Marvel Comics and Coates Shame Men Who Seek Mental Health Help, Not only Jordan Peterson

Marvel turned heads this week after Professor Jordan Peterson realized Captain America’s most evil foe—the Red Skull—was channeling the famous Canadian. Red Skull was online appealing to men with his “Ten rules for life,” obviously parodying Peterson’s bestseller, Twelve Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos. Some of Red Skull’s rules were “chaos and order” and “the feminist trap,” which Peterson has many viral videos debunking feminist myths.

It’s a clear comparison, and the author of the book is Ta-Nehisi Coates, an American essayist who obviously swings to the left. Coates has a nihilistic view of the world, so it’s a wonder why Marvel would hire him to write Captain America, other than following in a direction of woke. Essentially calling Peterson a Nazi isn’t beneath him, but it’s a bold and bizarre move from Disney, who owns Marvel.

Many spoke out in outrage and shock. Peterson seemed bewildered but is now poking fun of the absurdity. The mocking of Peterson isn’t the most egregious part of this story; it’s how Coates portrays the young men who seek his help.

In the book, Captain America himself describes the sort of men who the Red Skull aka Peterson appeals to. “It’s the same for all of them. young men. Weak. Looking for purpose. I found the flag. You found the badge. They found the Skull. He tells them what they’ve always longed to hear. That they are secretly great. That the whole world is against them. That if they’re truly men, they’ll fight back. And bingo, that’s their purpose. That’s what they live for. And that’s what they’ll die for.”

Peterson does have a large appeal to young men, though women admire him as well. He normally attributes the disproportionate following to the male-dominated viewership of Youtube, where his lectures and interviews have blown up. Peterson said a majority of his students and graduates are women, and his live appearances are a good mix.

Coates is making the case Peterson is a white supremacist who manipulates vulnerable men into becoming white supremacists. I understand parody, but that’s quite a statement to make. It’s also an egregious accusation toward young men who want to make positive changes in their life.

Peterson isn’t a social media influencer who got famous for ranting in his car or sprinkling salt and ended up on talk shows and stadiums. He’s not a celebrity writing self-help with the only credential being, “Look, I’m famous.” He’s a clinical psychologist, a professor at the University of Toronto, and author of over a hundred scientific papers. His left-leaning critics may blow him off as a “pop psychologist” but in the real world, he has a real job and genuine credentials. Helen Lewis interviewed Peterson in a viral interview, seen more than 30 million times on Youtube, and asked what Peterson is selling and why is it so popular. Peterson rejected the notion he was “selling” anything, but rather explained people were “hungry for a discussion of the relationship between responsibility and meaning.”

He has helped thousands of people—of both sexes—who had no order in their lives by telling them they have the power to affect their world around them. Take responsibility. “Clean your room.” This philosophy of Peterson is why he’s dangerous to the radical left.

“Why should you bother improving yourself?” He asked in one of his lectures. “So, you don’t have to suffer more stupidly than you have to, and maybe so others don’t have to either.” He went on to say, “If you don’t organize yourself properly, you’ll pay for it. And in a big way, and so will the people around you.”

Social justice warriors caught up in identity politics and critical race theory focus on blaming systems, such as systemic racism and the patriarchy, for their woes. Peterson’s message of taking accountability over your own life—not through activism but through order and self-discipline—is incredibly dangerous.

Coates, through Captain America, says Peterson tells men what they want to hear, but Peterson’s message is largely: “Grow up!” It’s not feel-good fluff. He’s not coddling bad behavior or poor life choices with words of affirmation and excuses. He’s not encouraging destructive individuals to continue down a path of delusion by “speaking their truth.” Loaded with historical and scientific literature, he rejects identity politics—whether from the tyrannical right or left—despite the blowback.

There are many men who attribute Jordan Peterson’s books, lectures, or counseling to being the starting point in making their lives better. For Coates to imply men who take their mental health, relationships, and search for meaning seriously are Nazis, is egregious. It’s shameful he would use Captain America to do it, and it’s inexcusable that Disney would allow it to happen.

To Professor Jordan Peterson and the millions who are positively impacted by his life, I encourage you to listen to Captain America from a time when Marvel cared far more about the integrity of their property. It’s fitting, since Jordan Peterson rose to fame after standing against a tyrannical law from his government, and the following quote is during Civil War, when Cap had to do the same. “Doesn’t matter what the press says, doesn’t matter what the mobs say. Doesn’t matter if the whole country decides that something wrong is something right. This nation was founded on the one principle above all else: the requirement that we stand up for what we believe, no matter the odds or the consequences. When the mob and the press and the whole world tell you to move, your job is to plant yourself like a tree beside the river of truth, and tell the whole world—'No, you move.’”