The Forward Compares Jordan Peterson to Hitler

Twitter users expressed their anger this week after The Forward published a column comparing Professor Jordan Peterson to Adolph Hitler.

Is Jordan Peterson Enabling Jew Hatred? https://t.co/0OiMLJl6vP

— The Forward (@jdforward) May 11, 2018

Foward columnist Ari Feldman penned a column this week accusing popular psychology professor Jordan Peterson of enabling “Jew hatred.” The article is accompanied by a featured image that places Peterson side-by-side with Adolph Hitler.

“Peterson didn’t reach these heights because of his discourses on Jewish topics. His primary preoccupation is healing broken masculinity, and his main following is the young men with whom such a focus resonates,” Feldman wrote. “Peterson is nowhere near as toxic as various other internet cultures, like the ‘incels’ who blame women — and sometimes murder them — because they’re not having sex. Yet behind the father figure role he affects lie darker preoccupations with Hitler, Marxists and the ‘radical left’ on college campuses. That’s where his teachings can provide fodder for conspiracy theorists and bigots.”

But the claim seems to be almost entirely without merit. In fact, Peterson has used the Holocaust since his days on the faculty at Harvard University to teach others how humans might prevent mass genocides.

The Forward column sparked a response from Quillette Magazine, in which Feldman was blasted as “click-bait” and “libel.” Users on Twitter expressed their frustration with the Feldman column by writing hundreds of tweets directed towards The Forward and its editors.

Your worst article yet.

— Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) May 13, 2018

I'd be inclined to agree with this article if I were either suffering from brain damage, or a morally corrupt person.

— Eften (@F10Martin) May 12, 2018

Is The Forward enabling widespread ignorance?@jordanbpeterson is one of the most fair-minded people daring to speak out today.
By comparing him to a Nazi in a BS hit-piece like this, the author is minimizing the horrors of the Holocaust.

— Saint 'This Account Satirizes Socialists' Stephen (@NewProtectorate) May 12, 2018

With due respect, I think the editor-in-chief @Jane_Eisner owes @jordanbpeterson an apology. From the feature photo to the illogical narrative (Peterson’s excessive focus on evils of human nature during Holocaust is evidence of possible Holocaust denialism), this is libelous. https://t.co/jWhvWEUCcb

— Andy C. Ngo (@MrAndyNgo) May 12, 2018

Kept waiting for @aefeldman to provide the evidence to back up the headline and horrible side-by-side image, but there's nothing in the article to substantiate it

— Legal Insurrection (@LegInsurrection) May 13, 2018

Jordan Peterson found himself at the center of a controversy at Wilfrid Laurier University at the end of 2017 after a teaching assistant used a clip of a television debate featuring Peterson in one of her class lectures. Audio of administrators berating the teaching assistant went viral on the internet and the university was ultimately forced to apologize.