218) Jordan Peterson’s “ideologically free anti-woke university” has launched. And, seriously, WTF?

I found out today that a former friend of mine (“former” only in the sense that we haven’t spoken in several years, although I would have assumed we are still on friendly terms with each other), intellectual hero and moral inspiration, is teaching at Jordan Peterson’s self-described “anti-woke university”.

As a trans woman who has directly experienced the life-changing benefits of awakening to my true gender and embracing the process of transition, I was ….shocked.  Appalled.  And deeply, deeply disappointed.  

Like, personally speaking, WHAT THE FUCK, JOHN?????

Just as haters gonna hate, and transphobes gonna transphobe, Peterson gonna Peterson his bullshit more and more broadly as his right-wing hate-funded media machine and fan-base continues to make him richer and richer from his vitriol.  

So what can a person do?  Honestly, I don’t know.  Except to speak out.  So I decided to take a look at the professors and other intellectuals who are teaching at Peterson’s “anti-woke” Academy, in the hopes that Jordan’s claim to be providing students (that is, subscribers) an education “devoid of ideology” might, somehow, be true.  Who knows, right?  

Let’s take a look at the courses being taught by, as he says on his website, professors who “are chosen carefully from universities such as Harvard, Cambridge, Stanford, McGill and Columbia”.  In doing so, I will attempt to summarize as briefly as I can their scholarly backgrounds, and what I can glean of their own ideological/political stances. Of course this is succinct and I will be missing many details; but otherwise, this would become a book, and that is not how I want to spend my time.

Here they are, in the order presented on the, ahem, ideologically-free Academy’s website.  

NOTE: To avoid getting sued, I should note that these summaries are based on my own understanding, although for writing/rhetorical purposes, I will simply state them straightforwardly rather than constantly saying “As I understand it…”

The Faculty at Jordan’s Anti-Woke Academy

Max Lugavere — “Introduction to Nutrition” 

— A journalist, author and film-maker, with no educational background in medicine or nutrition, and no formal training. But he sure likes meat-heavy diets, and along with Jordan, argues for their apparent myriad benefits to physical and mental health.  Veganism, in particular, he hates, and posts online about it vociferously.  He also believes, in line with Jordan’s philosophically impossible claims, that he is “without bias”.  

Interestingly, his work hasn’t been well received by the actual medically-trained and nutritionally-educated communities, in general.  For example, McGill University’s Office for Science and Society, in reviewing his work, considers him “a quack”.

W. Keith Campbell – “Intro to Psychology” 

— Well recognized, extensively published expert on narcissism in particular.  Teaching within his area of expertise.

Lord Andrew Roberts – “The Greatest Leaders in History” — (Note: who are all military men, plus Margaret Thatcher, great humanitarian that she was…)

— An historian and academically credentialed fellow with lots on his resume, Andrew is also a quite, um, ’interesting’ gent, who proudly describes himself as “extremely right-wing”.  He is noteworthy for recently praising the “precision” of Israel’s military actions in Gaza, arguing further that peace will be impossible in the Middle East until Hamas is completely destroyed, among other such claims.  He has previously argued that concentration camps can be a good thing, such as in the Boer War, during which 30 000 people were killed in concentration camps (but, he argues, less than would’ve been killed without concentration camps, so they’re like, a net good…).  And just for kicks, we could mention his unwavering support for George Bush’s invasion of Iraq, which so clearly turned out well for everyone.  (Sarcasm, in case that’s not obvious).

His version of Great Leaders seems to be overwhelmingly focused on people who lead people to kill people.  And that, dear students of the “ideologically free university”, is history.

Jonathan Pageau — “Symbolism and Christianity” 

— An artist and YouTuber with a background in Orthodox Christianity.  He critiques post-modernism, and REALLY doesn’t like progressive views of sexuality, arguing that anal sex (sodomy) is sinful, and so is promiscuity, sex outside of marriage, etc.  So, perhaps, he has some street cred for teaching the values of Orthodox Christianity and shaming basically anyone who doesn’t agree with a “traditional” view of sexuality.  Just what we need in the world.  And CLEARLY “devoid of ideology”.

