Entrepreneur Mikhaila Peterson has reacted to the wave of hate following her announcement about her father Jordan Peterson’s severe health problems, caused by his earlier treatment with the psychoactive drug benzodiazepine and the subsequent addiction to it.
“Fun fact. It’s people who score high in compassion that are also the most likely to punish people for perceived wrongs”, she tweeted, sharing an article dedicated to some vicious comments online, with a reference to her father’s lectures.
The opinionated piece from The Post Millennial, deemed conservative by some commentators, brought up several remarks. Their authors, including a social justice activist and an Ottawa law professor, have denied Peterson sympathy for his sufferings because of his conservative-leaning views.
These two tweets, featured in the article, were not extraordinary in the social media storm, prompted by the bombshell update. One online commenter even went so far as to say that the author of a book, titled 12 Rules for Life, almost dying in a Russian hospital from benzo withdrawals was “one of the funniest things to ever happen”.
Another called on people to reserve their sympathy for someone else other than the Canadian professor, known for his conservative opinions.
However, many stood up for Peterson, accusing his left-wing opponents of making fun of his struggles as well as a lack of compassion, tolerance, and basic human empathy.
Last week, Mikhaila Peterson, who founded a carnivore diet community, updated her father’s followers about their “desperate” decision to seek drug detox treatment in Russia after several attempts in North America had failed. On top of that, the author of the self-help bestseller 12 Rules for life had developed pneumonia in one of the previous hospitals and spent four weeks in the ICU (intensive care unit).