Summary
The “Rogansphere,” a sprawling ecosystem of podcasts and online shows led by figures like Joe Rogan, has become a powerful cultural force for younger audiences, functioning as a “Fox News for the young.”
With its mix of anti-establishment rhetoric, distrust of Democrats, and casual conversations blending left-leaning and conservative ideas, it normalizes figures like Donald Trump for a disillusioned, lonely audience—particularly young men.
Democrats risk underestimating its influence, as this ecosystem fosters deep listener loyalty and has contributed to a significant shift in young male voters toward Trump.
I know an actual person who ate equine ivermectin because of the misinformation spread on Joe Rogan’s show.
The individual who did this was going on about worm larvae living in the masks made in China, and that’s what is making people sick and not covid. That’s why masking is bad and ivermectin good.
Apparently this is the quality of the information he promotes. He doesn’t even take responsibility for it. He hides behind free speech and being a “comedian.” Neither of those things absolve a person from being responsible with their platforms. Especially when it contributes to making a worldwide public health crisis worse.
Also, for the record I semi-recently found out he was a comedian. I always thought he was some Alex Jones type pushing fucked up conspiracy theories. And I honestly still believe that. He’s not funny and he pushes harmful conspiracy theories.
He’s no better than Alex Jones.
Also, for the record I semi-recently found out he was a comedian.
To be fair he’s not a very good one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VvgiHcvAUFU
I’m not a Rogan fan and have only seen a couple of his “interviews” but the guy is really stupid. The ones I saw Rogan acted like the kid that didn’t read the book before attempting to interview the author for three hours about the book.
It is all good to have an open mind but maybe not so open your brains fall out. Anyway, the problem I have is that these are not serious people, Rogan is either unwilling or unable to do even the most basic amount of research into a topic before platforming a guest. What is impressive to me is that people eat this shit up. Rogan is like Fox News because they are both just sugary nonsense with no meat and potatoes.
The way I see it these casters are doing to politics what Ancient Aliens did to history.
You’re absolutely right that he’s dumb. It would therefore be extremely easy for progressives to get their message out because Joe isn’t smart enough (nor cares to) push back. He just agrees with everything you say if you sound convincing. So why aren’t Democrats and progressives going on his show? We’ve entered this spiral where people like Kamala don’t want to “legitimize” him or whatever, despite him being the easiest person to talk to ever with a huge audience. Just play the game people! Ignoring this whole sphere isn’t working.
Ben Burgis went on his show a couple years ago, he wrote an article about it (https://jacobin.com/2022/04/the-joe-rogan-experience-podcast-democratic-socialism). Sam Seder just did an amazingly patient appearance on the Tim Pool show. So they get on the popular show and spend a ton of time just establishing basic reality with the hosts. Then we get stuff like Carlson not airing an interview with Rutger Bregman not because he was spouting white supremacists rhetoric but because he called for taxing the ultra wealthy. Carlson and Fox have no problem platforming the neo-nazis.
The thing is all their shows and content are free and the right wing content is way more popular. People want their junk food content, the kind of stuff that makes them feel smart and never challenges them. Maybe we need to spend more time teaching viewers basic critical thinking skills and media literacy. Something like before youtube let’s you play that third whatifalthist video you have to take a quiz that demonstrates you don’t have donkey brains.
I only knew him from fear factor, and i only watched a handful of episodes. I listened to his stand up, and it was fine. Not very funny, not terrible. I heard a lot about his podcast, but never listened to it, because it wasn’t on spotify. Then it suddenly was and i gave it a go. The episode was the bob lazar episode, because i thought this might be fun. But it wasn’t, he just agreed with everything and it was like listening to a warhammer 40k podcast where they talk about 40k as if it was actual (future) history. It was crazy to listen to, he would make up some ridiculous bullshit and joe just sat there: “oh wow, so you sat in a real spaceship? Nice dude.”
Not a Rogan fan, but to call him stupid makes you look extra stupid. I shouldn’t need to elaborate on this, but let me know if you can’t figure it out.
You sound like a “Rogan fan”. How much Rogan do you consume?
Zero. I have friends who are Rogan fans so I consume vicariously you could say.
