Do As I Say, Not As I Do
So called "sensible" right wing commentators like Jordan Peterson and Ben Shapiro are pandering to anti-vaxxers to maintain their fanbase despite being vaccinated themselves. Why?
by Ben Cohen
Jordan Peterson and Ben Shapiro are regarded as the conservative movement’s preeminent intellectuals. They are omnipresent on social media and have woven themselves into the fabric of political discourse in America. The two routinely interview each other for their respective podcasts/tv shows and rarely disagree on anything.
Both Peterson and Shapiro engage with those they disagree with and are for the most part reasonably civil. While both men are engaged in an on and off flirtation with the Trump Right, they are by no means affiliated with the MAGA crowd and define themselves as traditional conservatives. For that reason, Peterson and Shapiro are taken seriously on all sides of the political spectrum and deservedly so.
That is until it comes to Covid and the desperate battle to contain the virus.
Peterson and Shapiro have now morphed themselves into medical experts with apparent knowledge of epidemiology and public health, purely by virtue of their popularity. The two regularly disseminate advice to their fans, urging them to defy lockdowns and not take the new Covid variant seriously. This despite having no background whatsoever in science, public health, or medicine.
When you examine Peterson and Shapiro’s stance on Covid, vaccines, and lockdowns, one thing becomes abundantly clear: they have a very strong incentive to misinform their followers.
“The Reds Are Coming!”
Both Peterson and Shapiro are waging a new war on government policies designed to curb the spread of the virus and relieve overburdened emergency rooms. Peterson and Shapiro claim that civil liberties are at stake and the public must rise up to challenge liberal governments vying to take away their freedoms.
"Look, I got vaccinated, and people took me to task for that.” Peterson opined to Dave Rubin on his Youtube channel last month. “And I thought, 'All right, I’ll get the damn vaccine.' Here’s the deal, guys: I’ll get the vaccine, you fucking leave me alone. And did that work? No. So, stupid me."
"That’s how I feel about it,” he went on. “So, like, well, I have to get tested for Covid when I come back into Canada. I have to get tested before I leave Canada…..Why did I get the vaccine then, if you’re not going to leave me alone?"
Peterson believes the battle against lockdowns is part of his broader war against tyrannical Marxists in the government:
Peterson also retweeted this recently in support of supposed “COVID tyranny” in Spain:
Ben Shapiro’s stance is much the same, and the conservative media mogul regularly takes to Twitter to denounce “Covid panic” and “liberal hysteria” regarding the virus that has now killed 5.35 million people globally:
Shapiro’s media company, Daily Wire, is also suing the Biden administration for their vaccine mandate for companies with over 100 people.
“We’re going to use every method and resource at our disposal to defy the president’s unconstitutional order,” Shapiro told Fox News.
Do what I say, not what I do
Both Jordan Peterson and Ben Shapiro have been fully vaccinated. They believed the virus was real from the start (a big deal in conservative circles), supported measures to contain the virus, and initially urged their fans to get vaccinated. “Get vaxxed,” Shapiro tweeted in July of this year. “I did. My wife did. My parents did.” Much to the disappointment of his fans, Peterson also got vaccinated as soon as he could. Both no doubt take other safety precautions to protect themselves from Covid.
Why are they now urging their supporters to defy lockdown measures, complaining about being vaccinated as if it were a grave imposition, and denying publicly available evidence that shows just how catastrophic another surge would be? The BBC reported on the Omicron variant currently sweeping through the UK:
A major incident has been declared in London and more than 10,000 new Omicron cases have been confirmed in the UK, as the variant surges across the country.
A further 90,418 daily Covid cases have been reported across the UK on Saturday, after days of record highs.
Scientific advisers have warned England's hospital admissions could reach 3,000 a day without new measures.
London Mayor Sadiq Khan said the major incident in the capital showed "how serious things are".
Peterson and Shapiro are ignoring the most important aspect of the Covid pandemic — the immense pressure it puts on our health care systems.
We know that Covid in of itself is not particularly dangerous. The mortality rate compared with many other diseases is actually quite low, but the problem is that the virus is highly, highly contagious. That means millions have, and will continue to die as it spreads around the planet. Unvaccinated people are particularly susceptible and are now almost exclusively clogging up emergency rooms. When this happens, others die because they cannot get access to vital health care. Surgeries are put on hold, people are forced to wait hours to see doctors, and hospitals experience extreme staffing issues.
No one wants a lockdown, particularly governments
Contrary to Peterson and Shapiro’s hysterical claims about liberal tyranny, most governments around the world do not want to have any more lockdowns. Why would they? Lockdowns are incredibly unpopular, create economic havoc, and have dire political consequences. The Conservative government in the UK for example, has tried to avoid lockdowns at almost any cost — that is until the cost becomes too great to bear. As extreme emergency plans go into action this winter, the Johnson government is not ruling out another lockdown, despite resistance from hard right wingers inside the party.
When millions of people won’t get vaccinated, wear masks, or take the pandemic seriously, lockdowns remain a potent tool to curb the rapid spread of the virus. Meticulous international studies have shown conclusively that lockdowns have saved countless lives, and that is why governments around the world are still using them to relieve pressure on their healthcare systems.
Peterson and Shapiro simply ignore these inconvenient facts and continue downplaying the risk of Covid.
No personal responsibility
This is quite easy to do when you have no responsibility for the welfare of your followers and the general public. To Peterson and Shapiro, taking an anti-science, anti-establishment position is an integral part of their brand. Their fanbase have been primed for years to deny basic science and distrust so-called “elites”. Both Peterson and Shapiro have claimed that the science behind climate change is shaky and that its severity is grossly overblown. (This despite the science on climate change being certain, and the severity is very, very real).
To truth is, Peterson and Shapiro stand to make significantly more money by adopting vaccine skepticism and anti-lockdown stances. Taking a responsible, science based approach to the pandemic is politically toxic in conservative circles, so Peterson and Shapiro are merely going where their audience already is. Their ability to generate revenue is directly linked to their social media reach, so alienating the vast majority of their followers by telling them something they do not want to hear would cost them dearly.
It is impossible to believe that neither Peterson or Shapiro do not understand how grave the current Covid situation is. But as Upton Sinclair once said, “It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends upon his not understanding it.”
Just two more amongst thousands of cynical, venal shitheads.
Having recently traveled to and from Canada, I want to jump in to say Peterson is lying. Or rather, he is excluding important details for the sake of sounding like a victim (insert fascinating study on the irony of that choice while selling himself as the leading voice against victimhood?). Being vaccinated absolutely simplifies entering Canada. Both Shapiro and Peterson are in the business of crafting of bad-faith arguments for conservatives and for that reason do not deserve to be taken seriously on any point of the political spectrum.