What I think of Christian psychiatrist Jordan Peterson

[jennifer_bloom]

I used to watch his videos every so often and he is very insightful when it comes to interpreting story lines and has intelligent methods for understanding Genesis but I find him to be too pessimistic for my liking.

Like I know we live in a world where many suffer but I believe it’s possible to be happy despite the suffering and that life is ultimately a gift and not a burden while Jordan Peterson keeps speaking in negatives. Like he tells us to “stop being lazy.”‘instead of “work hard and pursue your dreams.” he talks about “how to make your life a little less terrible.” Instead of “how to make enhance your situation.” He talks about how people need to suffer, instead of talking about how suffering prepares you for promotion. He tells people to make their bed instead of saying, “fix your inner world and than fix the outer.” I find his ungrateful attitude towards life to be highly offensive, we should thank God for our lives instead of begging God to make it less intense.

[watrewks]

JBP is a complex guy. He’s also very intense. I find that he doesn’t really mean for his negative statements to be taken as absolutes. As a matter of fact his positive statements I feel like are meant to be taken as absolutes. He explores everything... endlessly. He doesn’t stop until he finds that one rule that applies to all people now and in every subsequent generation. So he can be wrong about stuff but me also having a psychology background I can say that a lot of what he’s saying is just fodder to be explored later and he often says things just to create an anchor point in his psyche lol.

[Curmudgeon]

Jordan Peterson goes to Burger King:
www.youtube.com/watch

[watrewks]

lol yes exactly!!! 😂😂😂

[Curmudgeon]

However, I honestly see Jordan Peterson as a Red Lobster kind of guy. :D

[watrewks]

😂😂😂😂

[7771999]

I watched him live a few years back. It was recorded and is on YouTube now

[7771999]

😇🙏🏻

[SomeGuyCalledTom]

I disagree with your assertion that he's "ungrateful", but I do think his gratitude (in spite of life's suffering) comes from a more pessimistic place. But then, I discovered his materials around the time I was fed up of all these "positivity gurus" peddling their easy answers. I find there's an unspoken undercurrent of psychopathy in the people aho are the loudest proponents of "if you're not getting the life you want, you're just not being positive enough." I think the push towards Americanised Positivity throughout much of the post-war 20th century was bound to produce a rubberband effect eventually. When all of society is telling us "nothing is your fault, everything bad happening is because of the elites, you're just a special perfect snowflake", I think more skeptical counterpoints and a call to personal responsibility are to be welcomed.

That said, I enjoy it greatly when Peterson goes on podcasts or interviews with people whose energy is his complimentary opposite. The Russell Brand interviews are consistently intriguing because they're both willing to challenge and test each other's ideas, but there's an underlying respect. I have no respect for people who publish hate pieces against him and call him every "-ist" and "-phobe" under the radar. But given how consumed the mainstream media has become with identity politics and public manipulation, I'm not surprised they see a boogeyman in Peterson. People who plainly say what they believe are often the most hated -- especially when they dare suggest that the individual must steer their own destiny, rather than default to the comfort of the herd. People with herd mentalities tend to dislike people like Peterson. But yes, he does have a somewhat pessimistic way of approaching subjects, but he's also pretty staunchly opposed to the wave of nihilism and hopelessness sweeping through modern Western culture.

[ShadezMcgee]

I will be honest and say that I think you just don't like the way he phrased his views and the language he used. He comes off as blunt, a realist and pragmatic to me, honestly. What you claimed of him here is your opinion and I am not attacking you for it, but pointing out what you have here in your take.

You literally are saying the same thing he is from my standpoint, you just phrased it differently and are looking at it from a religious perspective. Jordan is a stickler for personal accountability and realistic standpoint as an individual and society as a whole, not through the lens of religion.

[MrOracle]

I wouldn't describe him as "Christian" psychiatrist - he's not overly religious and he certainly doesn't make his faith - whatever it might be specifically - the focus of anything he does.

Mostly, Peterson advocates for taking personal responsibility for your own life and your own happiness and success. And that's good advice for anyone.

[RealMarek]

One thing that should be considered when listening to Peterson is that he is enduring constant excruciating pain due to his health problems and subsequent withdrawal symptoms from prescription medicine. He is talking from the perspective of enduring horrible problems and really speaking to people whose lives are extremely difficult or not in order. When everything around you is falling apart or in chaos, optimistic talk doesn’t always help.

[Andres77]

This guy is so deep... anyone that finds themselves criticizing him should just shut up and try to learn something.
There is no one on this page that has even half his intellectual capacity.
Shut up and learn. Don't criticize something just because it's so complex you don't understand it.
It's like a pig criticizing how loud a rocket is when it takes off.

