Penguin Random House employees are not happy about publishing Jordan Peterson’s latest offense against coherence, the Christian faith, and the English language:
Several Penguin Random House Canada employees confronted management about the company’s decision to publish a new book by controversial Canadian psychologist Jordan Peterson at an emotional town hall Monday, and dozens more have filed anonymous complaints, according to four workers who spoke to VICE World News.
On Monday, Penguin Random House Canada, Canada’s largest book publisher and a subsidiary of Penguin Random House, announced it will be publishing Beyond Order: 12 More Rules for Life by Peterson, to be released in March 2021. The book will be published by Portfolio in the U.S. and Penguin Press in the U.K., both part of the Penguin Random House empire.
Four Penguin Random House Canada employees, who did not want to be named due to concerns over their employment, said the company held a town hall about the book Monday, during which executives defended the decision to publish Peterson while employees cited their concerns about platforming someone who is popular in far-right circles.
“He is an icon of hate speech and transphobia and the fact that he’s an icon of white supremacy, regardless of the content of his book, I’m not proud to work for a company that publishes him,” a junior employee who is a member of the LGBTQ community and who attended the town hall told VICE World News.
Another employee said “people were crying in the meeting about how Jordan Peterson has affected their lives.” They said one co-worker discussed how Peterson had radicalized their father and another talked about how publishing the book will negatively affect their non-binary friend.
I have to admit, I am genuinely curious to learn what sort of morons are going to take seriously anything that the sleepless, tear-stained, drug-addicted occultist says anymore.
More balance! Less order! Descend into chaos to rise above it! But not meth… definitely not meth! Where are my pills? I NEED MY DAMN PILLS!
UPDATE: The Original Cyberpunk informs us that the great consolidation in publishing continues apace. Formerly the Big Six, the Big Five are now the Big Four.
Breaking publishing industry news: Bertelsmann, owner of Penguin Random House, has just acquired Simon & Schuster. If it was me I’d call the consolidated company Simon & Schuster & Penguins Oh My!, but what this means is that there is now one less major fiction publisher in the world.
What a great day to be independent! I will be vastly amused if my old editor ends up in charge.