"I'm trying to make it into something playful — It shocked me at first," said Jordan Peterson, about seeing himself adapted into a super villain, Red Skull.

 

"I've been called a Nazi before. It's not pleasant.  This is one step beyond that. Nazi, apparently, isn't enough. I have to be a magical super-Nazi." 

The video is from April 8th. Here are tweets from April 6th, showing the way the Ta-Nehisi Coates comic book satirizes Peterson:

What the hell? https://t.co/CGkuztpEjq

— Dr Jordan B Peterson (@jordanbpeterson) April 6, 2021

Do I really live in a universe where Ta-Nehisi Coates has written a Captain America comic featuring a parody of my ideas as part of the philosophy of the arch villain Red Skull? https://t.co/waFsAvWlfd

— Dr Jordan B Peterson (@jordanbpeterson) April 6, 2021

In the video, Peterson brings up his illness and says it's taken away his sense of humor. He expresses admiration for the way his daughter is having fun with the whole thing. Here she is:

So much about "merch" in that video! But it's good in showing the "memes" Peterson's supporters have made out the merging of Peterson and Red Skull. I don't follow the superhero movies at all. (I've never seen even one Marvel movie.) But it is funny to have a semi-scary villain character saying things like "Clean your room." 

And yet, Peterson and his supporters may make the mistake of watering him down. Coates may have laid a very clever trap. Portraying Peterson as a demonically evil character causes the supporters to portray Peterson as anodyne — a mutterer of motherly platitudes. Peterson is thus tricked into giving up all that makes him powerful. 

If that trick works, I declare Ta-Nehisi Coates an intellectual superhero. 

(To comment, you have to email me — here.)

ADDED: I would buy the comic book in question and read it, but the articles about this controversy don't seem to identify the particular issue of the series. I went to Amazon and did a search, but it was very confusing, because if you put the results in order of publication dates, the top is full of yet-to-be-released issues. You can "pre-order" things that won't be out until January 2022. I lost patience. And I put "pre-order" in quotes because if you "pre-order," you are still ordering. It just won't be delivered for a while. 

Indelible George Carlin rant: