{"id":223933,"date":"2021-04-10T20:08:17","date_gmt":"2021-04-10T17:08:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/i-refuse-to-let-addiction-make-me-a-victim\/"},"modified":"2021-04-10T20:08:17","modified_gmt":"2021-04-10T17:08:17","slug":"i-refuse-to-let-addiction-make-me-a-victim","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/i-refuse-to-let-addiction-make-me-a-victim\/","title":{"rendered":"#I refuse to let addiction make me a victim"},"content":{"rendered":"

“#I refuse to let addiction make me a victim<\/strong>”<\/p>\n

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In just a few years, Jordan Peterson has risen from little-known psychology professor at the University of Toronto to pop cultural icon and bestselling author, boasting millions of followers and just as many haters. His book, \u201c12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos<\/a>,\u201d which claimed the \u201cmasculine spirit is under assault<\/a>\u201d and espoused basic tenets such as \u201cclean up your room\u201d and \u201cget your house in order,\u201d became a sensation in 2018, particularly among young men who flocked to hear his lectures worldwide.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In an age dominated by political correctness, Peterson has taken contrarian stances on topics such as \u201cwhite privilege<\/a>,\u201d the gender pay gap<\/a>, and the enforced use of gender-neutral pronouns<\/a>. He\u2019s been deified as an intellectual superhero by his fans and demonized as an alt-right villain by the left. Just this week, it emerged that the progressive writer Ta-Nehisi Coates may have used Peterson as the inspiration<\/a> for Nazi supervillain Red Skull in his new Captain America comic book. (Peterson called the likeness \u201csmears\u201d and urged his followers to buy a limited edition poster featuring Red Skull \u201cpaired with something I actually said\u201d \u2014 and added that 100 percent of the proceeds would go to charity.)\u00a0<\/p>\n

His latest book, \u201cBeyond Order: 12 More Rules for Life<\/a>,\u201d weaves together a diverse range of ideas, including from Nietzsche, the Bible and Harry Potter, and was an instant No. 1 New York Times bestseller when it came out last month.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Psychologist
Psychologist Jordan Peterson built a huge following by advising his readers to get their houses in order \u2014 and then his own fell apart after he had a terrible reaction to prescript<\/a>ion drugs. <\/figcaption>
Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

And yet, in the past year, Peterson has faced one of the biggest trials of his own life. After his wife Tammy was diagnosed with a rare and aggressive kidney cancer, he suffered from severe anxiety, for which his doctor prescribed a heightened dose of benzodiazepines. The medication gave him a terrible side effect known as akathisia, which causes an inability to stop moving along with a sense of doom, panic and suicidal thoughts. Peterson disappeared for a year as he went to Russia, then Serbia, for treatment. (The Sunday Times wrongly claimed<\/a> he had \u201cschizophrenia.\u201d) Last summer, he returned to his \u201cregular self\u201d on his daughter Mikhaila\u2019s podcast, where he was welcomed back by millions of fans.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A couple of weeks ago, I met with Peterson, 58, for almost three hours on Zoom, where he appeared in top form, speaking about ideology, our modern culture, spirituality and his own continuous struggle with mental illness. What follows is an edited and abridged Q&A from that session .\u2009.\u2009.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Many people on the left have critiqued your re-emergence and new book release as fraudulent and hypocritical given the degradation of your own life. How do you respond to the criticism?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Yes, right. Believe me, I\u2019ve tortured myself about that plenty and constantly .\u2009.\u2009. I was very apprehensive about writing this book or certainly about releasing it .\u2009.\u2009. But everyone is susceptible to [being] cut off at the knees at any moment .\u2009.\u2009. You can protect yourself against that, to some degree, by putting your life in order, and by living properly, but that doesn\u2019t mean that you\u2019re fully protected from it. We all die, we all get sick. If we can\u2019t communicate with anyone who doesn\u2019t get sick or die, then we can\u2019t communicate with anyone. Does that mean .\u2009.\u2009. that we have nothing to offer? No, it means we\u2019re also radically imperfect, that we should be careful, but we\u2019re stuck with our inadequacies. I have my inadequacies.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Jordan
After Peterson\u2019s wife, Tammy, was diagnosed with a rare form of kidney cancer, he was prescribed sedatives to calm his anxiety, only to find himself slipping into addiction \u2014 and horrifying side effects. <\/figcaption>
Instagram @jordan.b.peterson<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A healthy dose of self-criticism is a common theme in your work. Have you come to realize any bad decisions you may have made which exacerbated your illness?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Yes, I\u2019ve looked at my contribution to it .\u2009.\u2009. I took benzodiazepines, and that seems to have been ill-advised. I\u2019m very sensitive to benzodiazepine withdrawal. When I took them, I was really sick. I was insomniac for a long time, weeks, three weeks, I was freezing, I couldn\u2019t get enough clothes on. My blood pressure was so low I couldn\u2019t stand up. I was in absolute terror. I have no idea what happened. Then I went to the doctor and was prescribed this medication. I slept, and I felt better. I didn\u2019t think much of it. My life was very stressful at that point. That turned out to be a very bad decision. I wasn\u2019t aware of how dangerous this could be for some people.\u00a0<\/p>\n

