{"id":22188,"date":"2019-09-25T20:49:03","date_gmt":"2019-09-25T19:49:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.anfocal.ie\/?p=22188"},"modified":"2019-09-25T20:49:21","modified_gmt":"2019-09-25T19:49:21","slug":"investigating-the-following-behind-jordan-peterson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.anfocal.ie\/index.php\/investigating-the-following-behind-jordan-peterson\/","title":{"rendered":"Investigating the following behind Jordan Peterson"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>By: Aislinn Kelly<\/p>\n<p>Canadian psychologist Jordan Peterson has amassed a cult following by threading through controversies- from dismissing gender quotas to fighting a pronoun bill.<\/p>\n<p>Many see his popularity as a rally against progression, with anti-feminists and alt-right using him as a credible source to back their damaging ideals.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t really regard myself as a political figure,\u201d Peterson claimed, before becoming the focus of the most explosive political debates in recent years.<\/p>\n<p>There hasn&#8217;t been a genuine psychology superstar like Jordan Peterson in some time; one would have to stretch back to the days of Carl Jung or Abraham Maslow to find a psychologist that was a household name.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>With that said, Peterson\u2019s popularity has little to do with how he manages to get entwined in these debates and a pawn of sort in the ongoing culture war.<\/p>\n<p>The label of a misogynist is actually ill-fitting when you watch some of the hundreds of videos where he speaks of society, the mind and social issues.<\/p>\n<figure style=\"width: 800px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.wsm.ie\/sites\/default\/files\/GiantPeterson.jpg\" alt=\"Image result for jordan peterson three arena\" width=\"800\" height=\"611\"><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\"><strong>Talking Head: Jordan Peterson gave a talk at Dublin&#8217;s 3Arena in July 2018<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>While being traditional in his view of the family, Peterson appears to be centrist politically.<\/p>\n<p>His concern doesn\u2019t lie with different opinions, but more with the individual\u2019s ability to express them.<\/p>\n<p>In 2017, Peterson was launched into the public sphere by protesting against the passing of Canada\u2019s Bill C-16 which proposed to legislate calling people by their preferred pronouns.<\/p>\n<p>In the wake of this, Peterson was associated with transphobic hatred.<\/p>\n<p>He was instead looking to block the bill due to the principle of legislating language.<\/p>\n<p>He mentioned how he would call any of his students by their preferred pronouns, but denounced the idea of limiting freedom of speech through the law.<\/p>\n<p>A similar episode plastered Peterson with the \u201cmisogynist\u201d label when handling gender quotas, claiming that they might not be in woman\u2019s best interest.<\/p>\n<p>Accompanied by many of his YouTube videos detailing what makes the two genders different, his name is now seen as an enemy of modern feminism.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI do think there is a part of feminism that insists that our culture is best characterised as an oppressive patriarchy,\u201d he stated in an ABC interview. \u201cI think that\u2019s appalling.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>However, the truth about the psychologist\u2019s popularity lies beyond controversy.<\/p>\n<p>Rather than using the alt-right to propel his career and bring his book straight to bestseller, he has tapped into a more overlooked market- disillusioned men between the ages of eighteen to thirty.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou need to align effort with maturity and intelligence\u201d, Peterson said in a video entitled \u201cRelationship Advice for Young Men,\u201d which has amassed over 100,000 views.<\/p>\n<p>There have been many instances (some filmed) of Peterson being reduced to tears when speaking of the hundreds of young men who reach out to him, informing the 57-year-old his online guidance saved their lives.<\/p>\n<figure style=\"width: 503px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/commons\/thumb\/e\/ed\/Peterson_Lecture_%2833522701146%29.png\/503px-Peterson_Lecture_%2833522701146%29.png\" alt=\"Image result for jordan peterson\" width=\"503\" height=\"599\"><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\"><strong>Jordan Peterson in lecturer mode<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>He has been attributed with helping people take control of their lives, from overcoming addiction to coping with mental illness.<\/p>\n<p>Rather than comment on the flaws in society, his videos focus on remedying personal flaws which impinge on success.<\/p>\n<p>If you think of pop psychologists, once would think of Dr. Phil, but he appears on morning television.<\/p>\n<p>That demographic is shrinking more and more by the year, and people are turning to the internet for help.<\/p>\n<p>It could be a case of Jordan Peterson being the right man at the right time.<\/p>\n<p>In America, the most common cause of death in males under forty is suicide.