By Nellie Bowles
May 18, 2018
… Mr. Peterson, 55, a University of Toronto psychology professor turned YouTube philosopher turned mystical father figure, has emerged as an influential thought leader. The messages he delivers range from hoary self-help empowerment talk (clean your room, stand up straight) to the more retrograde and political (a society run as a patriarchy makes sense and stems mostly from men’s competence; the notion of white privilege is a farce). He is the stately looking, pedigreed voice for a group of culture warriors who are working diligently to undermine mainstream and liberal efforts to promote equality.
The most denounced line:
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New York Times Seattle bureau chief Mike Baker went to Portland, Oregon and committed one of the few and far-between pieces of actual journalism from the long-standing riot area in that city, where left-wing radicals and anarchists have been granted free reign to pillage and vandalize in the name of anti-fascism. The rather slanted print headline on the front page of Wednesday’s National section read “Vandalism Fuels Wrath And Division In Portland.”
The focus was on the city’s beleaguered Democratic Mayor Ted Wheeler finally promising to crack down on the endless rioting (after Wheeler wasted 2020 fulminating against then-President Trump for criticizing deploying the feds to Portland to protect federal buildings).
When the torchbearers of Charlottesville yelled “Jews will not replace us,” they were actually doing a bit of translation. The infamous phrase was based on an idea that took hold in France, gained traction in Austria, had deep roots in violent American white supremacist thinking, and has been supercharged by social media in multiple languages and forms.
The Great Replacement Theory, or the White Replacement Theory, catapulted back into the headlines earlier this month when Tucker Carlson of Fox News espoused it on prime-time television.
“This is a voting rights question,” Carlson said. “I have less political power because they’re importing a brand-new electorate. Why should I sit back and take that? The power that I have as an American guaranteed at birth is one man, one vote and they’re diluting it. No, they are not allowed to do that. Why are we putting up with this?”