This is a topic that I think of often, and it brings me, in a roundabout way, to Jordan Peterson. If you’re not familiar with him, he’s a Canadian psychologist and YouTube sensation. At the moment he is in danger of losing his license, although I don’t think he’s been in private practice for some years now. The Canadian governing body feels he needs a “re-education” because of the things he tweets. That he needs an education in social media. I personally think this is ludicrous, but whatever. I’m not going to get into the notion of “re-education” because that’s a long discussion for another day. But I bring up Jordan Peterson because he’s part of a bigger dialog concerning a cohort of academics that were pushed out of their jobs at colleges and universities because of the turning tide surrounding the dialog around “social equity.” Heather Heying, Bret Weinstein, and James Lindsay are but some academics that have have to pivot because of the sharp changes surrounding social discourse on racial justice. They’ve had no choice but to change directions, but interestingly they chose social media.
Here is where I think it gets…weird. Don’t misunderstand me, we have to make a living, the bills need to get paid, but social media and its politics can be really awful. So, this is where it begs the big questions: what do you do when you’ve spent half your life, or more, studying and preparing in a field that you thought would support you, would never abandon you? What would you do if you had to leave that thing you sacrificed years for, leave through seemingly no fault of your own? How would you feel? Well, the academics mentioned made a hard pivot. But is social media the answer? Social media has shown to be a dirty game that takes no prisoners and I wonder if these academics have the heart and guts to play. They all have thriving followings on YouTube, Peterson alone into the millions. I don’t know any of these folks personally, and I didn’t know of them before their lives turned upside down and they came into the light following the series of events that were highly publicized. That they felt there was no choice but to turn to social media tells me how hard it is to pivot, start life anew, and make a living, even with their credentials. So, of course social media gives them a soft place to land…
Why do I question the decision to turn to social media? Social media can be extremely shameless and petty, and it takes a special type of person to be able to put their finger on the pulse of modern culture and, this is important, exploit it. Some are so good at reading the proverbial room of present-day society that it becomes something akin to a contact sport. These academics seem like a good group overall, but like many lives that revolve around social media, it changes you, and not for the better. They’ve seemed to go down quite a bit of rabbit holes of questionable thoughts and theories. Perhaps some tweet a little to much, maybe some give advice beyond their purview. I’m acutely aware of their education, but honestly we all have lanes, and sometimes it’s best to stick within them. Sadly, social media makes an authority out of everyone, especially when they’re not…
Overall, this kinda brings me down. Their reputations seemed to have been excellent in their former lives. But social media can taint, muck up, and force you to swim in an apparent shit pit to survive. Obviously, they haven’t lost their luster to the many that follow and believe in them, but really, what does it say about a society that allows our biggest brains to feel the need to turn to a system that has arguably hurt more than it has helped? And in time, what is it going to say about them? How will they fare? Of course, time will tell, but I can’t be the only one to see the pitfalls of their new direction…