At this point, Canadian psychologist and self-help author Jordan Peterson, beloved by the alt-right, is practically the patron saint of White cisgender heternormative male grievance.
After being banned from Twitter over the summer for making transphobic comments about actor Elliot Page, the author—who has made hay by portraying liberals and social justice activists as "snowflakes"—cast himself as a free-speech martyr under attack from "woke" forces.
So bursting into tears because actor and director Olivia Wilde called him a "hero" to "incels"— "involuntary celibates," the online community that blames women for their inability to be attractive and believe women should be punished for their failures—isn't exactly a turn of events you'd expect from someone with so much bluster.
But that's what happened when fellow conservative mouthpiece Piers Morgan revealed Wilde's take to Peterson on a recent episode of his show, Piers Morgan Uncensored, as seen below.
\u201c"People have been after me for a long time... I thought the marginalised were supposed to have a voice?"\n\nJordan Peterson begins to cry as @piersmorgan asks him what he thinks of director @oliviawilde basing an "insane" character on him in Don't Worry Darling.\n\n#MorganPeterson\u201d— Piers Morgan Uncensored (@Piers Morgan Uncensored) 1664308500
Guess he's triggered.
Morgan revealed to Peterson the villain in Wilde's controversial new film, Don't Worry Darling, was based on Peterson. Speaking with fellow actor Maggie Gyllenhaal in a recent Interview magazine profile, Wilde said of the character Frank, played by Chris Pine:
"We based that character on this insane man, Jordan Peterson, who is this pseudo-intellectual hero to the incel community..."
Said community has long had ties to far-right and White nationalist communities. Perpetrators of several mass murders and shootings have been self-identified incels, including most notably the perpetrator of the 2014 Isla Vista massacre.
And Wilde is right incels have long embraced Peterson and he has embraced them right back, telling a New York Times reporter in 2018 the solution to incels' loneliness is "enforced monogamy."
But asked by Morgan if he is indeed a hero to incels, Peterson seemed upset at the comparison—so much so that he welled up with tears while answer in the affirmative.
He told Morgan:
“You know, people have been after me for a long time because I’ve been speaking to disaffected young men... Aren’t the marginalized supposed to have a voice?”
Given the rollback of rights for women in recent years and the power White conservative men have flexed on the United States up to present day, the characterization of White men as "marginalized" or oppressed is absurd.
But not as absurd as what Peterson went on to say to Morgan as he began crying.
“It’s very difficult to understand how demoralized people are, and certainly many young men are in that category..."
"All these men who are alienated, it’s like they’re lonesome and they don’t know what to do and everyone piles abuse on them.”
It does not seem to have occurred to Peterson the reason people "pile abuse" on incels is because they deal with their alienation by advocating and often committing violence—including rape and murder—against women as retribution for their own failures.
On Twitter, many found Peterson's waterworks ridiculous.
\u201c@PiersUncensored @piersmorgan @oliviawilde She's absolutely spot on as well \ud83d\ude02 \n\nIt hurts because he knows fundamentally that's been the game. He's done superbly at it because there's loads of insecure men in the world\u201d— Piers Morgan Uncensored (@Piers Morgan Uncensored) 1664308500
\u201c@PiersUncensored @piersmorgan @oliviawilde Jordan Peterson marginalized? \ud83e\udd23\n\nThe sad part is he has a voice and instead of using it honestly he's turned himself into just a run of the mill conservative grifter lying to his ignorant followers for money.\n\nHe's so transparent it's become comical to watch him at this point.\u201d— Piers Morgan Uncensored (@Piers Morgan Uncensored) 1664308500
\u201cOlivia Wilde made Jordan Peterson cry. If you still hate her after this, you\u2019re a loser\u201d— Beyonc\u00e9\u2019s big fat tiddies | \ud83c\uddf5\ud83c\uddf8 (@Beyonc\u00e9\u2019s big fat tiddies | \ud83c\uddf5\ud83c\uddf8) 1664566798
\u201c@PiersUncensored @piersmorgan @oliviawilde Jordan Peterson got mad that he had to use personal pronouns and he thinks he's marginalized?\u201d— Piers Morgan Uncensored (@Piers Morgan Uncensored) 1664308500
\u201c@PiersUncensored @piersmorgan @oliviawilde 2 misogynists having a cry about something that's their own fault. love to see it.\u201d— Piers Morgan Uncensored (@Piers Morgan Uncensored) 1664308500
\u201cApparently Olivia Wilde \u201cmade\u201d Jordan Peterson cry because she referred to him as an, \u201cinsane man,\u201d who is a, \u201cpseudo-intellectual hero to the incel community.\u201d\n\nWelp, the truth hurts. It\u2019s ok buddy, let it out. It\u2019s fine to feel you feels, Jordan.\u201d— Baroness Becky Bunzy, Co-CEO Execubetch\u2122\ufe0f Power (@Baroness Becky Bunzy, Co-CEO Execubetch\u2122\ufe0f Power) 1664551655
\u201c@PiersUncensored @piersmorgan @oliviawilde Someone should tell Jordan Peterson he'd be prettier if he just smiled.\u201d— Piers Morgan Uncensored (@Piers Morgan Uncensored) 1664308500
\u201cJordan Peterson crying because Olivia Wilde called him an incel is so powerful. Sir you are a grown ass man and she directed the worst movie of the year\u201d— \ud83e\ude93\ud83e\udd21 (@\ud83e\ude93\ud83e\udd21) 1664516773
\u201cCongrats to Olivia Wilde for making Jordan Peterson cry.\u201d— Grace Ellis Barber (@Grace Ellis Barber) 1664392250
\u201cOh look, the world\u2019s loudest and most ridiculous bullies are having a tearful TV chat about their hurt feelings \n\ud83d\ude44\ud83d\ude44\ud83d\ude44\ud83d\ude44\ud83d\ude44\nhttps://t.co/jE9L043kb4\u201d— Scott Dagostino (@Scott Dagostino) 1664493158
Despite crying about it, Peterson went on to claim to Morgan he was unbothered by Wilde's "low-level insult."
Okay then, snowflake.