Just got back from watching JP live for the first time in Anaheim at the Honda center. I had the VIP meet and greet ticket so I got to shake his hand and get a picture with him at the end.
Wow this was disappointing. I’m still a huge fan of JP but the show itself was a massive let down. The first 20 minutes was just Tammy promoting stuff.
The format was Q&A which was atrocious. The questions he answered were stuff like “what should I tell my kids if they don’t want to go to college” and “what do you think about Bitcoin”… wtf? People wrote in questions through the forum like what do you think about no nut November and Kanye west…
It ended abruptly and was super short like maybe an hour and a half long. He did not talk about anything new or stuff he hasn’t already covered. The main issue for me was just how shallow and bereft of intellectual substance it was. Nothing about the book and nothing about deep philosophy.
He talked a bit too much about the Elliot Page incident and trans stuff for my liking. During the VIP Q&A at the end he answered like 3 questions and was out. There were some people there who were very intelligent and I had a lengthy discussion about Dostoevsky with a gentleman at the event.
Then there was the two girls sitting next to me. When I asked them which JP recommended books they’ve read they said they don’t read books and just watch some of his videos. Had zero thoughts to offer about topics related to philosophy. One of them seemed more focused on her red wine than philosophical banter. Never heard of Nietzsche…
Then there was the rest of the crowd who must have thought this was a live sitcom because they kept laughing at every tease Peterson made against liberals and post modernists which I also thought was humorous at times but it seemed like some of the audience was really getting a kick out of it.
Overall I’m still glad I met him in person and got a picture. JP is still the man who changed my life and for that I will be forever grateful. I just think he’s to commercial now and more focused on political stuff instead of deep philosophical thought.
Do not try to misinterpret my post JP is still brilliant and his lectures on YouTube are genius. I still love the man 100% and wish him nothing but the best. I just did not care for the format of the event and thought there were some things that could be improved.
*I’ve been awake since 6am and I have a 7 hour flight to catch tomorrow. Sorry I’m too tired to use proper grammar. Going to sleep and will continue reading The Gay Science on my way home.
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