That photo is why the largest bookstore chain in New Zealand pulled Peterson's books from its shelves. We have no idea whether or not Peterson even knew what was on the guy's t-shirt when he stood for the photo. I've been to these kinds of things before. You are so busy with people swarming around you seeking selfies that you usually don't have time to notice what they're wearing. Yet they're punishing Peterson for a photo, the content of which he likely had no idea.
So, now we know what progressive activists can do to hurt the career of writers they hate. They can put on an alt-right friendly t-shirt and be photographed next to that writer. Let me lay down this marker now, here in this public place: if you see a photo in the future of me standing next to someone who is wearing a racist t-shirt, or some other garment with an alt-right-ish message, you should know that I had no idea what the person in the photo with me was wearing. I would not voluntarily choose to be in a photo with someone advertising a message like that, but I do enough public events to know that if you choose to meet the public, you have no control over who sidles up next to you. I'm saying this right here, right now — March 25, 2019 — because I expect that it will happen at some point in the future.
As a result of this photo, the divinity faculty at Cambridge University decided to rescind its invitation to Jordan Peterson to have a two-month academic fellowship there. Peterson finally weighed in on Cambridge University's withdrawing its invitation to him. Excerpts:
In any case: In November, when I was in Cambridge, I began discussions with one of the faculty members (whom I had met briefly before, in London) about the possibility of entering into a collaboration with the Cambridge Divinity Faculty. I enjoyed the conversations I had at Cambridge immensely. I learned a lot about Biblical matters that had remained unknown to me in a very short time. This was of particular relevance to me, but also perhaps of more broad and public import, because of a series of lectures on the Biblical stories of Genesis I prepared, delivered live (at the Isabel Bader Theatre in Toronto) and then posted on YouTube (playlist here) and in podcast form.
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