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Employees Melt Down After Learning Their Company Is Publishing Prominent Conservative's Book: Report

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Penguin Random House Canada employees were reportedly upset when the company announced it would be publishing a new book by Canadian psychologist Jordan Peterson.

The subsidiary of Penguin Random House announced Monday that it would be publishing Peterson’s new book “Beyond Order: 12 More Rules for Life” in March 2021, Vice World News reported.

Peterson is a University of Toronto professor of psychology who became well known after he posted a lecture on YouTube in September 2016.

During that lecture, he said he refused to use gender-neutral pronouns for students and spoke against “legislation that increased protections for trans and non-binary Canadians,” according to Vice.

He has become a popular right-wing voice, appearing as a guest on Joe Rogan’s podcast and gaining 3.25 million YouTube subscribers.

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Four Penguin Random House Canada employees told Vice about an “emotional town hall” the company held to defend the decision to publish Peterson’s new book in the face of employee concerns.

“He is an icon of hate speech and transphobia and the fact that he’s an icon of white supremacy, regardless of the content of his book, I’m not proud to work for a company that publishes him,” one anonymous LGBT junior employee told Vice.

Another worker said that “people were crying in the meeting about how Jordan Peterson has affected their lives.”

“The company since June has been doing all these anti-racist and allyship things and them publishing Peterson’s book completely goes against this,” the employee said.

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“It just makes all of their previous efforts seem completely performative.”

Peterson’s daughter responded to the reported complaints and linked to Vice’s report on Twitter.

“How to improve business in 2 steps: Step 1: identify crying adults Step 2: fire,” Mikhaila Peterson tweeted.

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Penguin Random House Canada told Vice it held the forum to provide “a space for our employees to express their views and offer feedback.”

“Our employees have started an anonymous feedback channel, which we fully support,” the company said in a statement.

“We are open to hearing our employees’ feedback and answering all of their questions.”

“We remain committed to publishing a range of voices and viewpoints.”

“12 Rules for Life” was incredibly successful, and the publishing house sold millions of copies, according to Peterson’s website.

Disgruntled employees told Vice that they believe Penguin Random House Canada is publishing the new book to piggy-back off of that success.

“They’re not going to acknowledge the reason they’re doing it is for money,” one employee said.

“I feel that would be the more honest route to go rather than making up excuses for Jordan Peterson.”

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Erin Coates was an editor for The Western Journal for over two years before becoming a news writer. A University of Oregon graduate, Erin has conducted research in data journalism and contributed to various publications as a writer and editor.
Erin Coates was an editor for The Western Journal for over two years before becoming a news writer. She grew up in San Diego, California, proceeding to attend the University of Oregon and graduate with honors holding a degree in journalism. During her time in Oregon, Erin was an associate editor for Ethos Magazine and a freelance writer for Eugene Magazine. She has conducted research in data journalism, which has been published in the book “Data Journalism: Past, Present and Future.” Erin is an avid runner with a heart for encouraging young girls and has served as a coach for the organization Girls on the Run. As a writer and editor, Erin strives to promote social dialogue and tell the story of those around her.
Birthplace
Tucson, Arizona
Nationality
American
Honors/Awards
Graduated with Honors
Education
Bachelor of Arts in Journalism, University of Oregon
Books Written
Contributor for Data Journalism: Past, Present and Future
Location
Prescott, Arizona
Languages Spoken
English, French
Topics of Expertise
Politics, Health, Entertainment, Faith




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