Maps of Meaning: The Architecture of Belief

by Jordan B. Peterson

Man is not merely innately aggressive, a poorly socialized, and therefore uncontrolled predator; at best, such theory can account for his criminal aggression; it is in fact slavish adherence to the forces of socialization—to the very principle of domestication itself— that enables him to participate in production of the most truly efficient and organized of human evils. It was the discipline of the Germans, not their criminality, that made the Nazis fearsome. It was the loyalty, patriotism and commitment of the Soviet and Chinese communists that enabled the mass persecution and destructive-labor camp elimination of their countrymen. Neither is man a victim of society, innocent lamb perverted by social forces beyond individual control. Man created society in his own image; it enables him as much as it corrupts him. Man chooses evil, for the sake of the evil. Man exults in agony, delights in pain, worships destruction and pathology. Man can torture his brother and dance on his grave. Man despises life, his own weak life, and the vulnerability of others, and constantly works to lay waste, to undermine, to destroy, to torment, to abuse and devour: