By David Futrelle
People often joke about the whole Jordan Peterson thing being a cult, but the thing is that it really is pretty damn culty. Consider, for example, this tale of one young acolyte’s meeting with the Holy Man after a recent public debate between J-Peet and top atheist skeezeball Sam Harris.
The lucky fella, calling himself mushroomyakuza, posted his story to the Jordan Peterson subreddit earlier this week. He was thrilled to meet his guru, he wrote, because “he really has had a pretty profound impact on my life. It was humbling.”
Contemplating one’s tininess in the universe is humbling. Meeting some fussbudgety Canadian professor with a popular self-help book and an oversized sense of self-importance shouldn’t be.
He was so courteous and polite to everyone he saw, including my girlfriend. Met her with a big “how are you?” and a sweet grin.
She was probably the only woman in the entire audience.
It was a surreal moment for me, having been a fan for nearly two years when the first video of him at UoT regarding gender pronouns emerged.
Transphobia, the gateway drug to Jordan Petersonism.
Then it was my turn.
We shook hands. Good firm grip.
I looked at him and said “Thank you, man.” I said “I’m sorting it all out.”
It is just me or is it getting awfully culty in here? J-Peet tells his young fans to “sort yourself out” and “clean your room” before taking on the world’s problems. So mushroomyakuza is repeating Peterson’s own catchphrase back at him. That’s a little culty, my dude. It’s also not terribly original. It’s like meeting Right Said Fred and telling them that they really are too sexy for their shirts.
Oh but it gets cultier:
Our eyes locked and we held each others gaze. He saw into my soul, basically. There was a moment of understanding that only men have when your eyes lock in a certain way (sorry girls it’s true).
Jesus Effing Christ. It was just a little eye contact! My cats “lock eyes” with me all the time and they’re not “seeing into my soul.” They just want food!
(Though admittedly when I first got my cats at the cat shelter I chose one of them because she looked me straight in the eye and there was a moment of understanding that only people and cats have when their eyes lock in a certain way (sorry dog people it’s true), and I knew I had to pick her and she and I are very happy but then again my other cat is equally great and I picked her because she was a complete goofball, and magical eye bonding had nothing to do with it. But I digress.)
He signed the book with a smile and nod. I said” Thank you” again and he said “You’re welcome. Thank you for coming.” and gave me another firm handshake with another eye lock.
WOW WHAT WISDOM. Embroider that and put it in a little frame.
I wish I’d had time to take a picture, but there was a very long line and people were being pushed along.
People say not to meet your idols, and even though this was only for roughly ten seconds, I was not disappointed.
Thank you for everything you do Dr Peterson.
My body just did a little involuntary shudder.
I mean, it’s one thing to fanboy or fangirl a bit when you meet someone you admire or idolize. But what the hell. HE SAW INTO YOUR FUCKING SOUL!?
You’re in a cult, dude. WAKE UP!
This guy is legit insane…
But if I ever meet Britney Spears I am dead positive we’ll lock eyes and see into each other’s souls, and be besties forevermore, because I’ve been dreaming about that moment since I was like 12. (Not a cult. (is there a Britney cult? ((can I join?)))
@David
@weirwoodtreehugger
I’ve never found Bill Clinton charming, but I can see in other people’s reactions to him just how much of a sway he has over people. Like his charisma as well as his gender has caused a lot of people to forgive him for the same things people (including the left) love to hate on Hillary for. My mom, now a hardcore Trump supporter, is in love with Bill and despises Hillary.
On the other hand, I have a similar reaction to Obama, where no matter my issue with any given policy there will always be a part of me that excuses it with “I’m sure he had the best of intentions!”
There it is, the most homoerotic no-homo-bro thing I will read all day.
I feel kind of sorry for this dude’s alleged girlfriend. Not so much for the cheaty-ass homoerotic-homophobic eyefuckery, though, as for the fact that she’s dating such a clod.
I’m glad to see the JorPe/Bill Clinton connection being made, because I do seriously quite worry about Peterson’s political ambitions.
Never saw (either) Clinton in person myself.
