I was recently labelled “fash”—that’s English hipster speak for “fascist”—because I “liked” a few of Jordan Peterson’s tweets.
For those who have been living under a rock the last year, Peterson is the 56-year-old Canadian psychology professor turned overnight political sensation when his YouTube video about Bill C-16 made waves throughout the media.
Peterson was rallying against new Canadian legislation (which has since become a law) that said anyone who does not call a trans person by their preferred pronoun could be legally punished. Peterson objected to the bill on free-speech grounds.
Cold, dry, and deeply Canadian, Peterson and his argument enraged transgender activists and progressive lefties who called for his resignation and stormed the University of Toronto campus, accusing him of every thought-crime they could think of.
Their attempts at silencing Peterson backfired—big time. Almost instantly, he became a North American political sensation. The New Yorker profiled him, a much-discussed New York Times article featured him as part of the Intellectual Dark Web, and Peterson soon found himself debating politics, religion, and culture with public intellectuals like Ben Shapiro, Sam Harris, Dave Rubin, and Camille Paglia. He also famously jousted about workplace feminism with English TV reporter Cathy Newman in a 30-minute interview so potent it has attracted more than eight million YouTube views.
Peterson’s latest book, 12 Rules for Life: An Anecdote to Chaos, is a best-seller and sent him on a sold-out world book tour. Young men have flocked to Peterson and his message of love, independence, and personal responsibility. Still, the left sees him as an evil, sexist, transphobic monster hiding under the guise of free speech to push his “fash,” “alt-right” ideas. The best part about most of Peterson’s critics is that they are too dumb and lazy to read his book before barking their criticisms.
Because if they did read 12 Rules for Life or bothered to listen to some in-depth interviews with the man, they would see that Peterson isn’t some tyrannical right-wing pundit—he’s a classic liberal, a Canadian from the rural prairies, a teacher, a scholar, and a family man who loves his kids so much he gave up eating everything but meat and greens to help his daughter with her potentially fatal autoimmune disorder.
Like a great father, Peterson doesn’t want to give you a fish. He wants to teach you to fish, so you can eat fish forever. Then he wants you to know what could happen if you fish too often and understand the consequences your potential overfishing could have on the world.
12 Rules for Life is a self-help book for young men that promotes a conscious, respectful version of masculinity, one reinforcing universal truths such as “we are not equal in ability or outcome, and never will be,” and “your misery is the weapon you brandish in your hatred for those who rose upward while you waited and sank.” In today’s ultra-PC climate, notions like this have been lost and replaced with identity-politics group-think and victim terminology, so Canada’s greatest dad has been a breath of fresh air.
Peterson wants young people to take responsibility for themselves as individuals, to become informed about the world, and to create meaning in life so that they can be fulfilled and contribute positively to society. If that’s what fascism means to the kids today, then I guess, yes, I’m a “fash.” I’m a big, fat fascist. Thanks, Dad!
