Deconstructing Jordan B Peterson

Remember Jordan Peterson? He shot to fame in 2016 when he refused to use "compelled pronouns" at the University of Toronto where he taught psychology. 

Jordan Peterson, a University of Toronto psychology professor, was not fired but faced significant controversy starting in September 2016 when he publicly refused to use gender-neutral pronouns like "they" or "ze" for transgender or non-binary students, citing concerns over compelled speech and Bill C-16, a Canadian law adding gender identity and expression to human rights protections. Link

Many of us followed him for that, though many of us also grew a little tired of his strained voice and tendency to go on... and on... and on... and... yawn.... Prolixity, thy name is Jordan. 

Still, he's prospered off the back of the notoriety of standing up to the Man. Standing up to a growing gender ideology movement, that then swept the western world, sweeps it still, only now -- perhaps --ebbing.

His YouTube channel has 8.7 million subscribers. For context only around 3,000 channels out of a total 114,000,000 YouTube channels have over 8 million subs, making him one of 0.0026% of accounts with that many followers. 

So he's doing well and his books do well. I'm sure his "12 Rules for Life", a bestseller, helped many people, especially young men, confused in a confusing age. 

Of all the Canadians on the world stage, apart from Justin Trudeau, it's Jordan Peterson who would have the best name recognition, even more than the new PM, Mark Carney, or the opposition leader Pierre Poilievre. The Toronto Star calls Jordan Peterson "Canada's biggest digital export". 

All this is to set the table for the challenge that came my way from an Occasional Reader, pointing to a clip of Peterson, saying a couple of things to which the Reader took offense:

...Peterson used phrases such as he’s told by [1] “very wealthy and very well connected people” that Carney is not good .. and he knew what’s going on in Trump’s inner circle because [2] “I have extensive contacts in DC which I have carefully developed in the last five years precisely for a moment like this, and they tell me what’s going on”…  it sounds like using an anecdotal nepotism to persuade followers .. I don’t think it’s a good look....

Now it may be that the clip left out context, in which case those statements might well come across as "anecdotal nepotism". 

I couldn't find the clip and only watched the whole piece of 1:26:00, which is linked here. 

Reference [1] “very wealthy and very well connected people”

In the full video of nearly 1.5 hours, it's clear that in the first case, Jordan Peterson is talking about the effect Mark Carney, as head of the Bank of England, had on the Stock Market, and hence on the feelings of the very wealthy, who are the ones most loaded up on equities. Moreover, it's not quite correct to say that they thought "Carney is not good'. As Peterson says, the rich "had a conscience as it turns out", because when Carney's QE policies at the Bank of England led to rapidly increasing stock prices after the 2008 crisis, they felt that there should have been more done for the not so wealthy, as well. Pangs of guilt, I guess. 

 Reference [2] "“I have extensive contacts in DC which I have carefully developed..." 

In the latter case, "carefully developing contacts" is what one does. Whether you're a diplomat, or a politician, or a member of the media, or a major influencer on YouTube, like Peterson, what you do is precisely go around developing contacts. It's what I did when I was in the Australian Embassy in Peking then Shanghai and Hong Kong. It's what one does. I see nothing sinister in that, Occasional Reader, sorry.

I offer to Occasional Reader the chance to come back at me, and I'll post what he says in full, anonymously, if that's what he wants. Or not. 

I guess this is all a bit of a storm in a teacup. Then again, I do like a nice cuppa. 

The bigger issue here is what Jordan Peterson has to say about the new Canadian Prime Minister, Mark Carney and his chances against the opposition Conservative, Pierre Poilievre in the forthcoming election. This is important stuff, which Australians follow closely. Jordan Peterson, a major YouTuber and influencer, has worthwhile things to say about it. 

He talks of Trump as the elephant in the china shop, blundering around, putting all Canadians offside, and I agree with that. It does seem remarkably reckless. Then again, as Peterson says at the end, it may be that Trump would prefer to deal with a weak Liberal, than a strong Conservative. (Liberals in Canada being the Democrat equivalent and Conservatives the Republican equivalent).

Peterson goes over in detail in the video below, Mark Carney's Values, taken from Carney's book (timestamps below the fold). Peterson critiques Carney strongly, as do I. I didn't like Carney as PM from the outset, mainly because he's on the Net Zero train. In my view that's a recipe for disaster, for national impoverishment, that is being foolishly followed by the U.K., by Germany, by Canada, by New Zealand and by us in Australia. There's plenty of data and many experts that agree: Net Zero is unattainable, but the effort to get to Net Zero will crush economies. We may well become the first developed nations where the children end up poorer than their parents, all because of policy. Deliberately done, IOW.

Mark Carney in Canada or Chris Bowen in Oz may well have Good Intentions. 

But, remember, Good Intentions are what the Road to Hell is paved with. 

The TimeStamps for the video "Reaction to Imminent Liberal Victory in Canada":

(0:00) Intro (0:43) Giving the Devil His Due: The Case for Carney in the Age of Trump (4:46) No Mandate: What Carney’s Résumé Tells Us About His Connection to Canadians (9:19) “Values”: What Carney’s Book Reveals About His Understanding of Canada (15:34) From Values to Policy: DEI, Postmodernism, and Identitarianism (19:16) Carney’s Climate Agenda: Net-Zero, Carbon Taxes, and Technocracy (25:11) Climate Crisis? Carbon, Catastrophe, and Global Greening (29:31) Bjørn Lomborg’s Perspective: Environmentalism Without Sacrificing Progress (32:54) If Carney’s Right About the Climate—He Isn’t—What Does That Mean for Canada? (38:04) Carney the Globalist: Efficient, Strategic, and Committed to Net-Zero (39:38) The Outsider Status Lie: Who Carney Really Is (42:02) Beware the Utopian Promise: Problems with a Net-Zero Future (53:05) Is It Really About Climate—or About Power? (57:52) Trudeau’s Liberals Have Shifted the Script—Carney Continues the Trend (1:00:15) ARC vs. WEF: The Key Difference Is Transparency (1:12:42) Why It Will Be Much Worse Under Carney (1:15:18) “There Wasn’t a Single Original Idea in His Book” (1:17:13) We Invited Carney to Appear On the Show—He Declined 

(1:21:42) Conclusion