3 Things I Learned From Attending Jordan Peterson’s Sold-out Show In DC

Guest Post by Juliana Knot

Peterson’s message is one focused on finding meaning, not fueling hate. Although it’s not a saving message, it’s one we’ll be hearing for a long time.

Renowned psychologist Dr. Jordan Peterson took the stage at the sold-out Warner Theater in Washington DC Friday night. The crowd got on its feet and started cheering, ecstatic to hear him speak.

Peterson gained fame after opposing a Canadian bill that criminalized using the wrong pronouns for transgender persons. His notoriety only grew from there after a video of his interview with British broadcaster Cathy Newman went viral. Now, he’s got a cult following who call themselves “lobsters” (in reference to an example in the viral interview) and a best-selling book titled “12 Rules for Life.”

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That night, Peterson worked through only nine of the twelve rules, drawing from clinical psychology, philosophy, and common sense. Before he started walking through his rules, he talked about what motivated him.

Earlier that day, he and Dave Rubin, a YouTube personality who opened the show and appeared on The Federalist Radio Hour last week, were at the Lincoln Memorial when a young man walked up to them. This man’s brother had been going through a divorce when he started watching Peterson lectures online. The advice Peterson gave helped turn his brother’s life around. Peterson said these experiences were the highlight of what he did.

“It’s personal, not political,” he said.

It’s an important clarification, because most of the coverage of Peterson has been only the latter. He’s either a spokesman for alt-right hatred or the last defense against stifling political correctness. Yet Peterson is a clinical psychologist. According to him, his aim is to help people.

Before attending this event, I had very little knowledge of Peterson and his views. I had seen clips of his famous interview and glanced at his 12 rules, but lacked an understanding of him and his work. Here are three things I learned about Jordan Peterson after attending his show.

1. Peterson Is Not an Alt-right Demagogue

Many on the Left have criticized Peterson and his followers as disgruntled white men, hiding their pent-up racism and sexism behind pseudo-intellectual talk. A columnist from The Nation states that Peterson has a “far-right political agenda” and advises her reader to avoid dating one of his fans.

Peterson certainly doesn’t play the alt-right type by wearing a three-piece navy-blue suit and drinking Perrier. Throughout his lecture, he paced the stage, not goose-stepped, and took frequent pauses in order to word his next thought carefully. This is not the demeanor of a brazen white nationalist.

Neither was his message. He did not blame women or minorities for the problems in his followers’ lives. Rather, it actually targeted his followers themselves. Peterson asked the crowd repeatedly, “If your life is truly miserable, are you actually doing all that you can to make it better?” He also has called for people to restrain themselves from violence and focus on managing themselves rather than attempting to manipulate or bully others.

Additionally, his rules called for vulnerability and personal suffering rather than blood and soil. His first rule is probably the best example of this. It states: Stand up straight with your shoulders back. At first glance, one might pounce on this as a command to show the world who’s boss. That is not the case. Peterson told the crowd to be open to the wounds of the world, so they can experience its suffering and learn from it. His message does not seek to oppress or dehumanize. Rather, it seeks truth and meaning.

2. Peterson Can Help You Help Yourself, But Not Save You

Because Peterson is seeking out truth and meaning, he can’t avoid questions of faith. In fact, he calls the propositions on which he bases his rules “religious, because they’re about the fundamental reality of life.” His propositions are these:

1. Life is tragic.

2. The world’s tragedy is touched with malevolence, because humans often make their suffering worse.

3. In order to contend with this suffering, one must have a “noble goal to justify your existence, clear your conscience, and get yourself out of bed.”

Most world religions contain the first two premises in some form. Even secular humanism acknowledges that the world is a broken place. Peterson noted that “’You’re perfectly okay the way you are’ is the most pessimistic advice you can receive.” If this is the best humanity can do, we all will start staring into the abyss very soon. In fact, our society has already done a good deal of that lately.

