Jordan Peterson: The anti-intellectual “Greyface” of Discordia
Not long ago I had a nightmare of a haggard grey face man. This man was stalking me, and ultimately trying to kill me. In my fog in the early hours of the morning, I was terrified. I did not know who this man was, or what it meant, until I got on the internet one day and saw his washed-out face saturated on every page.
His name is Jordan Peterson. He is a pop psychologist out of Canada who holds a PHD in Clinical Psychology. Despite his credentials he has yet to produce any lasting work of scholarship or originate a unique idea. He gained fame off his most recent publication; a Dr. Phil styled self-help fluff publication with “Chicken Soup for the Soul” type of easy to digest tropes such as “Clean your room” and “Pull up your pants”, this book is called “12 Rules for Life: An Antidote for Chaos”. Since releasing this publication this month, Peterson has taken on numerous interviews as well as visited many college campuses.
In my dream, this grey faced creature chased me through the darkened halls of my home, breathing heavily as his cloddy shoes dragged on the gravel outside. As I evaded his glowing emerald eyed glazed over gaze, my thoughts raced. “WHY IS HE CHASING ME? WHY DOES HE WANT ME DEAD?!!?!!”
This is why. Peterson is an anti-intellectual with an agenda. The soft sophist, the simple minded professor. He has one goal. To dismantle critical thinking at its core by strategically dismantling the outlets that facilitate and nurture free thought, while begging “Why can’t you just be an individual..who conforms to all the assigned roles society provides FOR YOU?!?”??
His singular argument derides the outdated postmodernism of Derrida and Focult. Peterson argues that this philosophy undermines the natural order and hierarchy of institutions that uphold “Western Civilization”. This argument resonates easily with the red hat wearing demographic, as they have replaced Fred Durst’s tired cries of being misunderstood and breaking stuff with MAGA and nihilism. His fans fashion his Machiavellian double speak as gospel. Peterson speaks of a “culture war” as he rails against the humanities- including English, Sociology and Anthropology. As a person who clings on the values of Western Civilization, he seems to be hell bent on destroying all of humanities creations and ideas.
Philosophy, Art and Science. Poetry, Literature and Music. Peterson has a personal goal to reduce enrollment in to these college programs by 75%. This is why I am against him. Humans create, think and record history. With these tools gone, whats left? Nothing.
Peterson is a Jungist, as illustrated by his earlier work, titled “Maps to Meaning: The architecture of belief.” This book is rehash of Jungian shadow work psychology viewed through a conservative lens. I find it ironic that Peterson is so hung up on Postmodernism and nihilism, as he himself IS postmodern. His followers are nihilists, watching the world burn as they punch grey numbers in to grey spreadsheets as the grey face man whispers in their ears to do things that should already know to do. The sheer mediocrity and celebration of the mundane in his publications is painful. I implore you to explore, to create and record. The Humanities are literally humans creations. There are celebrated halls of art and history. There are not celebrated halls of chinos and spreadsheets. Surpass mediocrity, don’t celebrate it.
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