by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner
Ah, Joe Rogan. The thing about Rogan is how he’s a representation of the hypermodern media landscape. Rogan believes he can say anything as long as he hides behind his earnest masculinity. He’s appealing to a lot of young men who feel unrepresented and disenfranchise.
For the most part he, himself, is harmless. He’s a decent interviewer and I do find him often interesting in what he has to say. But. And there’s a big but, there’s a meta element to his popularity that is downright sinister. And that meta element is he is a gateway to the Alt Right and Incel movements in the sense that a lot of young men start the path to radicalization by watching his show.
It’s not really Rogan’s fault that this is the case. And if the United States wasn’t tearing itself a part at the moment, the whole thing would be a lulz. What I find the most irritating about Rogan is often frames his arguments in such a way that you feel like an idiot if you don’t agree with what are essentially alt-Right talking points.
Thankfully, Rogan has no (apparent) desire to run for office. He, like Tucker Carlson have all the makings of a popular modern politician. The larger point is our democracy is undead. The era we live in is the last gasp of traditional American democracy before we either turn into an autocracy or we have a civil war.
There are no easy answers.
