Category Archives: Jordan Peterson

The idea that we must deal with evil in our hearts before tackling injustice in society continues to assert itself. In our world everybody thinks of changing humanity, and nobody thinks of changing himself, Leo Tolstoy wrote over a hundred years ago, and his quotation has been endlessly memed since then. More recently, the celebrity academic Jordan Peterson famously admonished his followers to set your house in perfect order before you criticize the world. And consider how, after every mass shooting, talk about gun regulation ismet with the mantra that we dont have a gun problem; we have a heart problem. The argument can leave us feeling like we need to become morally flawless before working for solutions to societal problems.

But if the world is going to wait for all of us to become perfect before we can find solutions to social evils, the world will have to wait for a long time. And the world is not simply an abstraction. The world that waits for us to set our houses and hearts in order is a world of real human beings who need justice nowwhether I keep being petty or not.

Those in vulnerable and dangerous situations should not have to wait for those in more privileged positions to attain every virtue before they can have the basic goods they need to survive. Children deserve to be safe from violence even if the hearts of the violent remain unconverted. Women are owed protection from assault and harassment even if men cling to sexist and misogynistic ideas. The poor deserve food and shelter even if the rich begrudge them their assistance.

This does not mean that conversion of the heart is not essential to full societal reform. For example, anti-racism work means dismantling the structures that keep racism alive. But it also means that a white person doing anti-racism work has to grapple with their own ingrained bigotry and intolerance.

And conversion of heart can make each of us more just and peaceful, less vain and duplicitous. We would all be better and more joyful. And that resulting joy can have a real impact on the work that needs to be done; it can make our social reform movements more attractive and effective. If you look at that popular Tolstoy quotation in its original context, we find that it is part of a broader theory that slavery would have been abolished, sooner and more easily, if people had reformed their way of living. So, yes, we need both personal and societal change, but these do not evolve in a straight line.

Laboring for societal reform and justice can be hard and even painful; it can be all too easy for those of us who benefit from these systems to use a lack of personal conversion as an excuse for not doing the work for change in the world.

Mantras about transforming our own hearts first, or seeing to our own houses, can serve a sneaky anti-justice agenda. They give us a cover for blocking reform movements that might make us uncomfortable while also providing us with the illusion that we care. And so we talk and pray about ending racism and bigotry, without addressing the material changes that need to happen in our society. But this attitude does not go unnoticed, and it has begun to ring hollow for many. Today many people hear the phrase thoughts and prayers not as an expression of heartfelt condolence but rather as code for I dont really care, and Im not going to do anything.

Yet suppose those prayers for transformation begin to work? When this happens, it will reveal itself in more than just altered attitudes. Our actions will change. When we see suffering and injustice, we will want to do something about themsomething real, material and lasting.

Even if our hearts do not change, however, justice still needs to be done. The moral focal point must remain on the needs of the less fortunate, not on the hearts and minds of the well-to-do.

Enacting social justice does not have to be the work of the perfect. Even if we are begrudging, and even if we feel less than warmly about those we ally with, the work itself has objective moral value. When a movement for reform in the church, or in society, is made up of ethically flawed humans (as every movement always is), our moral failures do not nullify the real justice and worth of our goals.

We are all called to work for justice in our communities, in whatever way we can, even while our lives are imperfect. As the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.reminds us, It may be true that the law cannot change the heart but it can restrain the heartless.

If we have been admonished, over and over, not to try to change the world before we have changed ourselves, we may feel daunted by our own sense of inadequacy. We may feel that we are not good enough or heroic enough to be allowed to work for change. We may even worry that we will mar movements for justice with our moral imperfections. But we should not let our own insufficiencies hold us back. After all, if it is a change of heart that we need, working for a better and happier world might be exactly the moral medicine we need. If we want to deal with the evil in our own hearts, perhaps the best way to go about it is by working against the injustice in society.

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Working to 'transform your own heart' can't be an excuse to ignore social injustice - America Magazine

A 55-year-old man has said he has never felt better after trying a diet that his wife recommended to him.

Jordan Peterson appeared on the Joe Rogan Podcast to talk about how his health issues have disappeared after switching to a simple diet of broccoli and chicken.

He said: "She only ate chicken and broccoli for about two months, and she convinced me to try this diet about a year and a half ago.

"And so I lost seven pounds a month for seven months. That was the first thing, which was just bloody amazing. It was unbelievable. It was unbelievable. I couldn't believe it."

He went on to explain how the new diet stopped him snoring just after a week.

He said: "So the first thing that happened was I quit snoring immediately. Took one week.

"And I was snoring badly, so that disappeared in a week, and that was amazing. I thought, oh, that's interesting.

"And then I had gas reflux disorder, and that went away, and then I lost seven pounds in the first week, and I thought oh that's a lot, seven pounds.

"I had psoriasis, that went away. I had floaters in my right eye, which is also an autoimmune problem that went away.

"I have had gum disease for 30 years. That went away. That went away. That went away. It's amazing. I'm 55, like my gum disease went away.

"I'm down to the same weight I was when I was 25."

Mr Peterson also said he was never a morning person, but after switching a diet of broccoli and chicken, he has no problem waking up immediately.

He said: "Yeah, no kidding and I've got lots of energy. I wake up in the morning, and I wake up.

"That's never happened to me in my life. My whole life, I've always had to have a shower like took me an hour to wake up my whole life.

"That's gone. I'm not hungry."

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Man says all his health problems went away after eating just two things - Irish Mirror

As football took them in different directions, get-togethers between Patrick Peterson and Jordan Jefferson roommates in college, teammates at Louisiana State, Jefferson the best man in Peterson's wedding only happened a few times a year. Now, they happen almost weekly at Peterson's home in the west suburbs.

