So to begin, let’s do a little back story.
Famed clinical psychologist, and author of acclaimed bestseller, 12 Rules For Life, had recently responded to a tweet, in which he called out The Atlantic for exacerbating the insidious rise of cancel culture. The tweet was in response to an Atlantic article about a Barrington Illinois parent, fighting “anti-racism” curriculum that had just been introduced in her school.
In Peterson’s response he pointed to the fact that The Atlantic had contributed to this culture itself, which was likely a reference to several incidents that even included a conservative columnist getting his new position recinded after outrage about his past articles.
So that’s the backstory. To get to the main thing…
It was in response to this, that one of the responders to this tweet, pointed Peterson to fact that Ta-Nehisi Coates, one of The Atlantic’s main writers, who on occasion, moonlights as a Marvel Comics writer, had fashioned the supervillain Red Skull, after him. The tweet included screenshots of the panels suggesting this connection, much to Peterson’s chagrin.
Following responses pointed to other panels on the same issue, Peterson was shown in which Captain America, speaking obviously with the voice of Coates, describes the relationship between Red Skull, and the young, radicalized men inexplicably attracted to him.
“It’s the same for all of them. Young men. Weak. Looking for purpose. I found the flag. You found the badge. They found The Skull.
He tells them what they’ve always longed to hear. That they are secretly great. that the whole world is against them. that if they’re truly men, they’ll fight back.
And bingo… That’s their purpose. that’s what they live for. And that’s what they’ll die for.”
Ta-Nehisi Coates, whose entire contribution to writing has often been noted for it’s richness in prose, but emptiness in substance, or any real interesting ideas, has been writing the current Captain America (#28) issue for over the past two years. The issue had been first released in March 21st, and features The Red Skull with a Youtube channel, a consistent message regarding the assault on masculinity, a fanbase of young angry men, and a set of maxims (Ten Rules For Life). Characteristics that is hard to deny, ring ostensibly similar to aspects of Peterson’s public persona.
This most notable aspect of Red Skull of course, is not just that he is a villain, but that he is also a Nazi, a term that has been thrown at Peterson by leftists. It’s not exactly a wild guess that this is the main purpose of Coates’ attempt to draw the similarity between the two.
In the meantime, Peterson has recently released Beyond Order: 12 More Rules For Life, a sequel to his previous bestseller.
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