<\/p>\n<p>Peterson has an ability to connect with this demographic, a father figure supporting his viewers success through tough love-and by making his years of studying accessible to the masses through YouTube.<\/p>\n<p>Perhaps our unease with Peterson comes from the flaws he highlights in society.<\/p>\n<p>A generation of young men have been left without guidance, navigating a world with upturned values and norms.<\/p>\n<p>In a new fractured climate, Peterson\u2019s advice provides a beacon of hope.<\/p>\n<p>His videos have amassed 65 million views, and has sold one million copies sold of \u201c12 Rules for Life\u201d,<\/p>\n<p>Peterson is not a conservative bigot holding onto 1950\u2019s society. Instead, he is an extremely modern spokesperson, parental figure, and a success is warranted while society wakes up to the underlying anxieties of the millions of disillusioned young men.<\/p>\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/1784\/42927859891_e77251269f_b.jpg\" alt=\"Image result for jordan peterson\"\/><\/figure>\n<div class=\"pvc_clear\"><\/div><p id=\"pvc_stats_22188\" class=\"pvc_stats all  \" data-element-id=\"22188\" style=\"\"><i class=\"pvc-stats-icon medium\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><svg aria-hidden=\"true\" focusable=\"false\" data-prefix=\"far\" data-icon=\"chart-bar\" role=\"img\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" viewBox=\"0 0 512 512\" class=\"svg-inline--fa fa-chart-bar fa-w-16 fa-2x\"><path fill=\"currentColor\" d=\"M396.8 352h22.4c6.4 0 12.8-6.4 12.8-12.8V108.8c0-6.4-6.4-12.8-12.8-12.8h-22.4c-6.4 0-12.8 6.4-12.8 12.8v230.4c0 6.4 6.4 12.8 12.8 12.8zm-192 0h22.4c6.4 0 12.8-6.4 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Many see his popularity as a rally against progression, with anti-feminists and alt-right using him as a credible source to back their damaging ideals. \u201cI don\u2019t really regard myself as [&hellip;]<\/p>\n<div class=\"pvc_clear\"><\/div>\n<p id=\"pvc_stats_22188\" class=\"pvc_stats all  \" data-element-id=\"22188\" style=\"\"><i class=\"pvc-stats-icon medium\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><svg aria-hidden=\"true\" focusable=\"false\" data-prefix=\"far\" data-icon=\"chart-bar\" role=\"img\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" viewBox=\"0 0 512 512\" class=\"svg-inline--fa fa-chart-bar fa-w-16 fa-2x\"><path fill=\"currentColor\" d=\"M396.8 352h22.4c6.4 0 12.8-6.4 12.8-12.8V108.8c0-6.4-6.4-12.8-12.8-12.8h-22.4c-6.4 0-12.8 6.4-12.8 12.8v230.4c0 6.4 6.4 12.8 12.8 12.8zm-192 0h22.4c6.4 0 12.8-6.4 12.8-12.8V140.8c0-6.4-6.4-12.8-12.8-12.8h-22.4c-6.4 0-12.8 6.4-12.8 12.8v198.4c0 6.4 6.4 12.8 12.8 12.8zm96 0h22.4c6.4 0 12.8-6.4 12.8-12.8V204.8c0-6.4-6.4-12.8-12.8-12.8h-22.4c-6.4 0-12.8 6.4-12.8 12.8v134.4c0 6.4 6.4 12.8 12.8 12.8zM496 400H48V80c0-8.84-7.16-16-16-16H16C7.16 64 0 71.16 0 80v336c0 17.67 14.33 32 32 32h464c8.84 0 16-7.16 16-16v-16c0-8.84-7.16-16-16-16zm-387.2-48h22.4c6.4 0 12.8-6.4 12.8-12.8v-70.4c0-6.4-6.4-12.8-12.8-12.8h-22.4c-6.4 0-12.8 6.4-12.8 12.8v70.4c0 6.4 6.4 12.8 12.8 12.8z\" class=\"\"><\/path><\/svg><\/i> <img decoding=\"async\" width=\"16\" height=\"16\" alt=\"Loading\" src=\"https:\/\/www.anfocal.ie\/wp-content\/plugins\/page-views-count\/ajax-loader-2x.gif\" border=0 \/><\/p>\n<div class=\"pvc_clear\"><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":11553,"featured_media":22192,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[101965],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22188","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features"],"a3_pvc":{"activated":true,"total_views":44,"today_views":0},"views":2435,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.anfocal.ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/peterson.jpg","wps_subtitle":"Is the Canadian psychology superstar a bigot holding onto outdated views, or a ray of light?","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.anfocal.ie\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22188","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.anfocal.ie\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.anfocal.ie\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.anfocal.ie\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11553"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.anfocal.ie\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22188"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.anfocal.ie\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22188\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22194,"href":"https:\/\/www.anfocal.ie\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22188\/revisions\/22194"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.anfocal.ie\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22192"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.anfocal.ie\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22188"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.anfocal.ie\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22188"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.anfocal.ie\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22188"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}