Appearing on the Nov. 10 episode of HBO’s “Real Time with Bill Maher,” Canadian psychologist and conservative public intellectual Jordan Peterson explained why the Democratic Party will soon reap the ugly harvest it has sown for decades.
In sum, Democrats have a Marxism problem. And they cannot seem to quit it or even acknowledge it. In fact, they have cultivated it through America’s irredeemably corrupt colleges and universities.
Now, the monster they created appears poised to devour them.
“Part of the reason that you see all this foolishness on university campuses, too, is because people have bought this idiot meta-Marxism, which is that the way to look at every social relationship that people ever have is through the lens of power,” Peterson said in a clip posted to the social media platform X on Nov. 11.
The psychologist’s comments came during a discussion that included Maher, Pamela Paul of The New York Times and Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas.
“The leftists have already decided the Palestinians are the victims. If you’re a victim, then you’re morally righteous. Even more conveniently if you stand for the victim then you’re morally righteous regardless of what you do with your own life”
Jordan Peterson on Bill Maher pic.twitter.com/Hisq8rIe9M
— Eric Abbenante (@EricAbbenante) November 11, 2023
At the core of historical Marxism lay 19th-century philosopher Karl Marx’s critique of industrial capitalism as fundamentally exploitative. According to this view, economic life divides neatly between oppressor capitalists and the oppressed working-class.
In the 20th century, of course, Marxist regimes invariably collapsed into totalitarianism.
This came about largely by design. Again and again, resentment-fueled intellectuals weaponized legitimate working-class grievances to smooth their own murderous paths to power. By century’s end, Western working classes had caught on to the game and rejected Marxist lies.
Marxists therefore abandoned the working class. Amplifying class-based grievances no longer served their interests, so Marxists instead pursued power by applying their simplistic and thus deceptive oppressor-oppressed narrative to matters of race, gender and other identity markers that serve only to divide people.
The key, of course, is that the “oppressed” are always good and the “oppressors” always bad. This keeps things simple and allows for maximum moral certitude without corresponding humility. One cannot imagine a stronger recipe for radicalization.
Peterson correctly observed this phenomenon in recent pro-Palestinian protests among young people who know nothing about Middle Eastern history.
“The leftists have already decided the Palestinians are the victims. And, as you [Paul] pointed out, if you’re a victim, then you’re morally righteous. And even more conveniently if you stand for the victim then you’re morally righteous regardless of what you do with your own life,” Peterson said.
Then, Peterson blamed Democrats for refusing to temper or even acknowledge their own party’s leftist radicalism.
“And one of the things the Democrats also have to pay the price for, I would say, is their absolute refusal to draw a line between the moderate Democrats and the extremists,” Peterson said.
Alas, Democratic leaders have lost the ability to recognize extremism on the left.
“I’ve talked to 40 senators and congressmen in the last five years. I asked them all the same question, including RFK. He wouldn’t answer either,” Peterson said.
The crucial question that Democrat-turned-Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and others failed to answer goes to the heart of the Democrats’ current plight: “When does the left go too far?”
Indeed, recent events suggest that it has.
“Well we certainly bloody well saw it the last month, didn’t we? Cause they got the ‘oppressor-oppress[ed]’ narrative a little mucked up, we might say,” Peterson remarked.
“The consequences of that are gonna unfold pretty brutally over the next few months,” he added.
Some reactions on social media echoed Peterson’s observations.
“He tells it like it is. The ‘moderate’ left is afraid of being cancelled by the far left,” one X user wrpte.
He tells it like it is. The “moderate” left is afraid of being cancelled by the far left.
— MoSmith (@MoSmithHMC) November 19, 2023
“Peterson is accurately describing wokeism or intersectionality or cultural Marxism – the oppressor/oppressed false binary that is a poison our kids are being fed – not only in Universities – but in all levels of public education in America,” another user tweeted.
Peterson is accurately describing wokeism or intersectionality or cultural Marxism – the oppressor/oppressed false binary that is a poison our kids are being fed – not only in Universities – but in all levels of public education in America.
— The Mad Stoic (@stoic_mad) November 20, 2023
The Democratic Party does not achieve power by appealing to the better angels of our human nature. Instead, it thrives by stoking resentment. It divides people into groups and pits them against one another. In fact, it has done this for nearly two centuries.
From time to time, however — 1968 leaps to mind — the party’s angry radicals turn on its establishment.
Thanks to the party’s continued embrace of “idiot meta-Marxism,” Democrats appears to have arrived at a 1968 moment.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
