Jordan Peterson - The most PROBLEMATIC intellectual of our time

this video is brought to you by my supporters  on patreon buy me coffee and YouTube if you'd   like to support me you can find the links  below Jordan Peterson let's talk about him shall we I used to be a fan of the guy and now I  absolutely detest him how did I go from point A   to point B what changed in my thought process  and if there are some of you that hold him in   high regard which my comments tell me there are  quite a few of you maybe this video might change   your minds or maybe I'm wrong somewhere and you  can point out the flaw in my logic oh one more   thing in one of my recent videos I said this I  think Jordan Peterson is the Sadhguru of the   west or Sadhguru is the Jordan Peterson of the  East depending on how you look at it I should   probably clarify what I meant for that statement  because a lot of you have a disagreement here so   I definitely will my name's pranav you're  watching Sciences dope let's begin foreign [Music]   this video will I try to mock Jordan Peterson  I watched a bunch of videos while researching for   this one and a lot of the content that is critical  of him has this element of marker in them maybe   they wanted to add some entertainment value to the  video but the only people it entertains are the   ones who agree with the content of the video it's  like preaching to the choir I've been making an   active effort lately to reach people that disagree  with me and I hope this video will do just that   also if this video is gonna be a long one because  it's a deep type I've made it easier for you to   watch by inserting timestamps in the scroll  bar check them out a lot of my Indian audience   may not be super familiar with him so I should  probably start with who he is and how he rose to   fame Jordan Peterson is a Canadian psychology  Professor Who Rose to popularity through this   video that came out in 2016. Peterson do you have  any comments on the Nazi Presence at your protest   the presence of Nazis and white supremacists  assaulting people at your protest do you have   any comment on that yeah I don't like Nazis  in the video Peterson can be seen arguing with   trans activists due to your protests Peterson  was against the legally mandated use of gender   pronouns something which according to him would  become legal and mandatory once Canada enforced   its c-16 Bill Peterson's main argument was that  the bill infringed upon his freedom of speech and   allowing the government to decide which words  illegal and which ones are not was a stepping   stone to a dystopian world where all of what  you say and express can be moderated by the   government we'll Circle back to bill c-16 and his  views are not later on in the video but right now   let's get back to why he's popular his arguments  and his eloquence while using them resonated with   a lot of people particularly young men and he  developed a massive fan following in the years   that followed a lot of media appearances a lot of  talks and debates and two best-selling books later   here we are today to a lot of people who stand  against all movements and ideas from the left   from trans rights to climate change from atheism  to feminism Peterson became something of a role   model with them parroting his words and talking  points and there was a time when I got swayed by   some of these points [Music] flashback to me during  2016 I was just as addicted to YouTube as I am now   the only difference was that I was in the Creator  back then but I was an endless consumer now I was   already an atheist at this point thanks to  the likes of Richard dawkins and Sam Harris and   Christopher Hitchens I hadn't deeply thought about  things like feminism LGBT rights gay marriage   Etc because I'm a straight man fairly privileged  these things didn't really affect me and so there   was no motivation in me to learn more about these  things I was still definitely a feminist I was for   LGBT rights I was four gay marriage because these  things are no-brainers right I mean which sane   person wouldn't want equal rights for all groups  and individuals especially if giving them rights   wouldn't take anything away from you although very  superficial these were my positions z back then   and apart from atheism there was no real thought  behind any of these this was around the time when   I discovered Jordan Peterson some of the things he  said really spoke to me I don't think that young   men are here words of encouragement some some of  them never in their entire lives as far as I can   tell that's what they tell me and the fact that  the words that I've been that I've been speaking   the YouTube lectures that I've done and put online  for example have had such a dramatic impact is an   indication that young men are starving for this  sort of message because like why in the world   would they have to derive it from a lecture on  YouTube he gave some really strong arguments   against LGBT rights and sometimes even feminism  here's him talking about the gender pay Gap the   gender pay Gap stands at just over nine percent  so it seems to a lot of women that they're still   being dominated and excluded to quote your words  back to you it does seem that way but multivariate   analysis of the pay Gap indicate that it doesn't  exist but there's multiple reasons for that one of   them is gender but it's not the only reason women  in aggregate are paid less than men okay well then   we break it down by age we break it down by all  occupation we break it down by interest we break   it down by personality now I'm an impressionable  young man at the time watching Peterson's team   rule over gender pay Gap arguments thinking these  feminists are either lying on their stupid the   gender B Gap doesn't exist