It pained me to discover that my brother liked one of his books in 2020. I’m very careful to not stress our relationship because he’s otherwise a decent person. I shudder to think what other content he might expose himself to over time and what that will mean for our relationship.

How does liking a book make your brother any less of a decent person? I assume it’s 12 Rules for Life, as that seems to be the book Peterson best know for. From Wikipedia, these are the rules. Nothing here seems vile or like something that should make you question your brothers decency.

“Stand up straight with your shoulders back.”

“Treat yourself like someone you are responsible for helping.”

“Make friends with people who want the best for you.”

“Compare yourself to who you were yesterday, not to who someone else is today.”

“Do not let your children do anything that makes you dislike them.”

“Set your house in perfect order before you criticize the world.”

“Pursue what is meaningful (not what is expedient).”

“Tell the truth – or, at least, don’t lie.”

“Assume that the person you are listening to might know something you don’t.”

“Be precise In Your Speech.”

“Do not bother children while they are skateboarding.”

“Pet a cat when you encounter one in the street.”

“Women, gays and blacks exist in a strata below white males because lobsters.”

I cannot understand how you folks who love to defend this cretin can overlook this utter malarkey and focus on ‘make your bed’.

How did you get that out of the book?

I believe the lobster bollocks is actually Rule # 1. ‘Stand up straight’ or some shit (which lobsters also do not do because, well, they are lobsters).

Have you read the book?

I have read the book yes, and the lobster stuff is in chapter 1 indeed.

I don’t think that chapter was particularly enlightening, as far as I know it was mainly about how evolutionary selection results in hierarchies in al species (hence the lobsters), and standing up straight gets you higher in the hierarchy because of something something confidence.

The evolution stuff is not wrong, and the stand up straight is… Eh… weird psychology stuff? However it didn’t mention women or gays as you said.

And how do you understand “hierarchies” in the context of human sociology?

Your message is notable in that it’s the first time I have realised that his readers may not even be reading this drivel at the level at which it was written, which is already laughably stupid.