On Tuesday, “The Joe Rogan Experience” podcast featured Canadian author and psychology professor Jordan Peterson. During the conversation, political commentator and professor Michael Eric Dyson came up as someone who said the author was a “mean, angry white man.” The two discuss to what degree they are white and Peterson points out that Dyson is Brown, not Black.
Rogan responds:
There’s such a spectrum of shades of people. Unless you’re talking to someone who is, like, 100 percent African, from the darkest place, where they are not wearing any clothes all day and they’ve developed all that melanin to protect themselves from the sun, you know, even the term Black is weird. When you use it for people who are literally my color, it becomes very strange.
Dyson was interviewed on CNN by Don Lemon. On the show, he says Rogan and Peterson challenged his “Blackness” and failed, however, they successfully showed their “whiteness – indifferent to history, oblivious to [the] truth, and indifferent to reality.” He continued by saying the views of Rogan and Peterson are prevalent today.
This is the same kind of ignorance that fuels the belief that [Critical Race Theory] is being taught in elementary schools. This is the same kind of ignorance that would have us believe that 1619 is anti-democratic, anti-American project. This is the nature of the whiteness we continually confront. This is willful ignorance. This is not, ‘Oh my God, I just don’t understand it. It’s just too complicated.’ No, what’s too complicated is to acknowledge your whiteness. Your privilege. Your perspective. The shades through which you view the world and the ways in which whiteness provides a kind of lens through which we view it.
Host of “The Daily Show,” Trevor Noah, expressed his happiness that at least the conversation in question was not about COVID vaccines.
Noah made it clear on his talk show that Black people did not call themselves Black. He pointed out that in Africa there are cultures and there are tribes. Then, white people arrived and saw all the Black people. He asserts:
Then in America, they invented a rule that if you had one drop of Black blood in you, that makes you Black – which defined how you were treated by the government and by society.
The video of “The Daily Show” clip of Noah has been removed from YouTube.
Controversy Continued
In this same episode of “The Joe Rogan Experience,” Peterson asserts that there is no such thing as “climate” in a conversation about climate change. Peterson’s view comes from a book written by S. Fred Singer, who was a scientist who spoke out against climate change. The book title is “Climate Change Reconsidered.”
Peterson states that climate is everything. Rogan asks him to expand on that thought and he did not receive a clear reply other than to talk more about Singer and his ideas. He claims the models used by scientists are not based on “everything,” but through a set amount of variables. These variables are to constitute “everything.” He asks, if only a set of variables is used in the equation about everything, how does one choose those variables?
He also asserts that if people cared about the environment, they would make sure poor people were made rich as fast as possible to change their outcomes and resources.
The professor states inaccurately that seven million children die each year from “indoor particulate pollution” – Burning wood inside to cook or keep warm. This number was disproved on the air. Only the poorest people burn wood, according to Peterson. If they had more money and opportunity, then the environment would heal. He also believes that fracking has not polluted any water supply.
Rogan stops Peterson occasionally to question his facts. However, he is unable to retrieve accurate answers from Peterson.
Peterson’s comments are comical to those who truly understand how scientific modeling works, however, it is dangerous information for those who do not have this understanding. Michael E. Mann, a climate scientist at Pennsylvania State University, tells CNN that Peterson’s ideas ignore physics, chemistry, and every other type of science in his beliefs.
NASA climate scientist Gavin Schmidt took to Twitter to argue “The Rogan Experience” needs an expert in scientific climate models. He tweets that Peterson has no idea what he is talking about.
Who Is Peterson?
Peterson’s claim to fame is his book, “12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos.” His primary platform is freedom of speech and personal responsibility, according to his profile on thinkspot.com.
Written by Jeanette Vietti
Sources:
Newsweek: New Joe Rogan Firestorm as Podcaster Chimes in on What It Means to Be Black
Patriot-News: As he ponders COVID-19 and vaccines, Joe Rogan takes the time to weigh in on who is Black and who isn’t
Independent: Trevor Noah mocks Joe Rogan and Jordan Peterson over conversation about skin colour
CNN: Joe Rogan: Scientists slam climate denialism from Jordan Peterson
Featured Image Courtesy of Yon Mora’s Flickr Page – Creative Commons License
Inline Image by Steven Crowder Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons – Creative Commons License