obviously I'm taking  Peterson at his word why would an academic like   Peterson lie to me or misinform me another thing  that's happening at the same time is YouTube is   filled with these right-wing creators I'm talking  about American creators because creators from   India hadn't really gotten on the platform yet  I'm watching them put up videos of Ben Shapiro   who's another right-wing spokesperson Ben Shapiro  destroying sjws I also see feminist outbursts from   these redhead clearly man-hating feminists talking  about how masculinity is toxic and ruins lives on   the one side and on the other side I see people  like Peterson saying toxic masculinity isn't a   thing and these feminists are clearly in the  wrong what precisely is toxic masculinity as   opposed to say toxic femininity so if it's a  matter of transgressing against the boundaries   of gender appropriate behavior it's just as likely  to happen among women as among men in which case   it's not toxic masculinity a combination of all  this created a very negative image of feminism   in my head now I acknowledge that it was my fault  for not looking deeper into this and forming my   opinions based on superficial takes from these  folks but hey here was an impressionable young   man who got swayed by the content he was exposed  to but now that I'm a little older and I've had   the time to reflect on what I was thinking  I realized my characterization of feminism   lies on arguments like these made by Peterson  right-wing creators like Ben Shapiro dunking on   college kids and right-leaning creators making  content attacking feminism let's take them one   by one first Peterson denying the gender pay Gap  unfortunately he doesn't cite where he is getting   his research from but a little bit of digging  and here's what I found a paper published in the   Journal of economic literature that looks at data  on the gender pay cap over three decades and does   exactly what Peterson wants controls for multiple  variables that could explain the wage Gap and you   know what it font there is still a nine percent  pay gap between men and women even with all those   controls Kathy Newman was right Jordan Peterson  for all his confidence while making this assertion   turns out to be wrong by the way this video went  pretty viral for the way Kathy Newman tried to   straw man Peterson throughout the phrase so you're  saying that has become a meme at this point now   despite how poorly this interview was conducted  Newman it turns out had some good points second   I also understand how these man-hating feminists  are probably not the best examples of feminism to   paint the whole of feminism as just these people  from the extremes is is a basic black and white   fallacy and third anyone who uses ben shapiro  as an argument a man who only dunks on college   kids and can't face a journalist in an argument  instantly loses my respect I saw how feminism had   been misrepresented to me by the people who stood  against it as for Jordan Peterson his various   lines of arguments on different issues not just  feminism began breaking down one by one in front   of me if you want you can find tons of videos  critiquing him by various creators mine will be   just one among them there's more to come on Jordan  Peterson attacking trans rights on Bill c16 on how   all this relates to India all that is going to  come later in the video but I wanted to talk   now about what made me what prompted me to look  deeper into Jordan Peterson the things he says   so confidently with so much conviction may not  hold ground once you look deeper into it [Music]   since before I discovered Peterson I had a  pretty solid understanding of my position and I could hold my ground pretty well in an  argument on atheism and so it really surprised   me when I learned that Peterson was a practicing  Christian all his other talking points seemingly   made sense to me but his God belief didn't and  so I was really interested in what he had to   say in the topic and I would diligently watch  his conversations with prominent atheists like   Sam Harris Matt Dillahunty Etc to try and understand  his views see my position is this if you want to   claim that there exists a God who can influence  things in your life or anywhere in the world   or anywhere in the universe for that matter then  that is a claim about reality and any Claim about   reality is meaningless without evidence because  evidence is an indicator of Truth and there is no   evidence for God now when you ask Peterson do you  believe in God this is what you'll probably hear   what do you mean do what do you mean you what do  you mean believe and what do you mean God because   Peterson defines God in a very sophisticated way  which is very different from the way the average   person defines it you have a hierarchy of values  you have to otherwise you can't act or you're   painfully confused you have a hierarchy of values  whatever is at the top of that hierarchy of values   serves the function of God for you but the  average person will only see how a well-spoken   intellectual like Peterson believes in God and  finds validation for his or her own belief now   it may be a God that you don't believe in or a  God that you can't name but it doesn't matter   because it's God for you this definition of  God is so vague in all encompassing that he   gets away with calling well-renowned public  atheists as Christians this is the argument   I've had with people like Sam Harris The Atheist  types it's like yeah you think you're atheist man   it's like you're Christian judeo-christian let's  say to the core I actually don't believe in a god but you act like you do huh that's why you wouldn't throw sam off the stage no now you're making a claim okay so I'm  telling you I don't believe