Video Creator’s Channel Jordan B Peterson

If Youre In Desperate Straits If Your Life

is falling apart? If you’re nihilistic and miserable and maybe you have your bloody reasons because maybe you do that’s still the case that if you step outside yourself and you try to make the lives of other people better that’s the best possible thing that you can do for yourself. It’s defining you know what we what Thomas Jefferson wrote The declaration of independence. This this right to life liberty and the pursuit of happiness and you know those are those words get thrown around a lot and some people might say well pursue my happiness that means pursue whatever ends I want right pursue whatever it gives me that short-term gratification pursue whatever makes me just feel good and I don’t think that’s what the founders meant and there’s a lot of evidence for that because what they meant. the pursuing of purpose? You know the idea that that some sort of purpose in your life is what what makes you happy and that and that there’s. There is a given set of traditions and social interactions and and standards of living that genuinely make people happy Hello everyone.

• happiness
• independence
• jefferson
• resilience
• declaration

Im Pleased Today To Be Talking

to Congressman Dan Crenshaw, who I’ve had the privilege to get to know over the last couple of years now. Most recently, Congressman Crenshaw set up an event for me in Washington where I had the privilege of speaking to a large group of Republicans concentrating on policy making about the possibility of generating a positive message going forward as a bulwark, let’s say against the possibility of a kind of reactionary populism, which is not optimal unfortunate for everyone concerned. Dan and I talked after that about doing another podcast concentrating on political. issues, particularly focusing on the danger posed by the radicals on the left and the radicals on the right. He’s had a lot of experience with the unpleasant radicals on the right.

I Thought That Would Be Really Interesting,

but over the last few days. I’ve also read his book new book Fortitude something Dan knows something about by the way fortitude American resilience in the age of outrage and I really liked the book. I thought it was a lovely balance of story personal story concept encouragement clear delineation of a political and sometimes a theological philosophy psychological philosophy. So I took a lot of notes and I thought what I would do. After I read.

Dans Bio Is Walk Through His Book With

him. There’s a lot of places where our thinking dovetails I suppose, which is why it’s easy for us to get along, and I think. We could have a very productive discussion as a consequence so i’ll start with the bio originally from the Houston area representative. Dan Crenshaw is a sixth generation Texan. In 2006.

He Graduated From Tufts University, Where He

earned his naval officer commission through Navy RotC. Following graduation, he immediately reported to seal training in Coronado, California, where he met his future wife Tara. After graduating seal training, Dan deployed to fallujah Iraq to join Seal team three. His first of five deployments overseas. Dan was medically retired in September of 2016 as a lieutenant commander.

After Serving 10 Years In The Seal Teams.

He left service with two bronze stars, one with Veler, the Purple Heart and the Navy Commendation Medal with valor among others. Soon after Dan completed his masters in public administration at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. He then returned to Houston where his community. had been devastated by Hurricane Harvey inspired by their subsequent volunteer work.

Dan And His Wife Tara Decided That The

best way to serve the people of Texas would be in elected office and so. In November 2018 Congressman Crenshaw was elected to represent Texas’s second congressional district in Congress. He serves on a number of important committees including the House Energy and Commerce and the House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis, as well as the Health and Environment and Climate Change subcommittees. So Congressman Crenshaw thank you very much for agreeing to talk to me again that’s much appreciated and Kudos on your book how’s the book doing by the way a pleasure to be on Jordan appreciate it let’s do it it did really well. .

It Came Out Its A Little

old at this point. came out in 2020 and it did quite well. . Because it wasn’t a political book? I think um There’s definitely a ceiling for politicians to write a book as far as how many a ceiling as far as how many they’ll sell Yeah. I think we did much better than that simply because it’s not a political book and it’s not even a seal book.

Its A Little Mix Of All Of

those things, but mostly it’s a like you mentioned earlier. It’s an ethics book. It’s a it’s an empowerment book. It’s a self–help book. It’s lessons and fortitude and it also happened to come out at a time right in the beginning of the pandemic, which was I I think a prime time for those kind of lessons, so it did pretty well.

Yeah Well.

The book starts with your discussion of both victimization culture and outrage culture and you you make a moral case. I would say against both and also I would also attempt to do a diagnosis of why this has become front and center in some sense and so on the victimization front. You you make a case that in some ways the sense of victimization and the sec the sense of oppression and and is opposite to the to a proper sense of gratitude and duty, and I thought that was extremely interesting because obviously there are situations where people feel as if they’re being oppressed, justifiably, but you can make much of that in a way that’s not productive and by dwelling on that especially if it’s not deserved let’s say you also deprive yourself of the values of duty and responsibility and that’s a way to undermine the meaning of. your life in a most fundamental sense, you deprive yourself of of the you know what’s the word I’m looking for you.

