Is Jordan Peterson's Ukraine take nonsense?

A commentary on Jordan Peterson's talk on Ukraine. Reluctantly but by popular request!

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Jordan Peterson links
Russia Vs. Ukraine Or Civil War In The West?

War, Controversy, and Political Polarization | Iceland Channel 2 Interview

00:00 Intro
05:48 Knowledge acquisition
15:46 Expertise
23:53 John Mearsheimer critique
30:34 Jordan Peterson & Ukraine invasion as civil war

This continues our look at the BIG PICTURE implications of Putin's Ukraine invasion for Ukraine, the Kremlin and the world.

[VladVexlerChat]

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[vladibalan]

Lost respect for a lot of north american conservatives with this war. They are projecting their issues on something that is extremely different than the "culture war". Very childish.

[fusionofhorizons]

From Romania your analysis of JP on Ukraine is very close to the mark. JP values Dostoyevsky and the Orthodox Church and assumes that Putin [publicly pro Russian Orthodox church] must have some moral imperative in starting the war and he is dead wrong on this. Putin values power, anything else, like human life, religious faith, truth or "western civilizational values" are just convenient tools for him to use or enemies to destroy when they become obstacles in his grand plan of gradual acquisition of absolute power. It seems to me that JP is willfully blind on Putin as a direct and present danger to the "West" JP loves and wants to coopt Putin in his Truth crusade against leftist extremism. Meanwhile Ukrainians are dying protecting western values against an old style autocrat.

[upnorth]

Peterson's insight into geo-politics and history of eastern Europe is non-existant but he is pompous enough to think he has something worth saying. Nonsense in its purest form.

[lori]

I left Crimea on the day they shut down the airport in 2014. I got to New York and within hours people who had no knowledge at all of the situation were trying to tell me what should be done in absolute terms. It actually caused me up have a complete nervous breakdown. How can you be an expert without any experience or study? I'm basically a complete hermit at this point because I don't know how to interact in a world where everyone knows that they know things, with no inability to expand their understanding or listen to any criticism to their "expertise" at all.

[eugenyyy]

As a Ukrainian, I’m so happy to find this video and the channel(s).

I had been a big fan of JP up until the video about Ukraine. It was obvious, he was out of touch, yet sadly there was not a single comment that would question his take on the situation.

The relationship between Russia and Ukraine has very long and complicated history. If you haven’t studied it, you will never fully understand this conflict and Russian hatred towards us.

[nathanaelsmith]

Peterson has no more insight into Ukraine than I do so he should be posting alongside me in Vlad's comment section rather than abusing his platform to spout nonsense.

[Tmm_UA]

I repeat, this one is massively underrated channel ☝️

[viktorsboroviks]

A very argumented, mature and, if I may say, tasteful take on Petersons preachings. A delight. Thank you!
As a Russian speaking Latvian, on my personal experience I need to say that the “civil war in Eastern Europe” you were talking about has another - generational - dimension to it.
I cannot argue about Russians in Russia (although I could speculate this is similar), but here in Latvia - the younger the Russians are - the more they are integrated into the “global West” - the more they support Ukraine and the Liberal camp.
I would go as far as to say, that almost all youngest Russians (born after the collapse of the USSR) support Ukraine.
The opposite is true for older generation. Russian seniors - vastly support or justify this war.
This runs through almost every Russian family that I know where children and parents are now on the opposite sides. Including my own.

[TonnenKoala]

There is german military historian who does regular pieces on Youtube about Russia's war against Ukraine. His name is Thorsten Heinrich and he actually adheres to exactly what Vlad is telling us about expertise: He stays in his lane and each time he is asked about something that is not in his field of expertise, he just states outright "I don't know".
I think THAT alone gives this man a big chunk of credibility.

[RC-pgsz]

I am 81 years old, now retired. After university and before retirement I spent nearly all of my energy solving narrow work related problems Still, I remained interested the many larger questions that had occupied my youth. Initially I was attracted (as I immagine a great many others are attracted) to well spoken folks who seemed confident about the larger mysteries that puzzled me. Early on, I was much impressed by bold self -confidence. Sometime in my mid thirties experience soured my awe of such performances. This happened when putative guides would touch upon areas of my own very narrow expertise. When that happened I discovered that they did not know what they were talking about. From those experiences I developed a heightened sensitivity to the smell of bull-shit. I wonder if there is a bit of Vlad's own disappointed awe underlying his commentary upon the work of Jordan Peterson, Noam Chomsky and Peter Zeihan, all three of which run my B.S. meter to 10.

[sergek]

Even though russian propaganda often refers to Europe as "Gayrope" I don't feel that russian invasion have anything to do with the identity politics. JP's lecture felt painfully irrelevant and even absurd to me as a Ukrainian. Loved Vlad's point about the USA being a theat to russian imperialism, not to the country itself.

[danielschaeffer]

Astonishing that JP rants on forever about Stalin and the Gulag, yet fails to see Putin for what he is — a vest-pocket Stalin. Not all that astonishing, though, considering that so much of his thinking is so bizarrely self-contradictory.

[ctx]

People that listen to JP's politics should get their house built by ballerina, their schools staffed by hockey players and their food cooked by toddler to get the idea of professionalism and standards. It's like listening to artists for their advice on wearing masks during pandemic, absolutely worthless. I know that there is overlap with his expertise and politics, but god damn... he's in deep end.

[flyjet]

I've noticed a relatively new phenomenon in behavior of American citizens. One frequently hears folks saying, "I feel like we don't need anymore Covid vaccines." Or, "I feel like Donald Trump desires what is in the citizens best interest." Implicit in the word "feel" they are actually claiming fact. Somehow personal feelings/beliefs are now acceptable placeholders for factual knowledge and expertise.

A very important issue indeed. Thanks for dedicating a video to address it!

[mattjames]

Love how you said, it's OK to say. "I don't know" the internet makes it too easy to conflate surface level knowledge with real expertise.

[Monsterofid]

Vlad’s analysis has become part of my mental health care routine. Well done!

[myma]

Exactly! In Italian they call this type of person a "tuttologo", an all-alogist; someone who thinks he's an expert on everything and who's everyday on TV or on youtube sharing his 'knowledge', mostly with the unknowledgeable masses, throwing some fuel on every fire that pops up.

[louisgiokas]

Jordan Peterson is someone I really liked. When he was talking about psychology and meaning he was good. I bought his first book. Not the others. I am not into books with prescriptions and a number of "steps", etc. Lately he has been getting into things he does not know about, as you point out. He goes to people, usually one or two, to get some answers, and that is the answer. He limits himself that way. He is also not a problem solver, as far as these other areas go. Most issues we run into, either as individuals, or as companies, or nations, can be solved. It takes experience and expertise to do this. I look at his output lately, and it is a bit sad.

[vanguard]

Oh my gosh! I did not know that Putin attacked Ukraine because it is too woke! I m so glad Jordan Peterson can dumb down these complicated issues to a level we can grasp without having to think for ourselves.