Let's talk about Jordan Peterson

To say Jordan Peterson is a political, social and even cultural sensation in the West and surprisingly, in many far corners of the East, would be a massive understatement.

With his YouTube channel currently boasting over 5 million subscribers, nearly 3 million followers on Twitter and three internationally bestselling books, it is common knowledge that the Canadian clinical psychologist has a lot to say and more importantly, there are millions out there who are willing to listen.

Peterson's message for the world is simple – radical leftist ideologies will be the end of us. At first glance, his conviction can seem fairly rational to most people, especially those who know how certain countries like Russia, China and more recently, North Korea have fallen prey to extreme left-wing ruling systems and faced vicious consequences (e.g. plummeting economies, oppression of minorities, lack of individual freedoms and so on) through the years.

But no, Peterson rarely ever speaks on the nuanced intersections of politics and economics, politics and climate change, military and refugee crises or international relations. His focal points of discourse are scattered across the sociopolitical spectrum instead – gender expression and identity, race, women's rights and even people's right to sexual liberty.

This also means that what he brands as "the radical left" or "postmodern neo-Marxism" is not a belief or movement that can potentially give rise to a harrowing dictatorship and consequently, a loss of all personal privileges. It is in fact the opposite. Peterson has always been an active advocate against people's calls for their own rights, he's been against reparations for historical repression.

For instance, what first brought him worldwide attention was his three-part YouTube series "Professor Against Political Correctness", which he had recorded in protest against the Canadian federal government's consideration of Bill C-16, which would ban discrimination and hate speech against people who do not identify with or present themselves according to their biological sex. Peterson felt the move would be a fatal blow to free speech in the country because he'd wrongly assumed this bill would mandate people to comply with other people's preferred pronouns for themselves, a courtesy he is not yet ready to practice.

"If they fine me, I won't pay it. If they put me in jail, I'll go on a hunger strike. I'm not doing this," he had famously quipped in a TV interview later that year.

His dogmatism doesn't end there. The same way he insists the scientifically affirmed theory of biological sex and gender being separate concepts is wrong, he brutally condemns the idea of institutional reparations for historically oppressed. In fact, it was the University of Toronto's Diversity, Inclusivity and Equity policies (or as Peterson pettily calls them "DIE") that drove him to resign from the college. In his tweet announcing his leave, the professor emeritus put the university and by extension, all of the Western world, on blast for attempting to be more inclusive of marginalised communities in professional settings.

"Diversity, Inclusivity and Equity — that radical leftist Trinity — is destroying us," he lamented.

What he and his staunch devotees fail to comprehend is that the historical oppression of minorities still continues to stunt their growth today. Sometimes it is racial profiling during hiring phases, sometimes underfunded schools and colleges in areas that are predominantly inherited by specific communities, sometimes baseless but harmful stereotypes that stalk certain minorities like a shadow. All one needs is a good look at relevant data and research to look past Peterson's denial of white male privilege.

It is his blatant misogyny, however, that truly gives me the creeps. Peterson has openly stated he is a believer in "enforced monogamy". In other words, he believes societies and cultures in general should promote monogamy to a degree that any deviation from it can be seen as a crime or sin. What makes this idea problematic is that in many regions of the world, divorces, dating and even love marriages are looked down upon already.

Needless to say, the social expectations are much more stringent on women than men and for a Western academic to tout these invasions of privacy and abuse of women's rights as a rational practice is incredibly worrisome.

In 2018, Alek Minassian, a self-proclaimed "incel" (a member of an online subculture of people who define themselves as unable to get a romantic or sexual partner despite desiring one) had driven over 10 people and injured 16 more in Toronto. His self-identification as an incel only fuelled Peterson's Dark Age fantasy of women's place in this world as he told The New York Times, "He was angry at God because women were rejecting him. The cure for that is enforced monogamy. That's actually why monogamy emerges."

These few examples are nothing but mere drops in the ocean of Peterson's other faulty preachings, which include implying climate change is not real, expressing that all Muslims are inherently violent and anti-Semitic and that women should always opt for marriage and housewifery over a career.

On the other hand, as much as I want to succumb to cancel culture and dream delicious dreams of Peterson suddenly disappearing from our social media feeds and minds for good one day, I have no choice but to understand that he has the right to choose his own beliefs. (To not accept this, in fact, would make me the same as him.)

This does not mean we should leave him alone altogether, either. It simply means we should respectfully engage him, and the people in our lives who happen to be like him, in respectful debate. In instances that these people do not respond well, the best we can do is fight our hardest to ensure the scales of law do not unjustly sway in any direction and continue to educate the rest around us on what is wrong and what is right and why so.

After all, in a world that is constantly normalising polarisation, it is very tempting for us to choose one extreme side or perhaps avoid matters of contention altogether. However, that is not reason enough for us to step back. The combined effect of the individual voices of chauvinists can be deafening and as the herald of the future, it is on the youth to keep blowing the conch shell of righteousness and morality.

References

1. Vox (May 21, 2018). Jordan Peterson, the obscure Canadian psychologist turned right-wing celebrity, explained
2. The American Conservative (January 19, 2022). Jordan Peterson Nukes Woke U. From Orbit
3. The New York Times (May 18, 2018). Jordan Peterson, Custodian of the Patriarchy
4. The Guardian (January 27, 2022). 'Word salad of nonsense': scientists denounce Jordan Peterson's comments on climate models
5. YouTube.com (July 13, 2022). Article: Message to Muslims