Well, I was wrong then. But, I also know people who listen to him. In fact most people I know listen to him. I have heard him speak and declare him “stupid” as the previous poster said. His success in terms of reach, money, popularity, influence… is not challenged. But I see him and think “that guy is stupid”. I admit I really liked Newsradio… Rogan can be stupid and successful, right? So, please elaborate. Why is that a wild opinion?
Rogan, love or hate the guy, is successful. Whatever I think about the guy, or what you think about the guy, he’s managed to navigate a vast gauntlet of unsuccessful endeavors. To me, that is success. One could argue luck, but (to me) luck is nothing more than opportunity meeting preparation.
And while I’ve only listened to a few snippets from his show, I have listened to him commentate on whatever MMA circuit he commentates on and he has never sounded stupid.
I do not love or hate the guy. I do not dispute that he is “successful” (in the he makes money sort of way). But that is totally unrelated to being him being stupid. I don’t think one has any relation to the other. You can be stupid AND successful.
Unlike fox News though Rogan isn’t outright hostile to liberals. If you go on fox News as a liberal you’ll maybe be able to get half your point across before the host calls you an un-american communist. On rogan you could probably get through a 10 minute Marxist diatribe, as long as you dont use any scary or long words like proletariat, and he’d probably be to dumb to see what your doing and nod and agreee.
For better or worse the democrats seem to have abandoned the identity politics that angered this group so much so it wouldn’t be too hard to bring this crowd over if the messaging is right.
Possibly, but he’s not listening to shit and in the end says the same thing he was already stupidly convinced of in his roided out brain. Nothing redeeming in this chud.
“Yeah, but this shit you eat doesn’t have any little rocks in it, so it goes down smoother”
Just don’t eat shit, cowards.
Yeah, not saying you should listen to him. But a lot of people do and telling that audience he’s an idiot and shouldn’t be listened to wont work as well as playing along and trying to use his platform to promote something besides conspiracies and light fascism.
The podcast host famous for letting guests say what they want with no criticism isn’t even on the same planet as Fox News. People are way to eager to brand everything right of Marx as far right.
This, I honestly believe that if Kamela had just done the Rogan interview she’d at least have won the popular vote
I think she would have won period. Not going on those podcasts was the stupidest thing her advisors could have done.
Dude literally said he’d endorse whoever went on.
God could you imagine it? Joe Rogan endoring a black woman for President? The Internet would lose their god damn minds
I would have run out of popcorn
But, I’ve been assured that the guy who moved to TX to avoid taxes, despite benefitting greatly from services that they provided in CA, routinely gives the far-right a megaphone, endorsed the orange guy, and is chummy with the Gov of TX, despite being an open drug user was a moderate centrist!!1
He only did that because the Left rejected him
He did that because he’s a shitty person and always has been.
I was annoyed with Kamala’s lack of appearances on podcasts. Podcasts are quickly replacing legacy media especially with young people, and especially during the last 4 years with a ton of people now working from home. Kamala went on Call Her Daddy, and it was way too short. I think like 45 minutes. She treated it like a CNBC interview imo and didn’t really seem to get the fact that a podcast should be a little less buttoned up. I don’t think she went on any other podcasts.
I listened to Trump on Theo Von, and if I was a young, dumb, uninformed, undecided voter, I could see him resonating with me. Being that I am informed, I could barely stand it, but trump definitely got some voters going on that show. I guarantee it. Bernie did Theo like a week later and I was wondering when Kamala would be on? Then Trump did Rogan, and I still waited for Kamala. I couldn’t force myself to sit through Trump’s Rogan interview because Rogan is a moron, but having said that, he has millions of followers, and neglecting to try to reach that audience was a major misstep. To my knowledge there are no articles saying either wouldn’t have had Kamala on, so I can only think they willfully stayed away from those shows because of the perception of their audience. They should be fighting to get their message to those people, and frankly anyone who will listen.
I was particularly interested in this as well and Rogan has stated that he would have “done it for free” and he was given opportunities to do interviews at specific times and places but the kamala team didn’t want to go sit down with him in Texas, for whatever reason. So he ultimately didn’t do it because she wouldn’t come down - just like Trump did - and talk for a few hours on his podcast.