From some of the descriptions here… some people just have a stage ‘presence’. It involves being able to read and work an audience, of pacing and setting things based on how the audience is reacting. It is a skill that can be trained to an extent (I’ve heard DJs talk about modifying sets on the fly based on the beats-per-minute of the song versus the dance floor activity) but some people just seem to have a natural talent at it.
Being able to read an audience, of course, also means knowing when to cut your losses because the audience isn’t going to be appreciative anyway.
@LG Peterson doesn’t strike me as someone who will get very far in Canadian politics. I doubt he’d even do as well as Kevin O’Leary did running for the federal Conservative leadership. Doug Ford aside trying to play the maverick outsider gambit doesn’t seem to get too far with the party insiders. And Peterson doesn’t have the same kind of political connections Ford does.
I have to admit that James Baldwin would have had a better chance of seducing me in any sense of the word than Clinton. I grew up with a deep distrust of charm and charisma.
From reading on the Peterson subReddit, many of the Lobstermen feel a deep need for a strict yet understanding father figure. It’s rather dismaying. At least I know my sons will never feel a lack of fathering.
TB Tabby – Pterry reference! Much appreciated.
there was a moment of understanding that only people and cats have when their eyes lock in a certain way
This is totally true! We had that moment when we adopted our kittens a couple of years ago… <3
@tim gueguen — I'm not Canadian, but the (conservative) husband is an O'Leary fanboy due to "Shark Tank." *sigh*
@Alan
The other reason I won’t watch/listen to political speeches under any circumstance, let alone attend them*. I don’t think I’m susceptible to that kinda thing, but I don’t intend to find out. The last damn thing anyone needs is to feel that way about a politician.
*The principal one is that by the end of the opening statements I’m generally hoping that rioting erupts because at least then that asshole would shut up.**
** And this is politicians that I’m considering voting for, mind.
@WarriorLori
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@TB Tabby, Tony
“He had an honest face. And he loved these people who looked him firmly in the eye to see his inner self, because he had a whole set of inner selves, one for every occasion. As for firm handshakes, practice had given him one to which you could moor boats. It was people skills, that’s what it was. Special people skills. Before you could sell glass as diamonds you had to make people really want to see diamonds. That was the trick, the trick of all tricks. You changed the way people saw the world. You let them see it the way they wanted it to be…” ~ Going Postal, by Terry Pratchett
Of course, Moist actually has some redeeming qualities and eventually developed some scruples and contributed worthwhile things to society, none of which Peterson can claim.
Came here to laugh at JP fanboys, stayed thanks to the Moist von Lipwig posts. Moist (and Spike!) are in my top 10 favourite DW characters 🙂
@Cat Mara,
I shared that Laurie Penny article a couple of threads ago, but with a lot more gushing (you’re quite restrained). It’s damn good, right the way through.
How are you, btw?
I was trying to think of ‘idols’ or ‘heros’, I guess I don’t have any. Did think of someone I bumped into lately.
@ Cat Mara,
Did you say you were in Ireland? We’re in Chicago, US here, and I came upon this guy in the back alley, not that I hang around alleys. And oddly enough right after I moved here somebody said “Don’t hang around in the alley.” As well as to be on the lookout for those who do hang around in alleys.
Um. OK. This is a thing? Who does this? This is an actual thing here. Oh and I am ‘from here’, but not this particular neighborhood so I’m like yeah, ok. People hang around in the alley here? Yes, they do.
So a few months ago I was really short of money, and not that I’m a huge smoker, but I was really jonesing for a cig. I set off on foot. I began to walk through the alleys ..
Hey maybe I can make it super dramatic! 😀
I was creeping down the back alley here, it was yet winter and there was ice and fog all around. I noticed something, a light on, a person in the shadows, and what appeared to be a different and separate smoke, from the fog.
Is that someone smoking a cig? I kept up with my stride while contemplating this and then decided that, yes, that did look like cig smoke.
So I halted mid stride, backed up, and pointed to this man standing in the shadows of a garage and shouted: HEY MAN CAN I BUM A CIG FROM YOU!!??
The desperation of an addict!
