Curt Knutson, farmerRural Fisher, Minnesota

MondayMar16,2020at1:22PM

Ive seen the stories about how the GOP wants to replace U.S. Rep.CollinPeterson in Minnesotas Seventh District.

Im a Republican, but Im voting to keep Peterson, and heres why: Farming is important to our local economy in western Minnesota. You may not live on a farm, but you can bet that your neighbors and most likely the business you work in or own depends on farm money in some form or fashion.

Peterson is chair of the House Agriculture Committee. It is a gift to Minnesota industry and agriculture that he sits at the top of this powerful committee. The last farm bill did more than help farmers. It included language to help rural hospitals get out of debt. It included money to help stop the increase in farm and ranch suicides. The farm bill included support for rural water systems and money for building community centers.

Collin has been with President Trump on the Second Amendment. Hes been with Trump on the wall and tightening our borders against illegal immigration. Between that at the work hes done directly for our homes and our families, Im supporting Collin for re-election.

Curt Knutson, farmerRuralFisher, Minnesota

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Letter to the Editor - Peterson has this Republican's vote - Crookston Daily Times

The conservative critiques of social justice are, therefore, wrong on two different fronts.

If one were to rely solely on center-right or conservative media and public intellectuals for social commentary, one could be forgiven for thinking that the greatest threat currently facing Western Civilization is social justice. At this point, it is almost a starting point for any kind of discussion between the Left and the Right to discuss that some on the Left (the mythical social justice warriors) have gone too far in many cases. This, however, has not kept conservatives and libertarians from repeating the problem ad nauseamand publications on the Right are full of examples of this topic. If this were just an issue of conservatives simply repeating a similar point, I do not think it would be relevant. But more than the repetition, I think the social justice discourse perfectly highlights the intellectual poverty of a lot of the criticism of the Left that has been coming from the Right in recent years.

Browsing conservative magazines, it is easy to find various expressions of this phenomenon. The following series of examples is not intended as a specific criticism of one particular outlet, and I think doing the same with any other publication would not be difficult. However, I think that the almost obsessive attention that only one magazine can devote to one issue is telling. A recent article in National Review argues that the future is all but doomed barring turning the tide on social justice in higher education. In the same conservative publication, Noah Rothman, author of the 2019 bookUnjust: Social Justice and the Unmaking of America, argues thatmuch like the title of the book suggestssocial justice is not about the redressing of historical injustices but is essentially a tool used by the Leftto engineer oppressive, redistributive policies. In a similar vein, Jonah Goldberganother National Review contributor (and now a founding editor at The Dispatch)explains in a video for PragerU that social justice is little more than a term that the Left uses to signify anything that it finds expedient to further a political agenda at any given moment. Finally, Michael Brendan Dougherty, in a significantly more thoughtful piece than the others, addresses another important trope in the conservative discourse around social justice, namely, victim mentality. Dougherty does acknowledge that the use of victimhood for political purposes is far from exclusive to the Left, and he gives several examples of conservatives using this tactic. However, he does argue that left-wing activists currently engaged in social justice discourse and identity politics have taken this to unprecedented levels. All of this, is predictably (and perhaps correctly in a few cases) traced back to Marxism and other ideologies.

It is difficult to blame conservatives for hammering the same point. As Jordan Peterson readily admitted in one of his interviews with Joe Rogan, he found a way to monetize social justice warriors. As if self-conscious about giving away the game, Peterson prefaces his confession with I shouldnt say this, but Im going to because its just so goddamn funny. Clearly, it is not just Peterson that has profited from talking about this issue, as the examples above show. However, as I said before, I do not think that repetition on its own necessarily warrants criticism, but the poor level of analysis that produces it does. Now, it might seem unfairand it probably isto criticize anything that is acceptable for PragerU, an outlet that barely rises above the level of propaganda. And, after all, figures on the Right have reminded us often that we ought to steelman our opponents positions before criticizing them. In the interest of fairness, then, I am going to do just that and not use any of the previously cited pieces as examples of the most cogent conservative discourse about social justice.

A much better example of a conservative critique of social justice is Thomas Patrick Burkes The Concept of Justice: Is Social Justice Just?To be clear, the more recent examples (Burkes monograph is from 2011) do share the structure of the books argument in many ways. While it is difficult to say whether any of the contemporary critics read Burke or were directly influenced by him, it is reasonable to assume that Burkes ideas slowly permeated from academia to the mainstream, and, in the process, many became little more than tropes. In both cases, we find the core idea that social justice is unjust. As part of the supporting argument, both Burke and his contemporary exponents, cite notions of victim-mentality, the abandonment of the concept of personal responsibility, and the emphasis on the collectivity over the individual. The fact that Burke gives a much more coherent defense of his argument only means that if he is wrong, the same is true for these more recent critics, andin this latter caseperhaps even more so.

Burkes central claim is ambitious. In his view, any framework that accepts the contemporary version of social justice as just is essentially throwing a few millennia of moral philosophy out the window. The classical notion of justicethe one that has been built over many centuries of Western philosophy since the Greeksis based upon the idea that acts are the basic source of justice and injustice. States of affairs as a whole cannot be inherently just or unjust. That does not mean that we cannot ever judge a state of affairs. It only means that to know if one is truly unjust, we must know what were the individual actions that brought it about. An implication of thisand one that might make the point cleareris that the same state of affairs could be judged either way depending on the circumstances that brought it about. This is a view of justice, says Burke, that allows us to criticize obviously unjust states of affairs such as slavery or exploitation, as long as we can point to specific individual agents responsible, thereby saving the all-important notion of personal responsibility. On the other hand, the paradigm of social justice goes against all established philosophical canons because it judges states of affairs in themselves and throws away any notion of individual agency. Under this paradigm, then, any unequal state of affairs is judged to be unjust, and individual actions are attributed to circumstances. So, for example, a criminal can no longer be held responsible because it is his social and economic circumstances that moved him or her to act in such a way.

But is this an accurate characterization of what advocates of social justice believe? Of course, if conservatives were given the benefit of exposition by an academic philosopher, the same should be done for the side of social justice. One obvious choice here is Nancy Fraser. Not only is she a strong advocate for social justice, she is also a critical theorist, a Marxist, and a feminist. In other words, she is exactly the kind of academic that conservatives and libertarians have been warning us about as the current greatest threat to Western Civilization. In Social Justice in the Age of Identity Politics: Redistribution, Recognition, and Participation, Fraser explores the two basic paradigms of social justice, namely, redistribution and recognition. The first of these she traces back to the traditions of socialism and social democracyand particularly to philosophers such as John Rawls (something she shares with Burke). The latter, she identifies with identity politics. The point of this article is to show how redistribution and recognition, even though they are often posed as opposites, are not so. Each is meant to address different forms of injustice. Redistribution addresses the familiar cases of unjust distributions, for example, between the Global North and the Global Southor between owners and workers. Recognition, on the other hand, is needed in those cases in which economic inequality is not the source of injustice, such as those in which cultural norms affect groups of people not defined by economic status. This might include sexual minorities.

Nothing in Social Justice in the Age of Identity Politics really contradicts Burkes arguments about social justice. But nothing confirms his arguments either. It is true that only states of affairs are described as unjust, which is exactly what Burke criticizes about the concept of social justice. But even Burke admits that we can say that a state of affairs is unjust, provided it came about through unjust means in which we can identify individual agency. Nothing that Fraser argues here suggests that that is not the case or that these states of affairs are unjust in themselves. In the article, different forms of injustice are described, and different ways to apply justice to them are discussed; however, nothing is said about the sources of either justice or injustice. Fortunately, we have an answer to these questions, which Fraser addresses in another article, entitled simply On Justice. Here, Fraser analyzes Kazuo Ishiguros dystopian science fiction novel Never Let Me Go. It depicts a world in which clones are created for the sole purpose of harvesting organs for the people from whom they were created. For Fraser, this is a clearly unjust state of affairs. Here, however, she does explain what makes it unjust: In short, it is exploitation. Now, exploitation is a specific action (or set of actions) that can be directly attributed to individual people. In the case of Never Let Me Go, Fraser says that those in charge of the clones are engaging in exploitation. So, to say that social justice cannot establish specific causes of injustice is at least misleading, if not downright wrong.

