Category Archives: Jordan Peterson

The players were masked up as a precaution for the COVID-19 pandemic. Fans were limited in numbers and many sat back from the comfort of their own homes as teams used live streaming to show their games. Sections and state quarterfinals were scattered across the state with the goal of pulling off a full season as safely as possible.

No matter where, when or how you saw the games, there was plenty of strong talent on the hardcourt across west central Minnesota. Whether you were watching the ultra-competitive Camden Conference North Divsiion or games scattered across the Central Lakes, Wright County, Central Minnesota or West Central conferences, you were in for a fun night of hoops.

With 15 spots on the West Central Tribunes All-Area Boys Basketball Team, 14 schools are represented, showing the array of talent scattered across the area. Litchfield is the only school with more than one selection.

The West Central Tribunes All-Area Boys Basketball Team was selected by the sports department based on nominations provided by area coaches.

Here is the All-Area Boys Basketball Team, presented in alphabetical order:

In the ultra-competitive Camden Conference, Riley Ashburn was voted the North divisions Most Valuable Player after pushing the Jaguars to a 13-6 record.

In 19 games this season, the 6-foot-4 forward averaged 23.3 points per game on 59% shooting. He also averaged 10.0 rebounds, 4.2 assists, 3.2 steals and 1.0 blocks per game.

An All-Area third teamer in 2020, Ashburn will resume his basketball career at Division III Bethany Lutheran College in Mankato.

Riley is a do everything type of player, said RCW head coach Matt Huhnerkoch. Not too many players can say they excelled at both offense and defense, but that was the type of player Riley is. Riley would be asked every game to guard the other teams best player for the entire game and would also find time to put up 23 points a game. But Rileys talents didnt stop there. He was also the point guard and would set up the teams offense. And then to top everything off, Riley was, no questions, the leader of the team. Riley made his teammates better.

Also making the jump from third team All-Area was Lac qui Parle Valley senior guard/forward Maverick Conn, the focal point of the Camden North champions.

Helping the Eagles to a 17-4 record and a top 10 ranking for much of the season, Conn averaged 18.7 points (61% field goals, 42% 3-pointers), 8.5 rebounds, 4.0 assists and 2.8 steals per game.

A three-time All-Camden selection, Conn is committed to play basketball at Division III Minnesota-Morris.

MACCRAY senior guard Brady Kienitz dribbles into the frontcourt during a Camden Conference game from against Lac qui Parle Valley on Monday, Feb. 8, 2021 from Lac qui Parle Valley High School in Madison. Patrick Bernadeau / West Central Tribune

A second team All-Area pick in 2020, MACCRAY senior Brady Kienitz wraps up one of the most prolific careers in school history. In 2021, Kienitz averaged 21.8 points, 6.6 rebounds, 5.7 assists and 1.8 steals per game while being named All-Camden as MACCRAY went 8-11. Kienitz owns school records for: 3-pointers in a game (8); career 3-pointers (214); 3-pointers attempts in a season (197); career 3-point attempts (559); 3-point percentage in a season (43%); free throws made in a season (130); and career free throws made (293). Kienitz will play college basketball at Division III Gustavus Adolphus in St. Peter.

Brady is the best player I have ever coached in 13 seasons working with boys varsity basketball, said Wolverines head coach Lucas Post. He has increased every critical stat line every season from his freshman year on, which is a testament to how hard he works on his game in the offseason. He was the focal point of every defense the last two seasons and still was able to average over 20 points per game in each season while shooting 45% from the field. Brady accounted for 50 percent of our teams scoring this season between his scoring and assist average. He would have set the all-time MACCRAY career scoring mark if the season hadnt been shortened due to the pandemic. Brady has done all these things offensively while guarding the opposing teams best player almost regardless of position every single game and almost always hold them under their averages.

Litchfield senior Avery Liestman (5) puts up a layup attempt during the first half of a Wright County Conference game against Rockford on Friday, Feb. 5, 2021 at Litchfield High School. Joe Brown / West Central Tribune

Making his first appearance on the All-Area squad, Litchfield senior wing Avery Liestman was a model of efficiency for the 15-6 Dragons.

A two-time unanimous Wright County Conference selection, Liestman averaged a team-high 19.4 points on 51% shooting 59% from inside the arc and 41% from 3-point range. He also averaged 5.5 rebounds and 1.0 steals per game as Litchfield reached the Section 5AA semifinals.

Liestman also came up clutch in the biggest games of the year, with 29 points against Melrose and 24 points against Glencoe-Silver Lake. In the playoffs, he hit eight 3-pointers in a 28-point effort against Dassel-Cokato, and finished with 32 points against Maranatha Christian Academy in the second round.

Avery has become an elite and efficient scorer at the high-school level, said Dragons head coach Matt Draeger. He averaged almost 20 points per game while only averaging 14 shot attempts per game. Every year we coached Avery he added something else to his game to improve his scoring efficiency. He is one of the best players Ive coached at getting open off the ball. He also improved his rebounding and defense during the year to make him a very valuable player to us on both ends of the floor. In my opinion, he is the best scorer in the area and its not close. His best games are when it mattered most. Our team will miss the leadership and encouragement he brought to our team.

BOLD senior guard Drew Sagedahl scores on an uncontested look at the basket during a West Central Conference game against Minnewaska On Jan. 19 from Bird Island. Patrick Bernadeau / West Central Tribune

The lone returning member of the All-Area first team from 2020, every opposing team was trying to slow down BOLD senior Drew Sagedahl.

That was much easier said than done. After losing All-Area teammates Gavin Vosika and Jordan Sagedahl, Drew led the area with 30.7 points per game to go with 7.4 rebounds, 4.3 assists and 2.1 steals per game as the Warriors went 5-8.

