Are You Confused If You Should Like or Dislike Jordan Peterson? Read On and Decide For Yourself.
This outspoken Canadian psychologist has both inspired and offended. He’s motivated and angered and he’s in the spotlight today in our article 15 Things You didn’t Know About Jordan Peterson.
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1
Who Is Jordan Peterson?
Born in Edmonton, Alberta – Peterson is a professor at the University of Toronto. The New York Times’s David Brooks referred to him as “the most influential public intellectual in the Western world right now.” On the other hand, Tabatha Southey, columnist for the Canadian magazine Macleans, called him “the stupid man’s smart person”.
Peterson is a right-wing internet personality, a husband, dad, and a fatherly figure to men around the world – as seen in the millions of comments on his YouTube videos.
Despite comments claiming that feminists all have “an unconscious wish for brutal male domination,” and that 3rd world countries are “pits of catastrophe,” it’s his teachings and advice that are inspiring to so many, as you’ll hear next.
2
We Highlight a Few Of His Life Lessons
Aluxers, this is part of the original list that Peterson had written, which were the motivation for his two books – 12 Rules for Life and Beyond Order.
- Act so that you can tell the truth about how you act.
- Pursue what is meaningful, not what is expedient.
- Assume that the person you are listening to might know something you need to know. Listen to them hard enough so that they will share it with you.
- Plan and work diligently to maintain the romance in your relationships.
- Make at least one thing better every single place you go.
- Compare yourself to who you were yesterday, not to who someone else is today.
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3
How Did He Move From Scholar to Internet Personality?
Peterson has his PhD in psychology and is a clinical and research psychologist. His passion is personality traits, and his paper on what makes a person more, or less creative has been quoted over 10,000 times according to Google Scholar.
He registered a YouTube channel in 2013, where he started to upload videos of his lectures – which we’ll go into more depth later, but it’s the October of 2016 that made people really notice him. Canadian Parliament were working on introducing a bill banning any discrimination around gender identity and gender expression called Bill-C-16.
Peterson refused to call a student by their chosen gender and went on to post a video criticizing the bill, claiming it was a threat to free speech rights. And Aluxers, the world started to notice Jordan Peterson.
4
What Else Has Seen Him Receive a Lot of Attention?
English journalist, Cathy Newman, interviewed Peterson for the UK’s Channel 4, and it didn’t end well. By challenging Peterson, Newman misinterpreted a lot of what Peterson was putting forward.
The interview received so much hatred, that Newman had to be escorted home with police security. After that, she received thousands of abusive messages and even death threats. People posted fake pornographic images of her and memes are still circulating today.
The video has been uploaded to YouTube and has been viewed almost 30-million times.
Fox News host Tucker Carlson called it “one of the great interviews of all time.”
5
Book Sales Exploded
After this interview – Peterson’s book sales sky-rocketed. His book, book 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos, became a best-seller in the UK, US, Aus, Germany and France. If you haven’t read it already Aluxers, be sure to listen to it on Audible. We are offering one free book download, so go to alux.com/freebook.
Peterson stopped lecturing for a while as he travelled the world promoting his new book.
Peterson has published 3 books in total – along with 12 Rules for life, there is Maps of Meaning: The Architecture of Belief and Beyond Order: 12 More Rules for Life, and we’ll tell you later how Beyond Order came to being published.
Incase you are looking for some influential books to read, check out 15 Powerful Books to Change Your View on Life.
6
His Claim to More Fame
We mentioned Jordan Peterson started a YouTube channel in 2013 where he uploaded his lectures, including older content from as far back as 1996. He continued uploading basic course material until 2016, when he decided to clean up the content on the channel and began raising funds through Patreon.
Peterson hired a film crew to record his lectures and from August 2016 to January 2017, his monthly earnings through Patreon increased from $1,000 a month to $14,000 a month.
Joe Rogan has interviewed him 3 times, and Rogan says they’re some of his favourite episodes! Be sure to watch our video, 15 Richest Podcast Hosts, to find out how Joe Rogan made it to number 1.
The Jordan B. Peterson Podcast currently has 3.6 million subscribers.
7
He’s Not Winning Favours Everywhere
Peterson’s views do not sit well with everybody, for example, when Peterson spoke out against Bill-C-16. Critics said Peterson was “helping to foster a climate for hate to thrive” and protests took place on campus.