The close friends "reminisce a lot," Peterson said, as they talk about their families and the football fates that brought them back half a country away from where they first met, now that Peterson is a cornerback with the Vikings and Jefferson is living with his younger brother in the townhouse he bought near the team's facility.

Justin Jefferson, the kid Peterson remembers as an 11-year-old tagging along with his brothers at LSU, is often there, too, but with business to conduct during the social occasions. Peterson spent $20,000 on a hyperbaric chamber to help his body recover from games faster in his 30s; Justin, at all of 22 years, wants to make sure he gets some time in the chamber when he's at Peterson's house.

"To see how he has evolved, how he's handled success, it's remarkable," Peterson said. "He handles himself like he's been here five or six years. It's a credit to his parents, to his work ethic, how he wants to be seen once he's done with the game."

After 2020 saw him break NFL rookie records and help take the Griddy dance from Louisiana to a social media phenomenon, Jefferson has spent his second year carefully trying to navigate parallel paths to perennial Pro Bowl player and bona fide star without being thrown off either one.

His older brother Jordan functions as a live-in mentor, business manager, coach, caregiver for Justin's dog (a German Shepherd named Apollo) and personal chef.

Peterson, now in his 11th season, is a close confidant for Jefferson on everything from his play on the field to charities he should consider. Vikings receivers coach Keenan McCardell, who spent 17 seasons in the league, mixes advice about understanding defenses at a deeper level with reminders to be "good in your [own] skin" and ignore social media opinion.

Jefferson was used to seeing his parents, John and Elaine, at every one of his games before COVID-19 emptied NFL stadiums last year. They have been back at a handful of games this year, sometimes with gumbo in tow.

In a city that's 1,200 miles from home, and can feel a world away from New Orleans, the receiver stays grounded by surrounding himself with people who knew him before the Griddy was featured on "Fortnite" or he was breaking records once held by Randy Moss.

"I think it always helps," Jordan Jefferson said. "When you get into situations where money and fame is involved, it builds this aura around you that a lot of people want to be around, whether it's for good intentions or bad intentions. In this case, he feels very comfortable having that type of presence around, because he can trust, he can express, he can be vulnerable."

He is enjoying elements of his celebrity like the courtside seats his brother and he had to a Lakers game during the Vikings bye week but Jefferson speaks about his own progress in a way that suggests he's not terribly impressed by any of it.

He has a list of receivers he thinks are at the top of the league: Davante Adams, Cooper Kupp, Stefon Diggs, Tyreek Hill, Julio Jones. "We all know who the top five, six, seven guys are in that category," he said.

Jefferson has not put his own name on that list yet.

"It's definitely a lot, but I feel like I haven't reached my full potential," he said. "I feel like I haven't done anything worth talking about. I feel like I've got way more to accomplish than what I have so far."

After coaching at Colorado State as a graduate assistant in 2019 and at a junior college this spring, Jordan Jefferson was trying to figure out if he'd pursue a coaching job for the fall when his parents came to him with a request. Justin's other brother Rickey, who had lived in Minnesota last season, had moved out to be with his fiance as she prepared to deliver the couple's first child, and John and Elaine wanted someone who could spend time with Justin in the Twin Cities.

"He's only 22 years old, and he's a superstar. We need someone around him," John Jefferson said. "It was important, because you never know. People outside, things can go down. You can get yourself in a bad situation. We wanted somebody around him to make sure everything is OK. ... I'm not retiring, and my wife is still working, so we're not going to do that right now. It was just perfect timing that Jordan went out there."

Jordan cooks almost every night, mostly healthy organic entrees, though Mondays after a big game are reserved for steaks and Cajun favorites like crawfish etouffee sometimes show up on the menu. Evenings can bring time for a movie, video games or film study, where Jordan, who played quarterback at LSU and coached Justin in high school, might have a fresh perspective on Justin's route tree.

"It helped a lot, just coming home and him knowing how I feel," Justin said. "He knows a lot more things [about the NFL] than a normal brother would know. I can watch film with him; he tells me different things that I need to work on. It's a lot easier, a lot more comforting."

It's also allowed the Jefferson family to realize a dream together, as Justin goes further in the NFL than either Jordan or Rickey could. Jordan's work with Justin has opened up networking opportunities for his own career, and when John and Elaine weren't able to be at U.S. Bank Stadium last Sunday night for the Cowboys game, a text from Jordan brought quick relief that Justin was OK after a hard fall on the turf in the second half.

"We went through Jordan coming up as a quarterback, and [Rickey] got hurt [after playing with the Saints]," John Jefferson said. "Looking at Justin's situation, sometimes we have to pinch ourselves. As parents, we're very humble. We still work, and my wife and me were blessed before Justin made it to the NFL. We were just happy for him to get the opportunity his brothers didn't get."

This offseason, Justin Jefferson jotted down five areas he wanted to improve in his game: balance, explosiveness, speed, his hands and his ability to get in and out of his breaks. He handed a piece of paper with the list to his personal trainer, Mo Wells, and spent the offseason working on those areas at House of Athlete, the Florida gym started by former NFL receiver Brandon Marshall.

He feels faster off the line this year, he said, and his balance is better, too, after doing one-foot drills on a medicine ball or wobble board. McCardell scouted Jefferson as the Jaguars receiving coach and wanted Jacksonville to take him 20th overall in 2020; Jefferson's ability to beat press coverage and his aggressiveness to the ball were still pleasant surprises when they started working together.

Peterson had circled the Vikings on his free-agent list in part because of Jefferson's play as a rookie. The eight-time Pro Bowl selection was the one corner Jefferson always wanted to face; he is also a family friend who gave Jefferson real-time feedback on the practice field until Peterson strained his right hamstring on Oct. 17.

They share a love of cars and food. "I'll pull his leg and ask him when Miss Elaine is bringing that cheesecake. His mom makes one of the best homemade cheesecakes I've ever had," Peterson said.