Among Drews accolades this season were an All-West Central Conference selection, a McDonald Award semifinal and a spot on the Mr. Basketball watchlist. Drew also holds school records for: points scored in a game (43); field goals made in a game (16); career 3-pointers 274; points per game in a season (30.7); free throw percentage in a season (88.1%); career free-throw percentage (42.1%); and career 3-point percentage (42.1%). He is second all time in BOLD history for career points (1,634).

Sagedahl will continue his basketball career at Division III St. Johns University.

Drew has been a scoring threat for us since his freshman year and really took on the scoring load as a senior, said Warriors head coach Jake Brustuen. He drew our opponents full attention every night and was still able to find ways to score the ball. Drew was also our leading rebounder and leader in steals. Drew was a leader by example and worked hard before, during and after practice. Drew is also a big part of our youth program and was always willing to take time to help our youth and be a leader within our program. Drew still is tied for the state record for consecutive 3-point shots made, a record he set his freshman year.

Coming back from an ACL injury that cost him his sophomore season, Belgrade-Brooten-Elrosa junior forward Ashton Dingmann bounced back in a big way. The Jaguars went 16-5 as Dingmann earned first team All-Central Minnesota Conference honors with 14.4 points, 6.4 rebounds, 2.9 assists and 1.4 steals per game.

From Jaguars head coach Chris Anderson: Ashton did a great job of triggering our fast breaks and making others around him better. Ashton has a great basketball IQ and understanding of how to adjust to different situations in the flow of the game. He is a great leader and is very coachable on and off the floor.

Corbin Froelich capped off his prep career by leading Paynesville (11-9) to back-to-back winning seasons for the first time in over 25 years. A second team All-Area selection as a junior, Froelich averaged 25.2 points, 6.9 rebounds, 2.8 assists and 2.8 steals per game while earning All-Central Minnesota Conference first team honors. He was also on the Mr. Basketball watch list. He will resume his playing career at NAIA Briar Cliff University in Sioux City, Iowa.

From Bulldogs head coach Rick Hendrickson: Corbin has a tremendous passion for basketball and he put a lot of time into improving his game. He has always been able to score in a variety of ways and presented a tough matchup for opponents with his size and quickness for a guard. He came into this season much stronger physically and shot just under 50% from the field and made 148 free throws, which was 84 more made free throws than the next closest player in the Central Minnesota Conference. If it werent for the shortened season, he would have shattered the school scoring record. Corbin helped lead the Bulldogs program to back-to-back winning seasons for the first time in over 25 years.

Making the All-Area team for the first time, Johnsrud averaged 15.1 points (44% field goal, 34% 3-pointers, 73% free throws), 2.5 assists, 4 rebounds and 2 steals per game for Minnewaska (7-11). Named team MVP, Johnsrud was named All-West Central Conference and Academic All-West Central while also earning Minnesota Boys Basketball Coaches Association Academic All-State honors.

From Lakers head coach Phil Johnsrud: Solid athlete with excellent athleticism. Extremely driven to help his team be successful. A very quiet leader by example; never wanted to outshine his teammates.

Making his first All-Area appearance, junior guard Case Mulder was a catalyst for Central Minnesota Christians first state appearance since 2017. A two-time All-Camden Conference pick, Mulder averaged 20.3 points while hitting 56% of his 2-pointers, 38% of his 3-pointers and 73% of his free throws. Mulder also averaged 4.2 assists and 1.3 steals per game as the Bluejays finished the winter with an 18-5 record.

From Bluejays head coach Ted Taatjes: Case impacted the game on both ends of the floor. Most nights he guarded the opposing teams best player and led our team in scoring and assists. He also provided the team with consistent leadership through his intensity in practice every day.

Rounding out the All-Area second team is another first timer in Benson senior guard Ben Peterson. Named the Braves team MVP and an All-West Central Conference pick, Peterson averaged 19.6 points (43.8% field goals, 34.5% 3-pointers, 81.4% free throws), 6.2 rebounds, 3.2 assists and 2.5 steals per game. Helping Benson to an 8-11 record, Peterson will play college basketball at Division III Concordia College in Moorhead.

From Braves head coach Adam Jensen: Ben is everything a coach could want in a player. He puts in a ton of time and has a deep passion for basketball. He eclipsed the 1,000-point scoring mark in a 40-point game against Morris and finished with 1,051 career points. He has an incredible ability to score in a variety of ways despite being double- and triple-teamed many games. His value to the basketball program extends beyond his performance on the court. He is very involved with our youth basketball program and is a top-notch student with a 3.7 GPA.

12.2 ppg, 5.8 rpg, 3.8 apg, 3.2 spg. All-Camden Conference. Will attend Bethel University to play college baseball.

From Fighting Saints head coach Matt Fragodt: Isaac is the player that does everything for your team. He is very good defensively and a very good rebounder. He took 24 charges this season; one game he had six charges. Offensively, he was a leader for us while we had some injuries to other players. He had to guard the best player from the other team and also score for us. His effort and heart every game will be missed.

13 ppg, 7 rpg, 2 apg, 2 bpg, 54% 2-pt, 37% 3-pt. All-Wright County. Led NLS in scoring, rebounding, assists and blocks.

From Wildcats head coach Skip Wright: Brycen had an outstanding year and established himself as one of the top players in the Wright County Conference. Hes an unselfish player who can take over a game when his team needs him to.

11.9 ppg, 6.1 rpg, 4.0 apg, 2.0 spg. Unanimous All-Wright County, Academic All-State.

From Dragons head coach Matt Draeger: Tyson does a lot for our basketball team. He has many responsibilities. He is the most important player to a team Ive ever coached at the college or high-school level. He led our team in every category you can lead a team except for scoring. He played the point guard position and led us in rebounds, assists, steals, deflections, and while turning the ball over less than one turnover per game. He is also one of the best defenders in the state, holding a number of all-state performers to single digits during the season. Ive never had a kid do more for a team than he did. Tyson is a winner and he has left his impact on our program for years to come.

16.7 ppg, 11.5 rpg, 3.5 apg, 1.5 spg, 44.5% FG, 34.5 3-pt, 80.6% FT.

