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So what makes Peterson different from far-right firebrands like Richard Spencer, who wants America to be a white ethnostate, or Milo Yiannopoulos, whose shtick was complaining that feminists are ugly whores? People are always saying this crap, it's just the mouthpiece that changes, right? There's a simple yet important distinction: Peterson actually believes what he says. At times he's willing to debate in reasonably good faith (here's a clip of Peterson admitting he was wrong on a rights issue after Jim Jefferies caught him out in a logical falsehood).

By contrast, Yiannopoulos is a man who I sincerely believe would eat a dog turd on camera if it would gain him Twitter followers. He used to make hay mocking gamers until he realized it was more profitable to hop on the Gamergate bandwagon. There's no core to his views beyond getting attention by triggering the libs. He found a button and pressed it until it broke.

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Spencer, on the other hand, pretended to argue in good faith in front of the cameras, but would quote Hitler when among his own people. Behind his "dapper" public facade was the same dumb hatred of any middle school dropout in the KKK. Any claim of logic and civility was an act, which is why engaging him in debate just played into his hands.

Peterson, though, is not arguing that feminism is a cancer because lol it triggers the libs. He's starting from the core of what he sees as a consistent worldview and moral code. It may sound like more of the same crap because the endpoint is similar. Peterson's code takes him to dark places (if privilege isn't a thing, then a lot of other very ugly things must also be true). But Spencer and Milo didn't offer solutions, at least not on a personal level. Their brand of mindless spite is like a drug for the insecure, but it's not motivating anybody to get into college.

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So sure, reviewers of Peterson's book can say he relies on sexist stereotypes instead of science, or that the supposed oppression of white males is just them having to face some of the same challenges that everyone else faced forever. It doesn't matter. Peterson's right-wing politics have credibility not based on their internal consistency, but on his other teachings having turned out to be credible. "This guy was right about how to get my life on track, so maybe he's also right about how feminists are idiots who just need to shut the fuck up and raise some kids."