Penguin Random House Staff Confront Publisher About New Jordan Peterson Book
They cried. Over a book. By a clinical psychologist and professor of psychology.
This anti-free-speech nonsense has to end, and we need to tell these sissies who are “triggered” by anything they don’t agree with that we simply don’t care about their feelings.
I totally believe that Jordan Peterson has every right to spout his goofy psychobabble.
“They said one co-worker discussed how Peterson had radicalized their father”
The idea of Peterson radicalizing anyone is absolutely hilarious. Peterson mostly confirms and articulates what people who like him already believe, and I can’t think of any “radical” action someone would take based on becoming a fan of his.
Presumably the Pluralized Precious Snowflake Employee meant “my father is now able to more clearly express his ideas and I don’t like that”.
“Radicalized” meaning “dad is no longer afraid to say horrible, hateful things like ‘clean your room’ and ‘people should be responsible for their actions.'”
What’s the problem? This seems like the epitome of free speech in action. Some people didn’t like the book and they spoke out about it. Others felt perfectly justified in publishing the book and gave their justification for it. They had a discussion and agreed to disagree.
To shut down the silly whiners would be another form of cancel culture. Let them whine and then move on with publishing the book. Easy-peasy!
It’s generally not considered a normal function of the market to allow employees to publicly undermine their employer’s business decisions without repercussions. Those non-governmental repercussions are part of the deal when you exercise free speech, too.
And something can be “free speech in action” and still be a really stupid thing to say or think that is not beyond criticism.
QUOTE: It’s generally not considered a normal function of the market to allow employees to publicly undermine their employer’s business decisions without repercussions.
Really? The leadership of Penguin Random House Canada indicated they are open to their employees’ feedback and sponsored an employee townhall for this very purpose. Specifically, they stated “We announced yesterday that we will publish Jordan Peterson’s new book Beyond Order this coming March. Immediately following the announcement, we held a forum and provided a space for our employees to express their views and offer feedback. Our employees have started an anonymous feedback channel, which we fully support. We are open to hearing our employees’ feedback and answering all of their questions.”
In this case, employees were INVITED by management to openly voice their views as well as SUPPORTING them anonymously submitting their concerns. Actually, what they’ve done is a fairly common leadership best practice, relative to employee engagement and communication.
QUOTE: And something can be “free speech in action” and still be a really stupid thing to say or think that is not beyond criticism.
Agreed! I’ve seen a lot of public statement and social media/blog posts that are really stupid. Sometimes I wonder if the people who utter such things are stupid. Yet, I support their right to express their nonsensical and sometimes uninformed opinions. Still, when such things occur they should expect those who may not agree to “clap back” because they too have a right to express their views.
Thanks for the correction on that internal forum for employee feedback. I withdraw that objection. 🙂
No problem…it’s merely “free speech in action”. 😉
How can it be the epitome of free speech to try to shut down free speech?
Simple…in THIS country one gets to voice opposition to things they don’t like. Those who disagree with them have the same right.
But in this case they’re voicing opposition to speech. Calling that “the epitome of free speech” is Orwellian.
No, shutting down opposing views is Orwellian. Inviting all forms of legal speech (even opposing views) is quite American.
It was foolish of the company to encourage this kind of silliness. Accommodation of the fainting couch crowd is self-destructive.
But more importantly, “shutting down opposing views” is precisely what the Peterson haters were trying to do.
You indeed may think it’s foolish but the company felt it was important to provide this opportunity to their employees (despite your disapproval).
These employees were INVITED to share their views by the company. There was absolutely NOTHING wrong with them expressing their views in this context (despite the silliness of their views). In fact, the company still plans to publish the book despite “some” of their employees’ expressed concerns.
Overall, the company provided a forum for employees to freely express their views. Company leaders expressed their rationale. In the end, they agreed to disagree and the book will be published. Free speech in action.
PS…this is especially true when someone INVITES the expression of an opposing view…such as the leadership of Penguin Random House Canada did in this instance.
I totally agree that free speech works best when we allow people who oppose it to speak up, even in some cases (such as this) encourage them to do so. It seems obvious to me.
But the one thing I learned from this discussion that Penguin and Random House have merged, at least in their Canadian branch.
Seems obvious to me too. I might have a different opinion if employees went to some authority to force the company to stop publishing the book. Yet, based on the information available, this seemed to be a company-sponsored forum for employees to share their views. Despite the disgruntled employees’ views/responses being ridiculous (in my opinion), I support the company’s right to sponsor such a forum and for employees to freely speak.
PRH inviting and supporting employees to voice their concerns encourages free speech, allows for an exchange of ideas and the potential for employees to gain better understanding management’s rationale for publishing the book. In the end, employees may still disagree but management retains the right to publish and that’s what they are going to do. That said, I suspect management’s current approach may bode a bit better than totally ignoring employees’ concerns and telling them to grow-up. Just sayin’.
Yesh, a bit ridiculous to actually be crying over the publishing of a Jordan Peterson book. I think maybe this is what happens when you give everyone a soccer trophy
Say what you want…Dr. Peterson tweeted that people should leave the Penguin CA employees alone. I still think they’re babies…but shows he’s a classy guy.
Yeah, seems as if some conservatives got just as triggered as the babies at PRH. That said, Peterson might get his Twitter-wish given #DiaperDonald is trending. Per his most recent tantrum, Trump might need their support more than Peterson.