Jordan Peterson: never meet your heroes

Last week I attended Jordan Peterson's "Beyond Order: 12 More Rules for Life 2022-2023 Tour" in Ljubljana, Solvenia. I am posting a screenshot of it, you will soon know why.

I discovered Jordan Peterson I believe 4 years ago via a friend when he was relatively unknown, but stopped following him actively after a couple of years, mainly because he was repeating himself and was discussing his family and personal issues too much. So, while I certainly listened to him a lot at the beginning, supported him economically for some time via Patreon because he promised to use the money for an online university, and agreed with most of his argumentation, I never considered myself a fan. Half the way I was getting the impression he was focusing only on money and prestige, or maybe that is just inevitable, and this event proved me right.

Jordan Peterson is an interesting man, he is spreading important messages in our times, he is very brave, and he is definitely worth listening. But I am not here to talk about him in general. Maybe in another post.

My message here is about the great deception after seeing him live in Ljubljana. During this event I felt that he is not really "capitalizing on Social Justice Warriors" (as he said once) but ripping off his own fanbase.

Why? As said above, this event was advertised as a tour of his latest book- Beyond Order: 12 more rules for life. It was also advertised as a 3 hour event from 20:00 to 23:00. Tickets were expensive, we paid 65€ each, and these were not the most expensive seats. I think I have never paid so much money for an event in my life, not even for a concert of a super famous band. Okay, he is now a celebrity, we have to see him at least once before he goes totally mental (which he will), he is coming to Europe. And, well, 3 hours of new content from Peterson might be worth it. Let's just do it.

Before the event starts, the audience is asked to ask questions online. That's nice, cause most talks have a final short part of Q&As after the main message has been delivered. The audience gets anxious while waiting.

The event starts 40 minutes late after the audience started cheering up and clapping. Not bad for someone spreading messages about responsibility and praising English gentlemen's values that are the core of Western Civilization according to him, such as punctuality (more about that maybe in another post).

Then, his own wife goes up the stage and says something like "you will soon meet Dr. Peterson, but before that let me share some important messages with you". So she spends 5-10 minutes blatantly advertising the "companies" of their own two children, son and daughter, respectively. I write "companies" in quotes because both are just an extension of Jordan's business which I am completely sure are sponsored by him. Again, not bad for someone spreading messages about responsibility, working hard, raising from bottom to top, getting educated, etc. Then daddy gives you the ideas for your companies, sponsors them, and uses mommy to advertise them in front of an audience who already paid around 65€. I could not believe my eyes.

Were you, Jordan, the one who said we should not be puppets and you have dragged your whole family into your self-brand business, with interviews that are pure yellow press? Don't get me wrong, your family and kids look great. That is not the point.

Then, Peterson's wife continues: "and now Dr. Peterson will do 90 minutes of questions and answers" which they (meaning "him") had already picked in advance. I believe he answered 3 or 4 in those 90 minutes, with long 30 minute rants and improvisations including anecdotes that had little to do with the main question. He made his wife re-read the last question, and she couldn't find it. Again, not bad for someone spreading the message of being a professional, delivering a totally unprofessional unprepared presentation. And also dishonest, because this should have been advertised as: "90 minutes of Q&As with Jordan Peterson"? That was the event, and not a 3 hour event about his latest book. And yes, you saw it right in the screenshot above. Before the event he was also selling tickets to meet and greet him for 175€. Delusional.

I couldn't believe my eyes and felt so ripped off I contacted the organizers to ask for at least a partial refund, as this was advertised as a 3 hour event and we got 90 minutes. They declined and said the event was never advertised as a 3 hour event and what Peterson delivers is outside their control. This is, however, the automatic calendar invite we got with the tickets.

I really have no more to say about this. I have never felt so ripped off, literally taken advantage of, in any event in my life. The Tivoli Hall was also really warm, seats were really uncomfortable, and we were all totally packed.

Good luck Jordan Peterson with your family business. Note that I don't write Dr. Peterson because I am also a doctor and consider calling someone by their title (outside a few specific professional contexts) stupid and elitist.

On the positive side, I can highly recommend Ljubljana. Nice, clean, lively and worth visiting!