This omission is all the more glaring because a part of Burkes book is dedicated to tracing the origin and transformation of social justice. This section of Burkes book does an excellent job of describing how the concept transformed from being a traditionalist idea predicated on preserving the established order, originally conceived by Italian Jesuit priest Luigi Taparelli, into what it is today. Burke explains that, as soon as the concept lost its strict attachment to Catholic social teaching, distinct conceptions of social justice were adopted by different ideological groups. The result of this was that, for a long time, there existed a conservative, a liberal, and a socialist conception of social justice. This last one is the one that Burke identifies as the closest to what he views as the modern conception of social justice. However, he argues that even this one was still just ordinary justicemeaning, the kind that can be attributed to individual actionsbut applied to social issues. He attributes the socialist meaning of social justice to the English Christian socialists of the latter half of the 19th century, whose main concern was exploitation, defined by them as wages which they considered proportionally meager compared to the kind and amount of work that factory employees undertook. This, he says, is still simply justice applied to social issues, just like criminal justice is justice applied to violations of rights by other people. The reason is that it is still possible to specifically signal factory owners as the responsible party.

This is all very strange, of course because Fraser specifically mentions exploitation. So, in a way, it almost seems like a willing refusal to acknowledge what advocates of social justice, as defined today, say their own beliefs are. And it is not just a matter of taking them at their word. It is entirely possible that their beliefs could be inconsistent in a way that undermined the claim that exploitation is the source of injustice. However, in this instance, it is easy to see that that is clearly not the case. All one needs to do is look at some of the situations in which claims about social injustice are made. Two that Fraser mentions are the unjust distribution between owners and workers, and that between the Global North and the Global South. The first of these is essentially the same that the English socialists, whom Burke admits still had an appropriate definition of justice, were concerned about. The second one could seem closer to a state of affairs being judged as inherently wrong based on the fact that one set of nations has more economic resources than the others. But this argument falls apart with minimal scrutiny. There is a reason that the specific Global North-Global South division is made, even though there are large inequalities between countries that belong to the same group. The reason is thatin generalthere is a specific relationship between the two sets of countries based on the colonial past, which was largely carried out by countries in the North against countries in the South. Now, of course, the United States was a colony of Great Britain, as India was; however, in the former case, the bulk of those that constituted the new nation were the colonizing population whereas in the later, it was the colonized.

Evidently, colonialism was comprised of a set of actions carried that can be traced back to particular individuals acting on their will. To say, then, that social justice does not adhere to the traditional conception of justice, as Burke defines it, which necessitates assigning responsibility to people, is simply not true. Moreover, the failure to identify this seems like a glaring omission. Not only are these arguments about why certain states of affairs are unjust very straightforward, it is even possible to make the same argument from a right-libertarian point of view. In Anarchy, State, and Utopia, Robert Nozick makes a very similar argument. Nozick famously argues that inequality is not unjust, provided that an unequal distribution was achieved only through voluntary transactions between consenting parties. But consistent with this, he also states that the only legitimate case for state-backed redistribution is when the present distribution is the result of acquisition through violence, coercion, collusion, fraud, or other illegitimate means, all of which can be attributed to individual actors. It should be evident that the anti-colonialist argument is fundamentally the same. It should be, of course, possible to contest the specifics social justice claims. What is not a valid criticism, however, is to say that social justice somehow throws out all classical notions of justice.

There is one last issue that illustrates this contrast between Fraser and Burke. There is one other way in which we could interpret advocates of social justice as judging states of affairs in themselves, as opposed to doing so based upon how they came about. Burke argues that the modern conception of social justice is mainly owed to John Rawls and his conception of justice as fairness. Nancy Fraser actually agrees with this. While she does not agree with all of Rawlss conclusions, in On Justice, she accepts Rawlss to basic starting points: namely, that justice is the first virtue of social institutions and that the primary object of justice is the basic structure of society. It could be argued that this proves Burke correct, but this is still not the case. Let us go back to the case that Fraser analyzes in said article. Of course, as I laid out before, Fraser does argue that the people in charge of the clones act unjustly; so, if one wanted to limit the scope of justice to individual acts of will, this should be enough to lay any concerns to rest. However, she takes the argument further. In accordance with her Rawlsian framework, she says that, ultimately, the caretakers act like they do because society is structured in such a way that sets them up to do so.

Nothing in Frasers argument takes personal responsibility away from the caretakers, as the novel does show instances of the characters having internal conflicts. So, the notion that personal responsibility is ignored is completely false. But it is hard to see the denial of the role that the social structure has in such situation as anything more than willful ignorance. The society in which the clones live is entirely built around the system of clones as spare parts for the originals. So, while individuals can sometimes see that there is something wrong with the systemfor example, when they are able to recognize that the clones are individuals in their own right with their own subjective experienceseach individual, including the clones, is still acting according to their social duty. If social duties require us to act unjustly, it is even irresponsible not to judge the structure of society to be unjust. And if anyone remains so narrowly committed to the idea that justice is solely a quality of individual actions, it is, of course, always true that social structures never emerge spontaneously. They are always the result of aggregated individual acts of will.

Finally, I believe there is another reason to be skeptical of this conception of justice defended by Burke. By this, I do not mean that it is flawedbut only that it is incomplete. As I have explained, what Burke refers to as the modern concept of social justice can be described entirely within his own narrow concept of justice. But the claim that the Western tradition has never attributed justice to states of affair in themselves is at least suspect. A review of Aristotles Politics and Nicomachean Ethics(or of Ciceros writings) shows that judging states of affairs in themselves is perfectly within the bounds of the Western philosophical canonat least to the extent that Rawls and Fraser do it. Both Aristotle and Cicero dedicate much of their writing in Politics and De Republica,respectively, to comparing different forms of political organization as wholes. They both conclude that the best one is what Cicero calls republic and Aristotle, (politeia) or constitutional government. While the term just is never explicitly used to describe them, it is worth noting particularly what Aristotle says about and comparing it to what he says about justice and equality in his NicomacheanEthics. For him, is the best form of government because it is a fusion of democracy (in the classical sense) and oligarchy. Therefore, it represents moderation as a mean between the two extremes. Neither the rich nor the poor have control over the government. But this is analogous to the way Aristotle describes justice, equality, and fairness in the Nicomachean Ethics, as he even admits in his discussion of constitutions.

In the Ethics, in Book V, Aristotle describes two kinds of justice: that which is based on proportionality and that which is rectificatory. The latter of these can be identified with Burkes own concept of justice. Justice requires reversing an action that resulted, for example, in an illegitimate acquisition of property through violence or fraud. But the former kind, Aristotle describes as that which is manifested in distributions of honor or money or the other things that fall to be divided among those who have a share in the constitution. About this one, Aristotle says that there is a certain proportional distribution which is just, and deviations resulting in some having too much and others too little of what is good are unjust. This, of course, is very similar to the kind of concept of justice that Burke describes as a judgement of states of affairs in themselves that go against centuries of Western philosophy. Yet, it is exactly what one of the founding fathers of Western philosophy advocated. This does not mean that because Aristotle said it, it must be true. But we now have two different reasons to be skeptical of the argument that the classical concept of justice can never judge states of affairs.

The conservative critiques of social justice are, therefore, wrong on two different fronts. Puzzlingly, it is two that are fairly easy to identify: social justice, as advocated by its adherents, does not dispense with personal responsibility. Furthermore, its judgements about states of affairs are done in a way that can always be traced to acts of will, and that perfectly falls within the bounds of the Western philosophical tradition. Now, it is possible that all these conservative critiques of social justice might only be directed at the less sophisticated and more extreme of its proponents, such as the mythical campus social justice warrior. If that were the case, however, these critiques would not only be at least slightly intellectually dishonest, but, also, I would argue, fairly irrelevant. But if that is indeed what the Right aims to criticize, it might be time that the Left starts treating PragerU videos and Turning Point USA graphics as the ultimate expressions of conservative thought.

Nstor de Buen holds an M.A. in social sciences from The University of Chicago. He has previously written at Quillette.

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The Critics of Social Justice, from Jonah Goldberg to Jordan Peterson - Merion West

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SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- As students stay home due the COVID-19 outbreak, they may have questions, or even fears, about it.

Closures for dozens of Michiana school districts because of the coronavirus go into effect this week.