I\u2019m curious how your suffering shaped your outlook on life and human existence.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

The last chapter of my new book is \u201cbe grateful in spite of your suffering.\u201d It\u2019s the right thing to do, to be grateful. I\u2019m not claiming this for myself. It\u2019s tightly allied with a kind of existential courage. It\u2019s a decision.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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I\u2019m bitter, I\u2019m angry, I\u2019m resentful. (But) that\u2019s all victimhood. It\u2019s not helpful.<\/p>\n

Peterson on coping with trauma<\/cite><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n

If you fall prey to resentment, and anger, and hostility, not even however rationalized, but however justified .\u2009.\u2009. it\u2019s not helpful.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Many, many days in the last two years, I truly believed that I would die before the end of the day. I just couldn\u2019t see how I could possibly be that impaired and live. It turns out you\u2019re a lot tougher than you even want to be sometimes .\u2009.\u2009. You\u2019re not that easy to kill.\u00a0<\/p>\n

One of the things one can do in a time of great hardship is to adapt a victimhood mindset. How have you dealt with the temptation to wallow in victimhood?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019m bitter, I\u2019m angry, I\u2019m resentful, all of those things. I shake my fist at God. What\u2019s the justice in this? Trying to scour my conscience<\/a> to see what I\u2019ve done wrong. That\u2019s all victim. That\u2019s all victimhood, but it\u2019s not helpful. I\u2019m doing my best to drop that .\u2009.\u2009. None of the victim responses have been productive for me. I\u2019ve tried to fight them off.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Why is victimhood status so attractive in our culture right now?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

The first part of it is people don\u2019t necessarily regard themselves as victims. The activist types, they tend to regard themselves as spokespeople for the victims. They see an altruistic ethical motivation in that and regard it as admirable. To some degree, it is .\u2009.\u2009. but those are important constraints .\u2009.\u2009.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"BLM
Peterson says many young people are in danger of confusing their political beliefs and their religious beliefs.<\/figcaption>
Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

First of all, what makes you think that you\u2019re a spokesperson for the oppressed? What makes you think that you have that right? Why should anyone take you seriously? How do you know you\u2019ve got the message right? Why do you think you have the solution at hand? How do you know you\u2019re not more dangerous than the problem itself? How do you know that your dark and unexamined motivations aren\u2019t blinding you? .\u2009.\u2009.\u00a0<\/p>\n

If you can just be a good person because you believe the right three things, how convenient is that? .\u2009.\u2009.\u00a0<\/p>\n

You don\u2019t have to look at yourself and you have an enemy. That\u2019s the part that scares me the most .\u2009.\u2009. Now you have an enemy and that enemy is the cause of everything you hate. Now you have all moral justification to go after them, to hurt them, to stop them because they\u2019re evil, and to elevate yourself morally as a consequence.\u00a0<\/p>\n

You have this unearned pathway to moral superiority that\u2019s actually dependent on your willingness to unfairly persecute based on your ignorance. It\u2019s terrible. Universities promote this, \u201cWell, you should be an activist.\u201d That\u2019s essentially what every 19-year-old is taught. It\u2019s like, no, you shouldn\u2019t be an activist. You should get your own house in order, and then you should cautiously proceed to more difficult things if you dare.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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