From Eagles head coach Aaron Reid: Daniel would have easily cruised to the school scoring title had COVID not restricted the number of games available in 2021. He ends his high-school career as a proficient scorer and leading rebounder as one of only two seniors on the Eagles 2021 roster. He is currently uncertain if he will pursue a basketball career in college as he wants to study pre-med this fall (at Northwestern University). Daniel was a leader and example on and off the court and will be missed in the CAL conference next year.

11.2 ppg, 5.2 rpg, 2.8 apg, 1 spg. All-Central Lakes Conference. Team Offensive MVP. Will attend NAIA Dordt University in Sioux Center, Iowa to play college football.

From Cardinals head coach Matt Williams: Jacob did everything for the Cardinals this season. He handled the ball, guarded the opponents best player and almost never came out of the game. He was our unquestioned leader in the locker room and in every practice. Jacobs gifts go well beyond the basketball floor. Other players may end up with better numbers, but no player meant more to his team.

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Here's the 2021 West Central Tribune All-Area Team - West Central Tribune

Jordan Peterson, the conservative psychology professor and podcast host, has claimed on Twitter that hes inspired the villain Red Skull featured in Ta-Nehisi Coates run of Captain America comics.

In Captain America Volume 9 #28, which was released by Marvel Comics on March 31, Red Skull preaches his Ten Rules for Life as well as Chaos and Order and The Feminist Trap. This appears to reference Petersons self-help book 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos released in 2018, and Petersons contention that chaos is represented by the feminine.

Late on Monday, Peterson posted screenshots of the Captain American issue, asking his followers to verify his suspicion that he was the inspiration for Red Skull in its story.

Do I really live in a universe where Ta-Nehisi Coates has written a Captain America comic featuring a parody of my ideas as part of the philosophy of the arch villain Red Skull? he tweeted. He currently has the tweet pinned on his profile.

A representative for Marvel Comics did not respond to a request fromVariety to comment.

The main theme of the issue alludes to internet influences who use their platforms to radicalize young men online in order to fuel reactionary fires and their own agendas.

What has happened to the men of the world is truly one of the great tragedies of our time. Once, the American man was a conqueror. Now he is but a caretaker, Skull says in one of his online speeches. No more shall women be summoned to fight your battles. I offer steel for your spine and iron for your gut. I offer you the sword of manhood.

Captain America mentions a young boy disappearing into the internet, emerging with a new theory of the world fed to him by Red Skull what appears to be another reference to followers of Petersons who have taken to his philosophy largely through his YouTube channel.

[Skull] tells them what theyve always longed to hear, Cap says. That they are secretly great. That the whole worlds against them. That if theyre truly men, theyll fight back. And bingo. Thats their purpose. Thats what they live for and thats what theyll die for.

Coates issue eludes to other issues that are currently roiling the US. One page depicts a divided rally, with one sides picket signs reading America Forever! while the others read Equality Now and Stop Hate Now. At the end of the issue, Sharon Carter is tending to Captain Americas wounds, while telling him about how the Power Elite, a Hydra-based group inspired by Red Skull, is trying to attack the idea of America, and references attacks at the US Capitol.

Coates is an influential best-selling writer who came to prominence first with a 2014 reported essay in The Atlantic titled The Case for Reparations, followed by his 2015 book Between the World and Me. Hes also written Black Panther comics for Marvel, and started his current run on Captain America in 2018.

In February, Warner Bros. tapped Coates to write the script for a new Superman film with J.J. Abrams Bad Robot.

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Jordan Peterson Says He Inspired the Villain in Ta-Nehisi Coates Captain America Comic - Variety

Getty Images/Marvel Comics

Canadian psychologist Jordan Peterson has recently taken to Twitter, reacting against several published images from the forthcoming Captain America #28 comic, written by author, essayist, and Atlantic contributor Ta-Nehisi Coates

Peterson tweeted his reactions to the character of Red Skull, the apparent villain of the comic issue, who throughout his Marvel comic run is depicted as a Nazi and war criminal. In Coates latest Captain America issue, Red Skull appears to be using rhetoric similar to Petersons. In one panel, Red Skull is depicted on a laptop screen, as if the viewer were watching a YouTube video (one of Petersons platforms); beside Red Skull are the words Ten Rules for Lifea seeming reference to Peterson's 12 Rules for Life.

Peterson tweeted an image of this panelwhich also includes labels like chaos and order (themes Peterson often discusses, and a possible reference to his own latest book Beyond Order) the feminist trap, and Karl Luegers genius (a reference to an Austrian politician whose anti-Semitism is regarded a precursor to Adolf Hitlers). While these latter quotes dont seem to be direct references to Peterson, their proximity to an explicitly Peterson-inspired title makes the case for some connection. Beside an image of the comic panel, Peterson captioned his tweet: What the hell?

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A series of other panels now circulating on Twitter depict Captain America outlining Red Skulls appealand so, comic readers might infer, Petersons: Its the same for all of them, young men. Weak. Looking for purpose He tells them what theyve always longed to hear. That they are secretly great. That the whole world is against them. That if theyre truly men, theyll fight back.

Peterson responded to these panels by tweeting, Do I really live in a universe where Ta-Nehisi Coates has written a Captain America comic featuring a parody of my ideas as part of the philosophy of the arch villain Red Skull?

Men's Health

The comparison is likely to be especially irksome to Peterson, whose academic work has, among other things, centered on issues of belief and ideologyparticularly how it leads participants to commit atrocities. Peterson's early work focussed on Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union. Red Skull represents the former.

Whatever the nature of the allusion, Coates, whose run of Captain America comics has been going since 2018, and will wrap with Captain America #30, isnt likely to see too much of Petersons followers vitriol. He's been off Twitter for years. And off Twitter is probably the smartest place to be.