Gregg Hurwitz & Andy Martin — “The Art of Story Telling”

— A very accomplished novelist, screenwriter and comic-book writer, Gregg has legit street-cred as someone who knows how to tell good stories.  He also talks publicly about the use of narrative in political contexts, and has many insights regarding how Democrats can more effectively get their messages across, why political divides currently are so deep, etc.  

— Andy Martin, an accomplished author and academic, also has street cred as an expert in story-telling.

Baland Jalal – “Introduction to Neuroscience”

— An academically well-regarded neuroscientist and psychology/psychiatry researcher, he is well suited to teaching this. 

John Vervaeke — “Intelligence, Rationality, Wisdom, Spirituality”

— An accomplished academic and long-revered teacher in the fields of philosophy, cognitive science and psychology, Vervaeke knows what he is talking about and is well suited to teach a course like this, which is directly his area of expertise.  

Warren Farrell — “The Boy Crisis” 

— Once a committed feminist back in the early days of modern feminism (i.e., the 70s), Farrell largely parted ways with the feminist movement over ideological differences.  He has since written extensively about how “male power” is a myth and men are suffering in modern society under feminism.  A complex figure, he’s widely regarded as a pioneer and champion of the Men’s Rights Movement, and simultaneously one of the few publicly influential “male feminists”.  He has advocated for LGBTQ+ rights in the past (not sure about the “T”, to be accurate), but has also been broadly criticized as being basically an apologist for date-rape.  With regards to gender, he’s deeply concerned about the ways that boys are overlooked and neglected in modern Western society.

Again, although steeped in controversy, he has the experience and background to teach what he’s teaching, but also, his ideological axe-to-grind seems clear as day to me at least.

Rob Henderson – “The Psychology of Social Status”

– A successful psychologist/academic, Henderson is perhaps best known for his theory of “luxury beliefs”, a concept which he uses to argue that “leftist” values, held by the relatively upper class demographic of college/university students, are basically bad-faith beliefs that “leftists” purport to hold, but mostly just like to talk about because it gives them “status” in left-wing circles.  For example, he likes to use “defunding the police” as a way of arguing that the people who advocate for these things are generally not the same people who are subject to societal ills like poverty and crime, but that it sure gives them status amongst other left-wing activist types.  

Interestingly, he says relatively little about the beliefs held by “luxury conservatives” we might call them, things like climate change denialism and tax cuts for the wealthy, which tend to affect the poor overwhelmingly more than the rich, and undoubtedly have status benefits for the ultra-wealthy and conservatives in the business community.

Clearly, he is credentialed in psychology, but also clearly, has an ideological axe to grind (which just so happens to cohere with Jordan Peterson’s own vitriol against “leftists” and the inherently contradictory and made-up category of “postmodern cultural marxists”, which Jordan sees as literally threatening Western civilization to the core).  

Brian Keating — “Intro to Cosmology”

– A physicist and cosmologist with an extensive track record of career success, Keating seems to know his stuff, when it comes to physics.  He does receive a lot of critique for his seeming endorsement of religious-based organizations (Prager U) and right-wing influencers (Ben Shapiro), putting forth a religion-friendly narrative that emphasizes the lack of certainty in science.  Definitely qualified to teach physics, but hardly ideologically neutral, veering in most critics’ eyes towards the right-wing/conservative end of the spectrum based on his religious views.

Eric Kaufmann — “Political Ideologies”

– Kaufmann has a background in political science and economics, is a prolific author, and is generally described as a professor in “politics”.  He is staunchly anti-woke (seeing “wokeness” as a foundational threat to our civilization), and falls somewhere on the rather extreme conservative/libertarian part of the political spectrum.  For example, he has thrown his support solidly behind Ron DeSantis as “the future of conservatism”, which, to me, is fucking terrifying.   

In his academic position, he has supported arguments that ethnic diversity is a threat to Western civilization, has tweeted that Black protesters are “like cattle”, has denigrated left-wing students and other academics as “woke fundamentalists” and “the woke Taliban”, and is an outspoken critic of “Critical Race Theory”, believing instead that Whites should work hard to defeat movements for “equality”, because, as he argues, there are simply innate genetic differences between groups that make some more intelligent than others.  

