DCP in Interpreter: "No real woman...would ever really, lastingly, satisfy."

[huckelberry]

Another city or country to travel to, another hotel to stay in, or another restaurant wherein to enjoy lunch with friends.

Indeed. One way of understanding "Sic et Non" is that it is a massive, continuous case study in "Do as I say, not as I do." Practically every single entry features the Proprietor doing some thing or another that violates the spirit of everything he's talking about in his "Interpreter" blog entry. Take this latest tidbit from "SeN":

But oriental carpets and kilims are very definitely one of my weaknesses. I can’t go into a carpet store or a carpet factory without falling in love with at least one carpet. We’ve bought carpets during previous visits here in the Ephesus area and in Egypt. And one of my favorites is a Tabrizi that I bought in the Islamic Republic of Iran. The trouble is that we don’t have room for any more of them. They’re on our floor, and other weavings (one even made by a relative in Norway) hang on our walls. In fact, we have more than we can display at any one time. So many carpets, so little space. And so little money. So we bought another.

LOL!!! Interesting, isn't it, how he downplays his own role in this by using "we"?

Scratch, even though I thought your cheeseburger observation was amusing I cannot help but think you are here missing the point of his article (well it did meander a good bit). Why begrudge Peterson enjoying a journey in the Mediterranean? Even though I likely will not be able to afford such a journey I wish him well. May he enjoy a good meal or two along the way.

[Everybody Wang Chung]

It's a slippery slope. I remember not too long ago, DCP was hitting the Like button for, "J. Lo Makes Pitbull Get a Boner/Hot Booty Shaking" videos on Facebook. Now, it appears his prurient tastes have turned to Playboy.

Everybody,
Your imagination sometimes meanders into the oddest prurient fantasies. Does your Peterson obsession satisfy some odd urges?

Many times I could not help but think, Peterson must have given him a bad grade in some class. (or is in unrequited love?)

No fantasy. This actually happened. There is an excellent thread about this by Dr. Scratch.

And, good Lord man!! Can I actually post a comment without you misreading or trying to attack me? You've been doing this forever. It's like you have some kind of obsession or something.

I've only blocked one other person, but I think your next.

[MG 2.0]

It's a slippery slope. I remember not too long ago, DCP was hitting the Like button for, "J. Lo Makes Pitbull Get a Boner/Hot Booty Shaking" videos on Facebook. Now, it appears his prurient tastes have turned to Playboy.

Everybody,
Your imagination sometimes meanders into the oddest prurient fantasies. Does your Peterson obsession satisfy some odd urges?

Stalking.

Regards,
MG

[Everybody Wang Chung]

Everybody,
Your imagination sometimes meanders into the oddest prurient fantasies. Does your Peterson obsession satisfy some odd urges?

Stalking.

That reminds me of a joke the late, great Grindael once told, after being relentlessly stalked online and in real life:

"A stalker, MG, a psychopath and a troll go into a bar. He orders a Snapple Iced Tea." -- Grindael

[MG 2.0]

Stalking.

That reminds me of a joke the late, great Grindael once told, after being relentlessly stalked online and in real life:

"A stalker, MG, a psychopath and a troll go into a bar. He orders a Snapple Iced Tea." -- Grindael

Cute.

Now, do you admit that you and others here, Scratch for example, stalk DCP and have a certain kind of fetish as you feel compelled to do so?

Regards,
MG

[Gadianton]

Huck,

I don't think Dr. Scratch has anything against getting a good meal or a good rug, or even being obsessed with rugs. I think his point is about consistency.

I can’t go into a carpet store or a carpet factory without falling in love with at least one carpet. We’ve bought carpets during previous visits here in the Ephesus area and in Egypt. And one of my favorites is a Tabrizi that I bought in the Islamic Republic of Iran

How in principle is this any different than:

The magazine’s impresario, Hugh Hefner, had hundreds if not thousands of sexual partners

et there is a natural human tendency to try, over and over and over again and quite in vain, to find lasting satisfaction in such things

Why would this point not apply equally to his travel, lodging, food, and rug collecting obsession?

And further, why is he so sure, if he were to look inward at his own obsessions, that Hugh Hefner was looking for the "ideal woman" and constantly dissatisfied? Maybe Hugh just liked a lot of variety like he does, and was quite satisfied. Do all the fine rugs he purchases indicate that he's looking for a single ideal rug that doesn't exist?

