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In March of this year I went along to see Dr Jordan Peterson at the sold out Melbourne Recital Centre.
After the Milo event I really didn't know what to expect, on the one hand there is a huge demand for another point of view in this town but on the other would people want to risk the ferals again? Would the venue stand strong against our local terrorist organisation?
I needn't have been worried. Not a protester in sight
The place was packed, I knew it was sold out but didn't know the capacity (1000) and just didn't envisage this much support for a guy that a year earlier was pretty much a nobody, who talked about such unsexy things like psychology and religious meaning and who is consistently on the wrong end of completely fictitious hit pieces.
Putting my SJW lens on yes sure most attendees were young white men, but not by a huge margin. Way more women than even I had expected and if you thought he was this racist firebrand then you must also think there are a hell of a lot of self hating non-white folk out there.
It's hard to put in to words what a Peterson show is like.
He came out to a rapturous rock star applause..and just started talking. He's almost completely unscripted meaning no two shows are alike and he just takes you on an amazing journey of his thoughts.
Melbourne's topic was on the question that he had been asked all too frequently. 'Do you believe in God?'
I'm not going to spoil it, someone recorded the audio which you can listen to here:
He talked for about 90 minutes, the entirely audience completely enraptured and silent except for the occaisional laugh at a joke (or an extended period of silence while he had a drink) and he left to another huge standing ovation before returning for a Q&A. This session was incredible, from a someone talking about his advice on him living in an open relationship, to a trainee teacher on how to go on teaching when they are being forced to teach a political ideology to a young man from South Africa about the horrific situation developing there for white South African farmers. Peterson just oozed wisdom and at times tough love.
After the show there was a book signing session, I gunned it out of the auditorium fast to get within 50 people from the front of the queue. It was nerve-wracking as hell. You have about 15 seconds with this guy, what do you say?
My time came and I just flipped to autopilot. Thanked him for his influence on my life and the work he is doing. I had him sign two books once to myself and one to my group. He was warm and friendly, its hard to explain but you never got the impression of him being above you. He just talked as you would a friend. I got my photo with him and walked past the long queue back to a mate who was talking with a female usher of about 40.
She was telling us how some staff members had made themselves unavailble for the evening because of Peterson's apparent sexist and racist reputation. She'd never heard of him but seeing the composition of the crowd and the friendliness exhibited was starting to think her colleagues had been massively misinformed. This was confirmed beautifully when my Zimbabwean feminist friend joined us with a beaming smile having just had a photo with her hero.
He has announced another tour for NZ and Oz early next year. My advice is buy a ticket, do not even think twice about it, just do it. I am absolutely certain that he is going to be going down in history as one of history's greats.
When we left the queue was still a good couple hundred long, he stayed late to sign every last one, with his wife by his side. And this was only his first show of his Aussie tour and one of many shows across the globe.
He really is someone truly special, just have look at the list of his sold out shows over the last few months:
https://jordanbpeterson.com/events/
