• Assessing Jordan Peterson’s 12 Rules for Life by Greg Boyd

Assessing Jordan Peterson’s 12 Rules for Life by Greg Boyd

Christian theologian Greg Boyd has written a series of posts about Jordan Peterson’s views.

Peterson has become a very revered figure among certain conservative people.

I myself am conservative, and while I agree with Peterson on a topic here or there, I don’t agree with him on much of what he says about women or gender roles.

I posted previously about Peterson on my blog here.

My conclusion about Peterson is that he’s essentially the secular version of a Christian gender complementarian. He holds what appears to be many of the same views about women that gender complementarians do – which is enough for me to reject his views.

Part 10 (of 15): Who Gets To Interpret The World? by Greg Boyd

Snippets:

In my previous two posts (post 8 & post 9) I critically evaluated Peterson’s thinking on hierarchies, race and white privilege. In this post I’ll address three other aspects of Peterson’s thought that was outlined in post 5, post 6, and post 7.

On the Power of Women’s “No”

First, we’ve seen that Peterson claims that “[w]omen’s proclivity to say no [to men] more than any other force, has shaped our evolution into the creative, industrious, upright, large-brained (competitive, aggressive, domineering) creatures that we are” (41).

Because females naturally want to mate with males who are as high up on the social scale as possible, finding the bottom half to be undesirable (41), they have been the central means by which advantageous genes got passed along while disadvantageous genes were selected out.

Hence, the playing field on which men must compete for mating rites has been getting higher and higher throughout our biological and social evolution.

While I don’t dispute the research demonstrating that women are choosy maters, I’m not convinced women have always, or even usually, had the power to say “no” that Peterson ascribes to them.

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• World’s Top Empathy Researcher Accused Of Bullying Colleagues

Well this is a bummer.

I was thinking of writing a post about empathy, because I’ve found that a lot of Christians – who I think should excel more so than any other group at showing empathy – are not empathetic.

You can be going through something very painful in life, and the average Christian, rather than just commiserating with you, will give you a list of “stuff to do,” or will shame you or will give you platitudes.

This story is sad.

It also goes to show that sometimes women are terrible to other women.

Because I rail a lot about male on female sexism, a lot of cranks have accused me of “hating men,” but I’ve had to remind these people that I’ve blogged about (and discussed on other blogs) how I was

• bullied by one woman boss on a full time professional position I held,
• I’ve been verbally abused by an older sister for many years, and, of course,
• I’ve gotten into it with various other women on these blogs, from that “Christiane” person to “Velour” to Lea to Rachel Nichols to Lydia.

I left a post at TWW a week or two ago, a comment in reply to someone else who was saying if more women were in charge (of churches, or in researching abuse allegations, I think the poster was saying), that justice would be served, or there would not be so much abuse:

“That idea only works if you have the “right” women in charge. I’ve been pushed around, bullied, and abused by women, too, not just by men.”

It is very sad and ironic that a person (a woman in this case) who is known as an expert on empathy shows none to her co-workers or subordinates.

This woman sounds similar to the she-demon I had to endure at one job I had.

World’s top empathy researcher accused of bullying colleagues: 75% of her researchers have QUIT over claims she screams and intimidates

‘People Were Terrified’: Empathy Expert Is Accused of Bullying

A celebrated neuroscientist known for her work on human empathy is now being called a workplace bully who can reduce colleagues to tears, the Cut reports. Tania Singer, director of the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences in Leipzig, Germany, has taken a sabbatical to “calm the situation down,” her employer says.

Big bad bosses like Elon Musk keep proving “the power paradox”

World’s Top Empathy Researcher Accused Of Bullying Colleagues

She’s the world’s top empathy researcher. But colleagues say she bullied and intimidated them

By Kai Kupferschmidt

Aug. 8, 2018 , 4:10 PM

Tania Singer, a celebrated neuroscientist and director at the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences in Leipzig, Germany, is known as one of the world’s foremost experts on empathy.

In her research, she has sought to demonstrate that meditation can make people more kind and caring. The title of a profile of Singer written by this reporter in 2013 summed up her public image: Concentrating on Kindness.

But inside her lab, it was a very different story, eight former and current colleagues say in interviews with Science.

• Study: Tea Can Reduce Stress by 25%

Study: Tea Can Reduce Stress by 25%

A cup of tea really can help reduce stress at times of crisis, claim scientists (2009)

By Richard Alleyne, Science Correspondent

Putting the kettle on at times of crisis really can help claim scientists who found that tea-making reduces stress levels by up to a quarter.

The study, by psychologist Dr Malcolm Cross at City University London, confirms what millions of tea-lovers have long believed – that if you are upset or anxious, it pays to make a brew.

• Jack the Ripper Theory Claims Serial Killer May Have Been a WOMAN by A. Martin

Jack the Ripper Theory Claims Serial Killer May Have Been a WOMAN

Now the story of a female doctor’s assistant with a hatred of prostitutes because she could not have children will be told at the London Dungeon

Aug 2018

The riddle of the identity of Jack the Ripper has taken a twist – with claims the grisly serial killer may have been a woman.

… But Metropolitan Police detective Frederick Abberline recorded witness statements claiming to have seen someone wearing the final victim’s clothing as they left the murder scene.

• The Island Where Women Make the Rules By Egle Gerulaityte

The Island Where Women Make the RulesBy Egle Gerulaityte

In the small indigenous territory of Guna Yala off Panama’s eastern coast, a flourishing ‘third gender’ community is defying stereotypes – and venerating women.

from BBC Travel

…This is Guna Yala, also known as San Blas: an archipelago off Panama’s eastern coast that contains more than 300 islands, 49 of which are inhabited by the indigenous Guna people.

More than 50,000 strong, the Gunas still live as their ancestors did, dwelling in small wooden shacks covered with palm leaves, with logs smouldering in the fireplaces and hammocks representing the only furniture.

… According to David, my guide on Crab Island, women in Guna Yala enjoy an elevated status.

A traditional Guna wedding includes a ceremonial abduction of the groom, not the bride, and when a young man is married off, he moves into the bride’s home.

From that point on, his work belongs to the woman’s family, and it’s the woman who decides whether her husband can share his fish, coconuts or plantains with his own parents or siblings.

• The Problem with ‘Facts Not Feelings’ by J. R. Wood Jr.

he Problem with ‘Facts Not Feelings’ by J. R. Wood Jr.

The Problem with ‘Facts Not Feelings’ by J. R. Wood Jr.

Snippets:

…Shapiro is famous, in part, for touring college campuses and ‘destroying’ idealistic and emotional young progressives with the aphorism “Facts don’t care about your feelings.”

However, there is an argument to be made on behalf of empathy in our discourse that is being heedlessly trampled by Shapiro’s defiant mode of aggressive argumentation.

The narrow emphasis on ‘facts not feelings’ reflects a widespread misunderstanding of the role evidence plays in the apprehension of truth, which thwarts our ability to properly pursue empirical and ethical truth in the first place.

• Why Victims of Shaming Blame Themselves Rather Than Holding Their Cruel Tormentors Accountable – The School of Life

Why Victims of Shaming Blame Themselves Rather Than Holding Their Cruel Tormentors Accountable – The School of Life

Why Victims of Shaming Blame Themselves Rather Than Holding Their Cruel Tormentors Accountable

In a gently consoling animation, the consistently insightful School of Life, explains how victims of shaming are more likely to turn that shame on themselves.

They essentially allow their own self-worth and self-esteem to be lowered by those who shame them, instead of turning it back on their cruel tormentors who more than likely, carry shame within themselves.