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The Red Skull and Jordan Peterson Sure Have a Lot in Common in a New 'Captain America' Comic - menshealth.com

In the 25th issue of Ta-Nehisi Coates run as the writer on Captain America, a side story follows the main event where the titular superhero speaks at the funeral of a Korean immigrant lawyer named Sung Jin Jeong. The story of the humble lawyer falls somewhat afoul of stereotypes, leaning rather heavily on the antiquated overqualified immigrant trope and not really using an appropriate ethnicity for that kind of story besides, given that South Korea is a developed democracy with an infamously byzantine legal code.

But for this brief story, Coates nevertheless does a good job staking out his ideal vision of what the United States is and should be. Then, a mere three issues later, we get the surreal visual of Red Skull corrupting the youth with a Jordan Peterson-style media empire.

Such is the great irony of our social media moment, when Peterson reacted with bewilderment on Twitter when a fan informed him of the comic in question. Ta-Nehisi Coates and Jordan Peterson were two of the more important political thought leaders of the teens, but no one would have expected their names to come up simultaneously in this, of all contexts. The shock would be particularly harsh for those who havent been paying attention to them for the last few years. Coates went from meditating on race in The Atlantic to writing superhero comic books. Peterson went from a conscientious objector on the topic of referred pronouns to a self-help guru. So why are they having a spat now?

The answer is more intuitive than you might expect. Both men are still hard at work in the culture war, theyre just doing so from a passive angle now. Coates works in comics because of the abiding belief in liberal circles that pop culture is a direct influence on proper culture, and that social-justice-oriented themes can trickle down to the masses. Peterson has a more direct approach. He observes that people in the United States, and young people in particular, are quite depressed. So he puts out motivational videos and encourages his fans to build up their self-esteem.

His famed 12 steps involve such harmless platitudes as trying to be articulate, making supportive friends, and telling the truth. This aspect of Petersons career is quite unobjectionable on its own. To liberals, the main charge that can be leveled against Peterson is that he uses his genuinely good life advice as a Trojan horse to infect the masses with objectionable right-wing beliefs.

So its easy to see how Coates ended up concluding that turning Red Skull into a Peterson-esque figure was socially relevant, absurd though that idea may seem out of context. But even in the context of his Captain America series, which has visited this theme previously in less bombastic ways, the delivery has fallen flat. With Red Skull previously in the background, Selena Gallio had emerged as the previous high-profile politically themed villain. A nigh-immortal psychic with vampiric abilities, her master plan involved building a cult styled on the old America and farming the gullible humans who joined up for their life energy.

The people who populate this outland village are an obvious template for economic anxiety. They bemoan their lack of opportunities and are grateful for having the chance to just do hard work in a larger community. All of the various normal people who have been turned against their own interests by the villains in Coates Captain America run are like this. The closest Coates gets to convincingly representing them as bad people is via obvious toxic masculinity. They resent the fact that they cant protect their women, or that women have to do the fighting for them, and can even be seen attempting to beat women up.

Coates likely wrote this ambiguity intentionally, to try and avoid overly demonizing his subjects. The problem is, as the absurd Red Skull Peterson climax demonstrates, this has created a world where encouraging people to try and take their life in their own hands and show initiative is evil. Captain America and his superhero co-stars are both incapable of and apparently completely disinterested in trying to push a competing vision.

In all fairness, given that Captain America came out as a Nazi prior to Coates run, their incompetence in this regard is understandable. This too can work at cross purposes. One economically anxious character cites watching helplessly as HYDRA marched through the streets to show his frustrations with the apparent impotence of modern American culture. Its clear that whatever supervillain people end up rallying behind, the chief motivation is less the charisma of the supervillain and more the general despair of everyday life.

Despite framing the ideas these people have for self-improvement as based on displaced nostalgia, Coates himself engages in far greater whitewashing of the past crimes of the United States than the antagonists of his own comic book. Coates introduces the Daughters of Liberty, a group of women from the eighteen century inspired by Enlightenment ideals to fight for freedom. This also includes freedom for slaves, with Harriet Tubman appearing as a member.

Coates should know better than to suggest that liberal thought of the 18th century was conducive to anti-slavery, given how the practice flourished under the watchful eyes of its biggest proponents. Harriet Tubmans own sense of purpose widely understood to derive from her religious conviction, with the Underground Railroad relying heavily on people with more loyalty to God than the United States government.

While Coates is comfortable calling certain idealogues wrong and even expressing sympathy for them, hes frustratingly vague as to what is right. At one moment Captain America shows sympathy with disaffected young Americans, comparing himself with a young man who was unable to join his elder brothers in the NYPD. There is obvious irony in citing the police as a bedrock for solidarity, given the scrutiny they are under both in the real world as well as in the comic universe.

The story of Sung Jin Jeong sticks out chiefly because its the closest Coates Captain America comes to endorsing a certain kind of behavior. But even then, the story is about Sung Jin Jeong rather than Captain America, with the title character coming off as a bit of an afterthought even in the main story. When Red Skull accuses Captain America of standing for an amorphous dream of nothing, the critique hits far harder than it should. Captain America is, literally and figuratively, a fetishization of patriotic World War II era propaganda. Hes just not relevant to our daily lives.

Yet rather incredibly, Peterson is. Hes the whole reason were talking about the Coates run on Captain America at all. Considering that Coates just got a deal to write a new Superman movie and Peterson is still recovering from severe pneumonia, maybe Coates is right to see Peterson as such an ideological threat to his vision of America. Unluckily for Coates, the real Peterson isnt a Nazi, and cant be discredited by just applying red makeup to make him look more evil.

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Jordan Peterson is the Red Skull: Secret Wars - Book and Film Globe

Home Comics Jordan Peterson's Red Skull Vs Captain America and Agatha Harkness

In last week's Captain America #28 by Ta-Nehisi Coates and Leonard Kirk,the long-standing Nazi villain of the comic, The Red Skull, went viral. The run has seen The Red Skull return to the fore of the title, but using new tactics to spread fear and hatred for the modern age, which he can then take advantage of in his usual might-makes-white supremacist ways. And with Captain America forced to take on a mob of average, everyday folk led astray. It's not the first time we have seen this kind of story in Captain America, but its parallel with modern social media issues has given the story a new twist.

