My Obligatory Jordan Peterson Treatise

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Jordan Peterson was a quiet, Canadian, university professor who gained fame and wealth by refusing to adhere to a University of Toronto policy that required staff and professors to use a student’s requested pronouns. Peterson called that compelled speech and eventually resigned. Becoming the most famous member of the Intellectual Dark Web, Jordan Peterson turned this act of defiance into a new career.

As it turns out, the world, or at least some young men, were hungry for Peterson. In a world that does not serve boys and treats them like defective girls, Jordan Peterson is giving many young men the direction and proxy fatherhood that they need. Many boys end up being surrounded by and raised by women. Mothers are the primary caregivers and most of their teachers are women. How is a young man supposed to learn how to be a man?

Men and Manhood

I agree with very little of Peterson, but I understand why he is popular. He offers answers in a world that has been turned upside down, turned inside out, and shaken. Young men don’t have manufacturing jobs to slot themselves into. For college-educated young men, the pathways are more numerous and better defined, but often still difficult. For young men who aren’t college-bound, the future is far more difficult and fraught with trouble.

There are few places where he can find dignity, respect, and pride in his profession and work. Being a useful, respected, dignified part of society is important for men. This is an issue that is economic but also deeply social. We have created a society that, on the one hand, wants men to step up and be men but does not offer them a pathway to do that effectively.

Men face all sorts of challenges that are not typically seen in public policy debates. Divorce and Family Court still heavily favors women. Although that is just beginning to change in some jurisdictions, mileage varies by location. When it comes to domestic violence, men are presumed to be guilty even when they are the victim and male rape survivors are not taken seriously by the police or by society. In this way, it is disadvantageous to be male.

There is a generation of men who are lost

Enter Jordan Peterson. Peterson, like many others, gives easy answers to increasingly complicated questions. His edicts to “make your bed” and other such “common sense” ideas on how to improve your life make it seem like changing your life is just a few easy steps away. In some ways, he is emblematic of a culture run-amok. Our culture is changing its attitudes on a variety of social mores, and Peterson is pushing back on all of that and promoting a more traditional ideal.

Peterson is part of a greater project by various people to reinforce more, shall we say, traditional gender roles in society and in relationships. Peterson casually uses IQ (which isn’t a metric for anything apart from wealth) as a way to rank people. He advocates for men to “become monsters and learn to control it.” Because, according to Peterson, this is what women are looking for. For young men looking for answers in a confusing world, he offers simple solutions.

Young men are looking for guidance to navigate a world that has changed. Our world is no longer optimized for the success of young men of any race. It was never optimized for young minority men, but at least young white men had a chance. Now, young men are faced with an uncertain future that they don’t understand. They don’t understand how to get women, get a job, be successful or fit into society. This has caused many young men to retreat into video games, online culture, drugs, and alcohol to cope with modernity. Peterson offers them the simple solutions of self-help in order to navigate this new reality.

And there’s lobsters

Some people refer to Peterson as “Lobster Daddy” because he spends a great deal of his book obsessed with analyzing human behavior through the behavior of lobsters. We all know about the lobsters in a bucket analogy. Peterson takes that one step further and uses the behavior of the delicious crustacean as a proxy of how humans can excel at life.

His analogies fall apart under any sort of scrutiny, as illustrated beautifully by the long-form videos posted by Cass Eris, but the simple fact remains that human relationships are much more complicated than anything lobsters will get up to.

Peterson’s ethos here is that we live in a world of competition. A world of constant competition, and only those who are able to compete well will be able to succeed. One of the things he misses about human in general is that our success on this planet has very little to do with competition, but much more to do with collaboration. But in Peterson’s world, we are all lobsters in a bucket trying to get out and willing to do whatever it takes to get on top.

So, What About Jordan?

People might complain that I just don’t understand Peterson or I don’t see the good parts of his philosophy. I counter with the fact that I have watched hours of his recorded lectures, and I’ve read the book. I’ve watched pro-Peterson folks and anti-Peterson folks. At first, I even found Peterson appealing. As someone who is neurodivergent and was looking for answers as to why I was struggling in society, Peterson seemed to offer answers. At least it was something I could understand and try to implement. I could understand why things were they way they were and understand that there was no way I could come out on top. However, it was when I began to watch the series with Cass Eris that I understood how wrong I was about the whole thing. She opened my eyes and helped me realize how narrow Peterson’s world was and how wrong he was about everything from a scientific perspective. In a way, she saved me.

Peterson has become even more famous for his public meltdown due to a benzodiazepine addiction and his battle with COVID-19 that took him to Russia. After a nearly two-year absence, he is back and out with a new book and back online talking to people and trying to chart a new course. In any situation where we have great social progress, there will always be reactionaries to that progress who attempt to reinforce the old story and the old values. My final word on Peterson is that he is one such reactionary. That’s really all, he is reinforcing the old ways and stories. History shows us that when the old stories lose their power, it means it is time for a new story to emerge.