On Monday, School City of Mishawaka is shutting down for two weeks. Michigans three week school closure starts Monday too. Meanwhile, South Bend Community School Corporation, Elkhart Community Schools, and Penn-Harris-Madison will shut their doors Tuesday.

Dr. John Peterson, a psychologist at Family Psychology of South Bend, says parents can play an important role in helping kids understand what they hear in a way that is truthful, accurate, and still reduces anxieties.

We want to position ourselves as a resource to children, said Peterson.

Peterson says children may feel stressed or worried while out of school for the next few weeks because its a change in their routine. However, he explains kids adapt well and as long as they feel like theyre in a supportive environment, the long term impacts should be minimal.

Being available for conversation is helpful, orienting towards safety, and you want to be a source of information but primarily emotional support, said Peterson. These are the things that will settle into them that we have a sense of subjective safety and place of fit in their world.

Preschool-aged children will likely be focused on concrete questions if they do know whats going on like, Is my teacher sick?

Peterson suggests those parents wait for the child to ask a question then simply answer it.

For elementary-aged, kids will likely understand what the coronavirus is and have concerns about the unknowns.

Peterson tells parents to answer their questions and explain what is known but dont linger on the unknown.

Lastly, for teenagers, Peterson says their concerns will be on the intricacies like What is our social responsibility? and the local, state, and national response to the outbreak.

To address them, Peterson recommends parents engage in their curiosity to show them theyre emotionally supported.

These conversations are also an opportunity for us to demonstrate that you [are] acknowldging concerns, said Peterson. Showing that weve been thoughtful and we have some decision making rules in place and again having a sensitive but confident leadership style is helpful to reduce anxiety and worry.

Peterson said adults may feel stressed during this time as well. He says coping with it in a healthy way will ultimately make yourself and the people around you stronger.

If you take care of physical health, also consider mental and emotional health, said Peterson.

The CDC says stress can include fear and worry of your own and loved ones health, changes in sleep or eating patterns, worsening of chronic health problem, and increased use of alcohol or tobacoo.

Peterson says to reduce it, people should establish a routine. He explains they offer a sense of predictability during a time of uncertainty.

He also recommends exercising, practicing relaxation, or doing anything that has helped people reduce their anxieties in a healthy way in the past. Peterson explains that the mind and body are one so its important to take care of your mental health in addition to your physical health.

It is our experience of well being and as much as it is, quite literally, youre quality of life, its worth getting equal attention to that, said Peterson.

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Local psychologist offers tips on how to protect your mental health, talk to kids during coronavirus outbreak - ABC 57 News

Cecil Joyce, Murfreesboro Daily News Journal Published 6:15 p.m. CT March 12, 2020 | Updated 6:26 p.m. CT March 12, 2020

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It was summer of 1991.

Still a young reporter for The Daily News Journal, I was relegated mostly to high school and middle school sports. I had dabbled in Middle Tennessee State sports mostly baseball in the past, but not a lot.

I didnt like writing about tragedy or death. Being young, naive and shy at the time, I was uncomfortable at the thought of having to interview someone about a loved one dying.

It was July 25, and I rolled into the office to begin my work day. Being the middle of summer, it probably didnt start out as a busy or eventful day.

That changed when I had to not only step into an MTSU storyin a pinch, but also do so for one involving tragedy.

A former Blue Raiders baseball star, Chris Whitehead, had died in an automobile accident in his hometown of Maryville. MTSU coach Steve Peterson was holding a summer youth camp that day and it was likely still going on. I had to rush tointerview him quickly for a story.

I got to MTSUs baseball field, and it looked deserted. Maybe I had avoided the dreadful assignment.

But then I saw him. One person, standing alone on Reese Smith Field. On the pitchers mound. It was Coach Pete, as he was always affectionately known.

I slithered out of the car and onto the field. Probably the slowest Ive ever moved.

I walked up toward the mound and Peterson was just standing there, head down. As I got near, he looked up and greeted me. My first (and only) response was, Hey, Coach. I guess you know why Im here.

Coach Pete shook his head and then, without a question needed, started talking about Chris, what he meant to the program and how tragic it was that such a promising baseball player, husband and father had been taken from the world in his early 20s.

I had everything I needed, and Coach Pete made it much easier for me than I could have imagined. Even in a time of heartbreak, he had the mind-set to make things easier on a young reporter.

Thats the kind of man Coach Pete was. Thats the kind of coach he was.

Peterson treated every player who donned a Blue Raiders jersey like they were his own son. He even treated me like that on week-long road trips I would take with the team. He would stay on me as hard as his own players. But I appreciated that.

Anyone taking the time to read this column knows what a great coach Peterson was. His 791 wins at MTSU (944 overall)are most in school history.

He was an even better man.

We lost that great man and coach Wednesday evening, as Peterson died at the age of 68.

Our talented MTSU writer, Joe Spears, was all over the story when it broke.

Im still uneasy about interviewing folks after tragedies or death.

But I would have gladly stepped up for this story. For Coach Pete.

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Former MTSU baseball coach Steve Peterson was a great coach, better man - Daily News Journal

Cory Peterson gave Da Crusher statue in South Milwaukee some coronavirus-related accessories on Friday, March 13.(Photo: Cory Peterson)

As news of coronavirus cases spread through the country, people were rushing out to buy hand sanitizer, toilet paper, face masks and another essentials.

South Milwaukee resident Cory Peterson thought famed wrestler Da Crusher could use some protective gear, too. He and his 4-year-old son Bentley biked to the statue honoring Reggie Da CrusherLisowski in South Milwaukee.

Peterson took photos of Da Crusher wearing a face mask and holding toilet paper, hand sanitizer and disinfecting wipes and posted it on social media. Peterson's posts were shared across the city.

LIVE UPDATES:The latest on coronavirus in Wisconsin

RELATED COVERAGE:What you need to know about coronavirus in Wisconsin

MORE COVERAGE:Coronavirus in the U.S and around the world

"It's just all the crazy stuff going on, and peopleare losing their minds buying all this stuff," Peterson said."I thought itd be prettyfunny to dress this guy up."

Peterson took the face mask and other accessories home with him once he took the photos.

Cory Peterson gave Da Crusher statue in South Milwaukee some coronavirus-related accessories on Friday, March 13.(Photo: Cory Peterson)

"I figured if I left it there the next person who would have seen would have grabbed it anyway, and it would have all been gone," he said.

Contact Lainey Seylerat (414) 224-2863 orlainey.seyler@jrn.com. Followheron Twitter at @lainey_seyler.

Our subscribers make this reporting possible. Please consider supporting local journalism by subscribing to the Journal Sentinel at jsonline.com/deal.

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Even Da Crusher is prepared for coronavirus. A South Milwaukee resident took photos of the statue with face mask and toilet paper. - Milwaukee Journal...

Sweden's Rebecca Peterson is back on the tennis circuit after being ill for a few weeks post the Australian Open in Melbourne. Peterson played her first event since Melbourne at the WTA event in Monterrey, Mexico and reached the quarter-finals where she lost to World No.

70 Arantxa Rus, Speaking to the Tennis.se website, Peterson says she feels she is heading in the right direction but was also very upset to hear that the next few events have been canceled due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 outbreak.

"I think it is very positive to bring from Monterrey, especially to be back at competitions again and get three games. It was both nice and hard to be home. It was nice because I had time to meet friends and family a little more than usual, but at the same time very hard because I couldn't work out.

The first two weeks I could not take an active step because I was so sore in my back and worn out health. It was hard to constantly feel that I had to rest. But it is part of the sport and then it is just to make the best of the situation and accept and listen to the body.

(With Indian Wells) being canceled is sickeningly sad. I definitely feel that I'm heading in the right direction. I'm not where I want to be, but on the right track." Peterson says her goals for the season is to qualify for the Olympics.

"Right now, there has been a lot of focus on staying and staying healthy. If I'm not, I still can't play. The goal is to join the Olympics and keep climbing all the time." The Swede also spoke about her compatriot Johanna Larsson, who recently announced her retirement from tennis.

"So sad that Johanna quits, I have to admit that I got a little stomach ache. We have had so much fun at competitions and it has been nice to have her out here. I will miss her as a person, player and our intense training where there is always war.

I am very grateful for everything she has done for me over the years, she has meant so much. At the same time, I know she will have a fantastic next chapter in her life and I wish her nothing but the world's happiness. We have girls running in Swedish tennis, so I hope we can continue to push each other and be inspired by being even better."

