Jordan Peterson vs. George Orwell (video)

Jordan Peterson doesn't understand George Orwell

(Tom Nicholas, premiered April 24, 2021) This is a video about Jordan Peterson, George Orwell, and the dystopian world of 1984.

Chapters

• 0:00 Our Orwellian Present
• 01:24 1. Jordan Peterson: Orwell Fan
• 05:33 2. Orwell and Peterson after the Cold War
• 11:53 3. The Politics of George Orwell
• 18:31 Surfshark VPN Spot
• 20:13 4. Rethinking 1984
• 29:05 5. Jordan Peterson and the Decline of "Western Culture"

Some Copy about the Video for the YouTube Algorithm* In this month's video, we're looking at the work of both Jordan B. Peterson (author of Maps of Meaning, 12 Rules for Life, and Beyond Order) and George Orwell (author of 1984, Animal Farm, Burmese Days, and Homage to Catalonia).

Professor Peterson has a video on his YouTube channel titled "On Free Thought and Speech in London" in which, inspired by seeing a statue of Orwell, he suggests that one of the aspects which separated the capitalist West from the communist East during the Cold War was an ability for journalists to "say what they think."

Julia and Winston fall in love in a police state. Big mistake.

Taking this as a starting point, I seek to dig into uses (and abuses) of George Orwell's work by Peterson and the political right more broadly.

Through contextualizing Nineteen Eighty-Four and Animal Farm within Orwell's own life, I seek to draw out the deep critiques of Peterson's beloved "Western culture" which are contained within those books.

Towards the end, I also consider whether 1984 might provide an interesting lens for unpacking Peterson's own work and the Cold War view of the world that underlies it.

• To support the channel, see patreon.com/tomnicholas​
• #JordanPeterson #BeyondOrder #GeorgeOrwell

Protect yourself online today! Go to Surfshark.deals/tomnicholas and use code TOMNICHOLAS to get 83% off a 2-year plan and 3 extra months for FREE.