Peterson’s third conclusion doesn’t meet his prior statement. He claims that he’s become an optimist about the human condition because he’s such a pessimist about the state of the world. “The grandeur of the human spirit” is enough to confront the worst pain that we face today, he says.

These rules can repair and improve things like mindset, work ethic, and family life, which are very important things. However, they fall short in addressing the brokenness of the human soul. That’s because, even at our best, we can’t follow Peterson’s 12 rules perfectly. Even if we could, we wouldn’t be immune to senseless tragedies like death and illness. Our hurt stretches far deeper than his moral guidelines can reach.

To be fair, I don’t think Peterson believes that his 12 rules are the cure-all for the world’s brokenness. However, for his many secular followers, this is the sole semblance of religion they have, so they are going to treat it as such.

3. Peterson Isn’t Going Anywhere Any Time Soon

Natalie Wynn, a transgender person, responded to Peterson in a NSFW video, admitting, “[People] have this need to have purpose in the face of suffering and like not just complain about patriarchy.” Peterson recognizes that it is not enough to stand against bad ideology; people also need a positive belief system.

Peterson engages the common YouTuber in questions of truth and meaning. He acknowledges and fills a gap in society. He doesn’t show open disdain for people who haven’t read Plato, but speaks to his crowds at their level, showing how complex philosophy has the potential to improve one’s life.

Peterson also engages with his fame well. He treats it with caution and doesn’t revel in his spotlight. During the question and answer, he said he thinks his fame “will end in catastrophe at any moment.” This mindset gives his message endurance over the fleeting fame that so many viral stars chase. It is unlikely he’ll burn out like Milo Yiannopolous, an actual provocateur. Peterson’s tour is only halfway through, and his videos still rack up millions of views all over the Internet.

As I left the theater, I noticed that the woman sitting in the row in front of me wore lobster earrings. As I walked out, I saw a man who had donned a lobster hat, complete with antennae. He waved his red foam claw around and shouted that this was the best show he had ever been to. Peterson’s message is one focused on finding meaning, not fueling hate. Although it’s not a saving message, it’s one we’ll be hearing for a long time.

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Fleabaggs
Fleabaggs

The world is dying from the emptiness of secular Me-ism we exported so he solves the problem with the Biblical theme of repentance and renewal minus God and the Bible.
Sounds like having a form of Godliness but denying His Power.

AC
AC

He is certainly not Alt-Right, and he has no interest in the truth, and he will certainly stick around as long as the cash is rolling in. Peterson is a spur track to extinction for his followers. He wants to salvage the Globohomogayplex, with nothing more than a new facade on the bankrupt ideas of atomized individualism, globalism, and multiculturalism.

The main beneficary of Jordanetics™, is Jordan’s bank account – not his victims.

He is evil.

thetruthonly

I have no idea what atomized individualism is (but he does think individuals are at the top of important as being the solution to all issues of well being), but globalism and multiculturalism (the Marxist or PC kind) are not on his agenda. Wha.. he is not saying what you want to hear, or not saying something you understand?

EL Coyote
EL Coyote

Fleabo, I seem to recall saying the same. I don’t recall the exact words but I compared him to other cult leader who develop a peculiar doctrine with esoteric principles and practices meant to save your rotten soul. Of course, they don’t sell you Jesus, that’s too pedestrain, instead, they offer themselves for worship and adoration. The lobster king will show them the way. I found it particularly grating that he has a 50 word explanation for every commonplace idea you might offer. He sounds deep, but when you boil it all down, it’s stuff your dad told you back in grade school.

I think my dad anticipated Jordan Peterson; I mean, I’ve said this before, my dad had two rules; don’t hit girls, don’t be gay. The rest of his teachings came from those two major principles: take care of your younger brothers, respect women, be a man, do not be dependent on somebody else.

Fleabaggs
Fleabaggs

El C..
Right you are. They just don’t call it snake oil anymore.

bigfootmm
bigfootmm

Hey, AC, did you know you are lying? Of course you do, you evil prick.