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Rebecca Peterson: The goal is to join the Olympics and keep climbing all the time - Tennis World USA

USA TODAY answers a question you may be wondering: Is coronavirus worse than the flu? USA TODAY

[Editor's note: On Thursday afternoon, the Iowa High School Athletic Association announced it would be limiting attendance for Friday's finals. Read the details here.The initial column remains below in full.]

With conference basketball tournaments left and right shutting with record speed. With the NBA shutting down for a while. With hockey thinking about it. With the NCAA saying March Madness will continue without fans (and likely canceling too, just wait) ...

Spectators from throughout Iowa are still being allowed inside Wells Fargo Arena in downtown Des Moines to watch the Iowa boys' basketball state tournament.

Shame on you, Iowa High School Athletic Association.

I understand that it would break hearts to start limiting fans or canceling the rest of the tournament. But doing the right thing is not the easy thing. And it's clear by now what the right thing to do is.

More: The latest on coronavirus in Iowa

Randy Peterson(Photo: Special to the Register)

It's not just pro and college teams that are putting a large halt to their sports. Our state neighbors, Nebraska and Illinois, have put in place massive limitations to their high school tournaments.

Why are they doing this? It's not hysteria. It's so people don't get sick from the coronavirus that is terrorizing the world and has the potential to harm and kill many.

If you cant cancel altogether, then pull the plug on the fans. Its for the safety of the players youre supposed to protect. Its for the fans. Its for our restaurants and watering holes in downtown Des Moines popular between-session hangouts for fans in town for this annual event.

Youre supposed to be example-setters, and youve done a wonderful job of it through the years. I know. My first gig at The Des Moines Register back in the 1970s was covering high school sports. I know how much you care. Ive seen how well you protect the high school athletes as well you should.

Honor that history.

Also read:What you need to know about COVID-19 in Iowa

Ive seen it all in that respect, so its troubling that youre still allowing fans to watch the state tournament on Thursday and Friday, while the rest of the world tries to contain this damnable virus.

Illinois announced Thursday morning that its high school tournament would limit fans during the remainder of its event.No more than 60 spectators per school will be allowed inside the arena. Nebraska has limited fans, too.

But in Iowa?

Heads in sand.

Its wonderful that the Iowa association is staying in contact with the Department of Public Health. I cant believe that department, however, would be against limiting fans inside The Well.

More: What is closed, canceled or postponed in Iowa because of the coronavirus

The top healthcare experts in the country, for weeks, have been screaming for society to start shutting down large gatherings such as the state tournament. The reason is so we protect the most vulnerable among us.

Putting a stop to fans at gamesis not a cowardly act. It's a compassionate one.

The scenes that unfolded Wednesday night in Sports the NBA shutting down after player (and now) tested positive for coronavirus and Iowa's own Fred Hoiberg falling ill (thankfully it was just the flu) on the Nebraska bench was a wake-up call for the entire sports world.

Sports are important.

But there are more important things going on right now.

Iowa State columnist Randy Peterson has been writingfor the Des Moines Register for parts of sixdecades. Reach him atrpeterson@dmreg.com, 515-284-8132, and on Twitter at@RandyPete.

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Peterson: Dear IHSAA, what are we doing here? Limit or cancel the boys' tournament - Des Moines Register

FORT CARSON, Colo. (KKTV) - The COVID-19 outbreak has affected all areas of life, and our military are no exception.

The Department of Defense has issued travel restrictions for military personnel. To read the full memo, click here.The restrictions include pausing official travel such as a move to a new base and any TDY travel.

11 News reached to Fort Carson and Peterson and Schriever Air Force bases to find out how the restrictions will affect troops' personal travel.

Fort Carson: Fort Carson tells 11 News they are restricting personal travel for soldiers to a 30-mile radius, defined in a letter from the post commander as within the limits of Fort Carson, Colorado Springs, Fountain, and greater Teller and El Paso counties. An exception will be made for soldiers who live outside the 30-mile radius who need to commute to Fort Carson.

To read a letter from 4th Infantry Division and Fort Carson commander Maj. Gen. Matthew McFarlane, click here.

Schriver Air Force Base: Schriever tells 11 News mission-essential staff must remain in the Colorado Springs area. All others are restricted to a 200-mile radius, but must avoid Eagle, Summit, Pitkin and Gunnison counties.

Peterson Air Force Base: Airmen stationed at Peterson are restricted to a 200-mile travel radius. A spokesperson told 11 News travel further than 200 miles will be considered on a case by case basis. Examples given were deaths in the family and certain medical procedures.

The rules are in effect as of March 16 and go through May 11.

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DoD issues travel restrictions: What this means for military in Colorado Springs - KKTV 11 News

REPORT: Two sources said the deal is almost doneThe news that many have been waiting for has reportedly arrived. According to award-winning reporter JP Peterson, the Buccaneers will be signing quarterback Tom Brady and make that announcement Wednesday. (Wikipedia image)

(BUCSNATION.COM) The news that many have been waiting for has reportedly arrived. According to award-winning reporter JP Peterson, the Buccaneers will be signing quarterback Tom Brady and make that announcement Wednesday.

On the broadcast, Peterson said the following:

Two sources earlier said the deal is almost done. Another source, a better source, says the deal is not official but they are working out the final details. This last source is the most trustworthy.

Brady has decided he wants to play for the Buccaneers. Now its just about the terms of the contract.

He later added that Brady instructed his agent, Don Yee, to get the deal done with the Bucs.

CLICK HERE to see the full story on BucsNations.com>>>

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REPORT: Tampa Bay Buccaneers to Announce Patriot QB Tom Brady Signing on Wednesday | - SpaceCoastDaily.com

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Former MTSU baseball coach Steve Peterson through the years - The Daily News Journal

My wife, Tammy, and I toured Australia and New Zealand in February 2019. I was lecturing about the topics covered in my book, 12 Rules for Life (and also Maps of Meaning, my first book). I had a number of the lectures professionally filmed. This highlight from my lecture in Auckland focuses on what might be done about crippling feelings of guilt.

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Donations: https://www.jordanbpeterson...Merchandise: https://teespring.com/store......

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12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos: https://jordanbpeterson.com......Maps of Meaning: The Architecture of Belief: https://jordanbpeterson.com......

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Website: https://jordanbpeterson.com/12 Rules for Life Tour: https://jordanbpeterson.com...Blog: https://jordanbpeterson.com...Podcast: https://jordanbpeterson.com...Reading List: https://jordanbpeterson.com...Twitter: https://twitter.com/jordanb...Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/j......Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dr......

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I compare Peterson with Ayn Rand becauseas I read this bookher name constantly came to my mind (she is mentioned only once in the book).

The Left has long had intellectual gurus with cult-like followings: from Derrida to Foucault to Sartre to iek. This is a less frequent occurrence on the Right, so there are fewer intellectual gurus to be found there. Perhaps the last such figure was Ayn Rand, and, even thoughshe has been dead for more than three decades, her views remain quite influential for some young people.So, the time is ripe for a new right-wing intellectual guru, and it seems Jordan Peterson is playing that role.

If you are a male college student, you might not mind watching Petersons long lectures on Solzhenitsynor reading his technical articles on the psychology of alcoholism. However, the rest of us would prefer to have a ready-made concise CliffNotes version of his ideas, chiefly to judge whether this Peterson fellow is actually worth all of the fuss that accompanies him. Jim Proser provides such a guide in Savage Messiah: How Dr. Jordan Peterson Is Saving Western Civilization. It is a nice intellectual biography, written in a very engaging style; it is never dumbed-down yet full of anecdotes. It also quotes extensively from Petersons own books, lectures, and interviews.

I compare Peterson with Ayn Rand becauseas I read this bookher name constantly came to my mind (she is mentioned only once in the book). In Atlas Shrugged, the boogeyman is socialism, and the dominant theme of that very long book is individuals rejecting herd-mentality and taking responsibility for their own actions; Atlas is the mythological hero, who embraces this ideal by taking the world on his shoulders. In Prosers portrayal, Peterson is similarly fascinated with Atlas, as this excerpt from one of his lectures demonstrates: This is an old representation, right? Atlas with the world. Well, its a representation that says that thats the proper way to live, right? [It] is to pick up a load thats heavy enough so that if you carry it you have some self-respect.

