The presentation is interesting and very funny. It's a critique of Peterson's 12 rules, but also of public speakers and their audiences. Too bad it's in Spanish only, an English translation would be very interesting.
Jordan Peterson: Gender Pronouns and Free Speech War
- Thread starter Laura
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I definitely would've had a problem with that, rather than criticism of Peterson.
I'm reminded there's a program for everyone.
I agree, his examples were pretty funny, and sad at the same time. He is right in saying that intellectuals of today are often charlatans, not adding much useful content, and that the problem is how so many take their words as pearls of wisdom without any critical thinking. In some cases, he takes JBPs words a bit too much out of context, but I confess never having finished 12 Rules, because I thought it was a bit of a waste of time. I think I stopped reading at the chapter about not letting your children do what you would hate. It felt too repetitive, "angry" with not enough content at the time.
Here is a rough translation of the video, using the Language Reactor app. I think it gives the main gist, at least, for those interested.
etezete
Dagobah Resident
This might be a little off topic, but I came across Gabor Mate at some point of time in 2020, I do not follow Gabor Mate, never did, and I just asked myself why? And after first thinking about it (not getting an answer), then going into the feeIing I have when seeing him, brought to my light that it is not based on what he says, but it was a - how can I say this - reaction to his looks. He does not look healthy at all. He looks sick to me. I know that I do not know anything about his health status, but I just realized that I have a deep distrust of persons talking about health and looking not healthy at all. Of course there are circumstances where I would not see it like i do here, eg when someone shares his or her way out of illness and in doing so is talking about health, that is something different, I think.
He admits that he is an addict, and he writes about addiction, so maybe that fits into something different.
etezete
Dagobah Resident
ok, thanks
etezete
Dagobah Resident
oh, hes a tripper... interesting...
I like him. He looks old and plain of wisdom. He looks tired also, but he is so sweet when he talks. He is calm, and that is a good point for him.
I did purchase 12 rules and after reading a few paragraphs here and there (before starting a book I get a taste first to see if it has substance), immediately got bored and gave up (I even searched for how to sell it online, the only book I ever thought of selling). Therefore, I haven't read the book to know whether the critiques of the Spanish guy are on point or if he's using hyperbolas and straw men. However, even if the critiques do not concern the contexts in the book itself, they're worth considering "from a certain point of view".
As for Mate's looks, he talks about his health issues and addictions and there is nothing wrong about it. Like everybody else, he could be right about issue X and wrong about issue Y. It's not about following somebody but about gaining knowledge from useful things they can offer. I've known people with Mate's appearance and that appearance tells nothing about their character. It could be related to ancestry, health, life hardships, etc. Not a central issue.
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The video has automatic translation. Activate the subtitles.
I wouldn't say he's "full of it". His clinical practice of 30 years has at least provided him with a deep insight into the very common problems that beset many people. He translated that into his basic "rules for life" book, which was in a sense "pop psychology" but at the same time seems to resonate with a lot of people. I don't think there's any reason to doubt him when he says many people come up to him and tell him how he helped them in their lives.
His basic message, particularly to young people and particularly in Western nations, but potentially applicable to anyone, is "stop moping around and being depressed about how crap your life is and find something challenging and useful (to yourself and ideally others) to do to provide you with a sense of purpose and meaning. Then you won't feel so depressed".
Now that might sound like a very basic message that "everyone knows", but it seems an awful lot of people don't know it (again, especially young people) and we have to remember the dysfunctional nature of the society in which those people live that encourages them to be "weak snowflakes" and complain about everything.
So I think he did a service to many people, and for that he deserves credit, but I think that was the extent of his role in this life (and it's not a small one), but since then he has strayed into areas of discourse about global society where his knowledge of the individual does not apply. The analysis and advice that is true and useful for a normal human individual cannot be transposed onto global issues and dynamics that are created and directed by psychopaths and psychopathic groupings. To try to do so is the proverbial comparison of "apples to oranges". Peterson's naivety, emotional instability and therefore difficulty in facing objective reality (as the Cs said) leads him into wishful thinking and a "rose colored glasses" view of those global dynamics and, as a result, he gets things horribly wrong.
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I don't disagree, but in that comment I also said:
To expand on that point, it feels to me like his entire philosophy lacks anything deeper to root it in actual reality, the spiritual reality that we attempt to uncover here.
His positive impact on countless people notwithstanding, it seems to me like following his line of thinking to its ultimate conclusion leads you nowhere but back into the jaws of the control system.
And to address my use of the phrase "full of it", what I'm seeing is that he's shooting in the dark on most of these issues and merely scratches the surface of things while leaving the deeper issues facing humans in this reality to, as Gabor Mate said, repression.
I mean, the fact that he promotes letting toddlers cry it out and sort themselves out on their own calls into question everything else that he bases on his supposed knowledge of the scientific literature.
He's promoting this rugged masculine approach of pulling oneself by the bootstraps and getting one's life in order by sheer will, which is not a bad thing on its own, but can be a pretty detrimental approach in the long run since it seems to me to be highly aligned with the STS path and doing things for oneself. Of course, you're good for nothing to others if you're not in a hlgood way yourself, but I'm just looking at this entire landscape of self improvement on Youtube and it all looks like a very narcissistic cesspool of materialism meant to help people achieve status and feel like they're the top dog.
I'm seeing very little daylight between the stated philosophies of any of these guys promoting this sort of stuff.
I'm looking at the comments and I see so many young guys adopting this entirely materialistic worldview because that's what worked to get them out of the mud, so why seek any further.
There's so much overlap in fans of Tate and Peterson that it's very indicative of thebtype of energy JP espouses, even though he rather meekly denounced Tate once.