AC
AC

Do some research on Peterson. The more you know about him, the less endearing you will find him.

https://redice.tv/news/jordan-peterson-a-un-globalist-edited-a-report-for-the-high-level-panel-on-sustainable-development

MadMike
MadMike

I wonder if Fleabaggs or AC have ever listened to Peterson or read any of his material?
Peterson doesn’t criticize those who think their invisible man in the sky is the only true one.

Fleabaggs
Fleabaggs

Mikey..
Piss off. He’s selling snake oil and you’re defensive because you bought a 5 year supply.
You’re telling us we are insensitive Alfa Male brutes for daring to critique your boyfriend. You’ve been eating too much Tube Steak.

EL Coyote
EL Coyote

Whoa, Mud Mike is off his meds.

SebastianX1/9

Peterson is the O’Brien who befriends you before he tortures you. Peterson tells white boys to be even MORE deracinated than they already are, to go along with systematic racial replacement and 24/7 anti-white male propaganda by…cleaning our f room! He is a UN stooge who authored an Agenda 2030 “sustainability” international program, they type critiqued on this very website. Peterson has been unleashed on the English-speaking world as very controlled pseudo-opposition who, for those who can read and know philosophy, is actually pushing a more genteel version of the prevalent relativistic nihilism and materialist reductionism that destroyed us in the first place. He is an avowed feminist who confesses to being mentally ill and requiring medication. He is a weak, sick man, the end of the white man incarnate.

Mr. Frosty
Mr. Frosty

He’s a total hypocrite. He lavishes praise on the Jews and all they’ve accomplished as a people. Then he ferociously attacks White identity and claims any White man that is proud of his people is stupid and pathetic. He insists White men, and only White men, never see themselves as part of a tribe. Yet all humans throughout history have always had a tribal identity.

He just repackaged Agenda 21 global communism and threw in enough alt-lite tidbits to fool weak minded people.

Socratic Dog
Socratic Dog

If he rouses all this passion in you lot, he’s something. What, I don’t know.

Personally, I couldn’t give a fuck about Jordan Peterson.

BUCKHED
BUCKHED

Hmmm…how hard is it to start your own cult ?

Anonymous
Anonymous

Bucky, you could start by making wild promises like a wall, find a scapegoat for all the world’s evils, develop a site on 8chan where you share cryptic yet tantalizing messages of hope to the true believers in the flock.
EC

Ghost

You just dislike Jordan because I like him. Admit it.

Anonymous
Anonymous

Aww, shaddupm Maggita. Just cause I got that motor-sickle pic wit the long-legged chick pinned up in my garage, it’s just a conversation item. Could you post the beach pic again? You know, just cause it’s summer and stuff.

Ghost

You crack me up. There’s a better one, you know.

EL Coyote
EL Coyote

Oh shit, now I won’t rest knowing my collection is incomplete. Does Stuck have a copy? Anybody? https://youtu.be/NP0mQeLWCCo?

Rdawg
Rdawg

I just vomited in my mouth.

EL Coyote
EL Coyote

That’s because you have a dirty mind Rdawg. She said she has a better pic of the motorsickle photoshoot, moran. I have a pic of Maggita in her laundry room. I liked her pic with her cousin. Old Maggie is using this place like a teeny bopper uses WhatsApp to post selfies.

Rdawg
Rdawg

No, not that moran. It makes me ill that the sexy mulata doesn’t know that her man is soliciting photos of other women on the interwebz. Disgusting.

Anonymous
Anonymous

I’ve shown her a couple of pics of La Maggie. But you made me realize something, that pic at the beach could have been the sexy mulatta in her salad days. Maybe that’s why I like it even if it is a bit mysterious.

I can recall a scene like that. We were at the beach at Harrah’s in Laughlin after dark. A couple of capybaras swam by the river’s edge. And no, I was not drinking.

Ozum
Ozum

Strikes me that Peterson is circling Siddhartha Gautama .