Points along these lines may sound more like self-help motivational coaching than insightful scholarship. And indeed, throughout Prosers book, one may sympathize with Peterson, but I still wonder what all the hand-wringing surrounding him is all about. Dont misunderstand me, Peterson is a legitimate scholar, but I can think of many, many contemporary intellectuals that have far more interesting things to say.

Now, maybe Petersons singularity is that he struck a chord in the right place at the right time. Political correctness and identity politics have gone too far, and free speech does appear to be under siege at many North American universities. As Proser tells the story, Peterson courageously has taken a stand against of all this. Kudos to him for that. However, I worry that there is something darker lurking underneath Petersons crusade.

Apart from Ayn Rand, the other author that constantly came to mind as I read the book was Nietzsche. Proser paints Peterson as some sort of bermensch, a figure who in his youth lifted weights, a roughneck, a frontier cowboy from the lonely Alberta oilfields he grew up fighting for his place in a wolf pack of tough guys. And, now, Peterson has become this savage intellectual, who exists beyond the mediocrity of the restand thrives by killing the dragons of chaos, fighting hard to reestablish order.

Now, of course, Nietzsche was not guilty of the way his philosophy was abused by the Nazis. But, I do give credence to the thesis that his ideas did sow the seeds of totalitarianism.If you worry so much about being a Superman, then ultimately it is not so hard to conclude that weaklings must simply disappear from the face of the Earth.Likewise, I worry thatunderneath all the talk about responsibility, order, and anti-political correctnessthere may be something more sinister going on with Peterson.

Proser presents Peterson as a champion of the Enlightenment, who prioritizes science over ideology, and calls a spade a spade by reminding liberals that gender differences are real. That may very well be, but I doubt Peterson is really committed to the Enlightenment and its true liberal spirit. Actually, I think Matt McManus hits it on the head when he claims that Peterson is much closer aligned with postmodernism and the counter-Enlightenment than he would be willing to admit. The Enlightenment turned its back on faith and Christianity as a whole; Peterson says he does not believe in God, but he, very confusingly, seems to think religion will always be necessaryand that atheism inevitably leads to many depravities. The Enlightenment was cosmopolitan and had little patience for nationalism; by contrast, the counter-Enlightenment provided the intellectual rationale for modern nationalism, and Peterson is similarlyunhappyabout what he calls globalism. The Enlightenment had little patience for pseudoscientific mumbo jumbo; by contrast, Peterson seems to think that people who painted snakes in antiquity already knew about DNA

But, perhaps the more worrying aspect of Peterson is his obsession with what he calls neo-Marxism and its alleged pernicious infiltration of our civilization. This is the dominant theme of Prosers book. Yes, there are some fools in North American universities, and Peterson does a public service by confronting them. But, to believe that these clueless college students are actually a threat to Western civilization (and that Peterson is a kind of Medieval knight who must slew the terrifying monsters) is hyperbole. If History is any guide, totalitarianism begins with hyperbole about the dangers of particular people, whether it is Jews, the bourgeoisie, or the Kafir. Of course, Communism killed millions of people, but to obsess over it may actually pave the way for new forms of totalitarianism. Those youngsters who are fascinated with Peterson should know that Stalinism and McCarthyism are cut from the same clothand, unfortunately, Petersons obsession with neo-Marxism (whatever that means) is dangerously close to the kind of intellectual cleansing that infamous Senator from Wisconsin senator aspired towards.

Precisely because Peterson has this illiberal bone, nasty people can become very fond of him. The Alt-right is a case in point. Of course, one ought never be charged with a crime on the basis of association (again, one cannot entirely blame Auschwitz on Nietzsche). But in the case of Peterson, it should at least give pause that his ideas are being used to push for someeyebrow-raising agendas. While he still has a chance to escape such guilt by associations, Peterson must try harder to disavow some of the tendentious readings that people make of his words.

Proser has written a nice book, but he also makes for an example of someone who wants to use Peterson for his own agenda of ultraconservatism and American triumphalism. Take, for instance, his views on American imperialism. In the book, there is constant mention of the Soviet Evil Empire but no mention whatsoever of any American Empire. Proser scolds Noam Chomsky for saying that, the United States also wiped out communist uprisings in Latin America with the methods of Heinrich Himmlers extermination squads. Well, like it or not, Chomsky is right this time. The United States illegal involvement in Nicaragua(and other countries south of Rio Grande) was intended to wipe out communist uprisings. Proserin dismissing offhandedly this comparisonignores that the School of the Americas run by the CIA taught Latin American dictatorships how to torture in order to suppress communist movements.

Proser is so far to the right, that he thinks that Obama was, the de facto leader of the left since his election in 2008. Proser even claims that, Jordan [Peterson] recognized the election of Barack Obama and explosion of Occupy Wall Street as clear demonstrations that a radical Marxist storm had surged and was aiming to collapse Western traditions as it had before. I do not know if Peterson actually thought this; however, if he did, then there is something wrong with him. To think that Barack Obama, who bailed out banks and Wall Street belongs in the same category with Occupy Wall Street is nothing more than unhealthy conspiratorial thinking.

One can easily guess Prosers political views by looking at which thinkers he invokes and approves of. When speaking of the Intellectual Dark Web, he mentions respectable names such as Sam Harris, Joe Rogan, and Ben Shapiro. But then, he includes Glenn Beck. Seriously? The same guy who rants about George Soros and toys with conspiracy theories over and over again? Someone who not only toys withbut rather fully embracesall sorts of conspiracy theories is Alex Jones. And Proser does seem to have a soft spot for him, too: Alex Jones would fall to de-platforming as social media monopolies Facebook, Google, and Twitter revealed themselves to be in the progressive camp by using the new standard hate speech is not free speech to throttle conservative, or as Jordan [Peterson] described himself, traditionalist voices.

It is nice to have someone to give young adults advice about discipline, order, and responsibility. It is also nice to have a professor on television telling woke crusaders that the State has no right to force people to use specific pronounsand that not everything is about race. But, if by talking so much about the Gulag, you forget about Guantanamo, we have a problem. No, I do not claim moral equivalency; the Gulag was certainly worse. But, I cannot emphasize enough that obsession with Stalinism can lead to McCarthyismor the Patriot Actand Peterson needs to think harder about how to prevent this.

He still has time to avoid going down the path of Ayn Rand. In her case, one can understand how closely witnessing the horrors of the Russian Revolution led to her extremist views. By contrast, Peterson has had the privilege of living in democratic nations his entire life. Sure, he has reason to strongly object to Communism, but his own unchecked views may be promoting a world that few sensible people would want. I worry thatin the endthis famous quotation by John Rogers may also apply to Petersons work: There are two novels that can change a bookish fourteen-year olds life:The Lord of the RingsandAtlas Shrugged.One is a childish fantasy that often engenders a lifelong obsession with its unbelievable heroes, leading to an emotionally stunted, socially crippled adulthood, unable to deal with the real world. The other, of course, involves orcs.

Dr. Gabriel Andrade is a university professor. He has previously contributed to Areo Magazine and DePauw Universitys The Prindle Post. His twitter is@gandrade80

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Is Jordan Peterson the New Ayn Rand? - Merion West

Last year, a lender sued Washington Redskins running back Adrian Peterson for allegedly not repaying a loan totaling $6.6 million plus interest, drawing renewed scrutiny to athletes who lose their money. Peterson earned just over $100 million so far on the field in his career but couldnt pay his obligations.

The lender and Peterson agreed to negotiate again, and no further court filings have emerged since in the case. But that has not ended financial disputes surrounding Peterson and his money. The likely future Hall of Famer is currently embroiled in arbitration with Morgan Stanley Wealth Management over a soured investment, sources said. Morgan Stanley confirmed the arbitration.

Part of the reason he needed to borrow from the lender who sued him for nonpayment, one of the sources said, was because of the alleged failed investment. So Peterson has taken the white-shoe firm to arbitration, the process required in lieu of litigation under the term of most...

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Redskins' Adrian Peterson in arbitration with Morgan Stanley in latest money dustup - The Athletic

After nearly a month on the bench, Beau Peterson is settling in as the new Clatsop County Circuit Court judge .

The former senior deputy district attorney was appointed by Gov. Kate Brown in December to replace Paula Brownhill, who retired in November after 25 years. The position is up for election for a six-year term in May, and Peterson intends to run.

