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My Joe Rogan Experience
Joe Rogan
Screenshot from Joe Rogan Experience channel on YouTube
Joe Rogan to many people is the guy from Fear Factor or a comedian and to many others like myself he is an important male role model in society. In a world where young men are taught to be ashamed of their masculinity or told they are toxic, Joe Rogan stands alone showing that men can be both athletic and smart, firm yet fair and assertive yet kind. Rogan is truly curious and open-minded; he will talk to anyone from any political point of view. His guests range from Democratic Socialist Cornel West to Ben Shapiro. Rogan’s podcast threatens the mainstream, because the days of unintelligent and frankly uninteresting talking points may end or be altered so journalists and commentators will actually have to do the job of questioning and getting to the truth.
My dad introduced to me the Joe Rogan Experience when I was 17 and he was, unfortunately, in another battle with drugs. I was 17 depressed and usually angry. I was aware of those problems and sometimes acted impulsively, filled with anger and was depressed to the point of self-harm. Those issues are now long gone thanks to my family, finding meaning in my life through God, though I am always an imperfect Christian man of course. I cleaned up my act a lot when I was 17 going on 18. Of course, I struggled, I discovered politics and was ardently conservative I would argue with everyone and anyone over politics, but this is exhausting and not healthy. I saw myself becoming what I accused liberals of being: Intolerable, angry, and very tribal. As of 2017/18 due to quite an embarrassing display of decorum, I do not debate with people online because I was not mature enough to handle it and now I realize I am confident enough in my own opinions so for me there is no need to “own the libs” online. Politics was not apart of my life it was consuming my life. It is fairly common for young people that participate in politics to have politics consume them. I would defend every conservative talking point even if I had my own reservations. As I discovered when politics becomes your only identity you will defend it no matter what. I was convinced that conceding mistakes and policies made me weak, but a man who concedes nothing all the time is an insecure man and one who only concedes is a weak men, confident men follow their own path. I am not very good at lying to myself so the behavior stopped because I did not like that intellectual dishonesty.
Joe Rogan’s guests made me question my inner cowardice when it came to the Drug War and Gay Marriage, both of which I am more liberal on and always was but tried not to be in order to be a good conservative. I listened to many people I disagree with, but that dose of dissonance is what young people need left and right. Joe Rogan changes his opinion frequently and tries to understand his guests’ views. Intellectual diversity is what we all need.
The podcast introduced me to Ben Shapiro, Jordan Peterson, Dave Rubin, and other guests male and female who I admire. Seeing people prominent progressives like Jimmy Dore, Cornel West, or Kyle Kulinski explain their positions which I ardently disagree with humanizes both them and I making me constantly realize politics is secondary to realizing we are all human beings. I go in listening expecting to learn something I did not know. A profound quote from an episode with Dr. Cornel West is one we could all learn from where he states, “Love is not reducible to politics.”
Rogan among the media elite and dishonest actors has a reputation for “radicalizing” young men along with his fellow intellectual dark web members and I could not disagree more. Joe Rogan and his guests made me realize politics is not a game. It is fellow citizens’ lives at stake. Those who believe we should always find consensus among each other are wrong. If we cannot agree we should be able to understand each other to ensure we know that we all are on the same team. I know countless lives that have been impacted by Rogan or his guests. Joe Rogan’s audience crosses racial, gender, religious, and political lines that is why dishonest smears do not stick to him. Rogan’s podcast was common ground for my dad and I; so even when my dad struggles with addiction still I take my ego out and help him to the best of my ability a frequent guest on the podcast Jordan Peterson said something that spoke to me, “Pick up for suffering and bear it, try to be a good person so you don’t make it worse; life is suffering, accept it. What do you do in the face of that suffering? Try to reduce it, start with yourself.” Forgiveness and grace the two most powerful forces that can defy any odds. God knows I have needed it and try to help my dad and anyone in pain, because that is what good men do, they make the world less insufferable.
The podcast is a force for a good in a world that demands you pick a side. So many are tired of going on Fox or CNN only to see segments of complex issues that require complex thinking devolve into screaming matches that could make a toddler in their terrible two’s blush. Podcasting has given controversial people and controversial ideas a chance to explain. I am about as imperfect person as there is, and knowing that humbles me. Does Rogan ever get angry or stubborn? Of course, as we all do but he acknowledges when he does and his audience respects him for it, as a reward his audience grants him and his guests the benefit of the doubt. When stars get canceled often their base abandons them and because of good PR they presented themselves not as a vulnerable human, but as a star, so it is easy to dump them and move onto the next. In this era, all of our egos need to be checked. Joe Rogan himself is not the only person making a difference it is all the people he has introduced into people’s lives that have made a difference. That is something to be proud of. My Joe Rogan Experience gave me a spark of intellectual curiosity, confidence, and self-awareness that turned into a flame that I hope never goes out.
Published in General
Damn fine coffee, AL. Keep them brewing.
News Radio was great…while it lasted.
That’s too where I know him from. Then reading further I don’t think Antonino was alive when it was on the air.