Mustang
Mustang

Sorry Juliana, you lost me at “alt-right hatred”. There is no hatred in the alt-right. Disagreement yes, hatred (?) No. That was a cheap shot by a

Mark H
Mark H

I’m currently reading JP’s 12 rules book and very much enjoying it. Can’t help but feel that a lot of people who dislike JP don’t actually have a clue what he stands for(!) When someone is accused by both sides of an argument for supporting the opposing view then you know he’s doing something right – and that neither side has paid enough attention and actually understands what he said.

Ironically I listened to Chris Martenson’s (Peak Prosperity) “Living with Meaning” interview with Stephen Jenkinson this morning (possibly as a consequence of some of the recent PP posts here?) and was struck with the similarity of his and JP’s positions. Basically, if you want meaning in your life then stop clinging to hopelessness or hopefullness and get on with living it decently – i.e. accept life for what it is and try harder. There is no happiness pill just personal responsibility (which includes responsibility to others).

For anyone who doesn’t know what JP is about then it’s worth reading and thinking about the following shortish Quora post. His book and various interviews all stem from his discussions at Quora, which are in turn based on a huge amount of professional psychology research. These “rules” seem to encompass decency without embracing a specific political or religious ideology (though clearly also challenge behaviours in many of them).

https://www.quora.com/What-are-the-most-valuable-things-everyone-should-know/answer/Jordan-B-Peterson

Trumpeter

Milo didn’t flame out. He had a thousand flamethrowers of lies turned on him. The same thousand flamethrowers could be manufactured for Jordan Peterson or you/me or Jullian Assange.

At any minute!

hardscrabble farmer

I disagree with you on Milo. I don’t listen to what others say about him, I look to how he behaves.

People have flaws, that’s part of the human condition, but it is always wise to look for those who exhibit the least of them and the ones that aren’t the most egregious if you want a representative of your particular world view. Look to those those who demonstrate a sense of propriety in their day to day behavior and comportment and when they fail, sincere contrition and then redemption. He has shown none of these attributes. Milo is deeply flawed on multiple levels and has demonstrated that as often as one would expect and he appears shameless when called out. That he may be able to perceive the same flaws in our societal order that you see does not make him your ally and he certainly shouldn’t stand as some leader or role model. While I find him at times entertaining and eloquent in a cosmopolitan fashion, he comes across as a broken man in his day to day life and worse, as one who is completely unaware of it..

Anonymous
Anonymous

Milo shot himself in the codpiece when he approved of pederasty. If we consider HF’s dictum that one should not listen to people whose life is a mess, Milo lost right away.
EC

Taxation is Theft
Taxation is Theft

Stephan Molyneux has a more cultish following than Peterson, but both have their share of fanboi followers. It’s true in any age that people want to elevate people to a place they don’t belong, but certainly I don’t begrudge Peterson any for becoming a successful author and personality.

IMO the most important question Peterson asks is, “Can (or has) the left gone too far?” That question is shockingly received in tone-deaf temerity by lefties. They don’t see that if the far-left gets it’s way, people are going to be killed for not towing the party line and “wrongspeak”. I’d argue that the right-leaning side of politics has MUCH more self awareness of the fringe of their ideology than the left does.

The lobster analogy was a bit of stretch in an otherwise really excellent book, IMO. I enjoyed revisiting Biblical stories and ideas after not having thought about them much in light of having the experiences of middle age to reflect upon. I suppose that he gives lots of conservatives equal amounts of indigestions amuses me too. Sacred cows are delicious and should be slaughtered, but there is value in tradition and what we know. Clean your room: a recipe for anarchy. LOL. Not likely. But if you did get your life in order before you start tossing stones at others, you might also start to realize what an absolute bankrupt idea voting is and that you don’t have some right to what belongs to another.

Anonymous
Anonymous

Taxi, I believe in the vote, what I don’t believe in is voting for people who promise to steal from someone else to pay for your vote.