Another professor at the University of Toronto, Ira Wells, referred to him as “the professor of piffle,” and before Penguin Random House Canada published his 3rd book, a meeting was held with the employees to discuss whether or not they would publish the book as many were dead against the idea.
8
Love Him or Hate Him, He Isn’t Going Anywhere
It’s ok to like or dislike him, that’s entirely up to you. And let’s be honest, he doesn’t give two hoots about our opinion anyway.
By his own admission, Peterson is a serious person. He’s bringing a practical and easy to understand way of looking at the world around us, and it’s packed with common sense, as written by Caitlyn Flanagan for The Atlantic.
When the question appeared on Quora, “why are some people so fanatically against Jordan Peterson,” The argument was heated with both sides strongly stating their points of view.
To summarize it, Peterson offers “dad advice,” to a generation of lost, young men.
9
His Writing Inspired a 13-Part Canadian Series
A TV mini-series based on his first book, Maps of Meaning: The Architecture of Belief, was broadcast in 2004 on TVOntario. There were 13 episodes that aired that looked at the history of man and psychology.
Peterson was also featured on BBC Horizon’s Mad but Glad, when pianist Nick van Bloss chatted to Peterson on the show, and he was featured again on TVOntario, this time on The Agenda, as an essayist and panellist.
10
How He Makes His Money
Jordan Peterson certainly made a decent salary as a lecturer, and clinical psychologist, but that’s not what helped him get a net worth of $7 million.
His earnings are credited to Patreon, which earns him around $1 million a year thanks to the support of nearly 10,000 fans.
He earns money through his public speaking, book sales, and his journaling programme.
11
Insightful Interviews on the Josh Rogan Experience
As quoted by a viewer of one of the podcasts, The White Horseman, “Some say that when Dr Peterson pauses, he is downloading from The Matrix.”
The interviews that Josh Rogan have had with Jordan Peterson, have garnered millions of views. As we mentioned, Joe Rogan says they’re some of his favourite interviews.
The interviews are in-depth and cover topics from the natural world to equality of opportunity, and the gender paradox to do men and women differ.
12
He’s Well Read
One of Peterson’s favourite books is Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky. Peterson says that this book has been a major inspiration in his work over the years and provides a far deeper understanding of morality.
He also has other favourites, so we whittled it down for you in our video – 15 Books JORDAN PETERSON Thinks Everyone Should Read.
Still to come, how Peterson’s philosophies have been used in a comic.
13
Peterson’s Life Advice
To summarize it – Peterson suggests stopping wasting time and be intentional about the way you use your time. That way when you’ve finished what you’re required to do, you can sit down with the things that make you happy without robbing the joy of the moment by thinking of all the things you should be doing.
One of his best quotes is, “You’re not everything that you could be, and you know it!”
He believes that we need to help and teach people how to face their greatest fears, in order to achieve their goals. Because, as we know Aluxers, amazing things stand on the other side of fear.
14
Medically, The Family Have Been Through a Lot
As revered and respected as what Peterson is, his life is also not picture perfect. His family have been through a lot, health wise, causing him to have a lengthy absence from the limelight.
His wife, Tammy, was diagnosed with a form of kidney cancer which could be fatal. With that devastating news, he increased and switched his dosage of meds to help his anxiety and insomnia. This caused a strained relationship with his son, Julian.
He became addicted and went to rehab in New York, which didn’t help, and flew to Russia for treatment, where he landed up with pneumonia and was in a medically induced coma for 8 days. He woke, went back home and then caught Covid.
His daughter, Mikhaila, has idiopathic juvenile arthritis, severe depression, and chronic fatigue – which she has been treating following the lion diet.
It was a tough time for the family, but they are in a much better space now.
15
Where to Now?
- He’s released his latest book, Beyond Order, so that will keep him busy.
- He plans to follow his daughters “Lion diet” to remain healthy.
- He’ll continue challenging and pushing the boundaries. Getting people to think and rethink things.
We leave you with one final quote from Peterson, “’Happiness’ is a pointless goal. Don’t compare yourself with other people, compare yourself with who you were yesterday. No one gets away with anything, ever, so take responsibility for your own life.”
Question:
Aluxers, what is your opinion on Jordan Peterson? We’d love to hear from you.
