Current Events > Roughly speaking, what is your opinion of Jordan Peterson?

(+) Yeah! (+)

Considering Mr. Peterson is such a hot topic on CE, why not have a poll to determine our collective opinion of him?

Apologies if these options aren't very well written. I must also admit that I am a fan of Peterson though I've done what I can to try and represent both sides of the spectrum.
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Never heard of him until CE kept bringing him up.
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Other: I don't give a fuck

ce takes this guy seriously? not surprised
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Don't care much for him. His psychological stuff or "rules" are decent but are basic self help stuff and hardly specific to him.

Everything else is weird vague or hyperbolic pseudo scientific christian crap
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Probably somewhere between 6 and 7. I don't think he's a bad man and that he's far from malicious, but the cultural Marxist bogeyman is just not something I can take seriously.
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treewojima posted...

Other: I don't give a fuck

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On the topics and interviews that made him famous, I mostly agree. I don't think he's saying anything particularly enlightening... mostly just common sense arguments that have been passed up by a cultural pendulum that's swung too far.

I'm not really the audience for his self-help stuff, but it seems harmless. His religious material doesn't speak to me and I'm totally tuned out of that. I think he's mostly a positive force.
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I'd rather listen to anything he has to say instead of whatever lowest common denominator stuff is on cable news/radio.

Also, does "steps out of his areas of expertise" mean "expresses his opinion" in a way? It's not like he performs heart surgery or codes programs.
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I don't care.

I'm tired of these stupid political internet celebrities that people either worship or hate. They're just a waste of time.
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Never heard anything from him and I dont want to. Absolute trash people like him.

He has some decent insights when referencing solid psychology and approaches difficult topics no one else will.

But embraces the right because they won't call him on his shit and give him money. Fuck that. Brilliant or not, inspiring or not, he chose celebrity and cites empiricism when convenient and flagrant speculation when convenient.
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for me, thats not a known name outside of ce
and i havent cared to find out who he is
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an idiot's smart person
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The problem is he makes flagrant assertions and has acolytes who will believe anything he says because he is actually a riveting storyteller and gives generally good personal advice with mythology as his aid.

Anytime someone uses a platform of science to make dangerous conjecture and lies sound legitimate it is something that should be picked apart.
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I chose:

I disagree with many of his ideas, though he often has some brilliant insights

Because I truly think that JBP is brilliant beyond comprehension. In that he is a hyper intelligent person. His IQ would be well above Mensa standards.

So, there are a few problems that come as a result of this....

1. Because that hyper intelligence is likely a part of being somewhere on the spectrum (not an insult or a diagnosis, just an educated observation, let's not pretend like it's at all uncommon. I know MANY people who are like a spitting image of JBP), he often doesn't balance the immense time he puts into theorizing with what is objectively good or morally right, not because he can't, but I believe he omits it as obvious.

Take his description of enforced monogamy. I truly believe he didn't say "and of course we shouldn't do this," because to someone of his intelligence level, he assumes it's implied.

2. He is also by nature (again, as a result of his hyper intelligence) very oppositional. So he will be fairly calm and well spoken on a show like JRE, but when confronted, he immediately becomes oppositional.

Neither are uncommon and I don't hold them against him necessarily. I know when to stop listening to him. Think of him as that teacher you had in high school that could find his way across the hall, couldn't speak to a student or control a classroom but new EVERYTHING, and not in a sarcastic way.
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JimmyReimjob posted...

JBP is brilliant beyond comprehension. In that he is a hyper intelligent person. His IQ would be well above Mensa standards.

He's clearly a very educated man but holy fucking shit lol
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Because I truly think that JBP is brilliant beyond comprehension. In that he is a hyper intelligent person. His IQ would be well above Mensa standards.

As someone who has watched/listened to/read around 100 hours of Peterson and related analysis, he really is not. He is well above average, but this is the kind of mythologizing that stops us from criticizing his weak points, of which there are many.

Now, he does a great job taking facts and driving them hard. He has lost his ability to consider new viewpoints.

He is eccentric, but not a genius. He has had a good academic career but his celebrity started when he started railing on the lefty bogeyman.
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He's educated and well spoken, but is ideals are almost radical and his appreciation of people like that Yolo dude takes away from his character.

But more importantly, I don't know about him, but the amount of 'detailed' options that are available on this poll makes it seem slightly obsessive.
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Final bump.
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WSM Piru posted...

Never heard of him until CE kept bringing him up.

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I think that even for the very few times I agree with him, I'm not convinced he arrived at the answer rationally.