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Comment by BMc2020 | Hacker News Reader

BMc2020

I thing you'll like 'A Brief Look at Jordan Peterson'. It's on youtube on a channel called 'Some More News'.

At just under three hours it's still shorter than Peterson answering a Y/N question.

Is that intended as a snide criticism? I see so often an attempt to force “controversial” commentators into answering “yes or no!” as some sort of “gotcha”. Often the argument is that simplistic reduction of a nuanced stance is the actual problem being argued against. I see no issue with refusal to engage in the game as rigged by an opponent.

Nothing snide there at all, he's a straight up mediocre waffling university house chair warmer.

After 40 odd years avoiding such time wasters in AU, the UK, the US, Canada, etc. it was kind of odd to see a small part of the zeitgeist latch onto and elevate him.

Either he has something interesting to say but it take some effort to understand or you are right.

Choose your adventure

German has the word "Jein", allowing people to quickly answer neither yes nor no.

I watched a bit of that and a bit of the start of the biblical lectures (https://youtu.be/f-wWBGo6a2w)

The Some More News is a bit unfair in that he's going on about something he doesn't understand - climate science. Whereas on his home turf of the Bible he's pretty good.

I mean if you'd interviewed Einstein on say salsa dancing you might have thought he's an idiot. It's not a good way to judge.

It's not very convincing.

JBP is an academic and yes he is a bit hard to understand, that doesn't mean that it's nonsense, just that it will take more time to grasp his positions.

You can start with his university class in psycology: personality and transformation, I think it's the easiest starting point.

Then map of meaning.

I much prefer his lectures, live talks and podcast to the writings that are contrived and a bit overworked to my taste.

Considering the video is 3 hours long and you replied 1 hour after it being suggested, is it possible you didnt watch the whole thing and might be missing the convincing portion?

I started and it was ad hominem right at the start. So I judged it was not worth watching the whole thing.

Is there a section I should watch?

What are the arguments against him?

I have watched all his university class and most of his talk, 100's of hours of material. I am very familiar with his positions.

But when I first heard about him I had a strong reaction against his positions and his complicated language. I was primed by CBC to hate him and I was trying to find a good reason. At the same time my cursiosity was activated so I watch him more and understood more and more.

So yes, he is not easy to understand, it take a lot of effort but it's been worth it for me.

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