there's a God   and yeah your response to that is I really  do because I have a moral sense but my moral   sense is utterly without any appeal to a  God by the way that conversation between   Jordan Peterson and Matt Dillahunty is an  absolute treat to watch I'll leave a link   to it down below there were instances  in that conversation where I felt like   Peterson was deliberately trying to confuse Dillahunty because he couldn't respond to Matt's coherent points if you chop off my head it's in  contradiction to my well-being I mean that but   no I wasn't willing to grant that actually okay  I'm saying that's a metaphysical presupposition   you're just saying I have to accept that no I'm  not I'm not telling you at all what to expect I'm   trying to explain what my position is okay but  but you said that that wouldn't be in accordance   with your well-being okay that's a metaphysical  State murder philosophical statement it's not an   obvious fact that chopping off somebody's head  is contrary to their well-being depends on how   you define well-being sure yeah but it matters  but if you define well-being as this glass of   water we're no longer talking about the same thing  well you can Define well-being that's fine that's   what I'm waiting for this is so this is what I'm  it's you can't do it you can't Define well-being   well then why should I certainly can't do it  if you keep telling me I can't do it okay sorry   okay I'll back off I'll back off there's a bill  but none of that happened Dillahunty cut through all that   confusing stuff and laid bare what Peterson really  was a typical conservative apologist that had an   outdated understanding of what an atheist was this  is something that happened during the Q a section   of that talk what in your view would a genuine  atheist be like he'd be like raskolnikov in crime   and punishment he murders this horrible woman  who's horrible according to everyone who knows her   raskolnikov built himself up to the murder in part  by laying out the rational case but also by saying   well there's no God there's no metaphysical reason  that's stopping me from committing this act and   there's all these reasons that appear perfectly  rational people are pushing me in that direction   perhaps I'm nothing but a moral coward for failing  to undertake it so he does but what he finds out   is that he broke an inviolable moral rule atheists  are murderous what a sad and unsophisticated   understanding of what an atheist is something  that you usually hear from a blind believer who   has never met anyone outside their circle of course  he said it in a more sophisticated manner with the   Peterson charm and all that needless complication  but Matt came back with a beautiful reply and let   him speak for himself and this is what atheists  hear all the time when they come out they've been   sidelined because of religious privilege around  the world for years and an atheists come out to   their family members or friends or people they've  known for years and they're like you're an atheist   how can that be you're such a good person I've  known you all this time it's because the mindset   of what people have about what an atheist is  has been poisoned by religious proclamations   we have been denigrated from the pulpit and it  is seeped into every aspect of culture right up   to the height of intellectual  Pursuits and it's time for that to end that deserves an Applause anyway this video  came out in 2018 and I remember watching it it   was like a turning point for me and I kind of lost  respect for Peterson I mean till that point he was   someone that had these hard-hitting and high level  arguments even on the theism front and I've never   seen anyone being able to counter them well and I  just thought I was too stupid to understand what   Peterson was saying now I know what he's saying is  just purposefully confusing like he's so precise   on literally any of the topic but when it comes  to religion he has to complicate things confuse   his opponent muddy the water in order to get away  with justifying his belief because if he States   his belief in her straightforward way like he  should then it just becomes very hard to defend if   he does though then he just ends up saying stuff  like this there's still a historical story and so   what you have in the figure of Christ is an actual  person who actually lived plus a myth and in some   sense Christ is the union of those two things  the problem is is I probably believe that but   I don't know I don't I'm amazed at my own belief  and I don't understand it anyway it sounds to me   like John Peterson is a conservative Christian  who doesn't want to admit he doesn't believe in   God in a conventional sense instead he says he  believes in God but he has to say what he means   but I believe in God as a b c all these things  but all his arguments were reduced to nothing in   front of Matt Dillahunty probably why Peterson has  never had another conversation with him since then   anyway like I said you should watch the talk and  Link it in the description now it was after the   same talk that I decided never to take him at his  word when he cites the results of studies and that   was because of this movement from that talk this  is this is about the language people from smoking   well you can stop smoking without any sort  of Supernatural intervention no not really   you can't stop smoking Without Really any any  reliable chemical means for inducing smoking   cessation you can use a drug called bupu prion  I think that's the one Whatever Wellbutrin is is   that Supernatural no you don't need a supernatural  effect but it doesn't work very well but if you   give people magic mushrooms psilocybin and they  have a mystical experience they have about an   85 percent