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A review by kathleen_verbiest
12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos by Jordan B. Peterson
0.0
This is the only book I ever threw into the recycle container to keep other people from reading my copy.
I bought it in an airport bookshop because it was the most appealing book in the shop and I didn't know who Jordan Peterson was. Turns out he is a rightwing sexist patriarch, but one who has a cunning way of disguising himself as a wise psychologist. Don't be fooled. He is not.
The only reason I regret throwing away that book, is because now I can't quote from it to prove my point. But I can give you two examples. I started getting suspicious when he was talking about lobsters, animals whose brains shrink when they lose status. Peterson's conclusion: status is important. Make sure you maintain your status. This also seemed to mean "don't give a sh*t about people with lower status", which was confirmed by the story about one of Peterson's childhood friends who couldn't get his life together and was abandoned by Peterson.
Then there's the subtitle of the book: "antidote to chaos". That sounds okay, doesn't it? Don't we all enjoy a tidy living room? Later in the book, Peterson explicitly identifies chaos as feminine and order as masculine. And states that chaos is something that we need to fight. At that point I got really suspicious. I looked up a few videos of Peterson on YouTube, and within minutes I heard him explaining that the reason there weren't enough jobs was because women were allowed to join the workforce.
If you want to know what those 12 rules are: John Crace made a splendid summary in The Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/jan/28/12-rules-for-life-an-antidote-to-chaos-by-jordan-b-peterson-digested-read
And who needs 12 rules?
I can do it in 3:
1. Take care of yourself
2. Take care of others
3. Don't buy books written by sexist patriarchs
I bought it in an airport bookshop because it was the most appealing book in the shop and I didn't know who Jordan Peterson was. Turns out he is a rightwing sexist patriarch, but one who has a cunning way of disguising himself as a wise psychologist. Don't be fooled. He is not.
The only reason I regret throwing away that book, is because now I can't quote from it to prove my point. But I can give you two examples. I started getting suspicious when he was talking about lobsters, animals whose brains shrink when they lose status. Peterson's conclusion: status is important. Make sure you maintain your status. This also seemed to mean "don't give a sh*t about people with lower status", which was confirmed by the story about one of Peterson's childhood friends who couldn't get his life together and was abandoned by Peterson.
Then there's the subtitle of the book: "antidote to chaos". That sounds okay, doesn't it? Don't we all enjoy a tidy living room? Later in the book, Peterson explicitly identifies chaos as feminine and order as masculine. And states that chaos is something that we need to fight. At that point I got really suspicious. I looked up a few videos of Peterson on YouTube, and within minutes I heard him explaining that the reason there weren't enough jobs was because women were allowed to join the workforce.
If you want to know what those 12 rules are: John Crace made a splendid summary in The Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/jan/28/12-rules-for-life-an-antidote-to-chaos-by-jordan-b-peterson-digested-read
And who needs 12 rules?
I can do it in 3:
1. Take care of yourself
2. Take care of others
3. Don't buy books written by sexist patriarchs