The College Fix

Psychologist vows to publicize remedial sessions

Jordan Peterson must undergo a social media re-education to keep his license, a Canadian court ruled Tuesday in the latest round of a lengthy battle between the famed psychologist and the Ontario College of Psychologists.

A Canadian court rejected Peterson’s appeal and there were “no reasons provided,” Peterson wrote in an op-ed Wednesday for the National Post.

“This means that my legal options have been exhausted,” Peterson wrote. “Thus, I face two choices. I can comply, when the College goes ahead with its determination to require my re-education, dutifully attend whatever bloody classes their DEI-enthusiast ‘social media experts’ (whatever those are) determine to inflict upon, confess the sins of my classic liberal/conservative or even Judeo-Christian political, philosophical and theological commitments, repent and silence myself — or even become a standard-bearer for the faux-compassionate woke cause, at least publicly.”

“Alternatively,” Peterson continued, “I can tell my would-be masters to go directly to the hell they are so rapidly gathering around themselves and everyone else, lose my right to practice or even to describe myself as a psychologist, and suffer the consequences on the reputation front.”

Peterson must undergo the so-called remedial trainings because the psychology regulatory board determined some of his public statements “may be reasonably regarded by members of the profession as disgraceful, dishonourable and/or unprofessional” and posed “moderate risks of harm to the public.”

He had challenged the disciplinary action on free speech grounds.

Peterson, in a post on X on Wednesday, summarized his two choices thusly: “It’s capitulate to the petty bureaucrats and the addle-pated woke mob or lose my professional licence.”

A higher court in Canada has ruled that the Ontario College of Psychologists indeed has the right to sentence me to re-education camp. There are no other legal avenues open to me now.

It's capitulate to the petty bureaucrats and the addle-pated woke mob or lose my professional…

— Dr Jordan B Peterson (@jordanbpeterson) January 17, 2024

The popular speaker and former professor at the University of Toronto rose to fame for rejecting mandatory preferred pronouns, but has since become internationally known for his conservative, pragmatic and liberty-minded pontifications on a wide variety of subjects.

In his op-ed, Peterson said he is considering telling the Ontario College of Psychologists off and forgoing his license, as he is busy as a very successful writer and pundit.

However, he added he has a desire to attend the trainings and publicize the proceedings:

“You have won the battle, minions of the deep state, faceless-for-now but not for long bureaucrat-authoritarians, but you haven’t won the war. And here is a warning, too, as is only fair: So far I have been constrained in my response to your pushing and prodding and overlord-nagging by the requirement not to compromise my efforts on the legal side. But that’s all over with, now, isn’t it? So there are no holds barred, as far as I am concerned. And it may be that you have nothing better to do with your nasty narrowly-circumscribed micromanaging bodies and souls than to cause me trouble. But we’re going to perform that dance on the international stage, with all that light shining on your machinations, and you may well come to rue the day you attempted to take possession of my tongue.”

Peterson, in a post on X on Wednesday, doubled down on his op-ed, stating: “Mark my words, however: the war has barely started. There is nothing you can take from me that I’m unwilling to lose. So watch out. Seriously. You’ve been warned.”

MORE: Jordan Peterson will appeal ‘re-education’ mandate

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