This is why I pay you, Justin. It's like your job is to go into the nuclear reactor and make the adjustments, so that I can just read the report at my desk the next day.
I'm very, very weary of seeing that man's name all the time, but the National Post does have valuable stories sometimes, so I have to keep looking at that front page.
When Anne Coulter started raging at liberals, I dutifully paid attention, because so many right-wingers were lionizing her (this is about 2004) and I figure you have to not be in a silo. Then she called one candidate a "fag" and excused it as "shouting insults on the playground". I was so relieved. If she was just shouting insults on a playground, then I did not, in fact, have to pay any attention to her.
Coulter is one of five people that were tagged as responsible for 80% of University lecture cancellations - her, Shapiro, Yiannopoulos, Peterson, etc - and its a business model. Justin is just reporting facts he can see, here, correctly - but when you look at Peterson changing from shrink with some opinions, to the millionaire guru he is now, it's clear he spotted the business model and is riding it.
Since Petersen isn't entirely on politics, and since he has prior cred as a shrink and professor, he couldn't be dismissed as easily as Coulter. But, I quite believe Justin about how hapless Peterson is on anything practical about economy, governance, justice - I can continue ignoring him completely. A relief.
I went down the rabbit hole of trying to figure out JBP some time around 2017. The Psychological Significance of the Biblical Stories drew me in at the time. I am an atheist, the bible is a knowledgeable gap for me, it had its appeal. It did not take me too long to see that his shtick is using a lot of words to say what could be passed as plain truths, but at the same time never really saying anything.
I stopped paying attention by the time his 12 rules book came out, and out side have a few conversations with some friends and co worker about him I kind of figured his gimmick would be a passing fad. I get the appeal to people who feel they are loosing their place in the hierarchy of society or going through some difficult patch of life, but I am always surprised that people keep talking about him like he is one of the great thinkers of our time. His area of expertise is very narrow. Bible story’s. Words matter. Boot straps. It’s pretty simple stuff really.
thanks for the article. I am glad some one is paying attention to the people who are paying attention to the likes of JBP.
I feel like I just watched a horror/zombie movie. Thanks for being there so I didn’t have to be. As a person with a family member who is trans I worry so much about this kind of rhetoric, which is really barely rhetoric as it’s barely comprehensible. And to couch it in some aberrant form of Christianity is…..I can’t even articulate what.
Thanks for the coverage Justin; I too have noticed this guy who struck me as pale, anxious and generally unwell; I felt sorry for him since he seemed on the verge of tears. You don't mention what he and his family were so ill with, but it wouldn't be the first time serious illness caused someone to buy into the god idea, which would also fit in with the current right wing. But you say he's "on again off again" with them? That fits with being the prophet guy, anomalous and beyond the fray, something his impressive academic and intellectual credentials also contribute to. "Meat-addled doofus" was kind of hilarious; he's clearly a purist/extremist who never cheats on that extreme keto diet. He probably eats beef raw....
The bottom line is that both him and Elon Musk come off as men in the middle of some sort of breakdown that reflects where many men seem to generally be at this point, so the blind leading the blind but much less benign. And although it's typically liberal and open-minded to attempt mitigation of our polarization by trying to understand guys like this, they're both simply dangerous, as dangerous as the bunch they're "leading."
Great article and once again thanks for the coverage. I heard a great saying at a town hall once, “It’s not that people are afraid of change, it’s they are afraid it will change them”. That resonates with me in regards to the people that are attracted to someone like JBP. They may feel that if they accept anything different that the way they live they are somehow becoming it.
Wow. Kind of glad I missed this event but thanks so much for covering it. There were a flurry of articles about non-fans protesting his coming appearance, or trying to prevent it, but then I could not find any reviews of what he actually said. Peterson is a very interesting combination of contradictions, and I think many young or lost people like to embody a Messiah figure with having the answer to all of their problems or questions. But the occasional pearl of real wisdom does cross his lips. Much of his advice to lonely young men who cannot seems to connect with women is sound. Clean up your own act, buddy, the women can't all be wrong. No one ever tells them that and it is helpful. They are part of a generation that was given a trophy for just showing up and it hasn't taught them that life is tough and people are going to reject you. Peterson shows them how to stand up and take responsibility for themselves and I think that is overall a good approach. Of course he spews a lot of nonsense too, but hey, at least he stands for something and we are all free to take it or leave it.
