The Jordan Peterson Thread

i just read an online synopsis but everybody else seemed to really enjoy reading them

“You are perfect. To think anything less is as pointless as a river thinking that it’s got too many curves or that it moves too slowly or that its rapids are too rapid. Says who? You’re on a journey with no defined beginning, middle or end. There are no wrong twists and turns. There is just being. And your job is to be as you as you can be. This is why you’re here. To shy away from who you truly are would leave the world you-less. You are the only you there is and ever will be. I repeat, you are the only you there is and ever will be. Do not deny the world its one and only chance to bask in your brilliance.”

https://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/21585451-you-are-a-badass-how-to-stop-doubting-your-greatness-and-start-living-a

oh believe me i will not be joining this club lol

lol wtf xp

Sounds like a book-length pep talk for wounded narcissists.

I lol'd @ 'There’s nothing as unstoppable as a freight train full of fuck-yeah.'

maybe suggest a book club project where you do a Burroughs-style cut-up of both 12 Rules For Life and You Are A Badass.

i would just not be in a work book club. i had to be in a mandatory one once where the book was some pop sociology crap by disgraced journalist johann hari

You Are A Badass sounds slightly cultish.

It's also a remarkable distillation of American voluntarism.

in category "worst nightmares", "work book club" is definitely an answer for $800

I mean at least Jordan Peterson tells you to clean your room, which is useful advice

................ is it though

work book clubs are good when they are marxist reading circles that make the boss nervous

https://preview.redd.it/rfff2qteg3441.jpg?auto=webp&s=e1d5fb55f1cd65a4e187b9c96998c5782efbe3c1

I mean at least Jordan Peterson tells you to clean your room, which is useful advice

Well, he's just saying you could

FWIW, you can get all of the benefit of Jordan Peterson and more with none of the toxicity from books like The Power of Habit

“YOUR BRAIN IS YOUR BITCH”
― Jen Sincero, You Are a Badass: How to Stop Doubting Your Greatness and Start Living an Awesome Life

FWIW, you can get all of the benefit of Jordan Peterson and more with none of the toxicity from books like The Power of Habit

it’d be a better use of people’s time examining why they are more willing to hear it from someone peddling conservative Christianity fascism as self-help rather than, idk, their mothers

from what i gather from his defenders, his key point is that people need to accept the fact that life is painful and that the only way out of the bind is by accepting responsibility, making your life into something meaningful. this is not bad advice at all and for some readers it might seem like an important corrective to most self-help, which is often about wish fulfillment/law of attraction. but yeah, it's not like this is a new idea either -- it's ancient, conventional wisdom. instead of peterson, people should read viktor frankl imo

he is (was) a patriarchal father power figure like trump that's the whole of his appeal

the self-help seems like a trojan horse for the politics, which don't actually follow from his premises at all.

well, they do, because it's all individualistic bs

this all reminds me of when a (male) scam artist CEO I used to work for walked into an all hands meeting and strongly suggested we all read something called Girl, Wash Your Face

work book clubs are good when they are marxist reading circles that make the boss nervous

― treeship., Monday, February 8, 2021 8:11 PM (eleven minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

i know you're probably just expressing a hypothetical but if you have actually had this experience please share lol

brb populating all my linkedin info with marxist references

the self-help seems like a trojan horse for the politics

I actually disagree, I think the politics are a Trojan horse for extremely normie mainstream self-help stuff, conveying it to an audience predisposed to think that's girly shit

But I also think the politics are sincerely held by JP and are very bad!

as far as I can tell his 15 minutes started with the politics. that's what attracted his shithead fans in the first place

this isn't the thread for it i am increasingly convinced that "success in life / work" or whatever is defined by how much you can be the exact opposite of the kind of psycho described in these books.

_the self-help seems like a trojan horse for the politics_

I actually disagree, I think the politics are a Trojan horse for extremely normie mainstream self-help stuff, conveying it to an audience predisposed to think that's girly shit

when people say they've benefited from reading him, they're talking about his stuff about embracing responsibility and personal. they're not talking about the hysterical reactionary jeremiads, ya know. he gets attention from the politics, but then he hooks people with the self-help, and then these are the people who are actually convinced of the politics

stop making excuses for fascists

If you’re selling it that way, misogyny is part of the package. Not sure how else to convey this. It’s no mystery why he has the audience he does.

two trojan horses, working hand in hand -- hoof in hoof -- at regular intervals, this is what i am envisioning

he's a fascist who attracts kiddie fascists with fascism it's literally that simple

when people say they've benefited from reading him they're beyond help, self or otherwise

misogyny is a huge part of his package, of course. he associates "chaos" with "the feminine." but you wouldn't need to do that to accept the main thing his defenders say they like about him, which is that he taught them to reject fantasy and embrace the everyday struggles that constitute an actual human life. the latter point can be made on its own, and has, by other, better people. and it's a little different than what you get in most self-help.

none of this is about excuses

all self-help books are reactionary

in a grand sense, maybe

jeez i was joking about the room stuff

my god

you were joking in a grand sense, maybe

i used to live near cathy newman and saw her quite a bit in a nearby restaurant

sadly treesh i don't think i've done anything in the grand sense my whole life :/

xps this becomes about excuses when we have to constantly remind everyone how these people are lost and hurting and attracted to banal and relatable things as well as misogyny and white supremacy. like who cares. we had too much of this in 2015-17 already. misplaced empathy

chaos rules and thankfully it has no gender.