He is a big fan of Christopher Rufo, a conservative activist who crusades against Critical Race Theory, and argues that it poses an “existential threat to the United States”, thereby devoting himself to erasing/delegitimizing scholarship on Race (unless it’s from a White perspective, it would seem).  Like Jordan Peterson, Kaufmann manages a bizarre two-facedness when it comes to freedom of speech, on the one hand associating himself with an extreme “freedom” stance, while in his professional work, advocating for censorship and the discrediting of racially based scholarship.  

Nevertheless, he simultaneously practices “open engagement” with far-right conspiracy theories (e.g., white genocide theory) and the ideologies of White fascists, such as Richard Spencer. He has argued on FOX “News” that the George Floyd murder shouldn’t be “racialized”, and has similarly downplayed race-based violence such as the horrors inflicted on Indigenous children in Canada’s residential schools.  He is widely considered a hero (“knight”) for white-supremacists and white-race-based political groups.

Bret Weinstein & Heather Heying — “Evolutionary Inference”

Heroes of the “Intellectual Dark Web” (particularly Weinstein), this duo indeed have academic backgrounds in evolutionary biology.  They’ve been mired in controversy since becoming embroiled in a debate about student protests concerning racial equality at Evergreen State University, resulting in them suing the university and resigning for a financial settlement.  

They’ve since promoted a variety of “questionable” views far outside their areas of expertise, such as Ivermectin being an effective treatment for COVID, and HIV not being the cause of AIDS (Bret, not sure about Heather on this one).  They have a dedicated following, it would appear, in the right-wing-populated “IDW”.

Marian Tupy & Gale Pooley – “The Economics of Human Flourishing”

Academically credentialed in economics, Marian & Gale each veer heavily to the right/libertarian when it comes to most issues.  It is perhaps easiest to wrap your head around their economic/political views by looking at the work of the Cato Institute (Tupy is a Fellow there; Pooley an Adjunct Scholar).  

The Cato Institute is one of the most influential, prolific and politically powerful think-tanks in the world, founded by the rather notorious billionaire Charles Koch and two others, in order to promote social change in the direction desired by its founders.  Which is basically about privatizing everything possible (e.g., public education, public transportation, health care, public broadcasting) and strongly opposing pretty much anything that smacks of “affirmative action” and “social justice”, such as welfare, unions, the minimum wage, etc.  

As you might expect, the Cato Institute advocates for a hyper-capitalist emphasis on free markets, with the standard argument that “freedom” leads to human flourishing.  Consequently, it tends to be quite scathing towards “progressive” social movements, favouring instead the kind of ideology promoted by Jordan Peterson with his emphasis on dominance hierarchies and individual freedom, attributing people’s negative life outcomes to their own failings rather than systemic barriers to success.  Interestingly, Cato scholars have frequently gone against this emphasis on smaller governments and individual freedom when it comes to issues of sexual freedom, advocating for government control of individuals’ free sexual choice.

Environmentally speaking, the Cato Institute has for almost 5 decades played a central role in the climate denialism machine, using its considerable economic, scholarly and media clout to hold back actions that would help to address climate change and shift the United States towards a green energy revolution.  Many environmentalists consider the Cato Institute (along with the Heritage Foundation, with which it often collaborates) to be heavily responsible for the industry-funded misinformation campaigns that have polluted society’s understanding of climate change, sewn excessive and absurd doubt on climate change science, and prevented governments (particularly the US) from taking the necessary actions, thereby resulting in the impending climate crisis we are now so clearly seeing evidence for all over the world.

Samuel Andreyev — “The History of Western Music”

— Andreyev is a well known composer, musical artist, poet and educator with an extensive music career.  He seems well suited to teach this course.  I found little online about his politics (other than a tweet that he hates politics), but, following the trend, he seems to hold quite conservative views, for example speaking at the heavily conservative Alliance for Responsible Citizenship in 2023.  I don’t know what to conclude from that. But he knows a lot about music.

Stephen R.C. Hicks — “Post-Modern Philosophy”

— Stephen Hicks is a professor of Philosophy, Executive Director of the Center for Ethics and Entrepreneurship, and Senior Scholar at The Atlas Society.  As far as I can tell, his work has formed the main foundation for Jordan Peterson’s poorly-informed rantings about post-modernism, and his mission to basically destroy post-modern scholarship and education.  

