The doubting and disillusioned youths of today have gained an unlikely inspiration in Jordan Peterson, a clinical psychologist at the University of Toronto. From the mountains of academia, Peterson has descended bearing commandments intended to restore meaning to the lives of millennial men. The prophet speaks, and a rapt audience attends to his words: “Clean your room, bucko!”
As this maxim suggests, Peterson's advice for young men may seem shallow. A scan of 12 Rules for Life, Peterson's self-help book, reveals such recommendations as “Stand up straight with your shoulders back”; “Do not bother children when they are skateboarding”; and “Pet a cat when you encounter one on the street.” A skeptical reader might ask how a book full of such trivialities has become a New York Timesbestseller and produced vast online communities of men grateful for Peterson's work. The answer is simple: Peterson's book contains more than meets the eye.
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