chance of smoking cessation sure one  treatment yeah but that's kind of like evidence   you know okay so according to Peterson you have  evidence of the supernatural from the fact that   Psilocibin a chemical found in psychedelic  mushrooms when given to people who are trying   to quit smoking if it induces a mystical  experience can get them to actually quit   smoking now assuming that the study was perfectly  designed and the results were conclusive this is   clearly not the evidence of the supernatural this  is just evidence that psilocybin use helps people   quit smoking they are subjective description  of their experience as mystical Can't by any   standard be objective evidence that something  mystical is actually happening but let's also   look at the study just in case it's basically  a pilot study involving 15 participants who   got a 15-week smoking cessation treatment that's  weekly meetings along with psilocybin treatment   and although they did have an 80 success rate at  six months the researchers themselves state that   the results of the present study are limited  by the relatively small and homogeneous sample   therefore these findings must be considered  preliminary compare this with what Peterson   said they have about an 85 percent chance of  smoking cessation sure one treatment yeah but   that's kind of like evidence you know if this  isn't misrepresentation of science then I don't   know what is now to be fair to him it could be  that Peterson misread the study or misremembered its   findings and just because he's clearly wrong  here doesn't mean he's wrong everywhere else   but one thing was for sure from that point I was  not gonna take what he said at his word [Music]   Jordan Peterson's initial rise to fame was when  he claimed that Canada's legislation through   bill c-16 was legally mandating compelled speech  namely gender pronouns and this was going against   his freedom of speech Let's examine two points  here one about Bill C16 and two about freedom   of speech first what did Bill c-16 actually  say I'll leave a link to the actual bill down below so you can read it yourself it's just  an amendment to Canada's Human Rights Act which   adds trans people to the list of protected  troops it basically protects people from   discrimination in housing employment Etc on the  basis of age race religion disabilities and now   gender identity and expression that's it no  compelled speech whatsoever it basically has   none of what Peterson says it has his entire  initial rise to fame was based on a straw man let's also talk about Free Speech what is the  purpose of free speech it's not the freedom to   say whatever you like it's not the freedom to be  an ass**** why do you need to be legally protected if   you want to be a dick does that even make sense  take this example imagine that you were swinging   your arms that's perfectly fine right you have  the right to move how you like now imagine that   someone was in the way and gets knocked back by  exercising your right to swing your arms however   you like you're violating another person's right  not to be assaulted basically your right to swing   your fists ends wearing other person's nose begins  apply the same idea to speech and expression but   not in a simplistic way of one person just saying  something the other person doesn't like that would   be a very childish interpretation but imagine  someone's speech and expression and practices   ends up being discriminatory like denying the  other person housing or employment or even   medical care that shouldn't happen that becomes a  violation of their human rights that is oppression   and this oppression after a trans Community was  what bill c-16 was trying to prevent freedom of   speech is necessary for a free society and  its purpose is so that the powerless can be   equals with the powerful this is just my opinion  but once you see Jordan Peterson as a typical   Conservative Christian a lot of his ideological  positions start to make a lot more sense like   he isn't against the LGBT community because  uh this bill comes in the way of his freedom   of speech that's just how he likes to dress  up his argument maybe just to confuse people   because if he says it in a straightforward way  that God doesn't like them how will it look on   them I mean he's an academic after all now I  have strong reasons for holding these opinions   here's him speaking on gay marriage I'm curious  to hear your views on gay marriage well I would   be against it too if it was backed by cultural  marxists because it isn't clear to me that   um it will satisfy the ever increasing what we call demand for an assault on traditional   modes of being now with regards to gay marriage  specifically that's a really tough one for me   because if the marital vowels are taken seriously  then it seems to me that it's a means whereby gay   people can be integrated more thoroughly into  standard society as Jordan live in the year 1870   or something does he not understand the concept of  gay people being in love and wanting to marry each   other I wouldn't be surprised at this coming from  a Conservative Christian but from Jordan Peterson   it's even worse when I see his opinions on climate  change the hardest sort out the climate change one   is a weird one so that's because there's no such  thing as climate right climate and everything   are the same word and I that's what bothers me  about the climate change types it's like this   is something that bothers me about it technically  it's like well climate is about everything it's   okay but your models aren't based on everything  your models are based on a set number of variables   yeah so that means you've reduced the variables  which are everything to that set well how did   you decide which set of