But one of the parallels Captain America #28 seems to be drawing is with the right-wing psychologist, pundit, author, lecturer and commentator Jordan Peterson.

The Red Skull lines such as "Ten Rules For Life", "Chaos And Order" and "The Feminist Trap" parallel Jordan Peterson's 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos from in 2018 which among other things state that "chaos is represented by the feminine." One might wonder if Jordan Peterson would be reading Cerebus more than Captain America.

There is also plenty to compare between Red Skull's speech and Jordan Peterson's views of masculinity. There's also a line regarding the Gospel message that "the meek will inherit the Earth" with Peterson station that "what it means is this: 'Those who have swords, and know how to use them, but keep them sheathed, shall inherit the world'."

Anyway, Jordan Peterson has his own swords of manhood to worry about. And has been posting to Twitter after the similarities were pointed out to him, saying "Do I really live in a universe where Ta-Nehisi Coates has written a Captain America comic featuring a parody of my ideas as part of the philosophy of the arch villain Red Skull?'"

Oh look, there's another one that he missed, "Barbarians at the gate" was the name of one of Peterson's lectures about protestors who broke a window at a university.

It may also be relevant that Jordan Peterson has a thing about witches. When the New York Times interviewed him, they reported;

Mr. Peterson illustrates his arguments with copious references to ancient myths bringing up stories of witches, biblical allegories and ancient traditions. I ask why these old stories should guide us today. "It makes sense that a witch lives in a swamp. Yeah," he says. "Why?" It's a hard one.

"Right. That's right. You don't know. It's because those things hang together at a very deep level. Right. Yeah. And it makes sense that an old king lives in a desiccated tower."

But witches don't exist, and they don't live in swamps, I say. "Yeah, they do. They do exist. They just don't exist the way you think they exist. They certainly exist. You may say well dragons don't exist. It's, like, yes they do the category predator and the category dragon are the same category. It absolutely exists. It's a superordinate category. It exists absolutely more than anything else. In fact, it really exists. What exists is not obvious. You say, 'Well, there's no such thing as witches.' Yeah, I know what you mean, but that isn't what you think when you go see a movie about them. You can't help but fall into these categories. There's no escape from them."

Well, in Captain America #28, Steve Rogers is assisted in his struggle with an old friend who has become known to many more people of late, courtesy of the TV show WandaVision. Regular Marvel Universe character, Agatha Harkness, Princess Of Darkness, who has her own coven of witches.

And finds that the Red Skull is using and abusing an old spell of her own to help women stand up and stand out at a certain time in history now being used to enrage and encourage men?

I don't think Jordan Peterson got to that part of the comic book yet. But he has now gone beyond parody and is tweeting his own inspirational quotes on images of the Red Skull from the Marvel movies. Who knows what will happen if he actually picks up a copy of the comic in question and reads it? Two more issues until this run ends. Captain America #29 will be out on the 19th of May.

CAPTAIN AMERICA #28MARVEL COMICSJAN210663(W) Ta-Nehisi Coates (A) Leonard Kirk (CA) Alex RossSKULL FRACTURE! Rated T+In Shops: Mar 31, 2021 SRP: $3.99

CAPTAIN AMERICA #29MARVEL COMICSFEB210626(W) Ta-Nehisi Coates (A) Leonard Kirk (CA) Alex RossAs ALL DIE YOUNG races to its climax, Cap faces overwhelming odds as he battles to vanquish the Red Skull and the Power Elite! Rated T+In Shops: May 19, 2021 SRP: $3.99

CAPTAIN AMERICA #30MARVEL COMICSAPR210914(W) Ta-Nehisi Coates (A) Leonard Kirk (CA) Alex RossTHE FINAL ISSUE OF TA-NEHISI COATES' LANDMARK RUN!"ALL DIE YOUNG" ends here! Ta-Nehisi Coates concludes his run on CAPTAIN AMERICA with an all-out fight to the finish with the Red Skull and the Power Elite!32 PGS./Rated T+In Shops: Jun 23, 2021 SRP: $3.99

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Jordan Peterson's Red Skull Vs Captain America and Agatha Harkness - Bleeding Cool News

Who among us hasnt awoken one day to learn weve potentially inspired the lunatic ramblings of a monstrous comic book villain? Such was Tuesday for Jordan Peterson, the controversial professor, psychologist, podcaster, and conservative firebrand, who discovered his beliefs seemed to have been parroted by no less than Captain America baddie Red Skull, in a new comic penned by acclaimed writer Ta-Nehisi Coates.

Peterson has made a name for himself by attacking political correctness and identity politics, in media appearances and in self-help books like 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos, plus its sequel Beyond Order: 12 More Rules for Life. In the former, he referred to chaos as the eternal feminine, and labeled women choosy maters (unlike female chimps, their closest animal counterparts). He is very popular among lonely men.

So imagine Petersons surprise when someone pointed out some of the things Red Skull, one of Caps most iconic adversaries, was saying in Coates latest issue. Cap talks about a young boy he knew disappearing into the internet, only to return with a new theory of the world one he learned by watching Red Skull videos on YouTube.

What has happened to the men of the world is truly one of the great tragedies of our time, Skull rants. Once, the American man was a conqueror. Now he is but a caretaker. He goes on: No more shall women be summoned to fight your battles. I offer steel for your spine and iron for your gut. I offer you the sword of manhood.

Cap, at least, sees right through it. [Skull] tells them what theyve always longed to hear, Cap says. That they are secretly great. That the whole worlds against them. That if theyre truly men, theyll fight back. And bingo. Thats their purpose. Thats what they live for and thats what theyll die for.

