Let's be clear about Jordan Peterson ...

ArmchairDesease · 2025-04-06T05:57:08+00:00

I like his advice of cleaning your room before you go out and clean the world. It's a very helpful tool to me on a psychological level.

Progressive people tend to be concerned with big scale social problems, and to dismiss individual goods habits. Conservatives do the opposite mistake. As a progressive, it's nice to hear that keeping your body and mind in order is also important. I naturally tend to forget that.

I don't buy any of his other stuff. It's jungian ornamentation over old-fashioned finger-waving protestant moralism

Findol272 · 2025-04-06T18:20:11+00:00

I have to say one thing the left needs to do better with is not completely destroy and cancel someone who's reasonable although slightly off centered from the progressive line.

I feel like Peterson started quite reasonable but his brain go progressively more and more broken and now he's just completely nuts. I see an alternate universe where progressives didn't attack him so much and where he became a centrist self-help psychology guy instead of this insane far right harpy he's become.

CeleryMan20 · 2025-04-06T06:05:56+00:00

JP’s university psych lectures from the mid 2000s are really good. His research group has done some interesting stuff on personality types, splitting each of the Big 5 traits to create a Big 10.

He’s a lot more careful with generalisations than your average media personality. Instead of saying “men are more aggressive than women”, he’ll go through “on average men score higher than women on psychological measures of aggression, but there is a lot of overlap, it’s about 60-40, meaning if you pick a random man and a random woman of the street, the probability …”.

He has an emphasis on personal responsibility and autonomy that appeals to the Right. I suspect that comes from clinical practice where typically therapists tell clients that they can’t change other people, only themselves. (“Clean your room.”) And he didn’t seem to have a problem with trans people per se (that may have changed) - he objected to the idea that someone could be punished for neglecting to use someone else’s idiosyncratic pronouns.

By his own report, he is high on trait Openness. That could mean being open to progressivist ideas, or at least making an effort to understand them. He also seems to value tradition and mythological archetypes. I doubt he would stand for any post-modernist idpol “decolonising science” bullshit that is infesting academia.

I don’t think he’s inherently right-wing. Or wasn’t. Perhaps being idolised by one side and demonised by the other has changed him. Or perhaps he is simply adapting his material to the available audience?

I saw a video recently of him debating an atheist and I saw a different side. I normally avoid his religious-themed work.

He’ll debate and talk to people he disagrees with. I haven’t looked over his recent catalogue to see whether he is solely engaging with right-wing personalities these days.

AskFeminists (bless them) have (or had, last time I looked) a section on JP in their wiki which critiques his method of argumentation.

—- Edit to add: I just skimmed Tommy Robinson’s WP article (Australian here, the name wasn’t familiar) and watched the video of Peterson talking to Ezra Levant about Robinson. They are implying that Robinson is a firebrand journalist, didn’t mention his political or protest history, and that the UK government is pandering to pro-Muslim interests.

Peptocoptr · 2025-04-06T03:57:47+00:00

I haven't kept up with what he's been up to for the last 4 years or so, but he did seem to go off the deep end. Much like every right wing person I used to admire back when I was right-wing. Naturally, I don't know the full extent of how bad JP is nowadays, but at least some part of me wants to remember for him for the honest and supportive man he used to be. Even if his ideologies have always been flawed, he still helped so many young men realize they matter, and that they have something they can bring to the world as men, all while pissing off the right kind people in the process. While I haven't looked into your accusations about him (Idk who Tommy Robinson is, and reading his wikipedia page isn't enough to find out for sure), I suspect that you're correct because from what little I've seen, Jordan Peterson, for lack of a better word, frankly seems... insane now, and that's really fucking sad to me.

ivent0987 · 2025-04-06T09:38:54+00:00

I used to think of him as a rational guy too until I saw him trying to come up with a "rational" justification for believing in god. He poses himself as this hyper rational pragmatic man who always chooses the truth over emotions, but the way he went onto describe his definition of God before explaining why he believes in it I realised he just presents his beliefs with superflous words in a way that makes people think it's intelligent. Then looking back half the shit he said made hardly any sense. That's why he speaks with so many metaphors, because when challenged there's always the card or plausible deniability or putting the blame on the other for not understanding the metaphor.

austin101123 · 2025-04-06T02:52:44+00:00

I haven't seen anything from him in years. I think the consensus is he's conservative, though still an advocate for men, and with advice for men. With advice like setting good habits, cleaning your room, and such. Not tate-like. I haven't seen any of his stuff in years though so I'm not particularly good to say. Just like Joe Rogan he could've gotten more conservative over the years since becoming a public figure.

