HE has been described as the “most influential public intellectual in the Western World” and a “right-wing reactionary” but, love him or hate him Jordan B Peterson is coming to Scotland.
The controversial Canadian clinical psychologist and academic, who is adored in conservative circles, will discuss his best-selling book 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos at Glasgow’s King’s Theatre in October.
He shot to fame – or perhaps notoriety – two years ago when he spoke out against a law that could compel Canadians to use the preferred gender pronoun of trans people, which saw him labelled a transphobe. The Toronto University professor made a video criticising the “attack on free speech” and was immediately – albeit briefly – suspended by the institution.
Peterson then gained a cult following, mostly young, white conservative men, for whom the sentiment that political correctness had gone mad struck a chord. Now his online videos are racking up millions of hits with many reportedly staying up all night to watch them.
WHAT ARE HIS 12 RULES?
THEY range from “stand up straight with your shoulders back” to “set your house in perfect order before you criticise the world” and “pet a cat when you encounter one on the street”, which conjures up images of Billy Connolly’s Glasgow cat Sam the Skull: “I’m the kind of cat that can swally a rat or even the occasional dog.”
Each of his book’s chapters is dedicated to an explanation of one of the rules, working on the basis that suffering “is built into the structure of being” and, while it can be unbearable, people have the choice of withdrawing – a suicidal gesture – or facing and transcending it. Peterson says that living in a world of chaos and order, each human has a darkness that can “turn them into the monsters they’re capable of being” to satisfy their dark impulses.
Perception is adjusted to aims, and it is better to seek meaning rather than happiness: “It’s all very well to think the meaning of life is happiness, but what happens when you’re unhappy? Happiness is a great side effect. When it comes, accept it gratefully. But it’s fleeting and unpredictable... And if happiness is the purpose of life, what happens when you’re unhappy? Then you’re a failure”.
ISN’T THAT QUITE BENIGN?
MAYBE, but Peterson has been criticised for his views on gender politics, which some see as transphobic and misogynistic. He believes some of the differences between the sexes are unavoidable and explain the gender pay gap. Inequality, he says, is built into the structure of existence and he believes a transgender person saying she is a woman does not make her one. Earlier this year, in an ill-tempered clash with Cathy Newman on Channel 4 News over the gender pay gap, he argued it was a natural reflection of differences between men and women, explained in the big five personality traits of openness to experience, conscientiousness, extroversion, agreeableness and neuroticism. The interview – which has been viewed more than 10 million times online – ended with security being called after Newman was threatened on social media.
A FUN GUY THEN?
IF you like that sort of thing. But he is hamming it up a bit and enjoying the notoriety. He tweeted about his visit to Glasgow thus: “Coming to Glasgow, with all my controversy :) Scotsmen beware!”
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