Neither Marvel nor Coates the former Atlantic correspondent and author of the beloved book Between the World and Me, who has long moonlighted as a comics writer have yet publicly commented on whether or not Peterson served as the basis for the Marvel villain, last seen onscreen in a brief appearance in Avengers: Endgame and played by Hugo Weaving in 2011s Captain America: The First Avenger. But Peterson seemed convinced, spending much of the day afterwards tweeting and re-tweeting about it.

Others pointed out that maybe its not great if you recognize your tenets and beliefs in a larger-than-life villain.

Many agreed that this is really funny.

Others praised Coates for (possibly!) trolling Peterson in such a fashion.

Others put actual Peterson quotes over top Red Skull images to see if they gibed.

But it turns out Coates isnt the first comics writer to lampoon Jordan Peterson.

Others speculated whether or not Petersons own backstory sound similar to the one for another comic book baddie: DCs Scarecrow.

And some imagined a future in which every comic book villain is a thinly veiled takedown of far right pundits.

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Jordan Peterson Pissed He May Have Inspired Red Skull In New Comic - UPROXX

Peterson's Commandments

There are two things that Petersons 12 Rules for Life argued for at its core: hierarchies in life can be based on competence, not exploitation; and hierarchies constitute an orderly mechanism that evolves and regulates itself to make life and civilisation possible.

Beyond Order, though superficially indicative of a challenge to this original premise, actually supplements it. Peterson does not intend to show that order is overrated. Instead, his focus is on how order needs its existential counterpart for progress to actualise.

This counterpart, hailed as chaos, is the focal point of the 400 pages or so that Peterson has churned out under the most extraordinary circumstances.

Placed in a nine-day coma by doctors in a Russian clinic as a result of his addiction to benzodiazepines (a class of drug that reduces anxiety through sedation and muscle relaxation), Peterson awoke one day to find himself strapped to the bed, trying to remove the tubes inserted into his arms, and leave the intensive-care unit he had entered upon realising that the Russians had a solution for his ills that North Americans were either too ignorant or too scared to implement.

Just a few months later, as the world was reeling from the pandemic of Covid-19, Peterson, still very much in convalescence, was rattling off the pages for Beyond Order, whose introduction provides an honest and painful exposition to the trauma undergone by the author and his family. (Petersons wife was also recovering from cancer at the time.)

Many among the millions of Petersons online followers (mostly white young males) have hailed Peterson as a neo-Christ in the wake of recent events. In Beyond Order, however, Peterson returns to his familiar role of playing Moses by putting together a listicle that may initially reek of the reductionism of fridge-magnet philosophy, but on deeper exploration reveals something far more engaging.

Take, for example, Rule VIII, which says: Try to make one room in your home as beautiful as possible." Such a formulation is rather simplistic at first glance, leading to the natural query: 'and then what?'

Read on and you discover the answer, the purpose of beauty in life, as envisioned by Peterson:

We live by beauty. We live by literature. We live by art. We cannot live without some connection to the divine and beauty is divine because in its absence life is too short, too dismal, and too tragic.

For those familiar with Petersons structure and style of speaking on YouTube, Beyond Orders format comes as no surprise.

Peterson starts with a proposition that seemingly verges on a truism, before proceeding to unpack it with the help of case studies from his clinical practice, slightly obscure examples from the Bible, very obscure examples from Jungian psychology, and a dash of popular culture references. (In Beyond Order, it is a duopoly shared by Disney and Harry Potter!)

All this means that the book is inundated with digressions, and is definitely not the self-help guide you should try to read while sipping coffee after a long day at work, with one eye on the cricket score.

The Conformist Who Disrupts

Perhaps the most remarkable quality of Beyond Order is that every time the reader hardens their impression of Peterson, he makes them reconsider instantly.

In Rule VI, when Peterson exhorts us to abandon ideology, it seems easy enough to understand why a somewhat sanctimonious 58-year-old cannot sympathise with the lot of woke activists who want to change the planet:

When you are a mid-twenty-year-old with nothing positive going on in your life and you are having great difficulty even getting out of bed...you need to get your priorities straight, and establishing the humility necessary to attend to and solve your own problems is a crucial part of doing just that.

But then, the same Peterson who has produced this passage talks about his euphoria as a liberal in his younger days, about how he is still eccentric enough to view more than 1,000 paintings a day on eBay before adding to his home dcor, which is dominated by macabre Soviet-era paintings.

For all the caricature that he has been subject to as a secret card-carrying member of the alt-right, Beyond Order proves that Peterson is one of the rare centrists of our hyper-ideological age.

Yes, he believes that there is a neo-Marxist takeover of academia, and for the most part, he is only half-right (as demonstrated in an enlightening face-off with Slovenian philosopher Slavoj iek). But he also believes that liberalism and conservatism are equally indispensable in the political ecosystem.

Yes, Peterson is deeply sceptical of those who want to tear up all social structures that have become entrenched on account of unconscious bias and systemic prejudice.

But at the same time, Peterson is grateful, compassionate, and kind towards his opponents, preferring sensible dialogue over ad-hominem derision every single time.

The problem with Peterson is that he defies categorisation, refusing to be boxed into a type who stands up for a particular section of society. Petersons conformist tendencies are not a nod to any identity fringe group, but rather a recognition of what he regards as being the positive legacy of the human species.

On everything else that is far more transient, Peterson is eager to question, to challenge, to disrupt. This intriguing ambivalence is captured neatly in Beyond Order when Peterson writes:

Every rule was once a creative act, breaking other rules. Every creative act, genuine in its creativity, is likely to transform itself, with time, into a useful rule.

What's Next For Peterson?

If the interviews to promote Beyond Order are any indication, Peterson has more books lying in store. It is likely that Peterson will address what his year of absolute hell with drug addiction and detox meant for his conscience at some point in the future.

He may even be tempted to improve upon his debut book, Maps of Meaning, by producing a more nuanced version of an all-encompassing explainer on existence.

