In today’s #vatniksoup, I’ll introduce a Canadian psychologist, author and media commentator, Jordan Peterson (@jordanbpeterson). He’s best-known for his battle against the “woke culture”, and for his strong support for Putin’s “Christian values” and Russia’s war in Ukraine.

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Peterson was supposed to become a lawyer, but switched to political science after reading George Orwell’s autobiography. He first studied political science, but eventually migrated into psychology studies. He worked in academia and in clinical practice since 2018, ...

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..after which he published and promoted his bestselling book, 12 Rules for Life, a guidebook for young men on how to clean up their rooms.

He also launched a YouTube channel, which soon became extremely popular - by May 2018 he was earning over 80 000 USD per month from...

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...crowdfunding on Patreon. Peterson eventually left Patreon after they banned another user, Sargon of Akkad, and launched a new online social networking site called Thinkspot. The site’s been a lackluster and has garnered mostly negative feedback from its users. Like...

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...@DavidSacks’ Callin and other “conservative social media sites”, the site is a ghost town and generally considered a total failure.

Jordan has described himself as a “traditionalist”, holding conservative viewpoints on cultural matters but supporting things like...

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...universal healthcare and redistribution of wealth. Jordan’s target group is anxious, disenfranchised and marginalized men who feel like they have no place in modern society. He takes a lot of inspiration from the Bible, and his main target of critique has been...

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...so-called “wokeism”, claiming that “proper culture” has been replaced by “post-modernism and neo-Marxism.” As an outspoken critic of “mainstream academia”, he’s spoken against topics such as postmodernism, postmodern feminism, white privilege, cultural appropriation, ...

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...and environmentalism. Jordan’s critique resonates strongly with the Russian propaganda model of the “decadent West”, and this view also dominates his absurd commentary on the Russo-Ukrainian War.

After Peterson’s late wife was diagnosed with kidney cancer, he became...

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..addicted to clonazepam, a strong and highly addictive tranquilizer. In 2019, after failing to stop the drug use on his own & being unable to find American doctors who’d be willing to provide him with extreme treatments, he flew to Moscow only to be placed into a medically..
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...induced coma due to pneumonia. After this, he spent a total of four weeks in in intensive care, suffering from a temporary loss of motor skills. After this Peterson and his family moved to Serbia, and eventually returned back to Canada. One can only speculate how this...
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...Russian and Serbian “aid” affected his worldview, but since then Jordan has been very much pro-Russia. After Russia launched their full-scale invasion in Ukraine, Peterson suddenly became a geopolitical expert. His views on the war in Ukraine are similar to...

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...John Mearsheimer’s - he says that Russia has been “threatened by careless and provocative Western expansionism into a country [referring to Ukraine] we really don’t care about”, continuing that Ukraine is “a key to Russian identity and security”.

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Yet again we have another Putin apologist and supporter of “real politics” who suggests that Ukraine should have no agency, and it’s the “big boys” who will decide for them. As a sovereign country, Ukraine has the freedom to choose any alliance without compromise, as...

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...did those 14 European countries that have joined NATO but are also considered to be part of “Russia’s sphere of influence”.

In Sep 2022 interview with Piers Morgan, Peterson suggested that the war would end during the Winter after Putin shuts down the pipelines.

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Ironically, he warned the West about “escalating” the war, but stated that Putin using tactical nukes in Ukraine wouldn’t somehow escalate it. He also said that we can’t say ’no’ to Putin because we’re dependent on Russia’s gas and oil.

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Peterson has stated that Ukraine is a “divided state” & Zelensky’s support was divided between the Western and Eastern Ukraine. This is of course not true, as 73% of Ukrainians supported Zelensky, and he gained majority in all Oblasts except in Lviv Oblast in Western Ukraine.
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Lately Peterson’s also suggested that Putin is actually at a “culture war” against the Western decadence and degeneracy, claiming that Russia is showing “every sign of the revival of Christianity.” According to him, Russia is actually part of the West and is trying to..

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..."save it" by kidnapping Ukrainian children, bombing civilians and demolishing Ukrainian cities. It’s a pretty radical take, considering that less than 10% of Russians attend church monthly (compared to 21% in Ukraine and 42% in the US).

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The country also has the highest abortion rate in Europe in North America, and has 3rd highest divorce rate in the world, boasts with extremely high domestic violence rates, and has large-scale problems with drug use and alcoholism.

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Also, the country’s clergy consists of people like Patriarch Kirill, who is an ex-KGB agent who got rich by selling cigarettes in the 90s:

https://x.com/P_Kallioniemi/status/1594965325828820992

Peterson has also put countries like Estonia and Poland into the same camp with Russia in this “culture war”, ..
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...which is strange considering that both countries are staunch supporters of Ukraine. He ends one of his boring rant by saying that “None of us give damn about Ukraine, and never have, ” concluding that “Remember the Holomodor (sic)? Do you even know what it was?”

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Of course we do - that’s common knowledge, you hack. Peterson has also stated that “Russia will not lose” the war, as they can completely destroy Ukraine’s infrastructure and bomb its cities. He doesn’t say how all this fits in the idea of “enlightened, traditional...

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...Russia", but Russia can most definitely lose the war. They’ve already lost a lot, including their biggest trade partners in the West, their reputation, and a large part of their youth who have died in this brutal war. Russia will also lose all territory, including...

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..Crimea, in Ukraine & they will have to pay reparations for years. After annexing Crimea, they relied on West’s apathy but as the war has progressed, its support has only increased. West’s support for Ukraine must continue as long as it’s needed, during and after the war.

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Jordan thinks that the West should make a peace deal with Russia as soon as possible to avoid total nuclear destruction.Again, he simply removes all agency from Ukraine by saying that it’s up to the West to make peace & wants to enable the use of nuclear threat as blackmail.
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The West has appeased to Russia on several occasions: Moldova and Georgia in the early 90s, Chechnya in 1994-1996 and in 1999-2009, Georgia again in 2008, then in Ukraine from 2014 - did those appeasements end Russia’s imperialistic adventures?

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