Joe Rogan and the Left

Oh how the Left does like to hate on Joe Rogan. He can’t set a foot right with left-leaning twitter. He’s either talking to someone they don’t like to saying something that they don’t like. The reality is that Rogan talks to anyone and everyone and that’s probably why he is so good for getting social media ire. In a world of neat little boxes, Rogan stands above the maze and refuses to be put into either box. The uncomfortable truth is that Rogan is probably more representative of greater society than anyone wants to admit.

Non-Binary Politics in a Binary

It is no secret that the world is more divided than ever before. That’s just facts. However, Joe Rogan, although not always political, doesn’t really live within that binary and I think that is the secret to his popularity. I’ve mentioned it before but while the major political parties have been pulled farther right and left by their extremes, most of the country sits in the middle. Do we need a few more social programs? Probably. Should be let weed be legal? Why not? But do we need to completely embrace socialism or christian nationalism? Not quite. Rogan, for all his many faults and linguistic mis-steps lives in the liminal moderate politics of the average American. That is how he commands an audience of 200 million listeners exclusively on Spotify.

More than a dude-bro-dude?

So what does it all mean?

Like it or not, Rogan represents a voice within society. A moderate voice that is at the same time liberal in some areas and distinctively libertarian in others. Many were surprised when he endorsed Bernie Sanders in 2020.