The kid is super annoying, but Peterson's responses were terrible. You have to give it to the kid: he came in knowing he was going to force Peterson to deal with the entailments of being a Christian, else either (i) deny that he is one or (ii) redefine what it means to be a Christian.
This was a smart move in context because Peterson didn't have the space he usually does to attempt the redefinition. So he took the first option, and he responded very clumsily. He is famous for the "well it depends on what you mean" approach, but the way he applied it here was ridiculous given the premise of the conversation. He could have easily said that being a Christian doesn't imply that a person is committed to the dogmas of the Catholic faith. It seems as if he has gotten a bit lazy. No doubt because he is riding mostly on his status these days.
Strategically, appearing on this show was a very poor choice for Peterson with theism versus atheism as the subject matter. He would have been fine if it had been identity politics or some other leftist nonsense. But being unable to hold his own against a layperson, much less getting logically outwitted, is a really bad look for his brand. Historically, Peterson has done very poorly against more notable atheist thinkers. Harris, Dillahunty, and Dawkins made him look like a community-college tier hipster trying to explain the world with Jake and Wil Grimm.
CHIRO 7 points 1 day ago
The kid is super annoying, but Peterson's responses were terrible. You have to give it to the kid: he came in knowing he was going to force Peterson to deal with the entailments of being a Christian, else either (i) deny that he is one or (ii) redefine what it means to be a Christian.
This was a smart move in context because Peterson didn't have the space he usually does to attempt the redefinition. So he took the first option, and he responded very clumsily. He is famous for the "well it depends on what you mean" approach, but the way he applied it here was ridiculous given the premise of the conversation. He could have easily said that being a Christian doesn't imply that a person is committed to the dogmas of the Catholic faith. It seems as if he has gotten a bit lazy. No doubt because he is riding mostly on his status these days.
Strategically, appearing on this show was a very poor choice for Peterson with theism versus atheism as the subject matter. He would have been fine if it had been identity politics or some other leftist nonsense. But being unable to hold his own against a layperson, much less getting logically outwitted, is a really bad look for his brand. Historically, Peterson has done very poorly against more notable atheist thinkers. Harris, Dillahunty, and Dawkins made him look like a community-college tier hipster trying to explain the world with Jake and Wil Grimm.