Outside of those subjects, their conversation rarely drifts from football. Jefferson asks how to maintain his body into his 30s, or why Peterson didn't fall for a route the receiver frequently uses to set up defensive backs.

"He," Peterson said, "is a real young old pro."

Jefferson ranks a modest 16th in the NFL in catches (43) and receiving yards (583) this season, while playing in a Vikings offense that has struggled to open up the passing game. Sunday's matchup in Baltimore pits Minnesota against the team that has given up more passing yards than any in the NFL, but three games against top-10 pass defense (the Chargers, Packers and 49ers) follow after that.

McCardell reminds him that even the great receivers have frustrating nights like Sunday, when Jefferson had only two catches for 21 yards and misjudged a deep ball that could have put the Vikings up 14-0 on the Cowboys. He believes the game will slow down even more for Jefferson in a year, as the receiver gets even better at diagnosing coverages and deepening his repertoire of releases. His directive to Jefferson now can be summed up with a catchphrase: Own the grass.

"He's only in his second year, and people think he's already one of the top elite guys," McCardell said. "I tell him all the time, every time we're on the grass, you own the grass and you strive for greatness. You own that field, because it's your domain. When you're out there, you have to have the mind-set that: 'There's nobody out here who can cover me. I don't care who it is. This is my playhouse. You can't invade my playhouse.' "

Soon, the Vikings believe, Jefferson can put himself atop the list in his head. His effort to get there is just beginning.

"I don't think it's hard to block out [the noise] when you have the right guidance," Peterson said. "He wants his name to be etched in stone at some point. He understood what it takes to get to the next level, and also what it takes to sustain a certain level of greatness."

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Elusive on the field, Vikings' Justin Jefferson is covered at home - Minneapolis Star Tribune

Before he signed last week with the Tennessee Titans to try to help replace Derrick Henry, Adrian Peterson turned down a chance to be on ABC's "Dancing with the Stars."

The show called Peterson in early September and offered him $150,000 for the rehearsal period alone, with the chance to earn up to $335,000 on the show, sources told ESPN.

But Peterson turned down the show because he thought he had a chance to land with the Baltimore Ravens, who lost three running backs to season-ending injuries during the preseason.

The Ravens were one of five NFL teams that expressed varying levels of interest in Peterson, who led the league in rushing in 2008, 2012 and 2015. The others were the Raiders, Bills, Falcons and Dolphins.

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But after Henry suffered a potentially season-ending foot injury last Sunday against the Indianapolis Colts, the Titans got on the phone with Peterson and arranged to bring the former league MVP to Tennessee on Monday, when he signed with the team.

The Titans still are keeping hope alive that Henry, the NFL's leading rusher, will be able to return at some point this season after he had foot surgery last week. But one source told ESPN that it "would be very surprising if he made it back this season."

Peterson is set to make his Titans debut Sunday against the Los Angeles Rams. The four-time All-Pro hasn't played since last season, but those who know Peterson believe he can step onto the field without much preparation.

The 36-year-old Peterson said Friday that he was "in a good place" and emphasized that even when he was at home without a team, he was "practicing at all times."

Titans players were impressed with the energy Peterson provided at Friday's practice. Wide receiver Chester Rogers told reporters that Peterson was "bringing juice" and said, "You know he's got something left in the tank."

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Adrian Peterson turned down shot at 'Dancing with the Stars' earlier this year, set for Tennessee Titans debut - ESPN

I am an evangelical Christian. I am a political conservative. I vote Republican. Contrary to the commentariat of the more evolved wings of third-way evangelicalism, my life does not find its purpose in running from these categories, or boasting of their compromised fusion, nor am I embarrassed by them.

At the same time, it is necessary for me to delineate their boundaries, knowing how my faith influences my political convictions and understanding what lines I need to draw to prevent my politics from influencing my faith. Faith must always cultivate my politics, and never the reverse. The sequencing of worldview matters. Beliefs about reality have political entailments. But it is necessary for me to make important distinctions that, if not made, could lead to the sullying of faith in service to politics.

That brings me to a column written earlier in 2021 by Matthew Walther, noting the rise of so-called Barstool Conservativesa label developed from the provocative personality Dave Portnoy. It is a provocative column that you should read. Walthers main point is that there is a growing sentiment that is crude, morally libertine, but anti-woke. It is not at all synonymous with the Permanent Things of either evangelical Christianity or traditionalist conservatism. Walter argues that while the Barstoolers may be tenuous allies with traditionalist conservatism at best, the Barstoolers will always find the reflexive traditionalism of religious conservatism fringe, and well, eccentric. So be it.

A tenuous coalition may very well be the case. Perhaps there can be common cause in the project of pushing back against the suffocating auras of the looming woketopia. But heres my point: Evangelical Christians and traditionalist conservatives should reject the idiom of Barstool Conservatismwhile identifying areas of convergence.

We must be particularly vigilant about this as the offensiveness of the Left is clearer, which could create more subtle inroads of Barstool conservatism into religious conservatism. A political ecumenism that pushes back against woke lunacy but causes Christians to adopt or excuse the disposition of cruelty and licentiousness is its own compromise. This is why its ever so important for religious conservatism to keep their modes distinct. A subtle but gradual shift that normalizes the ethos and pathos of secular conservatism is but another manifestation of theological liberalism.

There is a broad constellation of personalities whom some may consider conservative but others simply consider anti-woke. From Douglas Murray, Dave Portnoy, and Dave Rubin to Jordan Peterson, Joe Rogan, Bill Maher, Dave Chapellethe list goes on. Not a single figure listed above would come close to meeting the criteria for membership in my local church, but they are increasingly at odds with the worst aspects of progressivism (even if perversely enabling it elsewhere).