Geiten · 2025-04-06T09:44:29+00:00

I was part of the old atheist communities, back when that was all the rage, so I might remember him even a bit earlier than you. Dude was a nut from the start, he said that a true atheist would be a murderer, that atheist are all liars, etc. Those debates with Dillahunty and some others shows that he always had weird views.

Josh-is-Tofu · 2025-04-06T04:37:35+00:00

Petersons early advocacy work leaned much more towards human psychology. When he would speak, it was often around this topic or other closely linked areas that he was very well versed in.

Peterson has become much more involved in political commentary in the past few years, and has moved away from his areas of expertise - psychology. As a result, he’s had a significant amount of exposure to right, and far-right ideas, which are often bounced around in an echo chamber with no effort for critical thought.

As an early watcher of Jordan Peterson, I can’t deny the positive impact his work has had on men and the male community. However, in my opinion, much of his ideas over the last 5 years have not been grounded in strong evidence or critical thinking, and are not substantial enough to trust or even follow. I believe more personal research is needed before blindly trusting his latest commentary.

Each individual has the freedom to draw their own conclusions, but from my perspective Jordan Peterson has become a mildly toxic and unconstructive voice in the community. A voice driven by hate and contempt, rather than a desire for unity and progress.

Busterthefatman · 2025-04-06T08:47:47+00:00

Hey, love to see advocacy of the left wing part of leftwingmaleadvocates.

My intro to Jordan was the self help stuff and I did genuinrly find it useful. It was incredibly sad realising the person i had recommended to friends as a self help guy was actually a right wing arse

Competitive_Side6301 · 2025-04-06T16:49:42+00:00

Peterson has the same problem Tate does but in differing flavours. There is common sense here and there but sprinkled into a lot of nonsense. He’s also an academic which might reel guys in a little bit more.

But like you said he is definitely more of a right winger now.

We have to stop worshipping people period. One single human doesn’t have all the answers to your problems.

White_Immigrant · 2025-04-06T11:20:32+00:00

To the people who says he gave out good advice about cleaning your room...I'm sure your mum told you that too, it's up there with wipe your arse and wash your hands, it's hardly advice, it's setting quite a low bar.

The guy promotes an extreme theistic weirdly judgemental view of the world, and he's clearly the darling of Google's YouTube algorithm. That he is considered an ally to any men is disappointing, even more so because he's a psychologist and should know better.

Dazzling_Shoulder_69 · 2025-04-06T10:46:14+00:00

Jordan Peterson is a tradcon . Both tradcons and feminists worship women and see men as disposable.

TheRealMasonMac · 2025-04-06T03:22:13+00:00

He does a good job of encouraging men to seek therapy if they have legitimate issues and offers empathy to his audience, but he also offers advice that reinforces certain unhealthy ideas such as red-pill-adjacent philosophies. He also gives me the vibe that he's only empathetic for the camera. He is a disappointment to the mental health field in many ways, in my opinion, especially for condoning figures like Trump who are the antitheses of any good society.

DevilishRogue · 2025-04-06T13:48:07+00:00

Jordan Peterson is pretty centrist on most issues, including those he is wrongly labelled right wing e.g. pronoun usage, which he only opposes as compelled speech.

Tommy Robinson is not remotely accurately represented by the politically correct view you've posited and didn't come close to collapsing any grooming gang trials.

Getting Kemi Badenoch was a coup for Peterson and he absolutely should have conducted the interview.

Referring to him as a clown is at best self-delusional. Those suckered into accepting politically correct views at the expense of reality add nothing to the debate and serve no purpose other than duplicity.

Local-Willingness784 · 2025-04-07T18:59:04+00:00

bro i hate jordan peterson as an intelectual and lots of his takes are weird, i will repeat, as i did in another post about the guy, that i cant hate simply because he really cares about men suffering and as stupid as it sounds, the fact that he cried because of it has to be something that really gets me, doesnt mean that i will be following his ideas, but again, no one cares about men, the fact that he cares makes him many more times better than any leftist alternative, if there is even one.

