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I was lucky the other day and got a facebook friend giving away a ticket to Jordan Peterson in Wellington. I didn't even know he was in town and have to admit, I barely listen to what he says beyond an interview or two. I'm Canadian and find his accent grating to be honest.

Now that I've listened to him talk for a couple of hours, I have a few thoughts on him:

  1. he seems genuinely interested in helping people, especially young men - one of the questions was on suicide and he answered with earnestness and compassion and intelligence and I thought he did a good job (question was: "I put off my suicide to come see this tonight. I've seen your video on suicide and the thought of hurting my abusive family only encourages me to do it. Why should I live?"

  2. His evening topic was "toxic masculinity", and from his first few sentences, I knew that he was working from a bad definition. He said "how can you say half the population is toxic?" which I feel misses the point. That being said, I enjoyed his stories and found them moving and I appreciated hearing them. He is from a small, conservative, working-class town in Canada like I am.

  3. His definition of "compassion" as "forgiving everyone no matter what" seems really weird. By that definition, it's a ridiculous quality to have that no one should have. That's not what compassion is and I don't believe you can have "too much". It isn't even about forgiving anything.

There is lots more though - most of the audience was men, I would say 75% or more, and all in the same age group, say 20-35. Women who came seemed to be there with their partner.

I realize that the environment that makes Peterson so popular is probably an issue, i.e. young men confused over their role in the world and with mixed messages from society. Words like "toxic masculinity" are like click-bait where no one actually clicked the link and only read the headline, filling in the blanks themselves. Everyone seems to have their own definition, which, with men, seems to be "masculinity is toxic", but it's a qualifier. All masculinity isn't toxic. Peterson even answered a question at the end, "What's the difference between toxic and non-toxic masculinity?" and since he answered it (non-toxic masculinity builds things), he knows that there is a difference, but his entire talk went on like there wasn't.

Anyway, interesting night for sure. I'm about in the same place with Peterson at the end. I like some of his message, but find he misses quite a few points and doesn't seem interested in correcting that.

cottreau 4 Feb 22
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4 comments

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0

You aren't supposed to agree with everything someone says...otherwise what is the point of your own brain?

0

Here's the alternative I've been looking for: #TonicMasculinity
(From another Canadian no less!)

0

Just wondering what points you thought he missed and doesn't seem interested in correcting? I'm not trying to be a smartass I'm honestly curious and would like to consider your thoughts.

0

Sure sounded like an interesting night.

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