JORDAN PETERSON'S INEXCUSABLE MISSTEP - "MESSAGE TO MUSLIMS"

Professing themselves to be wise they became fools - Romans 1:22

Jordan Peterson is a phenomenon. No other public intellectual has had the measure of influence and privilege of being seen in a positive light by many worldwide within the last five years as he has. He shot from being a little-known psychology professor at a Canadian University to an internet sensation overnight and has continued to grow in influence. Loved by many on the right and equally despised by many on the left. His appeal has travelled as far as the continent of Africa.

When he first appeared on the scene following his viral exchange with Cathy Newman in 2018, he seemed like the much-needed voice of reason, common sense, calm, and balance; someone who might soon graduate into a wise grandfather figure, steadily steering the chaotic cultural sea of western civilization. However, lately, he’s become in my opinion too possessed by a desire to combat what he calls the authoritarian left or Post Modernist Neo Marxists, at the expense of moderation and caution. This shift typified by his recent Twitter exchanges which have been getting more erratic if not inflammatory led to his ultimate but unfortunate suspension from Twitter a few days ago.

Peterson has clearly made some missteps along the way, including his comments on the beauty or not of a plus-size model on the cover of sports illustrated magazine for which he got a lot of backlash. But his greatest misstep yet is his recent video entitled, “Message to Muslims.” Now there are lots of problems with that video, but my initial impression of the video as well as the one he sent to Christians was that, is Peterson trying to amass an army of the religious against the authoritarian left? It struck me as odd that Peterson who isn’t Christian, Muslim, Jewish or religious would want to champion an alliance between these faiths. Peterson seemed to be making the mistaken assumption that just because he has followers who are Muslim or Christian or of any religion for that matter, they must care about the issues that are most important to Peterson or that they care to the same extent as he does.

The video which I believe to be a genuine attempt to bridge a divide Peterson senses between the various faiths—although I’m yet to see why he felt a need for such a bridging or why he thought such a call would be effective in the first place—has largely been criticized for being uncritical and ignorant.

He mistakenly assumes that fighting the radical authoritarian left matters enough—to the religious people of all faiths—to make them set aside their fundamental religious differences to forge a united front against the insanity of the “authoritarian left.”

This approach reveals a naivete that betrays the Peterson brand of being an expert on “whatever the hell he talks about.” The video revealed an ignorance not only of the religion he’s trying to appeal to but of religion and human nature in general.

For example as a Christian, there are certain Christian Churches I cannot worship in on the grounds of doctrinal differences or practices, even though they are a Christian Church, for the fact that that Church may share my position as it regards dealing with the left does not mean that those doctrinal differences suddenly disappear or become irrelevant, or that I would worship in those Churches for the sake of fighting the left. Perhaps, those differences are more important to me as a Christian than the differences with the left.

Differences that Peterson referred to as “trinkets and details.” Many religious people would find it rather insulting to suggest that the basis of their faith which makes it distinct from other faiths is but trinkets and details and that we can all have one big party when we set aside those inconsequential differences and focus on the most important thing which is Peterson’s war with the left.

His claim that far more unites people of Faith than divides them has pitiful ignorance smeared over it. Believing in a God is no more a unifying theme than believing in the existence of the sun. Even the demons believe in God and tremble, the Bible says. Should Christians align with demons on account of that shared belief?

Peterson comes across as a self-congratulatory general rousing an army of the religious that he has no command or legitimacy over in the first place, that is why, his message though well-intentioned, is having the opposite effect.

He manages to insult Muslims by suggesting that they hate Jews or Christians and wishfully thinks his calling would in any way heal a 1,400-year-old sectarian divide. He in effect has asked Muslims to become non-Muslims as that is what they would become if they took his advice.

The current quagmire of Peterson is best explained by Dr Thomas Sowell in his book Intellectuals and Society where he writes and I quote “the fatal misstep of intellectuals is assuming that superior ability within a particular realm can be generalized to superior wisdom on morality overall.” This quote captures Peterson and his video succinctly. As much as I admire the man, I always found him to be at his weakest in his commentary on religion.

Finally, Peterson’s message came across as condescending, preachy, arrogant, presumptuous and ill-informed. Religious people would not easily set aside their fundamental differences and unite for a cause they might agree with but is not the most important to them. He speaks as though it is not evident to Muslims to be friends with the Jews and Christians if that’s what their religion teaches, his flattery fell short and his opening appeal to forgive his presumptuousness has not stemmed the tide of rightly deserved criticism mostly from Muslims themselves.

All these remind me of a conversation between two of the founding fathers of my country during my country’s earliest days, in that conversation, the premier of the Eastern region said to the premier of the Northern region, “let us forget our differences" to which the Northern premier replied, “no, let us understand our differences.” Peterson would do well to educate himself properly on any issue before he issues out anything as bold as a message to any group.

Charles Ekokotu (Pharm. D.) is a bibliophile, prose fiction writer, poet, and playwright. His first self-published novel, Hotel Shendam—a crime fiction novel featuring a debate on race and colonialism—is available on Amazon. A very fun read! Grab a copy now!