Beau Peterson replaced Judge Paula Brownhill, who retired in November.

Ive always liked public service, thats part of what drew me to being a DA, is you get to help people. And not everybody, and not always in the way that people want, but youre still helping the community and that feels good. And this is another way I can keep doing that, he said.

Peterson grew up in Portland and earned his bachelors degree and later his law degree from the University of Oregon.

While attending law school, he spent a summer working as a law clerk for Brownhill, and decided he wanted to live and practice law in Clatsop County.

He moved to the county after graduating and spent nearly 13 years as a prosecutor.

Peterson handled a range of cases, including vehicular manslaughter, assault, elder financial abuse, embezzlement, drunken driving, thefts and burglaries. He was the lead prosecutor on the trial that convicted Adeena Copell and Christian Wilkins in May for the murder of a Newport man.

It was a little bittersweet knowing I was going to leave an office that I really loved, and have to separate a little bit from some people that I really had come to care about, and were good friends. But personally, its a good challenge, Peterson said.

He had thought about being a judge earlier in his career, but said he didnt begin to really consider the possibility until former Judge Philip Nelson told him he thought it would be a good fit.

When I heard Judge Brownhill was retiring, I said, You know, maybe it is time for a change, Peterson said. I really did enjoy being a prosecutor. The trial work is something Im going to miss ... Ill still get trials, but it will be very different.

Peterson handled over 70 jury trials as a deputy district attorney. However, he said he also liked the idea of getting to learn new areas of law.

I went to law school because it seemed interesting to begin with, and when you focus in one area you get really good at it. But theres a lot out there I dont know, and getting to learn those things is kind of exciting, he said.

Im really thankful to be able to keep serving Clatsop County. Public service has been a big part of how I was raised, Peterson said.

He said his grandfather instilled in him the idea of public service. His grandfather served in World War II and spent the majority of his career working for the government as a bank auditor.

The two things he really instilled were, do the right thing, and if you can help, help. And this is a way I think I can help, Peterson said.

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Peterson takes over as new judge - Daily Astorian

As host of the popular YouTube series Brave Wilderness, Coyote Peterson is no stranger to going face-to-face with creatures many deem terrifyingthink great white sharks and pit vipersbut that he says are simply "misunderstood."

Animals have always been a big part of Peterson's life, even before he made a career out of being stung and bitten by ferocious critters. The Ohio native studied video production and directing at Ohio State University, and then decided to combine his two passionsfilm and all things wildto teach viewers about wildlife and the importance of conservation. His YouTube channel currently has more than 15 million subscribers.

Now Peterson is embarking on a new adventure with Animal Planet in the show Brave the Wild. He'll travel all over the world with wildlife biologist Mario Aldecoa and his crew, sharing creatures that aren't often in the spotlight and that viewers may find a little frightening. He recently chatted with Mental Floss about the importance of conservation, his thing for snapping turtles, and his close encounter with a jaguar and her three cubs.

Youve said your love of animals started with snapping turtles. Can you talk about the first time you saw one and what about them fascinated you so much?

The first snapping turtle I caught was when I was only 8 years old. I was always fascinated with turtles, because at first glance they look prehistoric, almost dinosaur-like. Growing up in Ohio, I never got to see any "exotic" animals. My favorite thing to watch on TV was Steve Irwin. Watching him wrestle crocs is what inspired me to catch my first snapping turtle, the most dangerous animal Ohio has to offer.

In Brave the Wild, you introduce animals that are often feared or misunderstood. What's the importance in exposing viewers to these creatures?

One of my goals through this series was to inspire people to overcome their fears of these seemingly dangerous animals and learn to admire them from a safe distance. The more you understand these creatures, the less you are afraid of them. One of the messages I try to convey in every episode is the importance of conservation.

Whats the most "misunderstood" creature you've encountered?

The most misunderstood creature that comes to mind is the carpet shark, which we filmed in season one. As I always say, peoples biggest fears are the three Ss (sharks, snakes and spiders). The carpet shark is found off the coast of Australia. They only bite humans in the case of mistaken identity. To some of these sharks a persons foot might look like a fish. Any time you enter a new environment you need to be aware of what you need to look for, not only to keep yourself safe, but the animal as well.

What goes into preparing for each encounter to make sure you and the animals come out alive?

With any new expedition, you need to come into the environment knowing exactly what to expect. When encountering a new animal, I try to stay as calm as I can and have no hesitation. If I stay calm, the animal stays calm, [and] I'm creating a safer interaction for myself. I use different tactics when I encounter different animals. It also depends on whether the environment is land or in water.

How do you keep your composure on camera when you're in a potentially dangerous situation?

Any situation I find myself in, I look at it as my job. For example, I would be afraid operating a crane, because that is something I don't do. If it's part of your job, it's something that you get used to. When I do my job, I make sure I'm focused and never hesitate. Before I encounter any animal, I know what I'm going to say to the camera. I say that, for the best show, we always need to have the camera rolling so the audience can see what is happening.

You were in Australia filming Brave the Wild during bushfire season. What was that like?

Visiting Australia was one of the best experiences I had filming the show. Australia is a fascinating country that has so many unique environments. We spent over 50 days in Australia and encountered more than 35 different species. We were there right before all these devastating fires started, and we got to witness the severity of the drought and all the different animals it impacted.

What was your favorite animal encounter in upcoming series?

Each encounter I have in the wild is special. I would have to say that the most exciting moment for me was when we were filming in Brazil and I saw a jaguar and three of her cubs up close. Not only did I get to see this in real life, but my amazing team was able to capture this special moment on tape. It is just so amazing seeing these animals survive and thrive in the wild while dealing with not only the dangers of the wild but human encroachment as well. Hands down, this was my favorite episode that we got to film.

Catch new episodes of Brave the Wild on Animal Planet, Sundays at 9 p.m. ET/PT.

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Coyote Peterson on 'Brave the Wild' - Mental Floss

Controversial Canadian author and academic Jordan Peterson has been treated for addiction to anti-anxiety medication in Russia, his daughter has said.

Peterson rose to fame in conservative circles in 2016 for opposing what calls radical political correctness authoritarianism, and his polarizing stances have drawn widespread controversy. He is estimated to have authored 50 books, including in the self-help genre, and sold more than 30 million copies.

Petersons family sought treatment for his physical dependency to benzodiazepine in Russia last month after failed attempts in North America, his daughter Mikhaila Peterson said Friday.

We had to seek an emergency benzodiazepine detox, which we could only find in Russia, she said in a YouTube video viewed 2 million times.

Doctors in Russia placed Peterson in an eight-day induced coma after diagnosing him with a fever and pneumonia on arrival. Peterson said her father was on the mend but has a long way to recover fully.

He almost died from what the medical system did to him in the West, Mikhaila said in a video and script provided to Canadas National Post publication.

The decision to bring him to Russia was made in extreme desperation when we couldnt find any better option, she said.

She did not disclose where in Russia Petersons treatment took place, but the CBC News broadcaster reported the location as Moscow.

"My family has put a stop to any more information," Mikhaila told CBC News. "When dad's ready, he'll start talking about details."

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Controversial Scholar Jordan Peterson Treated for Addiction in Russia - The Moscow Times

David A. Peterson Jr. (Photo provided by The National A. Philip Randolph Pullman Porter Museum)

David A. Peterson Jr. is the president and executive director of the National A. Philip Randolph Pullman Porter Museum located in Chicago. The Florida A&M University graduate began his career with the museum during college when he toured nationally for the NAPRPP museum and Amtrak as the coordinator for the museums traveling exhibit.

Prior to his role as president, Peterson established a youth and young adult program called MUSEUM 44 in honor of the 44th President of the United States, Barack Obama. Today, he controls the day to day operations of the Museum. In his role, he also focuses on partnership building, program development, and resource development.

We spoke with Peterson ahead of the museums 25th anniversary and the addition of the Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr. Wing.

What is the mission of your organization?

The National A. Philip Randolph Pullman Porter Museum is a 501(c)(3) cultural institution. Our mission is to promote, honor and celebrate the legacy of A. Philip Randolph, Pullman Porters, the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters and contributions made by African Americans to Americas labor movement. As we educate the public about their historic legacy and the contributions theyve made through the study, preservation, and interpretation of their stories that are inextricably intertwined.

