Typically we write about issues within the entertainment domain here at That Park Place. Yet here I am today writing about a lecture from the world-famous Dr. Jordan B Peterson. I think that requires a bit of an explanation before I begin.
Several months ago, I became aware that Jordan Peterson was appearing at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville. I knew someone who was very interested in both the Ryman and Peterson, and so I watched for tickets; to my shock, the venue sold out in minutes, and I was unable to deliver. Wow. So this was some sort of phenomena that I had underestimated… I wasn’t surprised the show had sold out, but I had counted on that taking at least hours rather than minutes. So when a venue at The Tabernacle in Atlanta became open at a later date, I jumped on it. Not only did I now want to see what Peterson had to say, but I also wanted to figure out what was driving people to excitedly fill up theatrical and musical venues to hear a lecture! The result: we bought tickets for four That Park Place writers and a website consultant. It was time to witness what was generating such enthusiasm.
Upon arriving at The Tabernacle in downtown Atlanta, we were pleased that there wasn’t much in the way of heckling or protesters. The security staff was professional and excellent, and although the line wrapped around the block, we were quickly admitted to the theater without much hassle. Once inside, we ventured to our seat with rickety old floors creaking at each step (this would later be a problem as it pulled attention away from Peterson whenever someone needed to go to the restroom). I had never been to The Tabernacle, so this was unexpected, and yet totally appropriate for the situation. Monitors scattered sparsely throughout the venue provided a way to give questions to Dr. Peterson for a post-show Q&A, but it seemed that guests who came in first had a major advantage in getting their questions to the top of the queue.
The people who attended the show were a bit of a shock… or maybe they weren’t, depending on your expectations. There were plenty of suits, business casual attire, lots of blazers, and there was a significant show of diverse racial makeups. We saw Asians, Caucasians, people of African descent, people of Middle Eastern descent… it was thoroughly reflective of society at large. At the same time, this was clearly an audience of high intelligence and people of affluence. I was taken back by just how proper and polite everyone was. Perhaps that is what you get when you go to a pay-to-watch lecture on the meaning of life.
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For the show, Dr. Peterson was introduced by his wife, and then off we went into a full-blown lecture on how to determine if a belief system is valid or an ideology. The conversation passed through biological behavior systems of animals, it touched on famous psychologists and philosophers, but it dwelt largely in looking at the story of Exodus and how the Ten Commandments are an example of non-ideological thinking. As I sat and listened, I couldn’t help but notice some in the audience were taking notes as Peterson spoke. Peterson’s take on the subject was very intricate: this was at least an hour-long lecture, though I suspect it approached ninety minutes. But to break down what amounted to a graduate-level dialogue on anti-tyrannical thinking, Peterson observed that the story of Exodus had some very non-ideological points that made it stand the test of time, whereas ideological belief systems falter over duration.
There were certainly some non-obvious points made that provided epiphanies across the room. When Peterson discussed that exiting one tyranny does not send you directly to the promised land, but rather into a desert devoid of landmarks, the audience was clearly impressed with recognition why people will stay within a bad system or hold onto obviously untrue beliefs. When the famous psychologist discussed that Moses’ father-in-law recognized in the text that Moses was inadequate for adjudicating the conflicts within the Hebrew people as a way of holding at bay the tyranny they had just escaped… and then when he connected that to the necessity of the Ten Commandments as a codified articulation of a transcendent ethic acted out at the individual level of society… well, that was a masterful bit of logic.
While Peterson is clearly one of the very best speakers in the world, with every tool of communication at the very highest level, the lecture was not without its flaws. There were several times when it seemed Peterson was being very careful not to move into obvious points for fear that the lecture would enter the religious domain. While that’s understandable, when it comes to the point of having to use less efficient language, it might just be okay to call the “greatest conceivable good” a term that is religious rather than using far more syllables than necessary. More problematic, however, was that it felt very much like the audience yearned for more. Maybe that’s a good thing? But with an audience that was clearly versed in his YouTube videos and was obviously of high intellect, I thought there needs to be some system that allows the audience to dialogue with Peterson in an exchange of ideas. Yes, it was remarkable watching him think through a problem on the fly, but there were also some points in which having the audience be able to follow up would have potentially produced a greater experience. This was doubly apparent in the Q&A section. Because the questions were sent in via a text system, the chance to dive into the topic for further clarity and expansion was unavailable. Instead, the questions (while fine) were far more elementary than the lecture itself. And though the text system protected Peterson and the audience from possible awkward moments with starstruck questioners, it also made the event feel unnecessarily impersonal.
Overall I came away very impressed. I would definitely do another Jordan Peterson lecture, even if not everyone in our group was in full agreement with everything he said. To think that what he is doing is ideological or radical is, frankly, ridiculous. I can’t think of anything he said that was remotely offensive or controversial. Instead, it was a treat to see so many people paying so much money to see something that felt like the very best that a university could hope to ever offer in the way of a guest speaker. That people are willing to spend their own monies to engage in that endeavor is hopeful for our society. When Peterson concluded his off-the-cuff conversation on how to identify ideology and dismiss with it, the audience gave a standing ovation. This wasn’t fanaticism; it was a group of about two-thousand that had just watched someone untangle difficult philosophical issues with a precision of language almost never seen.
Who knew that a lecture such as this could be so entertaining, and so fun? Clearly this was one crowd that agreed.
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