© The Canadian Press/Jason FransonJordan Peterson
Women on the Right especially love Peterson because he tells men to man up - see the "Tragic Story of the Man-Child" - and that's why a lot of men abhor his take-it-or-leave-it call to manhood. More mature members of the millennial or Generation X generations appreciate reading or listening to his no-nonsense advice rooted in common sense and psychological underpinnings - which is exactly what most of the younger generations can't stand him. All this is why America needs this Canadian, and why he has become an "overnight" sensation that has been brewing for decades.
Though Peterson is now known for his somewhat conservative, political commentary - writer Matt Lewis says in this Daily Beast piece he boasts "firepower" akin to Buckley's intellectual prowess - he is a psychologist by training, and an academic by profession. Though much of Peterson's book, interviews, and lectures seem to be rooted in psychology, his YouTube channel is a mix of class and more formal lectures from "How to Stop Procrastinating" and observations about the antisocial personality, to "The Unconscious Mind of the SJW" which are as fascinating as they are pertinent. What he lacks in presentation he makes up for in substance; in fact, I rather enjoy his straightforward but devastatingly difficult life-challenges rooted in psychological facts and observations.
With tales of Peter Pan and life experience to back his advice, Peterson tells men in a straightforward way to stop dilly-dallying and man up, to eschew laziness, and to "grow the hell up." Likewise, Peterson speaks thoughtfully and controversially about women, the gender wage gap, and why society still should hold motherhood (that most archaic and delicate of "positions") in high regard.
As Lewis wrote, "Peterson has emerged as a bit of a unicorn: a bona fide academic who still sounds like a professor, has cultivated a huge following on YouTube and social media, and generally drives the left crazy by attacking identity politics and political correctness in eloquent fashion."
Part political commentator, part psychologist, all alpha male - Peterson recently called the author of a New York Books piece on him a "sanctimonious prick" for mislabeling him a "fascist" - he is a veritable trifecta of intellect, political thought, and commentary on the Right. Although Peterson's politics didn't really come into view until he spoke out against Canadian politicians for compelling others to refer to transgender individuals as their preferred, gender-neutral pronouns. Ever the voice of reason, nuance, and sanity, Peterson backed not only the importance of biological reality, but language and free speech. He told the BBC, "I've studied authoritarianism for a very long time - for 40 years - and they're started by people's attempts to control the ideological and linguistic territory. There's no way I'm going to use words made up by people who are doing that - not a chance."
With the way Peterson wields the political and the psychological, the Right should have seen him a long time ago. Either way, it's helpful to have him involved now - even if he's Canadian.
Nicole Russell is a contributor to the Washington Examiner's Beltway Confidential blog. She is a journalist in Washington who previously worked in Republican politics in Minnesota. She was the 2010 recipient of the American Spectator's Young Journalist Award.
Reader Comments
;-)
Re the Bill C-16 kurfuffle:
The Canadian Bar Association weighs in on JP's BS: [Link]
The Torontoist lets fly against JP and his gender-fluid denunciations: [Link] the author ending the gender debate with the simple, "When in doubt, just ask". This simple view of things will not sell books though, and JP knows on which side his bread is buttered.
The Baffler article is now almost legend in lifting the veil of JP's legend: [Link]
The Guardian: [Link]
A Queen's graduate: [Link]
Make him your next superhero - your next prez
The Guardian is utterly inept, makes no actual refutation other than to poorly re-state some of Peterson's words but to do it in a mocking tone. There is no other examination offered.
The "Baffler" is both long and inept at the same time, -with a healthy dash of meandering nonsense straw-man fighting for padding.
Nobody with any critical sense or honest thinking faculties would consider either of those article even remotely valid refutations.
Perhaps instead of reading (and evidently believing) only nonsense reductions, you should try actually listening to Peterson yourself so that you actually know what it is you are attacking. Because right now you look utterly ignorant and hysterical. B elieve it or not, your impression of Peterson is completely out of alignment with the reality.
You're fighting make-believe shadows. -Projections of your own inner monster.
You are on such shaky ground that you feel the need to claim that most Canadians feel as you do. Stop hiding behind your imagined authority of 'most Canadians' and stand behind what you say. You seem to think that something is right if 'most' people believe it, and since you believe you are right, you assume most peole feel the same. What if you were the only one? Would you still be right, would you still say it? I invite you to,
I'd also ask you to talk to strangers outside of your social circle, and talk with them about this, and listen.
First of all, you do not speak for all Canadians. You are part of a very vocal small percentage. Very vocal small percentage.
I have read all of the links you provided and the authors, regardless of their credentials, are also in that minority. I brought that issue with everyone I can speak candidly about anything with and not a single one approves of the non binary BS that is currently force fed on society. One of the links you provided was very enlightening, thank you for that.
For those who are interested, here is the list of gender neutral pronouns currently approved for use.
For he / she - zie, sie, ey, ve, tey, e
For him / her - zim, sie, em, ver, ter, em
For his / her - zir, hir, eir, vis, tem, eir
For his / hers - zis, hirs, eirs, vers, ters, eirs
For himself / herself - zieself, hirself, eirself, verself, terself, emself
The gender neutral advocates are so confused they could not agree on one single gender neutral pronoun for each of the standard pronouns. There are 6 options for each. And I am supposed to take that bunch seriously ? Will not happen.
I personally know 2 persons who were born with both genders. Both were dealt a raw deal by nature. Both had an operation to remove one sex. the raw deal was that for one who was a female, she was male looking and for the other in was the inverse a female looking male. I am not making this up, I've seen too much to start making things up. Think what you will. I had no problems interacting with either of them.
However, I will not cooperate nor help spreading the BS in gender neutral, period. I WILL NOT use a gender neutral pronoun for a person who looks and dress like a man and has a penis and I WILL NOT use a gender neutral pronoun for a person who looks and dress like a woman and has a vagina.
Society is already reeling on it's foundation enough as it is and I will not add my weight to help it topple over. Regardless of any law. I don't think any law has ever managed to please everybody and the gender neutral laws are for a very small minority of confused individuals.