The delusions of Jordan Peterson

 August 4, 2022

I want to point to a pair of dangerously hubristic ideological positions hiding under the cover of the postmodern confusion and lack of theory amongst the cacophony of the Internet. The first is that of Yuval Noah Harari, previously addressed. The second is that of Jordan Peterson. And again it was Slavoj Zizek who confronted it.

The topic this time was "happiness", which is another potentially very stupid modern obsession. Who is Mr. Peterson really in this obsession? The debate was also framed in terms of "Marxism versus capitalism", and Mr. Peterson's position was essentially that he is pleased with himself, so therefore capitalism is fine. But at the same time, he expressed frustration that other people are not happy, because capitalism is fine, so why aren't they happy? Do I have to explain that this is delusional reasoning?

Again, the question to Mr. Peterson "and what have you been doing that you would say so?" cuts to the chase. And in his essence, Mr. Peterson lives this delusion, which is also very deeply troubling to actual modern society: the trend is that of pretending to be autistic in order to appear smart. I would say Mr. Peterson is in essence a kind of “mental hypochondriac”. This middle-class self-pathologization is deeply troubling, and it takes many forms, nearly dependent on generation. It's existed for quite a while. What I have observed is that OCD tendencies was the Gen X delusion, and for Millennials it was a sort of victim complex. People do this because they think they want the prestige that thinkers have of having everything they say being immediately thought of as logical and a good idea. Any thinker will tell you that that's actually not how us thinkers are actually received.

And again, recognition has to be given to Mr. Zizek for noticing this, and getting to the bottom of who is actually doing Mr. Peterson's thinking for him. And, once again, "and what have you been doing that you would say so" that actual thinkers, i.e. the ones you know, are acting that way relative to you, is a relevant consideration. The sickly modern concern of "why aren't thinkers happy?" Should absolutely be amended to "why aren't thinkers happy, with me?"