Jordan Peterson Thinks 'Self-Improvement' Can Fix Political Polarization

Jordan Peterson has believed since 1985 that "the way out of polarization , the way out of the excesses of the right and left, is through the individual. I think the West got that right. The fundamental unit of measurement is the individual. And the fundamental task of the individual is to engage in this process of humble self-improvement. That's where the meaning is and that's where the responsibility is." He really thinks that if enough people take responsibility for getting their individual lives in order that will fix the social gaps.

My Commentary

All these issues we're standing up for are really only pushing us further and further apart. So we don't have a political problem. We have a human connection problem. Meaning, it's a problem between us. So all the self-improvement in the world won't fix it. If we want to improve social cohesion throughout society we need to respect everyone's opinion and stance on things. And we need to invest in human connection, so we can learn to connect above our differences. We're all unique individuals but from now on we're going to have to work on improving ourselves together - because the only thing we really need to fix is our attitude to other. And you can't do that alone (!)

All these issues we're standing up for are really only pushing us further and further apart. So we don't have a political problem. We have a human connection problem. Meaning, it's a problem between us. So all the self-improvement in the world won't fix it.

As I've been saying all along, the era of self-improvement is over. There are new forces operating us and pushing us to advance correctly together, rather than trampling each other to get ahead as we've been doing. Also , the human ego is growing so this isn't a good time to have greater expectations of people. Just the opposite. As long as the multiple crises drag on and life gets more challenging, don't expect people to take initiative on their own to make any significant improvements. The human ego is always pulling us away from doing for the collective. In our modern world there are literally hundreds of ways to keep us focused on ourselves and mainly concerned with ourselves if we're being honest.

Even people who have made a career out of helping others, who get paid to look after others, are still mainly concerned with themselves - their position, their salary, their family having a roof over their head, and food on the table (and in the freezer too!) Not only having all those things, but they will also take advantage of the system they're in wherever they can. All this is perfectly natural of course. We all do it all the time. We see something for free and run to grab it.

It takes a very special kind of person who has been through a lot in life to understand that we need to change our attitude.