On the one hand, we should not be surprised that traditionalist conservatives would find limited cause with these personalities. Because of my belief in common grace, I am happy to affirm the reality of a common moral understanding. On the other hand, a review of the scandalous sins these personalities not only commit, but boast in, means that Christians must resist the slow-burn of accommodation.

Christians cannot let what is functionally pagan do our work. We cannot adopt the idiom or parrot their form. Christians and conservatives ought not piggyback off the work of non-Christian secular conservatives. We must not allow evangelical political priorities to be co-opted by functional pagans simply because we share a limited set of political objectives.

I say all of this because as we trudge along in secular America, we need Christian clarity. As Matthew Rose notes in A World After Liberalism, Right can devolve into a host of cultural and political pathogens shorn of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Thus, evangelical Christians and traditionalist conservatives should be clear-eyed about what this reality represents.

The times are too fraught and the debates too significant for Christians to blur these categories. Listen to their podcasts, read their books, even follow them on social media. Im not calling for complete and total separation. Im calling for careful discernment, intellectual honesty, and theological integrity. Under no circumstances can we take the substance and style of our convictions from the cues of a secularized worldview, and it is time for Christians to recognize this fact.

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Keeping the distinctions clear | WORLD - WORLD News Group

12 Rules for Life is one of the bestselling books in recent times. Famous author Jordan Peterson lays out 12 simple rules on how to conduct your life.

The key point: individual responsibility. Take responsibility for your own life. Dont worry about other problems fix your own first. If everyone did this, many society-level problems would be solved.

Learn the key points of the 12 Rules for Life rule list, and get a summary of each of the 12 Rules below.

Most humans crave order and meaning in their existence, to deal with the terrifying uncertainty of the world. For much of history this function was served by religion, with rules handed down by gods and supernatural surveillance of behavior.

But take away religion, and a void remains. There is no scientific code of ethics that inherited the stabilizing role of religion. In the absence of clear rules and a moral compass, people are prone to nihilism, existential angst, and misery.

In 12 Rules for Life, Peterson argues that there is a right and wrong way to conduct your life. In contrast, he rejects the ambiguity of moral relativism, the idea that good and evil are subjective opinion and that every belief has its own truth. Moral relativism tolerates all ideas to avoid being judgmental, and prevents adults from telling young people how to live. It also rejects thousands of years of development of virtue and how to live properly.

As a solution, in his 12 Rules for Life list, Peterson focuses on individual responsibility. The central tenets are:

That this book has hit such a chord support the first point, that most people crave order and structure. The rest of this guide clarifies the 12 Rules for Life list, with themes of individual responsibility, being truthful to yourself, and defining your own meaning for life.

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12 Rules for Life List: Jordan Peterson, Explained ...

As corporations go, Netflix is as woke as they come. In 2018, for example, it fired one of its executives for using the n-word, even though he used it purely descriptively to talk about offensive words.

The trouble with being a woke corporation is that once you go down that road, you can never be woke enough in the eyes of the truly woke. Netflix has discovered this recently after it came under fire from some of its own employees and creatives for daring to host Dave Chappelles latest show, The Closer. They accuse Chappelle of transphobia, and want his show cancelled. Last week, Netflix employees even joined trans activists in a protest outside Netflixs Los Angeles offices.

Netflix is not alone in having its own staff attempt to censor its content. Many other media corporations have also found their woke credentials challenged by their millennial employees. Spotify faced a mini rebellion last year over some of the episodes produced by its biggest podcast star, Joe Rogan. Spotify employees complained that they found some of Rogans guests and content offensive, and demanded editorial oversight over his show. They threatened to stage a walkout unless they received it.

Young woke employees doubling-up as freelance censors are also busy in publishing. Penguin Random House Canada faced the wrath of fragile millennial staff members when they discovered Penguin was publishing controversial psychologist Jordan Petersons new book. And trans booksellers were outraged when independent bookstores received copies of Abigail Shriers Irreversible Damage: The Transgender Craze Seducing Our Daughters from the American Booksellers Association. The ABA swiftly apologised for including Irreversible in its July 2021 mailout to its 750 member bookstores.

Publishing is fast becoming a career choice for ambitious would-be censors. They are particularly active when it comes to trans-related issues. One group of individuals from across publishing wrote a letter to the Bookseller, attacking transphobia in the British book industry, and demanded that it stop publishing books that supposedly promote it.

But it is not just trans issues that are prompting internal outrage at large publishers. Earlier this year, 216 employees at Simon & Schuster in New York signed a petition insisting that it sever its ties with writers associated with the Trump administration. This included former vice-president Mike Pence, who had just signed a two-year publishing deal with Simon & Schuster.

It is clear that woke ideology has inspired some of those working in the media to demand what is, in effect, editorial control over their employers content. This new generation of media employees is seemingly unwilling to tolerate anything that it deems offensive. David Shelley, the CEO of Hachette Book Group, and Clare Alexander, a literary agent, told the House of Lords communications and digital committee that publishers now have to warn new recruits that they may have to work on books by people they dont agree with.

Large media corporations should not be surprised that some of their employees now aspire to the role of company censors. Woke companies like Facebook, YouTube or Netflix have already attempted to shut down offensive views. Their employees are merely demanding that these already woke companies go a step further.

However, there is also another reason why the new generation of media employees seek to out-woke those running their companies. Many employers and executives have stumbled on to wokeness by accident, and see it pragmatically. But the young are different. Socialised into identity politics, they are true believers.

They are also ambitious. They know that they can use wokeness to promote their own interests. Their demand for editorial oversight is therefore also a power play. As commentator David Brooks has pointed out, wokeness is not just a social philosophy, but an elite status marker, a strategy for personal advancement.

So protests, like the one against Dave Chappelle, are not just motivated by identity politics. They are also a means to gain power within an elite corporation.

