Jordan Peterson on corporate virtue signalling

Herald Sun ^ | 3-14-2018 | Rita Panahi

[servo1969]

Clinical psychologist, author, professor and easy-on-the-eye cultural critic, Jordan B. Peterson, took a break from his sold out speaking tour to chat with Miranda Devine.

He had some sage words of advice for the likes of Qantas, Telstra, PWC, KPMG et al:

“People who are doing this at the corporate level will rapidly get their comeuppance … If you’re operating within a capitalist environment like let’s say the executives and management of Qantas, who are being paid disproportionately well, you don’t also get to be a social radical. And you don’t get to salve your conscience for receiving a pay cheque that’s 300 times the pay cheque of the average worker by pretending you’re a social revolutionary. It’s an appalling sleight of hand.

“In addition, you don’t get to invite the radical leftists into your corporate utopia without opening the door to a major fifth column. If you are naive enough to think that the demand of the radicals for the transformation of your company is going to end with a few requests for language transformation then you’re a complete bloody fool."

[thulldud]

However, lots of liberals will try to turn a business into a charity because there is money and power there.

Somebody else's money, somebody else's power. Liberals don't make it, but they will take it.

[BEJ]

Peterson has a lot going for him. He is relevant, a scientist (a psychologist), an original thinker, has great academic credentials, very erudite, a great speaker, and has an impressive authority simply due to his physical presence and dedication to truth... almost like an old fashion preacher in a community.

He argues against the insanity of the left which comes in many forms. Many men seem to follow Peterson because he is presenting meaningful and practical solutions about getting one’s life in order, e.g., take on responsibility, dedicating oneself to speaking the truth, etc. As well, many men seem to be victimized these days due to the radical feminism claim that men are part of a tyrannical patriarchy. Peterson presents an antidote to these claims which is based, in great part, on science.

Peterson is now lumped in with the right but he is a classical liberal at heart. He doesn’t absolutely condemn the left and is interested in their concern about equality. According to Peterson, the problem of equality isn’t a political problem because it is not resolved with either the right or the left in power. It’s a deeper problem. Peterson is against the left’s notion of equality of outcome, but he is for equality of opportunity.

Many good things can be said about Peterson and he does seem to be needed today more than ever — as evident by his great appeal. He is a calm voice of reason against the left’s shrill demand to silence free speech. With things becoming ever polarized and radicalized (look at the insanity of the media) Peterson seems to be moving the culture back to some semblance of normalcy. He hates the irrationality and relativism of post modernism and wants western culture to reclaim its traditional identity with Truth and Logos.