It nearly goes with out saying that the method for making use of for a job inside Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s would-be Division of Well being and Human Providers is more likely to be weird. President-elect Donald Trump did inform him to “go wild,” in any case. There are a couple of methods to try to get your self seen for a possible gig: Via sending an email ranking your top three favorite HHS agencies; getting upvoted on Kennedy’s Reddit-esque crowdsourced “Nominees for the People” web site; and now, by a prolonged, weird survey.
The primary spherical of the “utility”—which isn’t hosted on a authorities URL, nor essentially for any particular authorities (or private-sector) jobs—is basically a supersized vocabulary quiz-cum-personality assessment that seems to have been developed by none apart from Jordan Peterson, the conservative “self-help” persona. All through dozens of questions, which an intro paragraph tells customers will take about 90 minutes and warns that “It’s best to finish it when you find yourself well-rested, have lately eaten, and won’t be disturbed,” the appliance asks customers to share their multiple-choice emotions on issues like clairvoyance, curiosity in “sexual experiences with one other particular person,” and data of phrases like “grudge,” “aphrodisiacal,” “clandestine,” and “confederate.”
Peterson is a former psychology professor turned conservative commentator, whom Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau lately testified beneath oath was on a Russian bankroll to unfold propaganda for the state. (Peterson denied the accusation and mentioned that he hasn’t been paid by Russia, “not ever previously and never now.”) Peterson’s philosophical output has been described as a gateway drug for budding far-right conservatives; years in the past Kanye West was recognized to be a fan. Olivia Wilde said that she primarily based Chris Pine’s creepy cult-leader character in Don’t Fear Darling on Peterson, calling him “this pseudo-intellectual hero to the incel group.” (Peterson moaned to Piers Morgan about it on air but in addition accepted it with a, “positive, why not?”) Peterson’s 2018 e-book 12 Guidelines for Life: An Antidote to Chaos, has bought greater than 10 million copies and preaches a form of bootstrappy individualism. He additionally printed a sequel, Past Order: 12 Extra Guidelines For Life, in 2021. When the Canadian arm of Penguin Random Home introduced that it might publish the follow-up, dozens of the publisher’s staffers submitted anonymous complaints and several other give up in protest.
Amongst Peterson’s ventures are a wide range of persona assessments printed beneath totally different names: There’s the Self Authoring Program, Understand Myself, and ExamCorp, Inc., the latter of which he has been related to since 1995, in response to his LinkedIn profile and the Florida Department of State, the place the corporate is registered and in good standing.
The corporate’s title seems in unobtrusive font on the bottom of the login page for Kennedy’s utility. A Kennedy spokesperson has confirmed to reporters the appliance legit and open for anybody with an e mail tackle to take.
Contemplating the solid of characters already gracing the second Trump administration’s playbill, Peterson’s obvious involvement in Kennedy’s candidate screening course of isn’t essentially the most stunning, however it’s nonetheless alarming, given his Pied Piper persona for younger, disenfranchised males. Although he known as out Kennedy’s “considerably conspiratorial mindset” in a video titled “My Honest Opinion of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.,” Peterson is an obvious RFK Jr. ally. He raised a stink in 2023 when YouTube eliminated an interview he posted with Kennedy, the platform saying that the video violated “YouTube’s common vaccine misinformation coverage,” and Peterson accusing YouTube in flip of attempting to “actively intervene with a presidential election marketing campaign.” (Don’t fear, that they had a take two, which continues to be on-line.)
In accordance with Peterson’s philosophy, white privilege doesn’t exist, and he mustn’t must acknowledge transgender people by their correct pronouns. He’s needed to make clear that he’s not anti-feminist, no, he’s pro-individualist—and it simply so occurs that his view of individualism appears to be like an terrible lot like anti-feminism. He thinks the 1950s were dandy! With the ability of a large platform and a pseudo-academic vocabulary to bolster legitimacy, it turns into clearer how harmful Peterson is, and the perils of filtering potential authorities decision-makers by a lens of his making.
Representatives for Peterson and Kennedy didn’t reply to Vainness Truthful’s requests for remark.