• life liberty pursuit
• life falling apart nihilistic miserable
• jefferson wrote declaration independence right
• thomas jefferson wrote declaration independence
• purpose life makes happy

You Deprive Yourself Of Any Ability

to overcome it right you depart you deprive yourself of agency and that’s that’s a devastating thing psychologically for someone if they’re deprived of the tools and the abilities to move forward past whether that trauma is real trauma, Whether that victimization is justified as you said because I mean there’s two types is that the narratives that get built in our society about victimization, which can it could certainly be debated whether it’s real or not and then there’s true victimization and true victimhood or at least being a victim of some kind of injustice but victimhood. Yeah I would say is a bit more of a mindset and you you can either live that way or you can or you. Can decide to overcome it and decide that you indeed are in charge of your own destiny Yeah well there’s a difference. I think there’s a difference between being a seeker for justice and construing yourself as a victim. You know if you’re a victim in some sense you’re owed something your own redress, but if you’re a fighter for justice, then your decision is something like that you’re going to move forward to help yourself and others Despite the injustices of the world that’s a better way of thinking about it, so you get your agency that way without falling into that that pit of envy that that victimization also seems to produce.

You Also Have To Define Justice Correctly

and I think that that’s where our our society has has qualms with one another is this redefining of the word justice and what injustice actually is and so. I there I think there is a classical definition of justice and it’s and it usually sounds something like this maybe it’s. Maybe it’s a violation of what we would consider due process and we all have a pretty good idea of what due process is based on English common law and our own constitution and and a lot of court precedent . Another way to define injustice might be the the granting of some kind of status for any other reason besides merit right maybe maybe it’s maybe it’s heritage. Maybe it’s.

Maybe Its A Good Old Boys

club whatever it is that would feel like an injustice and you’d be right about that fundamentally injustice would be infringing on someone’s rights right person a infringing on the rights of person B on their life, liberty or property that would be a certainly American classical way of defining. an injustice and in infringing on especially inalienable rights these negative rights the left does not define justice That way the left has come to define justice a very different way. For instance, instead of negative rights, proposing that it’s an injustice. If you are not getting positive rights and by positive rights. They mean services.

They Mean That Theres An Injustice Against

you because you don’t make the same money as someone else Is an injustice against you because your house is smaller than someone else. There’s an injustice against you for for because your health care is too expensive. They consider these things injustices Now. It may be the case that we want everyone to have health care and affordable health care back, but that doesn’t mean it’s an injustice and when you start to use those kind of those morally fraught words you make people really crazy and you go down a path where you’re you’re demanding so-called rights for someone and that necessarily involves coercion. Coercion’s a pretty bad path to go down because you then have to literally infringe on someone’s rights in order to provide someone else the same kind of services.

So While It Seems Like Splitting Hairs.

This sort of redefining injustice. It’s actually pretty important and it has pretty serious consequences. Yeah well. If your definition of justice is predicated on something like a notion of equity, no one can have more than anyone else or it’s unfair.

Its Unjust The Net Consequence Of That Is

no one. to have anything at all because there’s not even a hypothetical way that we could distribute all things equally to everyone at once that’s literally impossible and so it seems to me that the price of some prosperity for most is that some are more prosperous than others, and then hopefully to the degree that that’s also just some of the reason for that excess of prosperity is also a consequence of of let’s call it effort and ability and that’s a form of justice. Too it certainly is and like in the book and when I’m looking at this these victimhood narratives that are so pervasive and how that’s related to outrage culture. First of all feeling like a victim makes you outraged. I think that’s that’s a pretty simple path to draw there.

But I I Think Whats Worse About

what we’ve seen recently is the elevation of. victimhood to where it’s you know you you talk about heroic archetypes a lot? I I took a lot of influence from you actually in that chapter right when I talked about who is your hero and and and what does self-improvement look like well. It looks like copying people who did really well and maybe not in everything they do like if I want to be a great singer. A great pop star. Maybe

Summary

John Sutter talks to Congressman Dan Crenshaw about the danger posed by radicals on the left and the right . Sutter says the founders meant the pursuit of happiness was not what they meant . He says there is a given set of traditions and social interactions and and standards of living that genuinely make people happy . He believes that if you step outside yourself and you try to make the lives of other people better that’s the best possible thing that you can do for yourself. Sutter: If you’re in desperate straits if your life is falling apart, if you’re nihilistic and miserable, maybe you have your bloody reasons because maybe you do that’s still the case that . If you want to live a happy life, you’re not happy. If you are happy. You’re happy. It’s not happy to live your life, it’s your life. You are happy to be happy. I’m happy to make your life for you. I don’t want your life to be miserable….. Click here to read more and watch the full video