9 [10 favorites]
Grifters gonna grift.
posted by The Ardship of Cambry at 10:25 AM on September 9 [3 favorites]
posted by The Ardship of Cambry at 10:25 AM on September 9 [3 favorites]
As I keep telling my friends, with fascists an accusation is always always always a confession.
An accusation is a pre-emptive Tu quoque argument.
posted by symbioid at 10:36 AM on September 9 [3 favorites]
An accusation is a pre-emptive Tu quoque argument.
posted by symbioid at 10:36 AM on September 9 [3 favorites]
I want to preface this by saying fuck Jordan Peterson and all that he represents, this ridiculous frog voiced sonofabitch. That said, oh man I forgot where I was going with this. Well, have a good day, everybody
posted by kittens for breakfast at 10:46 AM on September 9 [43 favorites]
posted by kittens for breakfast at 10:46 AM on September 9 [43 favorites]
The Great Courses and other lectures from actual experts are available from my library for free - on video via Kanopy and audio via Overdrive.
(I would never say that they replace a university class, because classes are not just lectures, the real meat is the work that the student does (papers, lab exercises, exams, etc.). Just that this has already been done by other people, better and cheaper).
Also: the Open University.
posted by jb at 11:36 AM on September 9 [11 favorites]
(I would never say that they replace a university class, because classes are not just lectures, the real meat is the work that the student does (papers, lab exercises, exams, etc.). Just that this has already been done by other people, better and cheaper).
Also: the Open University.
posted by jb at 11:36 AM on September 9 [11 favorites]
British Columbia is about to drop the writ for a provincial election. The leader of the BC Conservative Party, John Rustad, has recorded a series of podcasts with Peterson. Here's one: "Stopping the Socialist Train Wreck in British Columbia". Here's a shorter one: "The State of Canada's Education System". No, I haven't the patience to sit through all of this stuff, but I am watching the election.
posted by CCBC at 2:52 PM on September 9 [3 favorites]
posted by CCBC at 2:52 PM on September 9 [3 favorites]
The Beaverton: Top 5 courses at Jordan Peterson’s new University
posted by eviemath at 6:34 PM on September 9 [4 favorites]
posted by eviemath at 6:34 PM on September 9 [4 favorites]
This is not the best of the web.
The content is apparently not terrible (faint praise?).
From the article:
it’s hard not to see many of courses rooted in a traditional Peterson-ian world view in which the clock started in ancient Greece, the best books are Penguin Classics and postmodern (leftist) thought has gone a little too far.
In addition to Peterson’s flagship course on Nietzsche, the first batch of 18 courses include Introduction to Nutrition (ideally, eat meat), The Boy Crisis (girls and boys hit each other “about equally”) and The Greatest Leaders in History: Heroes (seven military men plus Margaret Thatcher). The majority of the instructors are men.
Hmmm sounds pretty damn terrible to me...
Fuck Jordan Peterson.
posted by tiny frying pan at 10:37 AM on September 10 [2 favorites]
The content is apparently not terrible (faint praise?).
From the article:
it’s hard not to see many of courses rooted in a traditional Peterson-ian world view in which the clock started in ancient Greece, the best books are Penguin Classics and postmodern (leftist) thought has gone a little too far.
In addition to Peterson’s flagship course on Nietzsche, the first batch of 18 courses include Introduction to Nutrition (ideally, eat meat), The Boy Crisis (girls and boys hit each other “about equally”) and The Greatest Leaders in History: Heroes (seven military men plus Margaret Thatcher). The majority of the instructors are men.
Hmmm sounds pretty damn terrible to me...
Fuck Jordan Peterson.
posted by tiny frying pan at 10:37 AM on September 10 [2 favorites]
From the article:
posted by mhum at 1:19 PM on September 10 [2 favorites]
The tests themselves are AI-generated, and they’re currently lacking a certain human-level rigour. (I took the quiz after watching a lecture about Pericles, a politician from ancient Athens, and the answer to two of the 10 questions was, simply, “Pericles.”)Hilarious but what else would we expect from this jagoff.
posted by mhum at 1:19 PM on September 10 [2 favorites]
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posted by Popular Ethics at 6:29 AM on September 9 [1 favorite]