variables to include in  the equation if it's about everything and that's   not just a criticism that's like if it's about  everything your models aren't right because your   models do not and cannot model everything it seems  to mean like John's conservative values especially   Christian values are more important to him than  what actual scientists say also this pattern is   not isolated to the best it's something I've  seen developing in India for a few years now before 2016-17 I mainly watch YouTube creators  from the west but it was dominated by these   right-wing creators if it wasn't a video featuring  Jordan Peterson directly it would be someone   parroting his talking points like how the wage  cap doesn't exist or how climate change isn't   an issue but it's a little more balanced now with  almost all his misinformation having been debunked   a lot of left-leaning creators have come out of  the space now so the average person who comes in   with no pre-existing opinions won't be flooded  with all this misinformation from the Jordan   Peterson types that's not the case with India  though YouTube India is still heavily dominated   by these rifling creators many of them with a  million plus audiences and most of them putting   out misinformation misrepresenting science and all  their audiences just blindly believing the stuff   they see I'm not saying that misinformation comes  only from the right both sides have misinformation   but when a young person forms opinions based on  content they had bombarded with which is only   from one side that becomes a problem and when  something is clearly wrong I don't see enough   voices calling it out but I see one thing in  common if it was Jordan Peterson who led the   charge for all this misinformation content in  the west it's sadhguru here in India a lot of   creators who follow in their footsteps usually  get most of their talking points from these two   Jordan Peterson fans are basically like a cult of  young men misinformed and mostly right-leaning and   so are the sadhguru Fanboys the main reason for  this is that the things they say usually targets   minority groups and women and so it usually  finds an audience with people that are not in   those groups like straight young men now this  isn't to say that they only have audiences in   these demographics but they certainly are the  majority I see a lot of young impressionable   people coming onto the platform and forming their  opinion means based on all this misinformation   content not realizing how damaging actions  based on it can be to certain communities   a feature of many people who support ideologies  like these and I'll put religions also in there   especially Hinduism is that these people usually  come from the upper rungs of these hierarchies   they're privileged by these hierarchies that  oppress many others they would never support the   ideology that oppressed them just ask yourself  would you want to be bonded to a society with   this kind of hierarchy if you weren't allowed to  choose which part of the hierarchy you'd be born   into when I made that video and made a comparison  between Jordan Peterson and sadhguru I think many   people got the impression I'm saying they're  exactly alike of course not Jordan Peterson is   a clinical psychologist a university professor  and sadhguru's what maybe I shouldn't have gone   there but their confidence when spouting misinformation and the huge cult-like following   they have and the other commonalities I've listed  were should tell you why I made that comparison I'm not saying that Peterson brings nothing  of value he does for instance the best way the   best way to teach people critical thinking is to  teach them to write because there's no difference   between that and thinking you need to learn to  think because thinking makes you act effectively   in the world thinking makes you win the battles  you Undertake and those could be battles for   good things this is advice I still use every day  whenever my thoughts feel cluttered I write them   down that helps me see various holes in my thought  process I try and address them and the next time   I have more clarity about things in fact that's  why I like making these YouTube videos because   writing scripts helps me bring so much Clarity to  whatever I want to say now this is the basic idea   of journaling and it wasn't invented by John  Peterson or something but I have to give him   credit because I do it because of him there are  many similar things of value that he says but the   question we must ask ourselves is be it the rhetoric  of Jordan Peterson or someone like sadhguru is   the value they bring to the table worth all the  harm they cause content like this is something   sponsors don't really want to associate with some  of my most popular videos involve debunking myths   and superstitions and pseudoscience from religion  that also makes my videos prone to demolitization   but at the same time many of you find Value  in this kind of content and it's your support   that keeps me going if you'd like to support  me even a little bit you can find links below   patreon buy me coffee UPI YouTube memberships  thanks buttons website and merge there are many   options at your disposal I've not had a single  sponsored video since January let's see how long   we can keep that going if you like this video  you might also like this one I did recently on   sadhguru analyzing his study I'll see you in  the next one till then remember science is dope

Channel: Science is Dope

Views: 159,591

Keywords: science is dope, Jordan Peterson, feminism, lgbt, bill c 16 jordan, freedom of speech, gender pay gap, gender pay gap jordan peterson, Jordan Peterson gender

Id: mY4hZUavG2Q

Length: 29min 30sec (1770 seconds)

Published: Sat May 20 2023