Jordan Peterson Is Your Grandfather’s Conservative
Jordan Peterson claims to slay sacred cows and challenge prevailing orthodoxies. But what he’s really offering is a minor twist on tried-and-true conservatism — defending existing hierarchies and opposing the democratization of political and economic life.
Jordan Peterson addresses students at the Cambridge Union on November 2, 2018 in Cambridge, Cambridgeshire. (Chris Williamson / Getty Images)
I’ve written quite a bit about Jordan Peterson in the past, to which many leftists have responded, “Why bother?” And it’s sometimes easy to see why. Peterson’s eccentric appeals to dragons of chaos and Pinocchio, his intense rhetoric about the evils of “post-modern neo-Marxists” he apparently hasn’t read, and his tendency to chum around with “I Would Have a Huge Vagina” types like Dave Rubin are all red flags.
But none of that has stopped Peterson from becoming arguably the most recognizable intellectual on earth. His latest book, Beyond Order: 12 More Rules for Life, is a number-one best seller, and his videos continue to rake in millions of views.
So, what kind of conservative is Jordan Peterson? And where does the “Savage Messiah” go wrong?
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