I walked over and he laughed and said sure! 🙂
I offered him 50 cents, he wouldn’t take it.
Stood there and smoked the cig with the guy. Nice guy 🙂 And I guessed by his accent, I said, are you from Ireland? He is, he moved here.
So I owe this Irish guy a cig.
It’s not exactly soul touching, rather boring, ha. I was glad the guy gave me a cig though 🙂
@Dalillama
Same. The very last thing I need is to feel some emotional attachment to them in an idol worship sense. It kind of distracts from the issues and stances the politician represents.
Has anyone else seen this article? Alt-Right Troll to Father Killer – The Unravelling of Lane Davis https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/josephbernstein/lane-davis-ralph-retort-seattle4truth-alt-right
I thought it was both interesting and disturbing. Although the most disturbing part is that the Ralph’s are pushing this insanity and don’t believe it at all.
OP and GF are in bed together. GF wakes and realizes hes masturbating. She looks down and sees ’12 rules’ on the quilt.
GF: are you fantasising about me, or goddamn Jordan Peterson?
OPs eyes well up with tears: I knew you wouldn’t understand!
@weirwoodtreehugger
I met Hillary Clinton in person when she was campaigning for Bill when he was running for the democratic nomination. Although i’ve never been in the room with Bill and I understand he’s quite over the top amazing with the charisma, she was pretty darn magnetic herself.
Now, I will frankly admit that she is my kind of politician, wonkish and pragmatic and nuanced and that this makes her less like some other people’s kind of politician, so I was receptive. But when I heard her talk and knowing NOTHING about her before I went to event (mainly for the free BBQ) I thought “I want to vote for THIS woman for president, but I can’t, so I will vote for her husband.”
And I DID vote for her for president. I did get my wish and it was the most exciting ballot I’ve ever cast and I had to wait too long to do it.
Wow, even your girlfriend? He was polite to your girlfriend, who is a girl? Well that’s pretty incredible. Being polite to girls is quite a strain.
And you knew who you were then/girls were girls and men were men…
Anyway of course women can’t experience that deep knowledge of the soul through eye contact. Are we even sure they have souls?
@Skylalalalalalala
Ha, I came to say exactly the same thing. A bit of a must-read.
All sarcasm aside, I hope this young man’s girlfriend eventually leaves him. She doesn’t need to be with someone who considers it an act of superhuman valor when she is treated with the same basic respect as everyone else.
Off-topic, Comic-Con opens in San Diego
Link is a CNN piece on the Convention…
yeah, this….
This whole business with the lobster-people is very reminiscent of _The Shadow over Innsmouth_.
My spouse has met Bill Clinton but I have not, and had a similar experience to others regarding his charisma and personal magnetism. One of the things that was described to me was that Bill has this ability to get to know people incredibly quickly — he genuinely appears to take an interest in everyone he meets and has an amazing capacity to remember people’s names and personal stories.
I think that’s generally a key to charisma — people are interesting because they take an interest.
(I also like Moist Von Lipvig (and Spike) and he’s probably in my top ten from the Discworld but that is a very crowded list.)
Also chiming in about Bill Clinton- saw him speak twice- once at a university campus and once in a city square. He has very wide set eyes and can look out on a crowd and many feel he is looking at them. I definitely felt his charisma, as did the crowd.
A good friend and his wife were lucky to be in a handshake line for Obama in 2008. His wife actually swooned, and Obama reached out and steadied her. One of his favorite moments, even thought she’s never swooned for him that way darn it!
Obligatory “You’re in a cult, call your dad” image dump.
Seriously?! *sigh*
I think the most telling aspect is how he got into Peterson to begin with:
It’s bog-standard edgelord-to-alt-right pipeline shit where they’ve kinda-sorta heard about this guy in Canada who’s being “attacked” for his views on gender pronouns, which they already think are goofy because “Hey, who wants to be lectured by self-righteous SJWs demanding you learn 72 gender pronouns, hurhurhur….” and it just goes from there. You can slot all your biases into a Peterson lecture about “degenerate neo-Marxists” and have them all reinforced.
Christ, it’s so transparent and absurd.