[Marcus]

That reminds me of a joke the late, great Grindael once told, after being relentlessly stalked online and in real life:

"A stalker, MG, a psychopath and a troll go into a bar. He orders a Snapple Iced Tea." -- Grindael

[huckelberry]

Huck,

I don't think Dr. Scratch has anything against getting a good meal or a good rug, or even being obsessed with rugs. I think his point is about consistency.

I can’t go into a carpet store or a carpet factory without falling in love with at least one carpet. We’ve bought carpets during previous visits here in the Ephesus area and in Egypt. And one of my favorites is a Tabrizi that I bought in the Islamic Republic of Iran

How in principle is this any different than:

The magazine’s impresario, Hugh Hefner, had hundreds if not thousands of sexual partners

et there is a natural human tendency to try, over and over and over again and quite in vain, to find lasting satisfaction in such things

Why would this point not apply equally to his travel, lodging, food, and rug collecting obsession?

And further, why is he so sure, if he were to look inward at his own obsessions, that Hugh Hefner was looking for the "ideal woman" and constantly dissatisfied? Maybe Hugh just liked a lot of variety like he does, and was quite satisfied. Do all the fine rugs he purchases indicate that he's looking for a single ideal rug that doesn't exist?

Gadianton, I think you may be reading Peterson's observations as a moralizing project. We should have discipline to overcome desires and be able to sit in church for long periods of time. I read it differently though he did meander a bit.

What I read was a presentation of a whole variety of desires some more respectable than others but all of them limited. He thought of a Beethoven piano concerto and experiencing the discomfort in the concert hall. I am sure he thinks the beauty pointed to by the concerto is a good not to be disrespected. His idea, presented in the quoted poems is that our limited desires point to something beyond them. Whether or not a person shares the belief in God Peterson is referring to a person may reflect on the meaning of limitations of desire and how all desires include some disappointment. One can reflect on such mortal limitations and still enjoy a good meal and a beautiful rug.

Perhaps he could be more practical about extra rug expenditures but should I keep track of that for him?

[I Have Questions]

What I read was a presentation of a whole variety of desires some more respectable than others but all of them limited. He thought of a Beethoven piano concerto and experiencing the discomfort in the concert hall. I am sure he thinks the beauty pointed to by the concerto is a good not to be disrespected. His idea, presented in the quoted poems is that our limited desires point to something beyond them. Whether or not a person shares the belief in God Peterson is referring to a person may reflect on the meaning of limitations of desire and how all desires include some disappointment. One can reflect on such mortal limitations and still enjoy a good meal and a beautiful rug.

Perhaps he could be more practical about extra rug expenditures but should I keep track of that for him?

I understand the point about the "search for more" that he expresses in the paragraph to which the Playboy footnote belongs.

Yet there is a natural human tendency to try, over and over and over again and quite in vain, to find lasting satisfaction in such things. They cannot and do not satisfy. We are never fully content, and never content for long. There is always a bigger house, greater power to be had, more money, a more desirable mate, some more intense pleasure to be sought, a faster car, more status, more prestige.

But it's more nuanced than he makes out, and he unfortunately writes myopically through the paradigm of a reasonably well off white middle class American. Many people are satisfied with their lot, many people in poverty have every right to want to improve their temporal conditions, and are very satisfied when they do. What Peterson seems to be talking about is that group of middle class people who have become addicted to amassing more. Piers Morgan did a programme about Monaco - where the rich and the famous live a low tax life. He interviewed multi millionaires who, when they walked around the corner and bumped into billionaires, felt inferior and dissatisfied with their lot. So yes, the pursuit of "wealth" for satisfaction is ultimately going to end in dissatisfaction because someone else always has more. But this is a problem for a section of global society that already has more than sufficient temporal needs for a reasonable living condition. Peterson needs to broaden his horizons to understand what the world is really like outside of his wealthy middle class bubble.

[Kishkumen]

DCP knows his readership, and he writes for them. Utah consumes more porn per capita than any other state. It also has more plastic surgery performed, too. Sounds like he knows his neighbors pretty well.

When my spouse and I got married, her grandfather sealed us. Because someone in the wider family was having problems with domestic violence, he spent an unusual amount of time on the topic during our sealing. Because I had no idea what he was on about, or why, I was pretty confused and a little put out. I can only imagine what others that day might have been thinking about me!