Episode 1933: Jordan Peterson

Why This Episode Is Problematic

Jordan Peterson, a clinical psychologist, ventured far outside his area of expertise to spread dangerous misinformation about climate science and transgender healthcare. While Peterson has legitimate credentials in psychology, this episode demonstrates how even educated professionals can become vectors for harmful pseudoscience when speaking beyond their qualifications.

Climate Change Denial and Misinformation

During the episode, Peterson made sweeping false claims about climate models, suggesting they are fundamentally unreliable. These claims have been thoroughly debunked by actual climate scientists:

Michael E. Mann, a climate scientist at Pennsylvania State University, called Peterson’s claims “seemingly-comic nihilism” that “would be funny if it weren’t so dangerous” (CNN, 2022).

Gavin Schmidt, a NASA climate scientist, pointed out that Peterson didn’t appear to understand how climate models work. The reality is that climate models have been remarkably accurate - Zeke Hausfather, a research scientist at Berkeley Earth, demonstrated that climate models have been projecting future warming since the late 1960s/early 1970s and “generally did a good job” (Science Feedback).

Peterson and Rogan discussed climate change as “a religion” and suggested it’s used to “gain cheap moral virtue without doing any real work.” This rhetoric dangerously undermines public understanding of the climate crisis at a time when 99.9% of over 88,000 scientific papers agree that humans are causing climate change (Cornell, 2021).

Anti-Transgender Rhetoric and Medical Misinformation

Peterson made inflammatory claims about transgender healthcare, including comparing gender-affirming care to “Nazi medical experiment-level wrong” - a comparison that is both historically offensive and medically unfounded (GLAAD).

He discussed the closure of the Tavistock clinic in the UK, misrepresenting the situation. While the clinic did close, it was due to structural issues and the need for a distributed model of care to handle increased demand - not because transgender healthcare itself was deemed harmful. Dr. Marci Bowers, president of the World Professional Association for Transgender Health, explained that the system was overrun by rapidly expanding demand, with referrals rising from around 250 in 2012 to over 5,000 in recent years (WBUR, 2023).

Gender-affirming care remains the standard of care endorsed by every major medical association, including the American Medical Association, American Psychiatric Association, and American Academy of Pediatrics.

Professional Misconduct and License Issues

Peterson’s inflammatory public statements, including those made on Joe Rogan’s podcast, led to professional complaints with the College of Psychologists of Ontario. The college ordered Peterson to undergo social media training on professionalism following complaints about his comments regarding transgender actor Elliot Page and others (CBC, 2023).

The college’s complaints committee concluded that his controversial public statements “may be reasonably regarded by members of the profession as disgraceful, dishonourable and/or unprofessional” and that they “posed moderate risk of harm to the public” by “undermining public trust in the profession of psychology.” Peterson’s appeal was unanimously dismissed by three Ontario Divisional Court judges.

The Danger of Credentialed Misinformation

This episode exemplifies a particularly dangerous form of misinformation: when someone with legitimate credentials in one field uses their platform to spread false information about topics outside their expertise. Peterson’s psychology doctorate gives him an air of authority that makes his climate and medical misinformation more convincing to listeners who may not realize he’s speaking far beyond his qualifications.

As climate scientist Michael Mann noted, this kind of nihilistic denial of scientific consensus isn’t just wrong - it’s dangerous. It undermines public trust in science, delays critical climate action, and in the case of transgender healthcare misinformation, contributes to discrimination and barriers to medical care for vulnerable populations.

Conclusion

While Jordan Peterson may have valuable insights within his field of clinical psychology, this episode demonstrates how he uses his platform to spread harmful misinformation about climate science and transgender healthcare. By presenting these false claims alongside legitimate psychological discussions, the episode creates a dangerous mixing of expertise and pseudoscience that can mislead millions of listeners. This is precisely the kind of content that requires careful fact-checking and critical analysis.