This is why I pay you, Justin. It's like your job is to go into the nuclear reactor and make the adjustments, so that I can just read the report at my desk the next day.
I'm very, very weary of seeing that man's name all the time, but the National Post does have valuable stories sometimes, so I have to keep looking at that front page.
When Anne Coulter started raging at liberals, I dutifully paid attention, because so many right-wingers were lionizing her (this is about 2004) and I figure you have to not be in a silo. Then she called one candidate a "fag" and excused it as "shouting insults on the playground". I was so relieved. If she was just shouting insults on a playground, then I did not, in fact, have to pay any attention to her.
Coulter is one of five people that were tagged as responsible for 80% of University lecture cancellations - her, Shapiro, Yiannopoulos, Peterson, etc - and its a business model. Justin is just reporting facts he can see, here, correctly - but when you look at Peterson changing from shrink with some opinions, to the millionaire guru he is now, it's clear he spotted the business model and is riding it.
Since Petersen isn't entirely on politics, and since he has prior cred as a shrink and professor, he couldn't be dismissed as easily as Coulter. But, I quite believe Justin about how hapless Peterson is on anything practical about economy, governance, justice - I can continue ignoring him completely. A relief.
Thou shalt continue this wonderful writing.
I went down the rabbit hole of trying to figure out JBP some time around 2017. The Psychological Significance of the Biblical Stories drew me in at the time. I am an atheist, the bible is a knowledgeable gap for me, it had its appeal. It did not take me too long to see that his shtick is using a lot of words to say what could be passed as plain truths, but at the same time never really saying anything.
I stopped paying attention by the time his 12 rules book came out, and out side have a few conversations with some friends and co worker about him I kind of figured his gimmick would be a passing fad. I get the appeal to people who feel they are loosing their place in the hierarchy of society or going through some difficult patch of life, but I am always surprised that people keep talking about him like he is one of the great thinkers of our time. His area of expertise is very narrow. Bible story’s. Words matter. Boot straps. It’s pretty simple stuff really.
thanks for the article. I am glad some one is paying attention to the people who are paying attention to the likes of JBP.
I feel like I just watched a horror/zombie movie. Thanks for being there so I didn’t have to be. As a person with a family member who is trans I worry so much about this kind of rhetoric, which is really barely rhetoric as it’s barely comprehensible. And to couch it in some aberrant form of Christianity is…..I can’t even articulate what.
Nocked it outta the park Justin. Thanks much.
Thanks for the coverage Justin; I too have noticed this guy who struck me as pale, anxious and generally unwell; I felt sorry for him since he seemed on the verge of tears. You don't mention what he and his family were so ill with, but it wouldn't be the first time serious illness caused someone to buy into the god idea, which would also fit in with the current right wing. But you say he's "on again off again" with them? That fits with being the prophet guy, anomalous and beyond the fray, something his impressive academic and intellectual credentials also contribute to. "Meat-addled doofus" was kind of hilarious; he's clearly a purist/extremist who never cheats on that extreme keto diet. He probably eats beef raw....
The bottom line is that both him and Elon Musk come off as men in the middle of some sort of breakdown that reflects where many men seem to generally be at this point, so the blind leading the blind but much less benign. And although it's typically liberal and open-minded to attempt mitigation of our polarization by trying to understand guys like this, they're both simply dangerous, as dangerous as the bunch they're "leading."
Great article and once again thanks for the coverage. I heard a great saying at a town hall once, “It’s not that people are afraid of change, it’s they are afraid it will change them”. That resonates with me in regards to the people that are attracted to someone like JBP. They may feel that if they accept anything different that the way they live they are somehow becoming it.
Wow. Kind of glad I missed this event but thanks so much for covering it. There were a flurry of articles about non-fans protesting his coming appearance, or trying to prevent it, but then I could not find any reviews of what he actually said. Peterson is a very interesting combination of contradictions, and I think many young or lost people like to embody a Messiah figure with having the answer to all of their problems or questions. But the occasional pearl of real wisdom does cross his lips. Much of his advice to lonely young men who cannot seems to connect with women is sound. Clean up your own act, buddy, the women can't all be wrong. No one ever tells them that and it is helpful. They are part of a generation that was given a trophy for just showing up and it hasn't taught them that life is tough and people are going to reject you. Peterson shows them how to stand up and take responsibility for themselves and I think that is overall a good approach. Of course he spews a lot of nonsense too, but hey, at least he stands for something and we are all free to take it or leave it.
Top of the pinching order. LOL.