Ok-Dragonfruit-697 · 2025-04-07T20:45:36+00:00

He's a moronic charlatan.

best_of_both_worldz · 2025-04-10T02:38:35+00:00

I fell into his grift hook line and sinker and found real value in his book, 12 rules for life. I grew up deeply conservative and didn't immediately realize he was selling the same old conservatism repackaged for a more intellectually curious generation. His explanation of societal power dynamics really fit well with what I had observed in a late stage capitalist world. His views on pronouns seemed perfectly reasonable(assuming you only listen to him tell it). I think things changed for me after his whole "up yours woke moralists" thing. It became painfully clear he was living a persecution fantasy.

SimilarLab1388 · 2025-04-11T19:00:13+00:00

He had good content in the past, but post-Covid he is only a right-wing propagandist.

Freudipus · 2025-04-06T04:14:07+00:00

Peterson became famous and rich on creating trans panic, he is far-right, and a fake.

GoAskAli · 2025-04-06T16:24:32+00:00

He was never really "ok."

He's always been a right winger, he's just totally off the rails now.

On top of that, you were younger and probably less adept with media literacy than you are now that you're older and wiser.

Initial_Zebra100 · 2025-04-06T17:09:30+00:00

His old stuff was OK. Then he went bat shit crazy. I think I can still appreciate aspects of his advice on mental health but not his insanely ignorant politics. Some of his takes are hilariously wild and outright crazy.

It's a shame. At one point, he seemed like an OK role model.

SvitlanaLeo · 2025-04-06T06:44:29+00:00

Peterson is a clear no.

We need to create a leftist movement for men's rights based on a competent synthesis of socialist and masculist ideas.

Revolutionary-Focus7 · 2025-04-06T13:45:15+00:00

That's how these people recruit, by offering genuine self-help advice and life skills (such as career coaching or fitness tips) and then segueing into far-right political extremism. It's insidious and deliberate, and ultimately leads young men with few opportunities or support networks to tune into them and allow these extreme beliefs to be normalized ("they still have some good advice, so what if they say we should hate immigrants and queers?"). They're essentially cult leaders, and they don't actually care about their audience, just about pushing them towards their political agenda by lifting them up.

Don't defend men like Peterson because they have some helpful advice, start being the positive role model that young men lack so they don't turn towards them in the first place!

HumbleFlea · 2025-04-06T12:34:15+00:00

I’ll always have a soft spot for his legendary takedown of Channel 4’s Kathy Newman, but outside of that he’s been a pretty big disappointment.

Altruistic-Hat269 · 2025-04-06T12:58:21+00:00

There's some good stuff regarding JP. And there used to be much more. But he completely lost his intellectual honesty and sold out to become a right wing pundit more or less.

In regard to gender issues, he's not a misogynist IMO opinion like many people say, but he does push for traditional male gender roles and gives good advice on how to achieve success within those boundaries. He has almost nothing to say about what a "new man" could be. JP is all about "go find a dragon to slay" type mentality, but what if I'm a man who doesn't want to slay dragons? What if I'm a man who wants to nurture and build, raise children, or whatever? JP has nothing to say about that, but then again, there is no one of the left advocating for these kinds of men either.

purpleblossom · 2025-04-06T10:37:42+00:00

Other than his views on trans people like myself and his regressive views about women’s rights, much of his views on men’s issues seemed genuine. But he’s fallen into the right wing grift so easily and constantly attacking trans people, and it’s ruined any credibility he might have had.

ActualInteraction0 · 2025-04-06T12:54:17+00:00

Whatever his political leaning was before his academic career ended, he is now in bed with the right.

I liked the way he kept his head in one interview, others I've seen show less flattering debate skills.

Ideas should initially be considered as openly as possible without bias, political or otherwise.

One_Ad_3499 · 2025-04-06T12:08:28+00:00

I really love his work before Daily wire. It helped me a lot. Afterwards not so much

1bnna2bnna3bnna · 2025-04-07T11:46:59+00:00

he's gone nuts...

CompassMetal · 2025-04-07T21:08:16+00:00

Why would anyone say he's left wing? He's a right wing crank through and through.

Gentlesouledman · 2025-04-23T14:04:17+00:00

The only lesson he could teach you is about the dangers of benzodiazapines. He survived protracted withdrawal. If you read his story it almost sounds like his doctor did it to him on purpose. Probably because he is such a miserable prick.

Let's be clear about Jordan Peterson ...

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“If you can't dazzle them with brilliance, baffle them with bullshit.” - W.C. Fields