Young employees who have fully internalised woke ideology can use their cultural influence to force their older bosses on to the defensive. They know that when they call out their company for not being sufficiently diverse or their bosses for their privilege, they will not meet with any resistance. After all, no company wanting to be woke will ever assert that it is sufficiently diverse. And no boss, determined to assert his own woke credentials, will openly defend his privilege.

Large corporations like Netflix or Penguin Random House cannot allow their employees to gain control over the production of their content. But their embrace of woke ideology has made them vulnerable. These Woke Young Turks know that. And they know that their social mobility is intimately linked to gaining power by out-woking their elders. Should they gain power, broadcasters and publishers will be even less likely to tolerate competing views and dissent. And that will be bad news for everyone.

Frank Furedis 100 Years of Identity Crisis: Culture War over Socialisation is published by De Gruyter.

Picture by: Getty.

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Netflix and the woke power play - Spiked

As a sports writer, its a general rule I cant have a rooting interest in a game or a season overall.

Its not like one of those unwritten rules of baseball, its more of a known fact of the trade. You just dont root for a team to score, to win and so on. Its bad taste generally.

The way I look at it, I have to write the story either way.

But, were not robots at the same time.

I might be able to type out a paragraph of thoughts while looking around a room, out the window or while watching a game, but thats just muscle memory and my brain is wired a bit differently.

Sports writers still feel the emotion of these games and seasons. We can still get caught in moments and smile when great things happen.

So on Friday night when I received the score that the East Jordan football team capped its first outright conference championship since 1986 and would likely qualify for the playoffs for the first time since 2003, darn right I smiled.

I felt for that team. Actually, I always kind of have.

East Jordan has always been great to me. Theyve got one of the best Athletic Directors in the state in Phyllis Olszewski and you cant tell me differently.

Ive always had a lot of respect for head coach Greg Kitson, who took over for Allen Peterson in 2016. Kitson is an EJ guy through and through. Hes coached in about every level of the sport in the East Jordan community for over 20 years and hes an East Jordan grad. Theres no doubt he puts his heart into it.

Then the players, theyvealways been nice kids. I dont know what theyre like beyond four quarters of a football game and the moments afterward, but I walk a lot of sidelines and talk with a lot of kids and theyve always been standup young men.

That smile on Friday night was for everyone within that program, knowing how bad they wanted to have that moment on their home field with a conference title in hand.

I wanted those players, coaches, fans and everyone else there to feel that kind of joy. I remember it from back when I was playing.

And because of the new playoff point system by the MHSAA changed from a six-win qualification for playoffs before East Jordan almost didnt make it in at 7-2. They were the last team in the division to qualify.

See, most of the teams within their conference are Division 8 squads. Frankfort, Harbor Springs, Johannesburg-Lewiston and St. Ignace are all down a division, so the computer takes that into account and not as many playoff points are awarded for wins, or even opponent wins.

What it doesnt take into account is the fact that EJ is Division 7 by just nine students, the fourth smallest D7 school. Last year, they were actually Division 8.

What an absolute shame and highlight to a flaw in the system it would have been if the year after they change it from six-win qualification to point based, East Jordan doesnt get in at 7-2.

Theres been times over the years when I thought maybe, This was going to be the year East Jordan ends the drought. But they instead ended up being so close in so many moments.

Kitson hit the nail on the head with what he said following the win over Frankfort, that his team Learned how to win this season. Theres a learning process for everything, including stringing wins together. Its easyto get lazy after a win or two when you havent done it.

Over the last nearly 20 years since that playoff season in 2003, theres been five winless seasons and there was a stretch between 2009 and 2012 where the Red Devils went 1-35 over the span of those four seasons.

Still, players have put the pads on season after season trying to be the team that breaks the streak. That's some resiliency.

They came close in 2013, opening the season 3-0, before closing the year with a 5-4 record. They lost two games that year by a touchdown or less.

In 2016, Kitsons first with the program, it was another 5-4 season with a two-point loss late in the season crushing the hopes of a playoff birth.

Then in 2019, a 4-5 season came with a one-point loss to Harbor Springs to open the year I was there and remember the comeback then a one-score loss to Charlevoix as well.

This 2021 team will be remembered for some time within the program. The dedication by guys like Zander Johnecheck, Ethan Antaya, Devon Olstrom, Tommy Reid, Hayden Peck, Ben Reid, Lee Nemecek and so many others to name them all.

Its the first season with over six wins since 1999 and they allowed the fewest points in a season just 86 since that 1986 campaign (That coincidence deserves a smile). Even the two they lost, Mancelona and Charlevoix, came in games they were in the entire night.

Unfortunately they were two games I was at too, so maybe Im not welcome at Boswell anytime soon.

When they take the field Saturday for their playoff matchup at Ishpeming-Westwood, itll be a heck of an uphill battle against the Patriots.

I wont be rooting for East Jordan, or Westwood for that matter, but if I hear the Red Devils pull the upset Saturday, dont come after me if I take a quick moment to smile.

Contact Sports Editor Drew Kochanny at dkochanny@petoskeynews.com. Follow him on Twitter, @DrewKochanny,and Instagram, @drewkochanny

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Column: East Jordan gave everyone a reason to be a fan in 2021, or at least smile - Petoskey News-Review

