So a couple weeks ago Jordan Peterson had the audacity to point out that one of the latest Sports Illustrated swimsuit models was not beautiful. Responding on Twitter, Peterson wrote: “Sorry. Not beautiful. And no amount of authoritarian tolerance is going to change that.” Key details in what followed are the fact that the woman in question is Yumi Nu, an Asian woman who is overweight. Following the (completely expected) backlash of vitriol and frenzied hysteria, Peterson announced that he was personally leaving Twitter, even if assistants would continue posting public notices on his account from time to time.
My friend Jason Whitlock over at The Blaze said that Peterson “misspoke,” since beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Instead, Peterson should have said that the Yumi Nu was “not healthy.” Whitlock wrote: “He undermined a fact with a personal opinion, and by doing so, he allowed the woke to once again dodge responsibility for their real evil agenda.”
I agree that in this current mayhem, what is needed is facts not opinions or feelings, and the woke certainly do have a “real evil agenda.” I also think that Peterson’s response to the backlash was unfortunate (but that’s a conversation for another day). However, on the question of beauty, Peterson was actually right and Whitlock is half-wrong.
