Why Jordan B Peterson Appeals to Me (And I Am on the Left)
written by Alexander Blum

As a writer who identifies as a leftist, and who sympathizes with Noam Chomsky’s anarcho-syndicalism on a root personal level, I should theoretically be joining the chorus of critics who have decided that Jordan Peterson is a reactionary....

But Peterson’s critics have barely engaged with his basic claims. Maps of Meaning is an attempt to take the wisdom of religion and ancient cultures and explain, through a contemporary lens of modern psychology, what these cultures got right. It is an attempt to revive the past as a source of deep knowledge, not wreckage to be discarded at the altar of scientific materialism, or a postmodern presentism....

....These science-blind assumptions do real damage. If we assume that cognitive ability doesn’t matter, and build a society on ruthless ideas of meritocracy where only the cognitive elite can succeed, we will produce a broken system that will produce many, many losers. If boys and men are repeatedly told that masculinity is essentially “toxic” and in need of suppression, this may produce a society of angry, repressed men. At every level of our civilization, human biology is relevant, and engaging with it thoughtfully could not be of more critical importance. If we can’t be honest about the biological aspects of our nature now, how will we possibly deal with debates going into the future? Discussions around gene editing, cognitive enhancement, even artificial intelligence and automation are more crucial than ever. But if we cannot even agree on the basic scientific facts about our own fallible nature, how can we possibly agree on the right ways to proceed?....

...But to the postmodern left, all of this is completely, and totally taboo. There is no such thing as a “universal human nature” that is influenced by biology. To suggest that would be to “reinforce the status quo” and to suggest that, as Cathy Newman said, “we should model our societies in the image of the lobster”. ...

...This is the founding notion of Peterson’s project, as simply as it can be put: to offer self-knowledge in place of ideological fantasies of overthrowing the world....-- excerpt, rest at link above --

@truth_seeker I thought you might enjoy this one. Very good!