The Youngstown State football team plays host to No. 10 South Dakota State on Saturday at Stambaugh Stadium. Kickoff for the contest is set for 2 p.m. The game is available live on ESPN+, WKBN 570 AM and iHeartRadio. The Penguins (2-4, 1-3 MVFC) dropped a 28-17 contest at Indiana State last Saturday. YSU led 17-14 after three quarters, but a pair of fourth quarter touchdowns by ISU proved to be too much to overcome. YSU feel behind 7-0 after Indiana State scored on its opening possession. QB Anthony Thompson scored on a six-yard keeper to opener the games scoring. The Penguins answered back as Jaleel McLaughlin scored on a 21-yard run late in the period. ISU went back in front on a two-yard scoring run by Peterson Kerlegrand. With two seconds left in the half, QB Joe Craycraft connected with Bryce Oliver for a score from 14 yards out. The Guins marched to the ISU two-yard line before settling for a 20-yard Colt McFadden field goal on its opening possession of the second half. After YSU was stopped on a fourth and short late in the third, ISU took the lead on a 12-yard run by Thompson on the first play of the fourth quarter. Following a YSU turnover, Kerlegrand scored on a 55-yard touchdown run to put the game out of reach. YSU's final four offensive possessions of the game ended with interceptions. South Dakota State (5-2 and 2-2) is coming off a 26-17 home defeat to UNI last Saturday. The Jackrabbits and Panthers were tied twice in the early going but the Panthers scored 13 unanswered points to take a 23-10 lead. SDSU closed within 23-17 early in the fourth quarter on a nine-yard touchdown run by Pierre Strong. UNI kicked a field goal on its ensuing possession to make it a two-score game. In its comeback bid, South Dakota State turned it over on downs three times and missed a field goal in its final four possessions. QB Chris Oladokun, who played against YSU in 2019 while at Samford, completed 24-of-53 passes for 300 yards. In the spring, SDSU kicked a field goal in the final seconds to knock off the Penguins 19-17 at Dana J. Dykhouse Stadium. YSU's last win in the series was a 19-7 triumph at Stambaugh Stadium in September 2017. SDSU has won four of the last five meetings overall.

Last Time Out: ISU 28, YSU 17 The Penguins dropped a 28-17 contest at Indiana State at Memorial Stadium. YSU led 17-14 after three quarters, but a pair of fourth quarter touchdowns by ISU proved to be too much to overcome. YSU feel behind 7-0 after Indiana State scored on its opening possession. QB Anthony Thompson scored on a six-yard keeper to opener the games scoring. The Penguins answered back as Jaleel McLaughlin scored on a 21-yard run late in the period. ISU went back in front on a two-yard scoring run by Peterson Kerlegrand. With two seconds left in the half, QB Joe Craycraft connected with Bryce Oliver for a score from 14 yards out. The Guins marched to the ISU two-yard line before settling for a 20-yard Colt McFadden field goal on its opening possession of the second half. After YSU was stopped on a fourth and short late in the third, ISU took the lead on a 12-yard run by Thompson on the first play of the fourth quarter. Following a YSU turnover, Kerlegrand scored on a 55-yard touchdown run. YSU's final four offensive possessions of the game ended with interceptions.

Last Time vs. South Dakota State The Penguins suffered a tough 19-17 defeat to No. 8 South Dakota State in the spring. YSU trailed 16-7 in the fourth quarter before taking a 17-16 lead with 6:21 remaining. However, in the final minutes, the Jackrabbits moved into YSU territory and Cole Frahm's 29-yard field goal with 31 seconds proved to be the difference. YSU trailed 10-0 just under nine minutes into the game. But Jaleel McLaughlin raced 42 yards for a touchdown to cut the deficit to 10-7. The Jackrabbits broke through on their first drive of the second half. Mark Gronowski's one-yard touchdown run increased the SDSU lead to 16-7. The Guins pulled within 16-10 on a 33-yard field goal by Colt McFadden. Later in the fourth, Zaire Jones intercepted at Gronowski pass and set up the offense at the SDSU 20-yard line. Three plays later, McLaughlin scored from a yard out and YSU led 17-16 with 6:21 left. SDSU took advantage of two big pass plays on its final drive of the contest moving to the YSU 11-yard line.

Breaking the 6k Mark TB Jaleel McLaughlin is one of 34 running backs in NCAA history to rush for more than 6,000 yards in career. McLaughlin has 6,165 yards on 970 careers in 41 career games and has scored 61 touchdowns. He officially eclipsed the 6,000-yard career rushing mark with a 156-yard effort against Missouri State. He is the active career NCAA leader in attempts, touchdowns and yards. On the all-time list he is up to 26th place in NCAA history. In 13 games at YSU, McLaughlin has rushed for 1,417 yards and scored 13 TDs. He has rushed for more than 100 yards in nine of his last 11 contests. In 28 games at Notre Dame, he had 24 100-yard performances.

White Having Breakout Season Sophomore DB Jordan White is having a breakout season for the Penguins. White has 39 total tackles, including 25 solo stops in six games. He recorded his second interception of the season against Missouri State. He had a six-tackle effort against Indiana State. In the spring, White had 16 total tackles.

Dixon Model of Consistency Senior LB Grant Dixon has at least five tackles in every game this season. He has 39 total stops this fall - 20 solos and 19 assists. Dixon also has interceptions against UNI and Indiana State. In the spring, Dixon led the Penguins in the spring with 55 total tackles. In 10 of 13 games with the program he has recorded at least six stops. He had a fall season-best nine stops at Indiana State despite playing with a broken hand. He also intercepted a pass in the end zone vs. the Sycamores.

Topping Spring Totals Through just five games, a good number of Penguins have nearly eclipsed their spring tackle numbers. SS Jordan White has 39 tackles while DB D'Marco Augustin has been credited with 32 stops. In the spring, White and Augustin each had 16 tackles. Natavious Payne (19), Dylan Wudke (14), Chris Fitzgerald (14), Andres Lehrman (14), Devin Johnson (11) and Gage Salyers (10) all have career highs as well. Payne moved from wide receiver in the fall and is now playing corner.

Craycraft Steps In QB Joe Craycraft came on in the first quarter vs. Indiana State when starter Demeatric Crenshaw went out with an injury. Craycraft completed 13-of-31 passes for 172 yards and a touchdown while rushing for 29 yards on five carries. He does bring experience to the position for the Penguins having started seven previous games in 2019 (four) and the spring of 2021 (three). In his career, he has 194 yards rushing on 75 attempts while completing 106-of-211 passes for 1,297 yards and 10 touchdowns.