Do recall the old cry, put it to a vote? That gave people control. Letting so-called representatives vote on the things that affect everybody is a recipe for enslavement.
EC

DRUD
DRUD

It’s part of our cultural dumpster fire that we all seem to latch on to one thing a person says and let that define them for us. We build people up in our minds as paragons and then a single sentence or phrase uttered makes us hate them utterly. We make blanket statements about a person’s (one whom we’ve never met) character or motivations, when we don’t even begin to fully understand our own.

It’s just a prevalent here as on freaking yahoo. Simply reacting in disgust to all the leftist lunacy out there does not make one a critical thinker.

I will say that I believe both Molyneux and Peterson to be genuine seekers of truth. To me, that’s all that matters. Of course I don’t agree with everything either says, but what kind of ridiculous (and pointless) standard is that?

Anonymous
Anonymous

Drud, I echo your sentiments. Just the other day I complained about the knee-jerk reactionary comments that might as well just say ‘ditto’. You are right, commenters could offer a solution with their criticism but they choose merely to condemn and it seems they do so only to feel justified in their self-righteous pity party of one.

Fleabaggs
Fleabaggs

Drudge & Anonomousey..
2 more self righteous pricks like mad Mikey. What I said to him applies to both of you as well.

Anonymous
Anonymous

Fleabo, I wasn’t being self-righteous intentionally. I was being critical of the Rush Limbo crowd that pops up like Floyd R. Turbo, flag in hand, armed with nothing but state propaganda.
EC

DRUD
DRUD

I see…you attack anyone (via silly ad-hominem, I might add) who doesn’t immediately agree with your vehement loathing of a third party (Peterson) yet I am a self-righteous prick?
You have entirely proved my point.

Fleabaggs
Fleabaggs

Drudge.
You attacked me for my critique of the article so I hit back. Read your comment.

DRUD
DRUD

I attacked no one…read my comment. I spoke in generalities. I took no issues with your initial comment at all. Later, I think you reacted emotionally and lashed out rather than discuss. “He’s selling snake oil and you’re defensive because you bought a 5 year supply.” A pointless attack and making a judgment about someone else’s heart that you just can’t know.
That reaction was a small part of my comment, not your critique which is certainly valid and worthy of discussion. Discussion did not happen, name calling and wild speculation occurred instead.
The stuff from Sebastion, Socratic Dog and Mr. Frosty was more of where comment was directed. There is simply no value in bashing (or canonizing) people in the public eye, yet we all like to do it.
Socratic Dog appears to have no clue what his namesake espoused, namely: “Strong minds discuss ideas, average minds discuss events, weak minds discuss people.”
I would simply like to discuss ideas. Your first comment started us down that path, but it quickly devolved into the last. This is the source of my frustration.

Anonymous
Anonymous

Drud, take it easy on Fleabo Baggins, we almost lost him for a while.

DRUD
DRUD

I’m not being hard on him…I’ve always like Fleabaggs since his unforgettably poignant debut here. I seek only to inspire people to aim higher and be more open to ideas, debate and discussion. I crave those things, more so since they are in such short supply in our modern world.

thetruthonly

Since I do view quite a few Jordan P. videos on YouTube it is not surprising Goggle puts articles about him up on my Goggle News Feed based on what they think is my interest. Except for this article which also appeared recently, EVERY article they put up was a pure hit job on him and I let them know it with the feedback option. I was starting to think Goggle is a unabashed leftist propaganda bullshit machine (probably still are), but at least once (this one) put up an article about Jordan that wasn’t 100% manure. The other explanation is he on on “the list” of leftist enemies and the overall media bullshit propaganda machine out there is overwhelming the internet with hit job pieces and Goggles algos just pick some out.

BUCKHED
BUCKHED

On my wrist is tattooed …”Knowledge,Wisdom &Truth ” . …got from wearing Robert Graham shirts but the it is entirely what I search and strive for in life .

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