Good article. I haven’t listened to Joe’s podcast but know that he’s quite the force out there. I like the concept of long form podcasts so interviewers can get a lot of details out of their guests versus the short clips from television shows.
Appreciate it, sir.
His show called “the end of the world” on Election Night 2016 was hilarious.
99% of the people at the comedy store in Hollywood that night was shocked and traumatized.
It was awesome.
Rogan on Biden’s gaffes
start at 3 minute mark
Joe Rogan just sold his podcast to Spotify for more than $100 million. For a podcast. That’s incredible.
I agree – I enjoy his show.
It’ll be interesting to see how YouTube reacts to that once most ties are severed.
My 18 year old son and his friends do listen to him. I was leery but at least he speaks to both sides and appears genuinely inquisitive and not reflexively biased. I’m encouraged that there are obviously many people, many young people we’d typically write off, that are hungry for long form interviews and discussion (perhaps because they don’t get them in school).
Good post @antoninolucido
Thank you for the post OP. I get the feeling of constraining one’s self in order to try and be a [ideology] in good standing. Don’t do it! (I’m also talking to myself a little.)
I like that Joe Rogan has diverse people on and talks to them and listens to them. I really do. He seems like a cool guy trying to have conversations with interesting people at a non-pretentious level.
Ironically, my issue is that the podcasts are actually too long. For most people, I just don’t need 1.5 to 2.5 hour podcast. I don’t. (1.5 is about max length for a well edited podcast.) I’ve got a lot of stuff to do and your podcast isn’t at the top of that list.
Thank you very much. “Not reflexively biased” is a perfect description. When listening I feel as if he is actually interested in his guests ideas as opposed to setting a guest up in order to create a viral moment of a host dunking on their guest, it gets exhausting to watch.
Bill Burr was on fire that night as well.
Thank you so much for your post! I’m an Independent that leans conservative. I think it’s important to actually seek out and listen to other points of view. Your post points out the beauty of it. Even if you disagree, it doesn’t invalidate another’s view.
I guess you could say that I’m politically homeless.
Variable playback speed is our friend. 1.5X is still perfectly understandable.
I listen to them over several days: like while cooking, grocery shopping, ironing, folding clothes, loading the dishwasher. No one sits there motionless for 2-3 hours. It really keeps me going when cleaning.
I like Joe Rogan a lot. I think he is someone with genuine integrity and he’s a great businessman.
He is a lefty though, as I remember lefties used to be i.e. not totally insane. I listened to him interviewing Dan Crenshaw talking about health care reform, and I made my husband listen to it because I was saying “this is how I think about capitalism too.” He really just doesn’t understand the free market and the podcast is revealing because Rogan is really doing his best to understand, and at the same time so was I, and I kept rewinding to understand Crenshaw better. My husband doesn’t have the same money/numbers illiteracy as me and was impatient with Rogan. (We leftists do not understand the principle of incentive.) Joe Rogan thinks the way a non-psychotic leftist thinks.
That said, I think he’s really leaning right these days, because he isn’t psychotic. I think he just needs to give it up and admit he’s conservative or libertarian, as Rubin finally did. It’s like watching someone lurking around a gay club and then telling their friends they are straight. 🤣 Be out and proud!! 🤣🤣
As Jack Benny would say, “Now, that’s…”
Well, first of all, it IS really funny. And really thought-provoking. But are you allowed to say all this on Ricochet?
I’ve noticed a bunch of, as far as I’ve noticed, newcomers in the last few months who are introducing fresh new ideas here. I just don’t know if “that is done”, as the Brits say.
Isn’t the idea of Ricochet that we, the nostalgic aging children of the GG, will just keep saying the same stuff to each other till we are all dead?
For some members, the keyword is nostalgia
You can’t debate much of anything on TV due to the short requirements.
I was never a big fan of Crossfire, but maybe I was a bit of a fan as I remember seeing some of it. I was reading Bob Novak’s book where he praised the program. Crossfire seemed like a screaming match at the time, but it was probably more calm than most people remember it; just look at twitter today and the conservatives who have abandoned twitter due to the constant hate. At least there was a sense of balance and fair play to the Crossfire format to give conservatives a chance.
It’s true that lefties don’t understand the principles of incentive and profit! I admit, and Rogan makes valiant efforts to understand during the interview, which is illuminating. Crenshaw is very patient, explaining that the US health care system is innovative in a way that socialist healthcare systems can’t be.
Ricochet is such a nice community. I may be borderline millennial (1981 – we are a bit homeless, we children of Boomers: not quite Millenial, not quite X), but I can’t do social media. And I am surrounded by woke people and lefty Europeans who only read mainstream media about how the US is sliding into fascism etc. This while Macron is forbidding demonstrations, censoring the internet and there was open police brutality in the streets against gilet jaunes every Saturday for 2 years. I am grateful for a friendly community which is open to discussing important things 😊 Thanks!
I have a Jewish friend who has two problems with Rogan. First, he rants against the practice of circumcision. Second, he references Israel in exclusively negative terms. My friend finds holding those views simultaneously to be a bit disturbing.
Most importantly Joe actually loves people. Unlike 90% of MSM.
He’s a lefty and lefties are taught that Israel is colonialist.