Two No. 4s Return The YSU lineup got a shot in the arm with the return of a pair of No. 4's - Dra Rushton and Quincy Lenton. Lenton returned to the lineup just six months following an Achilles injury while Rushton had not played this year, also because of injuries. Rushton had four rushes for 15 yards while Lenton played a good amount in the secondary and was credited with three tackles, two of which were solos.

Two-Way Starter Junior CB Natavious Payne has been a key addition at cornerback after switching from wide receiver in the fall. Payne has started twice this fall in the secondary after he spent the first three years with the program as a wide receiver. Impressively, he started six games at wide receiver in the seven-game spring campaign before switching positions in fall camp. Payne caught a team-high 12 passes for 141 yards in the spring. This fall, he has 19 tackles, including 18 solos and a sack. In his career he has 30 receptions for 313 yards and a TD.

Turner is Mr. Dependable TB Christian Turner has been one of YSU's most versatile players in school history during his Penguins career. With his 26-yard scoring run in the third quarter at Michigan State, he has scored in five straight seasons for the Penguins. Turner had two touchdowns in the 2021 spring season, four TDs in the fall of 2019, a receiving touchdown in 2018 and three scores in 2017. Following his 28-yard rushing performance vs. UIW, he eclipsed the 1,000-yard mark for his career. He now has 1,103 yards on 236 attempts. Turner has caught 80 passes for 638 yards.

Defense Spreads Wealth YSU has 13 players with at least 14-or-more tackles this season. Leading the defense is DB Jordan White who has 33 stops this year, including 21 solos. LB Grant Dixon is second on the team with 30 stops. D'Marco Augustin is the only other play above 20 tackles with 21. Eleven players are between 10 and 19 tackles.

Spring MVFC Honors YSU had seven Penguins earn All-Missouri Valley Football Conference honors in the spring. LB Grant Dixon was a first-team honoree, TB Jaleel McLaughlin, OT Dan Becker and S Zaire Jones were second-team picks while DE James Jackson, CB Keyon Martin and PR Jake Coates were honorable-mention picks.

Team of Graduates The Penguins have an impressive amount of college graduates on this year's squad. QB Joe Craycraft, TB Christian Turner, DE James Jackson, PK Colt McFadden, DB Zaire Jones, DB Patrick Minenok, OL Jordan Velez, WR Sam St. Surin, TE Josh Burgett, DB Quincy Lenton, WR Jake Cummings, OT Dan Becker, OL Jordan Velez and OL Henry Yoboue have all earned their undergraduate degrees from YSU. YSU has seven graduate transfers as well - LB Grant Dixon, DB Isacc James-Gray, P Paddy Lynch, DE JT Ngangum, TE Andrew Ogletree, WR Jorge Portorreal and OL Nick Rosen.

Two Campbell Award Nominees The Penguins can boast one thing not many other programs can - two William V. Campbell Trophy Presented by Mazda, the National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame semifinalists. YSU's nominee for the honor was senior TB Christian Turner in 2020. The other Campbell semifinalist on the team is Grant Dixon who transferred by Marist in 2020. Turner is YSU's nominee for the 2021 fall season.

Touchdowns By Current Guins The Penguins have 12 players on their roster who have scored touchdowns while at YSU. TB Jaleel McLaughlin leads the team with 12 rushing touchdowns. TB Christian Turner and WR Samuel St. Surin are tied for the lead with five receiving TDs.

Numbers of Note Turnover Margin: Since 1996, YSU is 146-43 when they win or tie the turnover margin. When committing more turnovers, YSU is just 27-82.Since 1990 YSU is: 171-22-2 when holding opponents to fewer than 21 points in a game. 148-21 when rushing for 200-plus yards. 170-30 when scoring 28-or-more points. 89-13-1 when holding opponents to fewer than 100 yards rushing in a game. 200-19 when leading entering the fourth. 92-3-2 when holding opponents to 10 points-or-less in a game.

Up Next:The Penguins will play North Dakota for the first time since the early 1960's next Saturday.

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Penguins Return Home to Take On 10th-Ranked South Dakota State - Youngstown State Athletics

In this fourth and final episode based on his talk at COSM 2019, Peter Thiel who founded PayPal in part to help break up currency monopolies offers some thoughts on cryptocurrencies future. In the earlier episodes of his discussion at COSM 1919 with philosopher of technology George Gilder, top venture capitalist Peter Thiel offered Three Contrarian Ideas: 1.Big Tech, as it operates today, is communist. 2. Big Tech is also slowing down. And 3. Learning today has almost nothing to do with the so-called educational system.

Now, about the future of cryptos:

This portion begins at 27:21 min. A partial transcript and notes, Show Notes, and Additional Resources follow.

George Gilder: Peter, you started PayPal, in part to overthrow this government monopoly of money. Hows it going? What can we hope for in the future, in the cryptocosm.

Peter Thiel: Its a little bit harder than I thought in 1999, certainly. One of the books that tremendously influenced me, when I started PayPal, was The Sovereign Individual, written by Rees-Mogg, the father of Jacob Rees-Mogg, the British Brexit parliamentarian. It was about, how were going to have cryptocurrencies, and it was going to be a decentralized world, where sovereignty would itself, would get decentralized to the individual level.

I read that book in the summer of 98, and it inspired me to start PayPal as this libertarian project that was going to liberate peoples money from the control of the central monetary authorities. Theres a whole set of ideas we had around that. In the context of PayPal, we certainly built a successful business, but that part of the vision turned out to be quite hard to do.

There was certainly forms of electronic money that, in theory, were decentralizing and in practice enabled more centralization and more control. Especially after 9/11 and the Patriot Act, and all the ways that the regulatory state, was able to more precisely track the flow of electronic money, it may have actually trended quite the other way.

