I Went to Watch Jordan Peterson. I Was Immensely Disappointed.

Here’s why.

I like Jordan Peterson.

I don’t share all of his opinions yet I find a lot of my personal values in his ideas.

So I was extremely excited to attend his book tour event in Tallinn, Estonia.

But after 2 hours of lecture, I exited the theater disappointed.

Here’s why.

#1 Money

The Jordan Peterson of 2012 wanted to spread wisdom and help people achieve better outcomes.

He posted his lectures on Youtube and wrote answers on Quora. Benevolently.

The Jordan Peterson of 2022 still wants to help people. But he also wants to make a looot of money.

The event started when Jordan’s wife Tammy stepped on stage and began by shilling (for lack of a better word) the products of the Peterson family.

“My daughter Mikhaila is building the Peterson academy. It’s a set of courses taught by academics with no political ideology whatsoever. You can learn real social sciences, real math…there is no political ideology there”.

She then talked about the app that her son Julian has released to “help people write better”.

I found it off-putting.

Peterson already made millions with his book sales and tours. And everyone in the concert hall had already bought something from them — at least a ticket, at most a ticket, two books, and a program.

I have nothing against advertising or against money. But I don’t like being sold when I already bought.

#2 Strange Set Up

I expected a lecture on one of the chapters of Beyond Order (that I did not read to avoid spoilers) followed by a Q&A.

But it was only a Q&A.

Here’s how it worked.

Tammy first stepped on stage for four minutes of advertising, then explained the structure of the talk.

“When I married Jordan, we would often sit together in the living room. Jordan would talk and I would listen”, she said.

They wanted to recreate that same vibe, except that questions wouldn’t come from her, but from the audience — around 5000 people, according to my estimates.

Two armchairs had been arranged on stage for the occasion. It gave some sort of “fireside chat with the Peterson” atmosphere.

Once everything was clear, Tammy asked us to reserve big applause for “Jordan to me, Dr. Peterson to you guys” and clapped enthusiastically as he climbed on stage.

And so the event began.

I was disappointed that we wouldn’t have a lecture.

So I hoped the questions would be good!

#3 Boring Questions and Long Answers

The event team had set up a Slido to ask questions.

But that was a bit redundant.

The questions weren’t selected according to how popular they were. They were curated by Jordan’s team.

The first question was “why do we need religion at all”.

Whoever asked this had clearly no idea who they came to see.

Since the answer was easy (religion helps you choose a value system so that you know what to focus on and can live your life in an admirable manner), I thought it would take 10 minutes before we go on to the next one.

But 40 minutes later, Peterson had not finished answering. He digressed so much (going into the Bible, the Israelites in the desert, etc), that half of the room was lost after 20 minutes (you could see the lights of people’s phones glowing in the dark).

The second question was “how do you recognize the obstacles preventing you from moving forward and the things that do harm to you and your life?”.

That was more interesting. The answer was “observe what you are afraid of doing. When it comes to relationships, it’s much better to have a fight now than be resentful and bitter and have the fight later”.

The rest of the questions were much lighter, much more “pop-psychology”-like.

“How do you know if you have found the right person?” Wrong question, said Peterson.

The right one is “How can I be the best version of myself for others?”

He then proceeded to give a few pieces of advice.

1. Listen well. Tell people back what they told you to make sure you have understood what they said correctly.
2. For men: be productive and generous. Since women bare the reproductive burden, they look for men they can rely on when childbearing.
3. Ask yourself what you can do to make others better. You will then never have any problem finding a mate.

The next question was “I am afraid of fully being myself in front of people”.

That’s a personality problem. These people are too agreeable, or too immature. Peterson advised to:

1. Stop. Self-sacrifice leads to resentment, which is a toxic emotion. Stop being what everyone wants you to be.
2. Ask yourself what you want and need.
3. If you don’t do anything, you will be bitter and cynical.
4. Stop lying. But if you don’t want to say “no”, say “I’ll think about it”.

Finally, the last question was “any advice to first-time parents” whose answer was just a rehash of the chapter “don’t let your children do anything that’d make you dislike them” from 12 Rules for Life.

And that was it.

Conclusion: Nothing New

Jordan Peterson came to say what Jordan Peterson says and answered questions on topics Jordan Peterson writes about.

Jordan Peterson did some Jordan Peterson.

There was nothing new, no risk-taking, no controversial opinion, no new takes.

I am not the most acquainted with Peterson’s work. Despite that, I didn’t learn much.

There were a few contradictions (religion as a roadmap for action VS biology as a drive), a few mistakes (Peterson read a lot of psychology and philosophy but seemingly never opened a history book), a few jokes on the progressists and that was it.

Nonetheless, I was happy I had gone.

Peterson remains an interesting intellectual with a few good, practical ideas that can help people lead a better life.

There is something awe-like to see in real life someone you’ve seen on Youtube and read the books of.

And even though he remains at times quite complicated and obscure (especially for someone with a mass following like his), I’d still recommend anyone to go see him.

If you’ve read the books and watched the videos, I am afraid you won’t learn much though.

That was my experience at the Jordan Peterson’s book tour event.

Hopefully, yours will be better.

For a complete summary of 12 Rules for Life, head to auresnotes.com.