Alex S

“I think that’s the way you show people the right path forward, too. You say, well look, we would like it so much if you could thrive as an individual. Drop your cult-like affiliation. Step out of the shadows, the demonic shadows of your ideological possession, and step forward as a fully-developed person into the light. Do it by example. That’s your best bet, man. That’s what it looks like to me.”

As opposed to purely political questions, with matters of what is necessary to personally thrive, individuals actually have skin in the game, and so are more open to challenging messages and less likely to cling rigidly to their dogmas. And individualism is not only good for society but for the individual soul, while collectivism leads not only to mass atrocity but personal stagnation. So many people are stuck in ruts in their lives, because they are preoccupied with politically-charged resentments and fears instead of fully tending to their own lives and relationships.

Such critics don’t understand what Peterson is saying, because they are mired in the mindsets of politics and war. The way of politics and war is to confront an enemy horde by amassing your own horde: whether it be on the battlefield, in street demonstrations, or in voting booths. It is to fight tribal barbarism by tending toward the tribal and the barbaric yourself. But the way of the heroic, civilized individual is to lead by example and to lead by appealing to the interests of those whose behavior you want to influence.