UNE philosophy professor David Livingstone Smith examines Jordan Peterson as charismatic authoritarian leader
David Livingstone Smith, Ph.D., professor of philosophy, wrote an article titled “Thus Spoke Jordan Peterson,” which was published online by ForeignPolicy.com on April 4. The article discusses the recent rise to fame of Canadian psychologist Jordan Peterson as an author and social media figure who bemoans what he perceives as a dwindling of masculinity in the West.
Smith describes Peterson, who considers men to be victimized and marginalized by civil rights proponents, feminists and ethnic minorities, in terms of what social theorists call a “charismatic leader”—that is, a figure intimately connected to political authoritarianism. Smith gives historical context to the concept of charismatic leadership, stating, “charismatic leadership has never been about logical consistency or even rational coherence. Charismatic leaders serve a function in times of rapid social change, when long-standing social identities are threatened.”
He goes on to compare Peterson’s rhetoric to that of authoritarian leaders as described by British psychoanalyst Roger Money-Kyrle in “The Psychology of Propaganda” after witnessing Adolf Hitler speak in 1933. Money-Kyrle concluded that charismatic authoritarian leaders first elicit depression and despair in their audience, then paranoid terror of a deadly enemy, before finally offering salvation through a redemptive order that abjures reasoned discourse,” writes Smith.
Smith concludes by recalling a chapter of Nietzsche’s Thus Spoke Zarathustra, which delivers a warning that “a hero’s journey can too easily inspire blind hero worship.”
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