Jordan Peterson

[Phoebe]

Why is this man such a cultural sensation? Or is he even one? Maybe he's a sensation among think piece writers. I am lost; I was like, what is the big to-do? He offers a pretty low-rent, obvious self-help advice and "cultural commentary by someone's cranky Dad at the supper table" that people seem to be mistaking for oceanic depth and profundity. Okay. Am I missing something? He doesn't offend me; neither does he impress me. I should start a cult or something with my husband as the public face/guru, but I don't want to have to deal with people. Ok, back to making money the boring way.

[Kyle]

Never heard of him.

[Phoebe]

People keep fawning over and about him in my presence, as it were. I witness it and wonder, ??? It's like if Nils from Frazier and John Rosemond had a baby, and he had to assure us he is manly, so he quotes from Cicero and Seneca without citing the source. And this caused the crowd to go wild and decide to fix their lives!

[mimekiller]

A soft spoken academic with some common sense advice that because of the heightened times we live in makes him.


A.OMG THE DEVIl

or

B.A MODERN DAY PROPHET

[Phoebe]

Nailed it, from the little I've seen.

[Phoebe]

To make a long story short, after reading a lot of confused ramblings about this man's ideas, and hearing a lot of people just gaga over him, I finally came across an article that demonstrates beyond a shadow of a doubt that the man is batshit crazy:

So that you don't have to waste time reading, just skip to the part where dude thinks that a drink of apple cider messed up his entire system for 25 days such that he had a near psychological breakdown and couldn't sleep. Just to be clear, that is batshit, and this is a man who makes his living giving self-help advice to people who lap it up like it is the second coming. I need to consider going into a different line of work, as I believe in sex differences too and I have a really great diet right now.

[Zen]

[Phoebe]

The better for you, really. Why doesn't anyone just read Epictetus and be done with all this madness?

[Phoebe]

Now I have discovered his book is some massive best-seller, which explains why I keep having to hear him. People just need to watch the video clip where he talks about his poisoned lack of sleep, and ask themselves why taking life advice from this person is wise. I even have GREAT sympathy for ... for some possible interpretation of why he is saying the oddball things he's saying, because I know what it's like to be poisoned by an allergen so badly that it takes days to get over. It doesn't exit the system quickly, unfortunately. Weird things definitely happen under those circumstances, but they don't include not sleeping for a month. I also feel like maybe if you are that gripped by anxiety issues, again as someone who has great sympathy for people gripped by anxiety issues, you need to tackle your own business before criticizing the ways that other people choose to cope with their own or live their lives. Even screwed up people can offer terrific advice, but when they offer it while damning the alternatives? Might want to clean your own house a little first.