On a wet Sunday evening last night, the streets of Dublin were awash with 80,000 cowboy hats and Wrangler jeans as the third of five bumper Garth Brooks events took place in Croke Park.
To believe the media, it was the only cultural event of any note over the course of the weekend in the city’s capital. A few minutes up the road however, another significant, albeit smaller, event was taking place in the 3 Arena.
Jordan Peterson might not have yet pierced the Donnybrook stranglehold on the nation's discourse, but the impressive crowd just shows how out of touch the RTE mafia are from the real world.
Entitled ‘Beyond Order’, Peterson's speaking tour has drawn large crowds across 2022, but an Ireland that is so antagonistic towards productive public discourse seems the most special and necessary place for him to speak.
Peterson is not the bogeyman that many on the left paint him as, though they know that already, as they simply try to cancel him lest he become a gateway to more forceful ideologies. Likewise, he is not quite the quivering caricature that many on the right denigrate him as. He is simply himself, for better or worse.
Taking a route across Dublin past Croke Park, the contrast between the Garth Brooks fans and those at Peterson could not be more visually stark. Many of those at Peterson were groups of young men, dressed immaculately from head to toe in three-piece suits. More interesting still, there were groups of younger guys, barely into their twenties in tracksuits and hoodies. There were groups of women together. There were couples. There were also many Irish priests and seminarians in attendance. In short, the 10,000 were far more diverse than would be suggested by those who assumed it to be a male dominated event.
Peterson spoke about his rules for life, focusing specifically on surmising his recent books.
In his typical meandering fashion, he talked about prioritising one's own interest in a healthy sense, the importance of developmental play and its implications for later acceptance of societal norms and spoke too of the relationships between men and women and their complementary roles.
It is not revolutionary, nor revelatory, but critics of Peterson must recognise that it is not intended to be. In a normal society, he would be a regularised public commentator, as opposed to the mediocrities often regularly lionised by Irish media. For all of this qualities, his most important one is provoking thought without being brazenly provocative.
The audience, for their part, was incredibly quiet for such a large crowd of mostly younger men, devoid of heckling and talking.
Woven in between all of his anecdotes were the frequent references to the Bible, particularly the Beatitudes. It would be interesting to see how many people have become more interested in religion as a result of Peterson's videos. His engagement with it is not insignificant, if not necessarily devotional it is nonetheless always inquisitive and ponderous.
On his YouTube channel, his most popular video is on the Bible, an introduction to God. The other parts of that series are among his most watched as are his other videos on religion. While not quite Fulton Sheen or Chad Ripperger, it is refreshing nonetheless to have so prominent a figure discussing religion to a predominantly irreligious audience.
In his Q and A session at the end, Peterson was at his most relatable. First, he was asked about ‘Sin’ Fein (sic) and a United Ireland. He did not answer the question directly but made remarks about peace within one's self before external peace is possible.
Then he was asked about his relationship with footballer Cristiano Ronaldo. Peterson stated that Ronaldo had gotten in touch with him after the tragic death of his child earlier this year.
Peterson mentions that he was invited to Ronaldo's house and spoke with him about how to finish his career on a high.
On a related note, he also spoke about alcohol. In particular he talked about its impact on domestic violence. Quite interestingly, he noted that religion was the greatest factor in alcohol recovery.
Peterson's strength lies essentially in being able to be seen as an ally to a very wide variety of peoples. He states that he does not speak to groups but to individuals. It certainly works, there were many young men who might have seen it as mere self improvement advice, others who saw it as a defiant rebuke to the ‘woke leftist mob’ and then those who merely see him as a sane voice in an insane world.
What he certainly was on this night, was a man who managed to attract 10,000 people to pay 70 odd Euro to listen to a message that, whatever it is as its core, is a rejection of the social degeneration led by regime forces in the Irish State over the past decade.
On Saturday 24th, the Legion of Mary will host a Men’s Conference which will discuss the message of Peterson and its relation to the faith.
Fr. Colm Mannion will be the keynote speaker.