The Center for Ethics and Entrepreneurship is widely heralded as a respected voice by the right-wing community, and the Atlas Society is devoted to spreading the philosophy of Ayn Rand.  Which….speaks for itself and his “ideological neutrality”.  On the other hand, the internet abounds with philosophers who considers Hicks’ critique of post-modernism to be poorly informed and based on simply not understanding it.  Which, perhaps not ironically at all, is exactly what literally every philosophy scholar I have spoken with (which I cannot count on merely one hand), says about Jordan’s own critiques of post-modernism.

Unsurprisingly, he is also a vocal critic of “socialism”, and largely, although in less extremist terms, seems to align with Jordan’s own paranoia of socialism and poor-to-zero understanding of Marxism.

And last but not least, he is widely known by the transgender community as, well, let’s just say “not an ally”, referring to transgender people obtusely as “the transgendereds” which is akin to a derogatory slur that dehumanizes transgender people by turning “transgender” into a noun (i.e., a specific type of creature that implicitly is not the same as humans), rather than an adjective (i.e., a descriptor of a person, such as short person, Black person, etc.). He also has posted overt misogynistic Bible quotes about how, during the end times, those who still get to go to heaven have not “defiled themselves” by having sex with a woman.  Very ideologically-free stuff, that is.

Nigel Biggar — “Deconstructing Decolonization“

— Nigel is a Priest and theologian, who teaches Christian ethics, and is an apologist for colonialism and the march of empire, perhaps most bizarrely arguing that beliefs in racial hierarchies were not inherent in the British colonial project.  Which….well….is just absurd and flies in the face of literally everything I have ever learned about colonialism.  So maybe he’s right and everyone else who has ever studied this that I’m familiar with, is wrong.  Just like the general outlier views of so many of the scholars in Jordan Peterson’s “ideologically free” “Academy”.  As you imagine, critics of Biggar are scathing in their views of his defense of Empire and his minimization of the violence committed in the name of colonial hegemony.

And yes, as a trans woman, I had to check out his beliefs about, as he derogatorily calls it, “transgenderism”.  Which tells you what his beliefs are.  In short, trans people don’t need help, aren’t really vulnerable, the bathroom and other debates are kind of a waste of time, and we should be focused on things that really matter.  …..Yeah.  Ideologically free as fuck, that is.  

Jordan’s apparent mission to avoid more mass slaughters is likely to accomplish the opposite

As I have noted several times through my blog, Jordan Peterson touts himself as some sort of hero of Western civilization, and his teachings as ways of avoiding the massive death tolls of 20th century authoritarianism.  And yet, he allies himself with people and institutions whose work will likely, by exacerbating climate change, undermining individual opportunity, and strengthening systemic barriers of discrimination, result in the deaths of far more people than even the 20th century despots were able to “achieve”.  As Jordan makes himself rich by advocating for his regressive ideals, and now associating himself with many others who seem to veer in a similar direction, Jordan is directly threatening the progressive flourishing of our society and its otherwise evolution towards life-friendliness, ethics, sustainability, and ecological integrity. Not to mention being really fucking dangerous for transgender people.

And that, is Jordan’s “Academy”, “devoid of ideology”.

That my former intellectual hero and moral inspiration, would choose to align himself with this group is….in my personal opinion, disgusting.  I hope that he has noble ideals of trying to effect change from within.

But the VAST majority of people who see this person’s professional credentials added to Jordan’s “Academy” will simply see additional “legitimacy” being given to Jordan’s crusade.  Only a small fraction who click on the website will actually take my former friend’s course, and given the complexity of his teachings, even fewer will understand it and have their values shifted in what I would assume to be his hopes.  

In other words, a shitload of people are going to take this association as evidence supporting Jordan, and a tiny, tiny, infinitesimal number by comparison are likely to delve deeply enough into this one person’s material to have the otherwise heavily-right-wing teachings of this “Academy” challenged.

So I reiterate, what the fuck, John? Is getting paid, and sharing a future slice of Peterson’s profits as you admit in your Toronto Star interview, really worth morally compromising yourself by implicitly aligning with…well…THIS? Is grifting really worth your own integrity? There are an unknowable, but I would bet my bottom dollar, very large number of your former students who have looked up to you for many years, who are reeling from this. As am I.