Peterson on Feminism's God

The thing is that logically "The Patriarchy" can possibly be the answer as to way an exceptional woman may not be able to achieve something. And it can potentially add to women's suffering. But weather or not you agree with this isn't very important.

The thing is that "The Patriarchy" usually isn't the main reason why someone's life sucks. Placing an all powerful system named "The Patriarchy" as the sole villain at the top of your head, blaming it for everything, that is very problematic. Even if The Patriarchy exists and causes problems and limitations, most of the problems and the limitations come from you and many of them can't even be changed, that's a hard pill to swallow.

Many feminists have an utopian idea that the cause for most suffering in the world, or at least for most women's suffering and their own suffering is caused by men or the patriarchy. This us vs. them group mentality is dangerous and it shifts personal responsibility.

You can't be solving your own life's problems or learning to live with them if your mind is focused on blaming someone or something else. This is true even in cases where there is 100% someone to blame. There are people who 100% have the right to blame their negligent parents for how their life turned out. However, if that's all they do, then they become irresponsible adults like them.

So what do you do if the patriarchy really is this powerful villain. You focus on yourself, treat people as individuals, try to be mindful of your own biases and be the best version of yourself. It's a very Taoist and possibly a Christian view. Your own actions create a ripple effect, you passively change the world, changing one oppressive system with another isn't a solution.

/r/JordanPeterson Thread