Now, I do think of Bitcoin as the real thing. Its sort of the centralized currency that we fantasized about at PayPal, but didnt quite build. I have speculative thoughts on who Satoshi is and the Bitcoin origin story. Without, without stating precisely who I think it is, let me give what I think, is the key origin story for Bitcoin:

Note: Satoshi is the name or pseudonym of the mysterious creator of Bitcoin, the best-known cryptocurrency. Many have tried to discover his identity without success: Google Satoshi Nakamoto and the results will lead you straight to image after image of an elderly Asian man. This is Dorian S. Nakamoto, named Satoshi Nakamoto at birth. He is almost 70 years old, lives in Los Angeles with his mother, and, as he has reminded people hundreds of times, is not the creator of Bitcoin. Business Insider

Peter Thiel: When I started PayPal, I went to this financial cryptography conference in Anguilla in early 2000. Its an annual conference and it had this gathering of people who are libertarian, into cryptocurrencies, and probably a decent number of people working at the NSA, spying for the US government, other governments as well.

My theory, is that Satoshi was at that conference or at one like that in early 2000. These ideas were germinated in the late Nineties. One of the manifestations of cryptocurrency at that particular conference was a system called EGLD anonymous encrypted electronic gold certificates. It was a company, that was based in Southern Florida. They had servers distributed all over the planet, but it was in theory, this gold-based alternative to the dollar.

It was going to be encrypted and safe. And there were all these problems with EGLD. We made it interoperable with PayPal. It turned out that there was a lot of criminal activity. Maybe thats always part of the territory of these things. We disconnected it but, the people who started it eventually got in a lot of trouble and the whole system was shut down. The company was targeted, they were prosecuted and I dont think they went to jail, but the whole thing was disbanded.

There was something about the EGLD architecture, that was, in theory, a cryptocurrency and, in theory, fairly decentralized, with their servers in Iceland and Dubai and one or two other places. But in practice, it was still centrally attackable by the larger central government,

I believe that the true Bitcoin origin story was in contrast to EGLD. Its almost the same name in a way. Change E to Bit, and GLD (for gold) to coin. I think the reason we do not know who Satoshi is, is integral to the history of Bitcoin. If we knew, our too-powerful central government would probably do some very unpleasant things to that person.

George Gilder: Peter, why do you believe that the Communist Party of China could nurture or run giant companies, with tremendous capabilities that actually are competitive with the best companies in the United States? How is it possible, that a communist party can actually be a threat, in this commercial creative domain?

Peter Thiel: Well, I think these companies are a threat, and I think they are very tightly controlled by the Communist Party. So thats the empirical answer.

The theoretical answer is, I dont think centralized totalitarian communism, is that good at creativity. You did have a good number of theorists and good chess players in the Soviet Union. So there probably are certain forms of creativity youre able to have even in a Stalinist or Maoist system. But I dont think the creativity is essential.

The competitive threat from these companies in China is that they are just extremely fast at copying, theyre very fast at copying things that work.

Theres always, in any sort of creative business, theres a balance between the creative inspiration, what I call the Zero to One, the miraculous beginning, and then, scaling the business and building it. I think in every area of technology and innovation, the United States and the West more generally, are still at the cutting edge. Were still ahead. Were the only place in the world, where innovation is really happening. But how much value it is to us, depends on how quickly it gets transferred, and exfiltrated to China.

The West developed the atom bomb in 1945, and that was, again, a form of innovation that was possible in a free society. But, within four years, once you had proven that it could be done, it could be copied, even in the Stalinist Soviet union. Copying is much easier to do than originating, and if you have no IP protection, if we have this massive exfiltration of information and ideas, then the disadvantage is not that great for China. And they can be quite a big threat.

George Gilder: How does your understanding of technology inform you about what the current pulse of personal relationships, and the broader social and societal fabric looks like. Now, and into the future, you can talk forever, Peter. Any room for the human spirit in our futures?

Peter Thiel: Well, one would hope so. I think there are all sorts of unhealthy trends in our society, and things that are very off.

The way I understand the Jordan Peterson phenomenon is not that hes correct about Jungian psychology, which I think is just ridiculous. Petersons been effective because Jungian psychology, is a politically correct way, to talk about the extremely dysfunctional gender relationships in the United States, and the West. I agree with that premise of the question that there are some really big problems. I disagree with the claim, that its mainly driven by technology. Maybe there are aspects of tech, of the sort of constant attention distraction, or things like that, that are unhealthy, and that are socially unhealthy.

But there are many things that drive it, and my intuition for whats gone wrong in a lot of these cultural areas, is just the general sense of cultural malaise, of stagnation, of the future is not getting better. Our society is not progressing when people retreat into playing video games, or living in their parents basements, or staying in graduate school.

I think the solution is, maybe you should give them a Jordan Peterson-like psychology lesson. Maybe, you can tell them to turn off their iPhones, or take away their iPhones. But I think the real structural thing is we have to get back to the future. We have to get back to growth in our economy generally. Thats at least, always my bias.

Heres the live stream:

Heres are the Three Contrarian Ideas, with transcript and notes:

You may also wish to read: Peter Thiel speaking in person at COSM, Seattle, November 10. As a world class venture capitalist, he is known for bluntness about what works and what doesnt. COSM 2021 focuses on the converging technologies, remaking our world. Thiel asks, is new tech soaring or slumping?

and

What does super-investor Peter Thiel think you should read?Some books to consider include history as well as business strategy. The two cannot be separated. A book maven tells us what Thiel has recommended, if you are thinking of starting a business or thinking about life in general.

Podcast Transcript Download

Continued here:

Is Bitcoin Just a Flash in the Pan? Peter Thiel Responds - Walter Bradley Center for Natural and Artificial Intelligence