What explains the stratospheric ascent of University of Toronto psychologist Jordan Peterson? He has 760,000 subscribers and 39 million views on his YouTube channel. His new book 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos is near the top of the Amazon book charts in Canada, the U.K., and the U.S. And he was recently proclaimed “the most influential public intellectual in the Western world right now” by New York Times columnist David Brooks.

Some in the Canadian media have tried to explain away his popularity in terms of appeals to ignorance, sexism and bigotry. For example, Peterson has been referred to as a conservative hero with “dangerous views” in Chatelaine, “the stupid man’s smart person” in Maclean’s and “just another angry white guy” in The Globe and Mail.

But what is really happening is that Peterson has become the personification of the backlash to outrage and denunciation culture. A culture in which anyone that does not pledge complete fealty to all articles of faith of the progressive movement is labelled as a bigot that should be shamed to the fringes of society.

Peterson gained notoriety due to his opposition to the use of gender neutral pronouns and federal legislation dealing with gender expression. He had spent a large portion of his life studying the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany and viewed the imposition of state-imposed speech requirements as a dangerous step toward totalitarian control.

Peterson noted that while it is legitimate for the state to enumerate language that people can’t use (e.g. racial epithets, inciting violence), forcing people to use specific language is an abuse of state power.

But the media coverage at the time reported almost none of this nuance. Instead, Peterson was cast as just another white male in a position of power engaged in transphobic behaviour.

This was similar to the reporting on former Google engineer James Damore. Much of the media proclaimed that Damore, a white male, had written a sexist “anti-diversity” memo that argued that women weren’t “biologically fit for tech jobs” as CNN put it.

But the memo said nothing of the sort. It acknowledged that sexism exists but stated that the gender disparity in tech companies has more to do with differences in population level gender preferences, and then concluded with suggestions to increase the number of women in the tech field.

Damore was fired amidst the frenzied outrage, although YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki and Google CEO Sundar Pichai responded similarly when recently asked about the gender disparity in tech, citing studies on gender differences and saying that women prefer “social industries.”

Of the people who actually investigated Peterson’s views or read Damore’s memo, many concluded they had been unfairly maligned. And in the case of Peterson, they also found a lot of other interesting ideas. For example, his most popular video, with over 1.4 million views, is a 2.5-hour lecture on the psychological significance of the Bible.

Peterson has found a particular audience among young men, whom he admonishes to be strong and get their lives in order. This is a demographic that is often treated with callous disregard.

For example, a few years ago, posters advertising a panel discussion at the University of Toronto on the educational and economic crisis among young men were covered up with a sign that read “BROUGHT TO YOU BY CRYBABIES ANONYMOUS.” It was as if to say that because some men hold positions of power in society, other men who are struggling don’t really deserve any sympathy.

If we are going to chart a constructive path forward as a society, we need to be able to have honest dialogue about contentious issues, especially with people with whom we disagree. This involves putting an end to the automatic labelling and dismissal of those with unfashionable views.

We also need to treat people as individuals and move away from the notion that group identity is the defining characteristic of a person. Humans vary along a multitude of dimensions, the least important of which may be the characteristics (e.g. race and sex) they did not choose for themselves.

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Jordan Peterson’s popularity is not a sign of resurgent atavistic bigotry. Rather it is a signpost to the blind spots in our society that need attention.

Sachin Maharaj is a PhD candidate and Canada Graduate Scholar in educational policy at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto.

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