And, of course, there is always the chance that 12 more rules for life will spring forth (Petersons original list on Quora comprised 42 rules).

Once the pandemic is reined in, Peterson could start a fresh lecture tour, for live interactions are where he is at his unadulterated best.

In 2019, Peterson toured over 160 cities, speaking in front of a combined audience of 500,000. Whether he still has the enthusiasm or the energy to do something similar will be interesting to see.

As always with Peterson, what he does is not as important as what he purportedly represents. As reiterated in Beyond Order, Peterson is a compelling personality with many layers to his knowledge and character. But, for most of the world, Peterson remains one of two things the messiah of free speech and open debate or the sophisticated defender of structural tyranny.

Those subscribing to the former view will never probe why Peterson chose to hobnob with Hungarys Victor Orbn (hardly an ambassador of free speech) or why his views on postmodernism cannot stand scholarly scrutiny.

Those accepting the latter perception will never accede to how much of Petersons worldview overlaps with the traditional left-liberal order, choosing to believe instead that what he does is peddle fascist mysticism.

A victim of the polarised zeitgeist that we all inhabit, Peterson is also one of the few polemicists of our times who can wrestle with the contemporary fault lines of ideology and still hope to get his message across.

What he needs in order to facilitate his messaging is neither hero worship nor blind denunciation, but a willingness from his audience to follow what could have been Rule XIII in Beyond Order: Be patient and reasonable before you arrive at any conclusion."

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Jordan Peterson's 'Beyond Order' A Fascinating Paradox, Just Like Its Author - Swarajya

Jordan B Peterson appears to have discovered that a Captain America comic has been written where his ideas have been projected as part of the philosophy of the villain Red Skull. The clinical psychologist and author was rather shocked after he became aware of it.

The Captain America comic in question was written by one Ta-Nehisi Coates, an African American author. A user on social media shared the image of one of the pages of the comic while replying to Jordan Peterson on Twitter. According to those on social media, the concerned image is from the 28th issue of the Captain America comic.

The comic describes a conversation between Captain America and another individual. Red Skull can be seen on a laptop screen offering sermons on Ten Rules for Life, which is an obvious jibe at Jordan Peterson who has authored the popular bestseller 12 Rules for Life.

Furthermore, Captain Americas words leave little room for doubt that Red Skull is based on the clinical psychologist. Red Skull is described as someone who offers lectures on the internet. Its the same for all of them. Young men. Weak. Looking for purpose. I found the flag, you found the badge. They found the Skull, says the protagonist.

He continues, He tells them what theyve always longed to hear. That they are secretly great. That the whole world is against them. That if theyre truly men, theyll fight back. It is a gross oversimplification of Jordan Peterson actually teaches, to put it mildly.

Peterson said, after his initial What the hell reaction about the matter, Do I really live in a universe where Ta-Nehisi Coates has written a Captain America comic featuring a parody of my ideas as part of the philosophy of the arch villain Red Skull?

The Marvel Universe, which Captain America is a part of, has become increasingly Woke in recent times with politics invading entertainment spaces in the United States. It is not the only one which has become overly politicised with the Star Wars franchise and others traversing a similar trajectory.

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What the hell: Jordan Peterson expresses shock after discovering his ideas are part of Marvel villains philosophy in Captain America comics - OpIndia

In the latest issue of Captain America, Marvel Comics author Ta-Nehisi Coates has drawn a comparison between Jordan Peterson, the prominent psychologist whose self-help teachings run counter to many of the beliefs of critical social justice and race theory, and the infamous Hydra villain, Red Skull.

Source: Captain America v9 Issue #5 (2018), Marvel Comics. Words by Ta-Nehisi Coates, Art by Leinil Francis Yu.

Related: Jordan Petersons 12 Rules for Life Removed from Whitcoulls Following Christchurch Terror Attack

As seen in recent issues, Captain Americas current storyline involves the return of Red Skull who, following his return from death as a mental co-inhabitant of Aleksander Lukins newly revived body, has taken to radicalizing his various followers through posting internet videos criticizing the star-spangled hero and what he represents.

Source: Captain America v9 #27 (2021), Marvel Comics. Words by Ta-Nehisi Coates, Art by Leonard Kirk.

Related: WarnerMedia Reportedly Hires Left Wing Political Activist Ta-Nehisi Coates To Write New Superman Movie

Though Red Skulls inflammatory internet career was first hinted at in the last issue, #27, it was not until the recent release of issue #28 that Coates revealed that the classic Captain America villain was not only going about his operation by running a simple blog (an embarrassing downgrade from his once-lofty goals of possessing the Cosmic Cube), but that his radical teachings were based on the work of Jordan Peterson.

According to a panel in the issue, Red Skulls blog contains articles such as Chaos and Order, The Feminist Trap, and a video discussing the Ten Rules For Life, all of which are hyperbolic parodies of topics Peterson has touched upon.In particular, the Red Skulls video article is an obvious reference to Petersons book, 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos.

Source: Captain America v9 #28 (2021), Marvel Comics. Words by Ta-Nehisi Coates, Art by Leonard Kirk.

Related: Rose City Comic Con Bans Hydra and Red Skull Cosplay

Later, at the conclusion of the issue, Red Skulls followers proceed to overwhelm a wounded Captain America before he is rescued from his attackers by an armored Sharon Carter

In turn, Red Skull takes footage of Rogers defeat and proceeds to use it in a propaganda video, appealing to the various racist and terrorist groups whove taken up his message by offering them the metaphorical sword of manhood.

Source: Captain America v9 #28 (2021), Marvel Comics. Words by Ta-Nehisi Coates, Art by Leonard Kirk.

Eventually, Coates underhanded swing at Peterson was discovered by the psychologist himself, who took to Twitter to share his utter amazement at the Marvel writers audacity, asking his followers upon first notice of the issue, What the Hell?