How do you approach business challenges?

Fearlessly head-on with optimism, faith, discipline, and purpose. Understanding that the mission is bigger than yourself gives you the motivation needed to stand firm during hard times when you personally want to give up.

How do you evaluate the talent you are hiring? What are the skills that you are looking for in this market place?

Personal interviews based on referrals are the most effective way. At that point, we can gauge someones genuine interest in our subject matter.

What are the top three benefits of being a member of your organization?

You help keep a story and legacy alive.

You become a part of an international movement to preserve and interpret Black history, heritage, and culture.

You join a movement going uphill that will affect generations to come.

Click continue to read more.

I am a blogger, journalist and media enthusiast. I am passionate about covering entertainment, fashion and beauty. Keep up with me at Cassinthecity.com

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David Peterson eyes the impact of Pullman Porter Museum before 25th anniversary - Rolling Out

Women are underrepresented in science, tech, engineering, and math (STEM), and two years ago a study offered a counterintuitive explanation as to why. The authors pointed out that countries with more gender equality, like Finland, tended to have fewer women earning degrees in those fields.

But more women studied science and tech in countries with less gender-progressive policies, such as Algeria, reported the researchers, who called this phenomenon the gender-equality paradox in STEM education.

The 2018 finding drew widespread attention from mainstream media outlets, like the Atlantic and Ars Technica, as well as from conservative think tank the American Enterprise Institute and Jordan Peterson, the controversial psychologist most famous for his YouTube videos addressing what hes called the crisis of masculinity. Peterson and others cited the study to argue that, free from societal constraints, women choose to stay away from technical fields a choice they make because of an innate lack of interest, not because of the patriarchy.

But outside researchers questioned that conclusion after they tried, and failed, to replicate the original study. Sarah Richardson, a science historian at Harvard University, told BuzzFeed News that the study authors used a very selective set of data to produce a contrived and distorted picture of the global distribution of women in STEM achievement.

In December 2019, a lengthy 1,113-word correction was added to the paper, clarifying how the researchers had arrived at their conclusions and correcting several sentences and misleading figures. In a separate article and series of blog posts on Tuesday, Richardson and her colleagues at Harvards GenderSci Lab laid out what they saw as the significant problems with the studys methodology, including the researchers calculations for determining the percentage of women STEM graduates and the metrics they used to assess gender equity in each country.

And they called into question the studys fundamental premise: that the correlation the authors apparently found between national gender equity and women in STEM means the former directly affects the latter.

When we looked under the surface, this appears to be a case of massaging ones data selecting for different countries, particular gender measures, particular women-in-STEM measures to produce the narrative that you want to see, Richardson said.

In the end, we do not think that there is a gender-equality paradox.

But one of the studys authors, Gijsbert Stoet of the University of Essex, stands behind the correlation they found and argued that it remains even when using Richardsons preferred calculations. The problem with the critique, he said by email, is that they cannot explain the phenomenon we reported.

When the study came out in February 2018 in the journal Psychological Science, it provided fodder for the likes of YouTube channel Independent Man. Its not that women dont have the aptitude to take STEM subjects in the more egalitarian societies, explained one clip. They just choose not to.

This clip, which has been viewed more than 89,000 times, lives alongside videos like Debunking the Black Lives Matter Narrative and Toxic Femininity.

In an interview at the time, Peterson mentioned a great paper showing that as societies become more egalitarian, the enrollment gap between men and women in STEM fields increases. He added, And what do the feminists say about that? Pseudoscience.

And a member of the American Enterprise Institute cited it to argue that underrepresentation of women in STEM may actually be the result of the great advances in female empowerment, progress, and advancement that have taken place in recent decades, and not the result of systematic gender discrimination.

In the paper, a pair of psychologists Stoet and David Geary of the University of Missouri found that across most countries, girls are as good as boys, and often better, at math and science. But in countries with greater gender equality like Norway and Finland, women make up less than 25% of college graduates in STEM fields. In and of itself, this gender gap isnt news. But the researchers theorized that because these countries tend to be richer, women have the financial freedom to pursue their natural interests which drives them more toward the humanities.

In contrast, in countries with historically less gender equality, such as Algeria and Turkey, women make up much higher percentages of STEM degree-holders, according to their analysis. Because economic opportunities tend to be fewer there, those conditions may make relatively high-paying STEM occupations more attractive to women, Stoet and Geary wrote.

But Richardson thought a lot of these numbers seemed off. So she and a team tried to recreate the analysis with the publicly available data it was based on, including college graduation data from UNESCO.

The researchers had reported, for instance, that the percentage of women among STEM graduates in Algeria was 40.7%. But Richardson found that in 2015, UNESCO reported a total of 89,887 STEM graduates in Algeria, and 48,135 of them or 53.6% were women.

So where did 40.7% come from?

Eventually, Richardsons team would learn that Stoet and Geary had added different sets of numbers: the percentage of STEM graduates among women (in Algerias case, 26.66%) and the percentage of STEM graduates among men (38.89%). That added up to a total of 65.55%. Then they divided the percent of women STEM graduates by the total, producing a rate of 40.7%.

What they had done is create their own ratio of those two, which has never been validated or used in STEM research, Richardson said.

That metric was not explained in the paper. In the recently issued correction, the authors went into detail on the math theyd come up with.

After Richardson and her colleagues recalculated each countrys figures, they found that overall, the study underestimated the number of women STEM graduates worldwide by about 8%.

That wasnt the only problem. Even after Richardsons team learned about the study authors method of calculating the ratio, they still couldnt replicate all of their results. Richardson also took issue with the metric used to assess each countrys level of gender equity and the fact that the study did not examine trends over a long period of time.

Richardsons team found that there are large variations in the gender gaps between STEM graduates among countries, no matter how they are measured. These variations do not conform to simple patterns, Richardson and graduate student Joseph Bruch wrote in a blog post, adding that gender inequalities are not easily represented along a single dimension and with a single measure, as Stoet and Geary attempt to do.

Maria Charles, a sociologist at the University of California, Santa Barbara, who studies gender and STEM education and was not involved with Richardsons analysis, told BuzzFeed News by email, There is no evidence that gender stereotypes and unconscious gender biases are less pronounced in advanced industrial societies even in societies where women are well represented in universities, labor markets, and polities.

In a letter responding to Richardsons allegations, Stoet and Geary said they had chosen their metric to reflect a womans likelihood of completing a STEM degree compared to a mans. They also said that despite the specific approach to calculations theyd taken, the overall correlation that they had found between nations gender-equity levels and the number of women in STEM remained the same.

Richardson said she first emailed Stoet with questions about the source of his numbers in December 2018. He replied and then stopped writing back, she said, at which point she contacted the editors at Psychological Science.

Asked whether the paper should have been retracted instead of corrected, the editors, Tim Pleskac and Steve Lindsay, said by email: In our view, retraction is appropriate when the reported results have been convincingly shown to be fundamentally in error. In our view, the Stoet and Geary article, post-Corrigendum, was not fundamentally in error.

Richardson said that the messiness underlying the findings reinforces that there is no one factor that determines whether women pursue or succeed in science and technology.

Cultural patterns around womens achievement in and preferences for STEM are incredibly complex and incredibly diverse across the globe, she said.

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A Controversial Study Claimed To Explain Why Women Dont Go Into Science And Tech. It Just Got A 1,113-Word Correction. - BuzzFeed News

Jordan Peterson is unwell.

But for fans and followers of the clinical psychologist and crusader against political correctness, the good news is he is getting better.

This week, his daughter Mikhaila posted a bulletin on her website, announcing that after years of suffering absolute hell from his physical addiction to the anti-anxiety benzodiazepine, Clonazepam, Peterson had been admitted to a clinic in Russia for an emergency detox treatment, which had involved him being placed in an induced coma for eight days.

Peterson, she said, was now on the mend and smiling again for the first time in months. She did not say where in Russia he was, and added that there would be no further bulletins on his condition until Peterson was able to speak for himself.

The revelation is the latest twist in the extraordinary rise of Peterson from obscure Canadian academic to what the *New York Times* described as the most influential public intellectual in the Western world.

Peterson first rose to international prominence in 2018 with the publication of his book 12 Rules For Life, and an appearance on Channel 4 News in which he eviscerated his interviewer Cathy Newman in a discussion about gender and the rise of identity politics and has now accrued more than 19m views on YouTube.

