Writing in the New York Times in 2018, David Brooks called Jordan Peterson the “most influential public intellectual in the Western world.” Whether or not that’s the case, he’s certainly one of the most-viewed intellectuals in the history of YouTube. Peterson’s 12 Rules for Life, a self-help book laced with Jungian psychology and reactionary politics, was a runaway bestseller. When he debated Slavoj Zizek in Toronto last April, ticket scalpers were charging more than they could have for Maple Leaf games.

Peterson is as famous for his criticisms of the Left as he is for his work on the psychological malaise of modernity. Many of his barbs have been directed at what he calls “postmodern neo-Marxism” and “cultural Marxism.” According to Peterson, universities are full of ungrateful radicals, determined to undermine the intellectual and spiritual foundations of Western civilization, insistent on advancing a dangerous totalitarian agenda that pushes for “equality of outcome” in every sphere of life. Nor is this danger confined to the classroom. Everywhere Peterson looks, he sees the attempts of institutionally powerful radicals to remake society in their multi-gendered image.

Take Bill C-16, which amended Canada’s Human Rights Law in 2017 to include gender identity and first rocketed Peterson to fame. The primary purpose of the act was to protect trans people from discrimination in areas such as housing. The word “pronoun” doesn’t appear anywhere in the text of the statute, and the Canadian Bar Association weighed in to say that the idea the amendment would “force individuals to embrace concepts, even use pronouns, which they find objectionable” was based on a basic “misunderstanding” of how human rights legislation works.