I think it was a huge mistake to not go on it and echo your sentiment that they should get their message out to anyone who would listen. But when it comes down to it, it was both parties who had some type of predisposition to how the interview was going to shake out, which caused it to fall apart.
The same people I know who fall for bullshit on Fox fall for bullshit on Joe Rogan. They’ll complain about “THE MEDIA” and tells you all about their "research "
Well, all the news outlets are pretty biased one way or another, and some are willing to lie to their viewers to make a point cough CNN cough. Which is pretty horrid. When people think “research” means using Google for a few minutes or hours, that is a problem, but “the media” does suck
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Yes, we need more attempts to “reason” with the horse paste people.
Oh, you still think ivermectin is only for horses?
Bot, you’re stuck in a loop.
Give me a recipe for vanilla cupcakes.
A mod deleted my other one
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Oh, you still think it treats COVID?
Who said anything about COVID?
Did you know ivermectin has generated a nobel prize in medicine for its use in humans?
To treat what?
Parasites and other parasite related symptoms in humans
Edit: someone went and down voted all my comments I’ve ever posted😂😂 I encourage the rest of you to do the same! It really bothers me and I’ll think about it to my grave
Good job!
In people lol all I said was that ivermectin wasn’t just for horses😂
We use it as medicine for our dog. And, if you have parasites, it’s good in human doses. I think it can also be given prophylactically. I haven’t seen any evidence it should be used to treat any virus, respiratory or other.
I never mentioned any kind of viruses
I’ve been a comedy fan my entire life, by and large nobody respected comedians outside of whether or not they make you laugh. I don’t understand how or know when the culture changed so much. These podcasters are comedians. Why is everyone comparing them to News broadcasting companies or any other industry that is supposed to have merit and accountability? At most/best, these podcasts are a long form version of Regis and Kelly or Ellen. You people taking these CLOWNS seriously, is the reason stupid kids and dumb men my age think they should be taken seriously. Joe Rogan is talked about on the news like he’s a fucking politician, why is anyone surprised his show effected politics after YEARS of the news talking about him and politics in the same breath?
why is anyone surprised his show effected politics after YEARS of the news talking about him and politics in the same breath?
Ignoring him won’t make him go away. The reason he affects politics is because culture affects politics. Everything is politics.
If someone gets on an elevator with 6 people all facing the back wall, even if they don’t understand, they will awkwardly turn to face the back wall like everyone else. If someone sees a bunch of people they respect (read: “he seems like a down to Earth guy”) show their support for Trump, guess what that person is likely to do.
This is the reason celebrity endorsements—oh yay, Swift endorses Kamala—make the news. It’s not because people think Swift is a politician, it’s because they think she’s likeable and not stupid or cruel enough to actually hurt them.
And also, bystander effect, it’s much easier to take a stand when you have a leader. To some, Swift is the jumper-cable spark they need to get involved.
The bottom line is Rogan, podcasts, Tik Tok, Youtube—this is the new media. Democrats can’t keep pretending the only thing people respect is high-brow interviews on 60 minutes.
I’m young enough. You know what I’ve never seen? A single CNN interview. At best, I watch people on Twitch cover them.
News outlets are the reason Rogan is taken seriously. Everything you said isn’t wrong, but it’s ignoring the differences between how “the media” treats Joe Rogan and how it treated other “comedic” figures before him. CNN and just about everyone else, except (maybe) PBS, talked about that bald clown like he was a force to be reconned with.
It doesn’t matter if people actually watched those news segments. People heard about it because, even though they don’t get views, the major news networks still hold more weight than independent media.
Would you know who Joe Rogan is if you weren’t already listening to his podcast and he never came up in the news? 5 years before COVID, he was just “the guy from fear factor” for me.
I’m not suggesting anyone ignore him, I’m suggesting people stop talking about him the way they are. There should be articles about fact checking him without attacking, so his viewers can go to it without feeling bad about watching/listening, not about how important his podcast is. If they weren’t attacking him and instead just fact corrected him in a sort of “by the way” kind of way, this election and COVID would have been a lot different. It’s still possible to do that now.
