Jordan Peterson: The fatal flaw lurking in American leftist politics | Big Think Top Ten 2018

TL;DR

The lack of a canonical narrative in post-modernism has led to a reliance on loose, egalitarian Marxism, resulting in a devolution into tribalism and an ethical failure to identify extreme viewpoints on the Left. Equality of outcome, as a concept, has its own set of problems, including the bureaucratic inquisition required to measure it and the complexities introduced by intersectionality.

Transcript

I would like to talk briefly about depolarization on the Left and the Right, because I think there's a technical problem that needs to be addressed. So here's what I've been thinking about. It's been obvious to me for some time that, for some reason, the fundamental claim of post-modernism is something like an infinite number of interpretations and... Read More

Key Insights

• 🥺 Post-modernism's lack of a canonical narrative leads to a reliance on Marxism, with loose coherence and a hiding of discredited economic theory.
• 🪡 The Left needs to identify and distance itself from extreme viewpoints to avoid tribalism and maintain credibility.
• 😚 Equality of outcome, such as in closing the pay gap, presents challenges of measurement, bureaucratic control, and the complexities introduced by intersectionality.
• 🥺 Intersectionality reveals the flaw in identity politics, as groups can be multiplied infinitely, leading to a fatal flaw in the ideology.

Questions & Answers

Q: What are the consequences of post-modernism's lack of a canonical narrative?

The lack of a canonical narrative in post-modernism leads to a reliance on loose, egalitarian Marxism, which lacks coherence and produces a devolution into tribalism on both the Left and the Right.

Q: How did Marxism become intertwined with post-modern identity politics?

French intellectuals transformed Marxism into post-modern identity politics as a way to hide its discredited economic theory, using it as a gloss to fuel educational movements and produce activists.

Q: What is the ethical failure on the Left regarding extreme viewpoints?

Those on the liberal-Left need to identify and distinguish themselves from those holding pathological viewpoints on the Left, as the lack of clear markers for extremism on the Left may doom the liberal-Left project.

Q: What are the complexities and drawbacks of a focus on equality of outcome?

The bureaucratic inquisition required to ensure equality of outcome, such as in eliminating the gender pay gap, is problematic. Additionally, the complexities introduced by intersectionality make it difficult to measure and define equality across various dimensions.

Summary & Key Takeaways

• Post-modernism's rejection of a canonical narrative leads to a default reliance on loose, egalitarian Marxism, which lacks coherence and hides the use of a discredited economic theory for activism.

• The Left needs to identify pathological extremism within its own ranks and distance itself from those viewpoints.

• Equality of outcome, such as in attempts to eliminate the gender pay gap, can be problematic due to the need for bureaucratic control and the complexities introduced by intersectionality.