I like to think of pre-12 Rules Peterson and post-12 Rules Peterson as two separate people.

Some mix of the fame, coordinated bad-faith campaigns against him and the Benzos broke the man's brain.

But you go back to his lecture series and TV show appearances from 2017 and prior and the man is lucid and insightful.

Broken clocks and all.

He has said a lot f things I agree with, and also some stuff that seems intellectually and morally bananas; particularly around gender and sexuality. There was a point something shifted and he took, imo, a darker turn. Maybe it was his wife's illness, his own addiction challenges, or perhaps he was a victim of his own success and lost too much humility.

Probably a combination of those plus factors we aren't privy to.

I don't really know how to take the measure of a man and probably I'm not qualified to. I don't think he was evil though. People are complicated and not at all black and white.