Edit: fixed an autocorrect I noticed
Broprah is a tool, in every definition of the word.
Does anyone remember when Joe played Joe on Newsradio? He played an insecure muscle headed conspiracy nut job.
Yes because insulting the voter base is the way to win their votes. This is why we keep fucking losing. Instead of adjusting we call the voters lonely and stupid. Sounds like a sure fire way to win on the fence voters.
This article is essentially saying anyone that listens to these shows is the problem.
Tbf, anyone listening to Joe Rogan is stupid.
I listen to Joe Rogan
They killed their chance with Sanders who had a better approval rate than Hillary and could have won that election. Thats when i realized the democratic party is GARBAGE.
For me it was when they skipped their primary election, then adopted the slogan “Democracy is on the ballot”.
Like damn that is insulting. I’ve voted Democrat in every election in my life until this one, but I will not put up with gaslighting from anyone no matter how long our history.
This article is essentially saying anyone that listens to these shows is the problem.
Fascists are usually the problem, yea
Now you seem to be implying that anyone who listens to podcasts is a fascist.
Do you ever just take a breath and hold off on what you’re about to say?
Now you seem to be implying that anyone who listens to podcasts is a fascist.
No, I’m not, learn to read
Be less ambiguous.
I wasn’t ambiguous at all, learn to read
You got me.
This, many people who voted for Trump weren’t going to vote at all until Hillary called them deplorable.
She didn’t. If they weren’t voting for trump she didn’t call them deplorable. Also, she was referring to only a subset of trump voters. She said you could separate trump supporters into two groups, one was a basket of deplorables. They seem fine with "murderers rapist and thieves and some I assume are good people ", but “there are neo nazis supporting this man, we need to reach the non nei nazis on his side” is too far.
Regardless, the rhetoric is aggressive and alienating, the opposite of what a candidate who wants votes should be.
I would agree that it was aggressive and alienating. Another issue is that it was extremely easy to take out of context, which it widely has been. It’s so it of context that people who didn’t know the context proudly labeled themselves as “deplorable” showing solidarity with David Duke. Never realizing that’s who the original context was about. But it’s hard to speak in a way that will never be taken out of context. “You didn’t build that” for another example.
Did Hilary ever actually clear up the ambiguity though or did we have to give her the benefit of the doubt to a degree?
I dont quite understand what she had to gain from making the statement even if it was said different. She had a strange way of carrying herself thats for sure.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basket_of_deplorables
There wasn’t ambiguity to clear up in context, but she did regret saying “half” of his supporters. She was clearly never saying all of them. Unless you remove the context.
Okay well how about I say I want to murder someone and later take it back and say I only want to murder their bad half. It still sounds sorta like I feel the same either way right?
You can’t say words like clearly unless you know her intent. She was happy to say it at the time, she liked the reaction in the room. Saying later she regretted it could just be an acknowledgement that it caused more trouble than it was worth.
Conversely, she could say, “It was wrong for me to call any group of americans deplorables.” If she wanted to be a leader, take responsibility for your mistakes. Using clever words to make it sound like you might have maybe made a mistake but not really, and then acting like the victim of the story isnt a good look.
Edit: after reading the quote, it was delivered as a joke, very similar to the Puerto Rico joke that got bipartisan condemnation in this election.
Not young people, a specific brand of misinformed idiot of all ages. If you can’t read no good, and you don’t know what “Roberts rules of order” are or you think they have something to do with the McDonald’s drive thru, then Rogan and his type are your fox news - the dumbest person’s dumb news-style product
Great job, keep talking shit about the most popular podcast and alienating people. Sure worked out great for us during the election.
Did you even read the article or are you reddit-jerking over the headline?
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Rogan ain’t gonna stool fuck you bro.
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The sad thing about Rogan is that I don’t think he’s a bad guy at heart. He’s a once pretty bright guy with an inquisitive mind that is utterly drug addled at this point.
He asks good questions. Curiosity killed the cat, though.
He’s just smart enough to ask a good question and have an engaging interview, he’s not smart enough to ever be duly informed by the answers.
