Psychology professor and best-selling author Jordan Peterson said that Judge Brett Kavanaugh should have stepped down from the Supreme Court when confirmed, according to tweets Peterson sent over the weekend. What are the details? Peterson's tweet came on Friday, prior to Kavanaugh being confirmed to the Supreme Court. In response to a tweet by former Evergreen State College professor Bret Weinstein who called Kavanaugh an "entitled punk," Peterson wrote, "If confirmed, Kavanaugh should step down." Weinstein had written, "My position on the #Kavanaugh confirmation: Both outcomes are completely unacceptable. Kavanaugh was clearly, at the very least, an entitled punk through college. Nothing suggests a radical shift in mindset. He appears to be the kind of adult that entitled punk grow into." Weinstein's lengthy tweet added, "Putting someone on the court who is likely to view the world through those narrow eyes is a betrayal of the most elemental American values. All the worse that the nomination came from another entitled punk. It's a divisive finger-in-the-eye-for-life to patriots of all stripes." If confirmed Kavanaugh should step down. https://t.co/UwsH52ts3b — Jordan B Peterson (@jordanbpeterson) October 5, 2018 What about the backlash? Naturally, Peterson received a lot of attention for his tweet. Hours after Peterson sent his initial tweet about Kavanaugh stepping down from the Supreme Court, he expounded on his reason for saying so. In a second tweet, Peterson wrote, "I'm not certain that is the right move. It's very complex. But he would have his name cleared, and a figure who might be less divisive might be put forward." He later added, "That might decrease residual alienation from the left, and make things less polarized moving forward. Of course, that has to be balanced against handing any victory to the 'believe all accusers' crowd." "I was thinking all this whole trying to plot out a strategy that would be least damaging, on the whole," Peterson continued, and noted that he's not insisting that his way of looking at the situation is the correct way. "And I'm not jumping up and down claiming to be correct. Thought is experiment, not reality," he said. "I believed if confirmed then Kavanaugh would be vindicated and could preserve his reputation (I understand the damage that has been done to him. perhaps better than most) but by withdrawing he could effectively deprive his more radical opponents of their [self-righteous] moralism," Peterson explained. "As I said," he concluded, "this could be wrong." I'm not certain that is the right move. It's very complex. But he would have his name cleared, and a figure who might be less divisive might be put forward. https://t.co/oNQB2bRsC7 — Jordan B Peterson (@jordanbpeterson) October 6, 2018 That might decrease residual alienation from the left, and make things less polarized moving forward. Of course, that has to be balanced against handing any victory to the "believe all accusers" crowd. https://t.co/xcVBcoaWWv — Jordan B Peterson (@jordanbpeterson) October 6, 2018 I was thinking all this whole trying to plot out a strategy that would be least damaging, on the whole. And I'm not jumping up and down claiming to be correct. Thought is experiment, not reality. https://t.co/1A6roINK5o — Jordan B Peterson (@jordanbpeterson) October 6, 2018 I believed if confirmed then Kavanaugh would be vindicated and could preserve his reputation (I understand the damage that has been done to him. perhaps better than most) but by withdrawing he could effectively deprive his more radical opponents of their selfrighteous moralism. https://t.co/dbA5D3LhuW — Jordan B Peterson (@jordanbpeterson) October 6, 2018<doc-sep>Jordan Peterson attempted to explain his call for Brett Kavanaugh to step down from his appointment to the Supreme Court in a blog post published on Tuesday. In a blog post published on Tuesday, Professor Jordan Peterson attempted to explain a tweet in which he called for Bret Kavanaugh to step down from his appointment to the Supreme Court of the United States. Peterson’s followers aggressively pushed back against his call for Kavanaugh to step down, and he eventually clarified his thoughts on the topic in a subsequent series of tweets. In the blog post, Peterson more or less argues that Kavanaugh should step down in order to promote peace and stability in the United States. I asked myself a question, after reading these posts: “Is there an alternative to confirming or not confirming Kavanaugh?” When a choice appears starkly binary, a third path appears impossible, by definition — but might possibly still be worth seeking. I tried to place myself in Kavanaugh’s position, while generating a potential answer (and think that I can do so with some justification, having been publicly identified as reprehensible by many people—prominent journalists, activists, and academics among them). I thought, “He can’t withdraw, prior to the nomination, because his reputation has been savaged so badly that withdrawal would not only mean loss of the Supreme Court nomination, but demolition of his entire career and future life.” So the only way for Kavanaugh was forward, through the FBI investigation, on to the nomination hearing, and the hope that he would be… what? Cleared? Not cleared, because it is too late for that, even given the favorable or at least not damning FBI report. A large percentage of the American public does not believe that he is an appropriate choice for the highest bench position in the land (51%, according to NY Mag). I’m not claiming, necessarily, that CNN’s poll is reliable. It doesn’t matter. What matters is that there is very widespread opposition to his candidacy, much of it generated not by people’s belief in his innocence or lack therefore but by their objection to the manner in which both parties handled the nomination process. It’s not a good thing when there is general discomfort with the manner in which something as important as the naming of a new Chief Justice is undertaken. It doesn’t bode well for the stability and peace of the state (and perhaps–perhaps–there is nothing more important to preserve than that). You can read the entirety of Peterson’s blog post here.<doc-sep>
Professor Jordan Peterson argued this weekend that Brett Kavanaugh should step down from the Supreme Court for a “less divisive” nominee to take his place, despite Peterson’s past advice to “never apologize to a mob.” In a tweet, Peterson chimed in on a tweet by Eric Weinstein that criticized Brett Kavanaugh’s upcoming appointment to the Supreme Court of the United States. “If confirmed, Kavanaugh should step down,” Peterson tweeted. The tweet came in response to a thread by former Evergreen State College Professor Bret Weinstein, who called Kavanaugh an “entitled punk.” My position on the #Kavanaugh confirmation: Both outcomes are completely unacceptable. — Bret Weinstein (@BretWeinstein) October 5, 2018 “My position on the #Kavanaugh confirmation: Both outcomes are completely unacceptable,” Weinstein wrote. “Kavanaugh was clearly, at the very least, an entitled punk through college. Nothing suggests a radical shift in mindset,” he added. “He appears to be the kind of adult that entitled punks grow into.” “Putting someone on the court who is likely to view the world through those narrow eyes is a betrayal of the most elemental American values,” he continued. “All the worse that the nomination came from another entitled punk. It’s a divisive finger-in-the-eye-for-life to patriots of all stripes.” Several hours after Peterson called for Kavanaugh to step down, he attempted to explain his rationale. “I’m not certain that is the right move. It’s very complex. But he would have his name cleared, and a figure who might be less divisive might be put forward,” he tweeted. I'm not certain that is the right move. It's very complex. But he would have his name cleared, and a figure who might be less divisive might be put forward. https://t.co/oNQB2bRsC7 — Jordan B Peterson (@jordanbpeterson) October 6, 2018 Some pointed to an older tweet from Peterson, in which he argued that caving to mob mentality is dangerous, as evidence of his hypocrisy. “Never, never, never apologize to a mob. Particularly if you have done nothing wrong. You’re a poet. Tell them to go to hell and keep writing, for God’s sake,” he tweeted in early August. In a blog post published over the weekend, mens’ rights advocate Karen Straughan fired back at Peterson: “This entire process has been turned into a joke,” she wrote. “And if the Democrats are able to get what they want out of it, whether because Kavanaugh nobly but futilely falls on his own sword, or because the Democrat mob opts to impeach—the equivalent of pulling a fire alarm to shut down a speaker they don’t like — it will open a door we do NOT want opened.”