[MzAsh]

I like the fact that he can speak real talk. People need to hear the unsugarcoated truth. I don’t care for a lot of his woowoo religious values but other than that he’s a decent guy.

[crazy8000]

Hope you know he have had problems befor 2020 that has todo with his wife, more specific she had a serious life crisis and used benzodiazepines little to long often and had a lifethretening condition due to going off benzocaine.
(even some problems with some feministic campaign agents him at the university there he worked at the same time as his wife had problems.

No wonder he had negative appearance.


Yeah. he have some ideas I don't buy how certain things work.

[Curmudgeon]

His advice is realistic, and not sugar coated. I urge you to reconsider.

[AzzaBlue]

I don't mind Jordan Peterson. But I do think that he is bit overrated.

[noob__master]

Jordan Peterson has never once promoted the idea of “begging God to make life less intense”

[Anonymous]

He is brilliant. I love when he shuts down bitches like that British feminist who kept saying “so what your sayin is”

[slatyb]

Brilliant. Quote some Jordan Peterson brilliance. What I hear is a lot of words, saying very little, and a lot of unsupported assertions.

[Opinion Owner]

@slatyb Bah hahaha ok bud. "unsupported assertions".
Everything he says is brilliance. You will refuse to accept anything I post regardless.
Most people don't have the cognitive ability to understand the power of brilliance like his. (especially the left)

* The only way to test if authority is real, is pushing against it. ...
* Power is competence. ...
* What would your life be like if you made use of all of the potential you were offered?
* Being harmless isn’t a virtue.
* If you make bad decisions–things get worse. Not just for you.
* You don’t know how your actions echo. It matters what you do.
* Have respect for yourself. Have fear for yourself.
* Obviously I’m not perfect but I’m slightly less terrible than I was yesterday. you keep that up for five years and you’re wherever you should be.
* You should be better than you are, but it’s not because you’re worse than other people. It’s because you’re not everything you should be.
* lies make you weak – and you can feel it.
* enter a conversation and come out wiser than you went in.
* Winning when you’re wrong is a really bad idea.
* If you aren’t moving forward in your life there is some idea, mode of action, or habit you’re so in love with you won’t let go of it.
* But just as often, people are bullied because they won’t fight back.
* It is not virtuous to be victimized by a bully, even if that bully is oneself.
* You need to consider the future and think, “What might my life look like if I were caring for myself properly?
* It’s appropriate and praiseworthy to associate with people whose lives would be improved if they saw your life improve.

[Opinion Owner]

* No matter how good you are at something, or how you rank your accomplishments, there is someone out there who makes you look incompetent.
* Modern parents are terrified of two frequently juxtaposed words: discipline and punish.
* Stop saying those things that make you weak and ashamed. Say only those things that make you strong. Do only those things that you could speak of with honour.

[slatyb]

That's brilliance? Sounds like every pop psychology book ever.

[Opinion Owner]

@slatyb Yeah man, I'm sorry intelligent ideas go over your head. He is a Clinical Psychologist and has written many books, so that could be why they sound like those books. And yes these are brilliant.

You think you could fabricate something even close?

[slatyb]

I’ve read some of it and it’s nonsensical word salad. Lots of unsupported assertions, lots of big words that make his fans feel smart, but there’s no information. Contrast with Kahneman’s “Thinking Fast and Slow” which has actual data about human decision-making.

[Opinion Owner]

If you think there is no information... you aren’t smart enough to understand it.

[slatyb]

LOL... an ad hominem attack, the last resort of every person ever who is unable to support their assertions. "If you can't understand it, it's because you are stupid." Right. Dude, I get perfect scores on standardized tests. I was doing calculus at 11.

I find Peterson unreadable because there's nothing there besides 1) Peterson's unsupported authoritarian assertions and 2) statements of the obvious, like "power is competence". Well duuuh. I suppose if you've never read much, that seems profound.

[Opinion Owner]

Not an ad hominem but you can try and suggest whatever helps you to get through your day.

Having book smarts doesn’t mean someone is intelligent. It simply means they can regurgitate what it read in order to pass a standardized test.

But keep patting yourself on the back in the hopes it will make your argument stronger some how.

Petersons assertions are supported by various scholarly articles and psychology white papers.

[OddBeMe]

"christian psychiatrist" is as oxymoronic as "christian scientist"

[WalkingBassist]

I like him and what he has to say. But I can understand how some might find him insulting.

[Anonymous]

I am an atheist but I agree with much of what he says

[Anonymous]

On podcasts , he's very positive about life.

[Nachowedgie]

Very clever man