He quickly became the most visible, outspoken, and certainly the most divisive figure in the culture wars between Left and Right, challenging the orthodoxies of political correctness and the culture of victimhood he maintains is sweeping across university campuses in America, Canada and Britain. In March 2019, an offer of a Visiting Fellowship by Cambridge University was rescinded following a backlash from students and some members of faculty.

As his book soared to the top of the best-seller lists around the world, Peterson gave up his clinical practice and embarked on a frenetic round of lecture tours, media appearances and speaking engagements. But last year these engagements tailed off in November he was obliged to cancel a talk he was due to give at Londons Hammersmith Apollo as speculation about his health mounted.

Petersons health, and in particular his struggle with the chronic depression he has suffered since the age of 13, has long been a theme in his talks. When I met him at his home in Toronto in 2018 he described the feeling as like freezing to death on an endless stark plain knowing that the reason that you got there is because you did everything wrong. As part of his attempt to control it, he had adopted a diet consisting solely of meat and greens he was barbequing steak for breakfast when I arrived. Its hell on your social life, I can tell you, he told me with a laugh.

He adopted the diet following the example of Mikhaila, 28, who has become a prominent figure on social media herself, not only in her capacity as her fathers assistant and right hand (Peterson also has a son Julian, 27) but because of her own story about her struggles with debilitating illness.

She has her own website, which lists the long catalogue of ailments that have blighted her life. At the age of seven she was diagnosed with severe juvenile rheumatoid arthritis; at eight she was injecting herself with immunosuppressants twice a week; by the age of 12 she was diagnosed with severe depression and bi-polar type 2; at 14 she was diagnosed with idiopathic hypsomnia; at 17 she had her hip and ankle joints replaced; by the time she was 22 she was sleeping 18 hours a day, chronically depressed and experiencing rashes and blistering.

After years of experimenting with eliminating certain foods, she now promotes the wonders of what she calls the Lion Diet, which consists solely of ruminant meat (beef and lamb), salt and water, and which she claims had put her multiple disorders into remission, leaving her completely asymptomatic, medication free and thriving.

It took me years to believe this myself, as it went against all accepted medical teachings, she says on her website a fact confirmed by numerous health professionals, among them Jack Gilbert, the faculty director at the University of Chicagos Microbiome Center, who in an interview with The Atlanticmagazine described the Lion Diet as a terribly, terribly bad idea, adding, if she does not die of colon cancer or some other severe cardiometabolic disease, the life I cant imagine.

Peterson, however, told the American radio host, Joe Rogan that Mikhaila was glowing. So much so that he embarked on the diet himself to apparently extraordinary effect. His lifelong depression, anxiety, gastric reflux (and associated snoring), inability to wake up in the mornings, psoriasis, gingivitis, floaters in his right eye, numbness on the sides of his legs, problems with mood regulation all of it, he told Rogan, had gone.

But in April last year, the familys history of ill-health took another tragic turn when Petersons wife, Tammy was diagnosed with what was believed to be terminal cancer. The couple had been childhood sweethearts, growing up on the same street in the small prairie town of Fairview in Northern Alberta, and have been married for 31 years.

Devastated by the diagnosis, Peterson was prescribed antidepressants and Clonazepam. But in September, in a family bulletin on her Youtube channel, Mikhaila announced that following surgery for the removal of a kidney, and with Tammy making a miraculous recovery, Peterson had tried unsuccessfully to wean himself off Clonazepam, and been admitted to a rehabilitation centre in New York. The family, she went on, felt it important to make the announcement before some tabloid finds out and publishes Jordan Peterson Self Help Guru Is On Meth or something.

The treatment was evidently unsuccessful. In her posting this week, Mikhaila told how several failed attempts in American hospitals, including tapering and microtapering treatments, had left Peterson suicidal, with a condition called akathisia, where the patient constantly feels on the border of panic and is unable to sit still. The family had been forced in extreme desperation to seek treatment in Russia, where doctors have the guts to medically detox someone from benzodiazepines.

It seems somehow fitting that Peterson should have sought treatment in Russia a country that, one way and another, has exercised a powerful sway over his life and his philosophy. Dostoevskys Crime and Punishmentand The Demonsfigure in a list of books he published as influential in his intellectual development.

The rise of the Soviet Union was equally formative. When I met him, we talked, with Peterson in the full lotus position on an armchair, in a sitting room hung with monumental Soviet propaganda paintings a young man clasping the works of Lenin like a prayer book, and Soviet soldiers in the midst of a battle. Upstairs in his office, a painting of young revolutionaries about to be shot by a White Russian hung on a wall alongside a portrait of Yuri Gagarin. A battered cap, worn by a prisoner in a Soviet gulag was framed above his desk, beside a beaten copper crucifix from a Russian Orthodox church.

Peterson began collecting Soviet-era art in the Nineties, buying paintings on eBay, mostly from junk dealers in Ukraine. He told me they served to remind him of the iniquities of totalitarianism, and the evil of art being subordinated to propaganda. He particularly relished the irony of having bought them for a song on eBay, The most capitalist platform thats ever been invented!

Its kind of weird having Lenin around the house, Mikhaila told me. When Dad first started buying them, Mom would say, Not another one!. He now has more than 300.

It was Petersons fierce opposition to what he described as post-modernist Neo-Marxists and the creeping orthodoxies of political correctness that first made him a figure of public controversy in 2017, when he protested against a ruling by the Ontario Human Rights Commission that refusing to refer to a trans person by their chosen name and a personal pronoun that matches their gender identity in a workplace or a school, would probably be considered discrimination.

Peterson argued that his objections were on the grounds on free speech, and nothing to do with discrimination, and that at no time in British Common Law history has the legal code mandated what we must say, as opposed to simply what we must not say. He added that he would use the gender-neutral pronoun of a particular person, if they asked him.

Accusations of being transphobic and promulgating hate speech have followed him ever since. Indeed, it is hard to think of a more polarising figure in the culture wars as the cruel, gleeful postings by some on social media at the news of his illness have once again demonstrated.

In her bulletin this week, Mikhaila said that her fathers sense of humour is back... But he still has a long way to go to recover fully. It appears that were going to get through this by the skin of our teeth.

As a clinician you learn that its a rare person who isnt tragic right under the surface, Peterson told me when we met. But that doesnt mean you get to be a victim. You pick up your goddamn suffering and put one foot in front of the other. Its the way up, and also its the antidote to the way down.

ends

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Meet the Petersons: the controversial family plagued by ill health - Telegraph.co.uk

Matt Peterson became an opioid addict at 11, when he was hit by a van and prescribed Vicodin for the pain. He was too young, then, to realize what was happening to him or to predict that the struggle to get clean would dominate the next decade of his life.

I enjoyed the way they made me feel, even that young, he said Monday. I just didnt know anything about what they were, really.

Hed taken D.A.R.E. classes, but that didnt matter. By the time he was a young adult, he said, hed lost all ability to resist his addiction or even to feel ashamed of it. He expected to be dead before his 26th birthday.

I no longer cared at all about my image, being labeled as a junkie or being dirty or anything like that, he said. It was over.

Except it wasnt. The 2004 passage of Caseys Law, a bill allowing family and friends to request involuntary court-ordered treatment for a person with an addiction, saved his life by letting the people who loved him take over.

In Petersons case, the intervention came from his parents. They successfully petitioned a judge to put him in rehab, which didnt break his addiction but began to reverse his course. Their help shepherded him toward the decision hed make in jail three years later: He wanted to be sober. He wanted to be alive.

Hed never contemplated his future before, he said. Hed never assumed hed have one.

I really started to focus on whereIwas going to take my life, he said.

He decided he owed it to the world to help others. Peterson became an addiction counselor at BrightView Health in Fairfield, and he spent three years writing the story of his battle in a book called BACK ON TRACKmarks: From Hopeless to Dopeless.

Hes grateful for the opportunity to live a new kind of life, he said. Hes especially glad he can pass on what he knows to people still living in the dark place he inhabited for years.

Just being able to watch some of these guys come in here completely broken and then a couple years later telling me that theyre he stopped himself, holding back tears. Its amazing.

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How Matt Peterson, an addict since childhood, got sober and learned to help others - WCPO Cincinnati