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Originally Posted by CorsiHockeyLeague
Since this thread is at the top right now, I'll post this, even though I won't get a chance to read it until probably tomorrow. It's the article I referenced earlier that I was waiting for about Peterson. I have enough faith in the author that I figure it'll be very much worth reading (regardless of whether you're a Peterson fan).
https://areomagazine.com/2018/01/29/...rything-world/ |
Excellent article. Some great insights:
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In the apparent cultural vacuum that has been left by the retreat of tradition and religion, seekers today largely have to choose between social justice leftism and alt-right idiocy if they seek some deeper sense of meaning and belongingness in their lives. Here, Peterson offers a middle way...
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They are the root of what Jonathan Rauch called the “fundamentalist impulse,” which is the perennial enemy of liberal society against which American Enlightenment figures urged we must always retain vigilance — specifically because people crave them so. It isn’t coincidental, then, that “principles” and “certainties” are precisely what the social justice left and alt-right (not to mention the Islamic State) are selling by the truckload to disaffected Western kids.
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I agree that to many of his followers, at least, Peterson is a guru. Which is my biggest problem with the movement - many of his most enthusiastic fans reject the simplistic dogma of progressive leftism, but demonstrate many of the same tribalistic behaviours. They hone their critical thinking skills when challenging identity politics, but suspend them when Peterson speaks.
However, I don't know that this should be laid at the feet of Peterson. First, I don't see any signs that Peterson is deliberately fostering blind obedience or cult-like group-think. There are people who hang on every word from the mouth of a Christopher Hitchens or Sam Harris, but that doesn't make them religious figures. Secondly, tribalism is evident in every community. We can't seem to escape it. I mean, just look at this forum - its entire purpose is to foster collective, irrational support for a sports team.
And Peterson never misses an opportunity to warn of the dangers of ideology, of political movements rooted in simplistic and wishful thinking. His attitude towards religion is conflicted, but I don't see anything suspicious or problematic about that. An atheist (and Peterson has suggested he doesn't believe in God) can see value in eternal myths of the sort Joseph Campbell illuminated, and recognize that this part of the human psyche can never be truly understood with reason and empiricism alone.