Who is Jordan Peterson – or anybody else?

Jordan Peterson shot into international fame recently, in the last two years especially. So now ‘everybody’ is asking, “Who is Jordan Peterson?” If you (whoever you may be) thinks this post is gonna tell you, then you might as well leap off a cliff right now. 

I’m more concerned with the ‘who is.. ‘ question. What is it about? In general people want to know the following when they ask this sort of question:

1. Where is he from?
2. What’s his qualifications?
3. Who else knows about him?
4. Is he rich?
5. Where was he born?
6. Is he an academic etc.

Few people cared much about ‘Who is Gwyneth Paltrow?‘ when they were being conned of their money for stuff like ‘vaginal eggs’ at $USD 60.00 per pop. After all, ‘everybody’ knew that Paltrow is a famous person in the movie industry – so anything she says is golden i.e. no qualifications needed – all that matters is that she is rich and famous.

So where am I heading with this? ‘Tis about when somebody pops out of the ‘woodwork’ and has something sensible to say. Then everybody looks for credentials. It doesn’t really matter ‘what exactly’ they are saying or whether it makes sense. It seems that their credentials are what’s necessary for ‘it’ to make sense – which I think is pretty dumb-ass! Why? Because a position or argument has to be valued for it is internal consistency and logic etc. I couldn’t care about credentials. But then again, I’m told that I’m not ‘everybody’ – which is fine, cuz I don’t see how any one person can be ‘everybody’! If one is already famous, well well – it doesn’t matter – they could talk any pile of rubbish and ‘everybody’ will just lap it up lovingly. Errrh.. how much money did Gwyneth Paltrow con out of people for selling junk? If I were to say that ‘people are stupid’, I’d be accused of arrogance. It doesn’t matter if the Paltrow situation actually proves it. So – right, I’ll not say that ‘people are stupid’.

Now did I say that I consider JP to be my guru? I did freaking NOT! I’ve lost count the number of videos I’ve listened to with him giving lectures, or being interviewed. I’m occupied only by the ‘sense’ with what the man says. I couldn’t care less if he was (hypothetically) arrested tomorrow for drug-trafficking. Why? Because the sense in what he says doesn’t just vanish because of some (hypothetical) misdemeanour. All it would mean (hypothetically) is that he couldn’t follow that which he preached.

That’s another thing – people expect those who espouse some set of values to live perfectly by those same values – else they’re to be labelled a charlatan. In the case of Jiddhu Krishnamurti, he probably did not in one particular area, live up to the ideals he preached. And thereafter – all that he said turned into rubbish in the minds of ‘people’ (or ‘everybody’ if you like).

In concluding I say, that the ‘who is...’ question is nonsense.  It is a simple question for simpletons. Oh dear me.. simpletons are in the majority – for sure.. so I must have insulted ‘everybody’. What everybody wants is the perfect guru. That’s it!