Dr. Jordan Peterson's name has been in the news recently after crying during an interview when asked about comments Olivia Wilde made about him. Yet, despite being insulted by a Hollywood A-lister, most people are likely not familiar with Peterson.
The emotional moment for Peterson came during an appearance on Fox Nation's Piers Morgan Uncensored on Wednesday. Morgan had asked Peterson about the Don't Worry Darling director calling him the "pseudo-intellectual hero to the incel community" in Interview magazine, and Peterson responded by tearing up and saying, "You know people have been after me for a long time because I've been speaking to disaffected young men."
Peterson is a media personality known for his conservative views on issues, but he once was simply known as a clinical psychologist and a professor. After time spent as an assistant and associate professor at Harvard University—where he published several influential papers on familial alcoholism and other issues—the Canadian returned to his home country with a position at the University of Toronto.
Peterson soon stood out for his books, writing the bestsellers Maps of Meaning: The Architecture of Belief, Beyond Order: 12 More Rules for Life and 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos. His public stature began to grow as a result, and Peterson was soon a well-known intellectual.
He became recognized outside the intellectual community due to his controversial views on transgender rights, which he laid out in a series of YouTube videos in 2016. Among his divisive stances was his refusal to refer to students by their chosen gender pronouns.
One especially notorious incident from 2016 came when Peterson was filmed speaking to transgender students. He argued to them that their activism—and political correctness in general—had a negative impact on society.
The video racked up millions of hits on YouTube, and Peterson was soon bragging to Joe Rogan about how he'd learned to profit from controversy.
"I shouldn't say this, but I'm going to, because it's just so g**damn funny I can't help but say it: I've figured out how to monetize social justice warriors," Peterson said on Rogan's podcast in 2018. "If they let me speak, then I get to speak, and then I make more money on Patreon...If they protest me, then that goes up on YouTube, and my Patreon account goes way up."
Peterson received criticism this summer for a Twitter message that misgendered and deadnamed transgender actor Elliot Page. Peterson's Twitter account was later suspended after he refused to delete the post.
Shortly after he tweeted about Page, The Daily Wire announced it had signed a multi-year deal to host Peterson's podcast.
More recently, Peterson upset many people with a tribute he wrote for Queen Elizabeth II following the monarch's passing in which he wrote that no country had done more to eradicate slavery than the United Kingdom.
Newsweek reached out to Peterson for comment.
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
Jon Jackson is an Associate Editor at Newsweek based in New York. His focus is on reporting on the Ukraine ... Read more
