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Does anyone remember when Joe played Joe on Newsradio? He played an insecure muscle headed conspiracy nut job.
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.
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."
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 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.
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
Broprah is a tool, in every definition of the word.
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.
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
joe rogan, fox news. cult of idiocracy. cult of idiocracy. cult. of. idiocraccccyyyyyy....