The algorithm on Youtube seems to know that I wrote a book dedicated to the psychological advice of Jordan Peterson. It seems to be oblivious to the fact that I care very little for politics. I was thus fed a clip that I would normally ignore (and really should have, lest the algorithm feed me more). I viewed it and can’t help but comment on it.

In an interview with Pierce Morgan, Peterson and Morgan both proclaim their support for Trump. Both assume that Harris as likely to continue along the lines of the Biden administration and Trump to do the same with respect to his time as the Grand Poobah. Here is the part I don’t get: Peterson says that he does not trust Harris. So you trust Trump? Really? His debates and speeches are riddled with falsehoods, self-aggrandizing claims, and narcissistic statements; he takes full credit for every good thing that happens and denies any responsibility for any negative outcomes stemming from his leadership, he threw his V.P under the bus, he makes baseless insults, cheats on his wife and harasses young women. He led an insurgence. He suggested that his rival be assassinated and calls people garbage. He is a convicted criminal that insists upon his innocence (most inmates do this too). Only he thinks he is truthful, even his supporters seem to know that he is a pathological liar – they dismiss it, but they know it.

I’m not commenting on the political endorsement. Many factors go into that and I can’t judge the validity of them. Most importantly, like Peterson, I don’t have a dog in this fight either. My comment here is not about who has better policies or would be a better statesperson, it’s about the personality assessment (although I sometimes fear that elections are personality contests more than anything else).  And the statement may simply be policy-based, meaning, ‘I don’t trust Harris to make changes,’ and ‘I do trust Trump to do what he did before.’ It’s a psychological aspect of the personality assessment that caught my attention. It seems to me that, when evaluating Trump’s character, glossing over his ‘challenging’ relationship with truth may demonstrate an opinion that is more rationalizing than rational. Peterson has trumpeted the primacy of truth as a foundation of psychological wellbeing for years. “Tell the truth—or, at least, don’t lie” is one of his original rules for life. He knows very well that our tendency to rationalize is an impediment to getting to the truth. And he knows that, like all of us, he is not entirely immune to it. As a case in point, on a recent podcast with John Vervaeke, he said he scrolls X for practical reasons – to  search for guests – and then jokingly admitted “at least that’s what he tells himself.”

ra·tion·al·ize /ˈraSHənlˌīz,ˈraSHnəˌlīz/ attempt to explain or justify (one’s own or another’s behavior or attitude) with logical, plausible reasons, even if these are not true or appropriate. 

This is from the Oxford dictionary. My layman’s definition would be thinking something based on a feeling and then inventing a more ‘acceptable’ reason that suits your ego. Or, we can go to the technical definition: Actually believing your own bulls**t.

One has to first learn what rationalizing is to learn to recognize when one is doing it. I had only the vaguest notion that I was doing it until I even knew it was possible to do. Calling it out is a skill and it takes time and practice to develop. Trump shows us that we can live into old age without ever acquiring it (and oddly enough, even gain much material success – my hypothesis, perhaps he could bullshit people so well in business and as a media personality because he could bullshit himself exceptionally well). If this assessment of Trump is an example of it, we see that one can be a clinical psychologist and train ourselves to detect it in others and ourselves and still occasionally fall prey to it. Something I will think about as I think (or rationalize) my way through my day today.

B.S. – Part II (2 min. read)

B.S. – Part III (3 min. read)

_{*image from:  http://progress.guide/} 

K. Wilkins is the author of:

Stoic Virtues Journal: Your Guide to Becoming the Person You Aspire to Be

Rules for Living Journal: Life Advice Based On the Words and Wisdom of Jordan B. Peterson