Flip Charts Send Woman Into Therapy

Speak English, you smug white flip-chart using bastards.Kuerbs, B/DPA via ZUMA

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Huh?

Jordan Peterson, 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).

….Why did he decide to engage in politics at all? He says a couple years ago he had three clients in his private practice “pushed out of a state of mental health by left-wing bullies in their workplace.” I ask for an example, and he sighs.

He says one patient had to be part of a long email chain over whether the term “flip chart” could be used in the workplace, since the word “flip” is a pejorative for Filipino. “She had a radical-left boss who was really concerned with equality and equality of outcome and all these things and diversity and inclusivity and all these buzzwords and she was subjected to — she sent me the email chain, 30 emails about whether or not the word flip chart was acceptable,” Mr. Peterson says.

I’ve lived a pretty placid life, and I’ve certainly learned that not everyone’s life is as placid as mine. Stuff that doesn’t bother me can be a big deal to other people. But a dumb email chain sent a woman into therapy? I hope everyone will excuse me if I find this unlikely. Perhaps Peterson should have explored his patient’s problem a little more deeply?

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