“The Jordan Peterson Moment” — Judge a Person By Their Ideas. Tell the truth. Accept Responsibility
People should be judged not by the color of their skins, but by their character and their ideas.
We have no free will when it comes to choosing our skin colors. We have no free will when it comes to what gender we are.
Please don’t think I’m undermining anyone’s struggles and experiences as a minority. I’m just tired of identity politics oozing into places where they should not belong.
When it comes to dealing with cultural issues or gender issues, I understand that your identity plays a factor. However, I think the conversation will be more fruitful and rational if you are able to remove yourself and your emotions from the discussion at hand.
Prove your points with facts and attempt to prop up your argument with facts and evidence. Don’t try to shut down the conversation by labeling them as a racist or sexist.
Judge their ideas, not their physical traits, and try to judge if they’re blatantly attacking you (in which case you can walk away because they obviously aren’t trying to have a conversation) or if they’re trying to lay out a reasonable argument.
Try your best to remove your emotions from the conversation, and you will find that the other person (usually) doesn’t mean harm. You’ll be offended only if you want to be offended. You can choose not to be offended and approach the conversation in a composed manner.
The important part is, you have to give their side a bit of merit. You have to try to see why they believe what they believe. Not everything can be simplified into black and white.
My point here is to treat others like they’re humans, instead of classifying them by the color of their skin. Judge them individually, case by case, by their actions. No stereotyping and assumptions about their behaviors. Try to understand the person standing in front of you as a human being.
Charlie: How are we going to get rid of racism?
Morgan: Stop talking about it. I’m going to stop calling you a white man, and I’m going to ask you to stop calling me a black man.
I read a recent article on Jordan Peterson on The New York Times, and I had a quick peek in the comment section. I thought the first few comments were teeming with ideology, although I can definitely see why they would think these things.
This person probably never listened to any of Jordan Peterson’s ideas, and even if she did, she discredited every good idea he had as soon as she saw that he was a white man.
The question is: Why can’t he be a white man? Why do we have to play the race card almost immediately? How would his ideas be more credible if he was a man of a different race or gender?
I would respect anyone, regardless of traits like race or gender, who shared great ideas and embodied those ideas in their thought, speech, and action.
If watching the interview with Cathy Newman was the first exposure you had of Jordan Peterson, I can understand why you’d jump to the conclusion that he was some closeted misogynist. I want to add that the conversation was very high paced and he had no time to elaborate or even think on his points due to Newman’s aggressive interview style.
However, I think he had a very good argument against the existence of the pay gap between women and men solely existing because of sexism.
He argues that a study of the differences in wages that women and men receive should be tested with multiple variables, since there are many factors that contribute to the discrepancy of wages.
I think we all should do some research and come to our own conclusions with this argument. I know there is substantial proof for both sides, and I do realize that I may be taking Professor Peterson’s words as gospel. This problem is very controversial and requires a lot of analysis and thinking, which is what ideologies tend to ignore.
Can we all just take a moment to sit down and think about the possibility that OUR OWN PERSPECTIVE of the world can be wrong?
I’ve had to do that many times in my life, and it hurts physically and mentally. Being wrong is painful and full of suffering. You acknowledge your flaws as a human and it makes you feel stupid.
The Truth Hurts.
I’ve had to question my own beliefs and consider if I actually thought about the things I believed in. I had to backtrack and see where I had acquired my ideas, and if they were sitting on a solid foundation of facts and evidence.
Admitting that I was lying to myself and that I was wrong about the beliefs I held was painful, but it set me free. I saw the world from different perspectives, and made me face facts that were tough to swallow but ultimately beneficial in the long run.
I looked at the world in all its complexity, and accepted it for what it was — objectively meaningless yet subjectively meaningful.
I sought to understand the other side of the argument. I looked at the facts, and not the opinions or feelings.
I had to think about the ideas I held and come to my own conclusion. I took a look at both sides of the argument. I didn’t surround myself with people who shared the same ideas as me, because that would be self-serving and hurtful to my growth as an individual.
Putting yourself in an echo chamber allows you to avoid potentially strong and fatal arguments that can damage your current perspective of the world. People put themselves in echo chambers to protect themselves and their ideas of a simplified world.
This only infantilizes the individual and hurts the individual in the long run. They are unable to face the chaos of this world, and will cling onto any world view that categorizes the state of the world in a simple way.
So if you’re ready to grow up and take responsibility for your life…
You must tell the truth.
Telling the truth to the world and, most importantly to yourself, hurts. It’s extremely painful and you’ll realize that you’ve been lying to yourself and to others in little ways.
You’ll start questioning your most treasured and protected beliefs, and be willing to open your mind and change your perspective. You’ll start growing as an individual, and be able to stand tall while others fall to group think and ideological movements.
Telling the truth will make you stronger and more confident. You will know that you fully believe in yourself and your ideas, and will allow you to tackle the problems you’ve been hiding from all your life.
The problems that weighed you down will illuminate themselves to you and this time you will have the courage to face them and destroy them.
Telling the truth will make you respectable, wise, and trustworthy, which will naturally bring people to you. You will earn respect and command it. People will listen to you intently and know that you are always telling the truth, and they will love you for that.
If you want to stop suffering and grow up and become a better version of yourself, you must tell the truth.
