Jordan B Peterson
Casual sexism and other gender woesI don’t like to get political, but this subject touched way too close to home today, and I feel the need to explain why I, personally, myself, think Jordan Peterson is an utter twat.
(This is my own opinion, you are free to have your own, to differ or to correct me)
Mean what you say, and say what you mean
A simple phrase the JBP seems to have no shortage of trouble applying. Most famously his quotes were misapplied during the infamous Cathy Newman interview, but this is not an infrequent occurrence.
There are pages upon pages of youtubers taking his interviews and explaining what he “actually” means, and these same videos contain yet more people in the comments explaining what they think he “actually” means.
Let’s not forget that this man is (was?) a professor at a university. His job was to explain abstract notions to people. One has to question his competence as a professor if his seemingly simple ideas can be misconstrued to this extent, and he offers no clarification other than what he didn’t mean.
Lobsters
JBP loves to take lobsters as an example to explain various hierarchies and human behaviours.
A marine biologist takes him up on this example, calling it “too convenient” and “he’s cherry-picking one model of social behavior when there’s a whole ocean full of equally relevant examples.” (this whole article is worth a read)
Moreover, why lobsters? He often uses them to justify hierarchies, such as (but not limited to) patriarchy; yet our closest genetic relatives are Bonobo monkeys who live in an overall more peaceful and matriarchal society than lobsters do.
12 rules for life
JBP’s bestselling book “12 rules for life” has helped countless down-in-the-dumps young men get their lives back on track, there’s no denying that.
However, the information presented in this book is… Simplistic to say the least. The catholic world report called it “banal, superficial, and insidious”
“The supreme irony of this book is that for someone whose 12 rules really boil down to one (stop being so undisciplined!), its prose shows little discipline.” I have, myself, read an excerpt and in my own humble opinion it read like somebody rambling.
Thorough dissection of the book
Casual sexism and other gender woes
Because what’s a feminist rant without these topics? Seriously though, JBP rose to fame because of the Canadian misgendering law, which he blew entirely out of proportion, saying that this language policing would lead to totalitarianism, thus exciting anti-SJWs everywhere and building himself a solid patron fan-base. However, “the notion that the law explicitly "criminalizes misgendering a transperson" is a strawman put forth by people like Jordan Peterson”. The bill can be found here, JBP will not go to jail for misgendering someone.
As for sexism, it all boils down to this quote from a redditor: “He assumes women and people of all non-binary genders are not rational actors capable of making their own decisions independent of an externally dominant patriarch.” For a more thorough breakdown of his disdain for women, see this quora post
What the heck is cultural marxism?
According to JBP, cultural marxism is responsible for most of society's ills, the suppression of free speech, men being turned down for dates, you name it. But what the heck is it?
“some assert there’s no such thing, and others use the term as a catch-all for anything they see as undermining society. In short, cultural Marxism is a revolutionary leftist idea that traditional culture is the source of oppression in the modern world.” source
This term englobes movements such as feminism, political correctness etc and opposes “traditional” values like nuclear families and gender roles.
“various conspiracy theorists and anti-Semitic groups also use the term cultural Marxism to promote their belief in the Illuminati or to blame the Jews for society’s ills.” - this may explain why such a large portion of JBP’s fanbase are literal Nazis.
That concludes the issues that I see with JBP. And if you don’t take my word for it, take that of one of his closest friends
