Jordan Peterson: ‘It’s important to become an effective writer’
Debate and interview platform Room for Discussion is devoted to airing ideas and often controversial opinions. This week it was Canadian psychologist Jordan Peterson sitting on the now infamous Chesterfield following the Dutch translation of his book 12 Rules for Life. An antidote for chaos.
There were no large scale protests or interruptions as expected, but this was perhaps due to the heavy security of the E-building on the Roeterseiland Campus. The hall was full, but by no means more so than other debates. People applauded politely.
The usual Peterson themes were discussed in an interview that was extended for half an hour including his views on marriage, politics under Trump, the media, male-female relations and political correctness. His views led to a great deal of controversy in the media last week and the question whether someone seen by many as ‘right wing’ or ‘extremely right’ (a claim he disputes) should be welcome to air his views at the supposedly-progressive UvA.
‘Learn to write’
The discussion was disjointed throughout. Gay marriage was ‘an interesting experiment’, while at the same time, ‘it’s better for children to have two parents than one.’ On the US presidential election: ‘The American electorate was apparently more willing to accept the stupid impulsive lies of Trump than the directed, constructed lies of Hillary.’ On American politics: ‘The Republicans have moved into the middle, the Democrats to the far left.’ About the enrolment quotas at Harvard: ‘If you’re Asian, you have a fifty per cent chance of being admitted. That's not trivial, that’s unforgivable.’
About political correctness: ‘A rather unfortunate marriage between Marxism and postmodernism’. About fake news on social media: ‘Regulating content is not only difficult, it’s impossible.’ And regarding inequality, according to Peterson this is a ‘deep problem’ that goes far beyond the ‘systematic criticism of capitalism.’ What can we do about ‘toxic masculinity’? Peterson: ‘This is a definition issue, because what is “toxic”? Instead he would say ‘responsible masculinity’, the man who is ‘responsible, honest and caring’.
‘Learn to write’ was Peterson’s most important tip when students asked for advice. ‘Pitch the right words. For my first book I wrote down every sentence fifty times before it took its final form. Make sure you are an effective writer, speaker and communicator, then you’ll go a long way.’
