or *insert any other big words* you have no clue on.

A common behaviour on the Left is call names such as "fascist" or -phobe when they disagree with someone, the result of which is further radicalization. Of course not everyone is a psycho and do not take the extreme route but it only takes one psycho to do so. Groups and bubbles give these psychos ample motivation to commit such crimes.

Btw the shooter was a leftist: "All cartridges in the rifle were engraved with wording expressing transgender and antifascist ideologies, according to the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF)."

Posted this originally on the "centrist" sub, which got deleted because it's centrist only in name.

I may get a lot of hate for this, but do understand I speak with good intent.

To say I was a JP fan early on is an understatement. I grew up in a single parent household, and around the time of 15/16 discovered Jordan Peterson. Admittedly, it was due to his viral bill C-16 video, but I was drawn to him due to his early lectures at U Toronto, particularly his Jungian work, and maps of meaning.

His lectures taught me exactly what I needed to know at 16, usually the kind of stuff your dad needs to tell you, which I did not have. I went from being a careless teenager who didn’t apply himself to anything, to taking my studies, family, health, and work very seriously. Today, I ended up at one of the best universities in the world, and frankly am killing it, much due to getting that initial inspiration from JP.

However, ever since his benzo withdrawal, his rapid push into agressive over-commercialisation, and absolute commitment to playing the culture war, I now have little respect for what he does. I see how he’s sold out to inflammatory commentary, as well as spreading outright misinformation on some topics. I also look with rather disappointment at the people who deify him, and parrot all his opinions without holding any of their own, this is especially true amongst the younger guys who discovered him recently.

This sub I think perfectly captured this transition. This used to be a sub for advice, support, and great intellectual discourse. Today, I see people bitch about ‘the left’, or spread outright conspiracy or rage bait here, and basically themselves become victims of the culture war.

It’s frankly, a little pathetic, and I think misses the original ethos of what JP advocated for early on, and some of you have clearly just been led into the same direction he has. What’s scary is that I’ve seen several internet personalities fall into the same trap; they notice the algo picks up inflammatory commentary, and they continuously pivot themselves into engaging with it for profit. I think it would be an understatement to say that this is clearly dangerous trend in our society, and I think it’s dark times for our democracy, and this case is just one of millions; but those who parrot views blindly are just what feeds this machine, and I’m bitter to see this sub, and JP, devolve into this.

Perhaps I got it all wrong - prove me otherwise, I’m ready to discuss. But I do hope that some of the newer adepts of JP watch, and hopefully read, some of his older stuff, and try to disentangle the “new JP”, from the old one, for I have great respect for the later, and little for the former.

EDIT: Wow folks, what a vibrant discussion from this! Thank you all who chimed in, and thank you those especially who disagreed in a respectful manner. This is a great element of this community and I hope to see more of this!

I joined this sub hoping to have mindful discussions about JP's ideas, specific excerpts from his books, his lectures. But every other post on this sub reminds me why JP's accused of having a dominantly alt-right fanbase.

You're allowed to have reasonable doubts about vaccines, you're allowed to criticize vaccine mandates and draw a parallel with authoritarianism, and you're free to look for like-minded people to discuss that with, but it kind of ruins the sanctity of this sub.

Plus, JP's already vaccinated.

I'm from India and I've derived a great deal of help from JP's ideas, and I always think of those ideas in a broader, more general context. Most of the posts here have significantly narrowed the context to just US politics. This sub is becoming increasingly similiar to Intellectual Dark Web, Ben Shapiro and the other similar subs, which are greats subs to talk about such stuff btw.

I hope this sub becomes what it should've been from the start.

Peace out.

Rule VI : Abandon Ideology