RUTHFULLY YOURS

Jordan Peterson, a clear-eyed traditionalist advocate on political and social issues, has inspired and compelled sensible people to support his efforts.  I predicted back in January that he would be subjected to the intolerant thugs of Canadian and international speech police totalitarianism, and so it goes.

On March 5 at a Queen’s University (founded in 1841 in Kingston, Ontario), he was an invited speaker for the law school-sponsored inaugural lecture in a series intended to promote liberty.  Dr. Peterson, professor at the University of Toronto, presented by the dean of law, discussed “The Rising Tide of Compelled Speech in Canada” to a packed house of almost a thousand.  A leftist thug rent-a-mob started disruption proceedings, banging on walls and even breaking a window.

Dr. Peterson’s eloquence, mastery of the science of psychology and sociology and social science research, and insight are extraordinary.  I recently downloaded his new book, 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos (2018 Random House, Canada), which puts to print his commitment to moral philosophy and social science.  He reminds the reader of the teachings of many – Confucius, Buddha, Jesus Christ, Aristotle – with an emphasis on his study of the classics from many cultures along modern neuroscience and the social sciences.  This is scholarly but commonsense advocacy of the Peterson canon of virtuous adulthood and good citizenship.  He teaches what parents hope to be proud of in their children.

In the foreword to the book, Norman Doidge, M.D., psychiatrist, psychoanalyst, colleague, and friend of Peterson, provides a great deal of information on why Peterson is so well received and so energetically committed to fight the speech police and totalitarianism.  Doidge relates that Peterson, a child of the isolated and cold Fairview, Alberta, married his hometown sweetheart and went on to great academic success at Harvard and then the University of Toronto.  On the way, he worked in all kinds of blue-collar jobs and never forgot his roots.  Doidge describes the unique goodness (yes, I said goodness) of Peterson and his indomitable desire to stand for individual freedom and liberty.

Peterson is one helluva lecturer, as anyone can see on his YouTube channel and as you will see in his Queen’s University presentation linked above.  He has YouTube followers in the hundreds of thousands.  His writing in 12 Rules demonstrates cogent thinking and teaching and command of the social and psych sciences along with history, moral philosophy, anthropology, and social and political sciences.

David Solway, a frequent contributor to American Thinker, wrote about Peterson in PJ Media – his recent fame and the media, academic, and political antagonism he faces in Canada.  Solway interviewed Peterson and makes the point that Peterson is getting a positive response because he is counseling and coaching people who are adrift or in a rut.  Peterson provides a way out of spiritual emptiness and asserts the importance of being a mature and functional adult.  One could say “what’s new?,” but even if it’s old wisdom, Peterson presents it in a way that attracts people in need.  Peterson is lucid, practical and sensible.  He has the knack.