In a follow-up tweet, a baffled Peterson further asked, Do I really live in a universe where Ta-Nehisi Coates has written a Captain America comic featuring a parody of my ideas as part of the philosophy of the arch villain Red Skull?

As of writing, neither Marvel nor Coates have commented on the issues comparison between Peterson and Captain Americas arch-foe.

What do you make of Coates comparison? Let us know your thoughts on social media or in the comments down below!

Read more here:

Marvel Comics Author Ta-Nehisi Coates Compares Jordan Peterson To The Red Skull In Latest Issue of Captain America - Bounding Into Comics

Author: Jordan B. Peterson

Genre: Self-Help

Page count: 432

Dr. Jordan Peterson has become an increasingly household name over the past few years. But who exactly is this man, and what is he all about?

Dr. Peterson is a Canadian clinical psychologist, professor of psychology, and YouTube personality. He first found himself in the public eye when, in 2016, he released a video on his YouTube account entitled Professor Against Political Correctness: Part 1: Fear and the Law. Dr. Peterson released the video in opposition to the recent announcement of a proposed bill in the Canadian legislature, Bill C-16.

This proposed bill would amend the Canadian Human Rights Act to add gender identity or expression as a prohibited ground of discrimination. The bill would also expand the definitions of promoting genocide and publicly inciting hatred in the hate speech laws in Canada.

Dr. Peterson believed that the amendment would include an aspect that the rest of the Canadian Human Rights Act lacked up to that point. This aspect is compelled speech. The Canadian Human Rights Act up had not required certain speech to be used, it more so prohibited hateful speech from being used. Several law professors opposed this view and claimed that this interpretation of Bill C-16 was mistaken. Nonetheless, Dr. Peterson had his viewpoint and defended it all the way to aCanadian Senate Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs hearing, where he was one of 24 witnesses invited to speak about the bill. His efforts were in vain though, as the bill was passed with a strong majority on May 17, 2016.

It should be noted that during the media firestorm that erupted around Dr. Peterson when he opposed the bill, the University of Toronto, where Dr. Peterson works as a professor, sent him two letters of warning that he felt would eventually lead to disciplinary action against him. They ultimately did not pursue disciplinary action against him, and he was allowed to return for the following semester. However, Dr. Peterson was, for the first time in his career, denied a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council grant. He interpreted this as retaliation for opposing Bill C-16. The committee denied this and said that only the information in the application was assessed to determine who would receive funding.

More recently, Dr. Peterson published a new book on March 2. This book, Beyond Order: 12 More Rules for Life is the second in its line, and the announcement of its publication by Penguin Random House Canada was met by backlash from its employees. Many of them were vehemently opposed to their company publishing a book by Dr. Peterson.

When asked about Dr. Petersons book, one Penguinemployee toldVICE World News, He is an icon of hate speech and transphobia, and the fact that hes an icon of white supremacy, regardless of the content of his book, Im not proud to work for a company that publishes him.

Penguin said that they were willing to listen to their employees feedback, and they held a forum where they could discuss everything. The employees felt that this was too little too late. It was too late to back out of printing Dr. Petersons book. It was also a little late to plan a walk-out, as some other publishing companies employees have to protest when their companies published works by authors they did not approve of. According to another Penguin employee that spoke toVICE World News, Anne Collins, the publisher of Knopf Random Canada Publishing Group (the imprint under which Dr. Petersons book was published) held a meeting to discuss the employees concerns.

The Penguin employeethat spoke toVICE World NewssaidCollins opened the meeting by talking about how Peterson has, helped a great number of people on the fringes of society who would otherwise be radicalized by alt-right groups.

That employee criticized these remarks.Thatsame employee toldVICE World Newsthat Collinsreplied by notingher background in journalismandsayingthat its important to be publishinga variety of voices.

Penguins employees felt that this was false, and the possible financial gain from printing a work by someone as prominent as Dr. Peterson was a much stronger factor in the decision to publishhis newest work.

So, what exactly does the book talk about? Why is there all this controversy around it? The 12 rules that Dr. Peterson stresses in his newestbookare as follows:

None of these rules seem incredibly inflammatory. In fact, after reading through the book, I counted aroundtwoorthreesections of text in total that talk about political ideas in any sense.One such section briefly mentions the patriarchy and Dr. Petersons views on it.Dr. Peterson says in his book,the increasingly reflexive identification of the striving of boys and men for victory withthe patriarchal tyranny that hypothetically characterizes our modern, productive, and comparatively free societies is so stunningly counterproductive (and, it must be said, cruel: there is almost nothing worse than treating someone striving for competence as a tyrant in training).This is essentially the deepest that Dr. Peterson dives into politicalconcepts in his book. Other than thosesections, the book is just aimed at helping people to figure out their lives and how to deal with the ensuing chaos that comes with living.

I understand why the employees at Penguin are upset,and I think that their issue has more to do with providing Dr. Peterson a platform based on his prior publicly made stances on various topics. However, this particular book is not something that will lead to indoctrination into any alt-right group. Instead, it is really something that people might find helpful and can help to bring some much-needed order into their lives.

This raises an interesting moral dilemma that I will leave to the readers. How great do the sins of a mans past have to be to warrant taking away his opportunity to help people that might need it? There certainly are egregious acts that people can commit that they deserve to bedeplatformedfor and ostracized over. That is without question. However, people can be capable of great evil and great good,and it is that capacity to choose what we are going to do that makesus extraordinary creatures. It is the utility of that choice that defines who we are and in this case with this book, Dr. Peterson is choosing to try and do some good. Why should he be stopped?

Many people, including myself, have claimed to gain some benefit from Dr. Petersons work. This does not mean that I incorporate everything he says into myself because he is only human and is therefore flawed. However, I feel that my life has only been improved since discovering him. There is much more order in my life and (people that follow Dr. Peterson will understand this reference) my room is far cleaner because of learning what I can from him.

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Read Your Heart Out: Beyond Order and Jordan Petersons Controversies - The Insider