this post was submitted on 20 Nov 2024
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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.

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[–] [email protected] 21 points 5 days ago (1 children)

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.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 5 days ago

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

[–] [email protected] 35 points 6 days ago (8 children)

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.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 5 days ago (1 children)

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.

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[–] [email protected] 47 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (6 children)

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.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 6 days ago (1 children)

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.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 6 days ago

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.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 6 days ago (1 children)

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.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 6 days ago (2 children)

If you give a platform to morons then you are a moron. If you listen to morons and find their thoughts and ideas not painful you are guess what a moron. Rogan is Rush Limbaugh part 2, follow the script and collect the cash from morons.

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[–] [email protected] 48 points 6 days ago

joe rogan, fox news. cult of idiocracy. cult of idiocracy. cult. of. idiocraccccyyyyyy....

[–] [email protected] 25 points 6 days ago (2 children)

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

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[–] [email protected] 21 points 6 days ago (1 children)

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.

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[–] [email protected] 39 points 6 days ago (11 children)

I like Galloway's analysis here: https://www.profgalloway.com/the-podcast-election/

I am going on AC360/MSNBC/Smerconish to discuss the male vote — this election gave us the opposite of the expected referendum on bodily autonomy; it was the Testosterone Election. The only thing I’m (fairly) certain of is what medium played a pivotal role, for the first time, in young people’s decision to violently pivot to Trump: podcasts.

Almost half of adult Americans, 136 million people, listen to at least one podcast a month. The global audience is now 505 million, a quarter of the internet’s reach.

Rogan has 16 million Spotify subscribers and can reach many more people across a variety of other platforms: In just three days after the live podcast, his three-hour-long conversation with Trump was viewed 40 million times on YouTube.

By comparison, when Trump appeared on Fox News’ Gutfeld!, which averages about 3 million viewers, he reached 5 million people, and the full episode has been viewed 2.3 million times on YouTube.

Among Fox’s 3.5 million regular viewers, 70% are 50 and over and 45% are women. The No. 2 cable network, MSNBC, reaches 1.5 million viewers most days; its median viewer is a 70-year-old woman. So: a big audience of young men vs. a small audience of older women. People listen to pods to learn; they watch cable TV to sanctify what they already believe. The former is (much) more appealing to candidates and advertisers.

Rogan’s demographic is 80% male, 93% under 54, and 56% under 34. Men under 34 are the Great White Rhinos of advertising, the most valuable beast in the consumer jungle, and they’re increasingly difficult to find.

He also mentioned in a CNN interview: "Look at the top 10 podcasts. 8 of them lean right, and Trump went on 6 of them."

[–] [email protected] 53 points 6 days ago (7 children)

Don't a lot of people who listen to podcasts do so while driving? If so, this is eerily similar to how conservative AM radio brainwashed people who drove a lot, especially in remote areas where FM radio with music wasn't available.

[–] [email protected] 32 points 6 days ago (2 children)

Also similar: Spotify puts podcasts and music side-by-side the same way the radio dial used to. Sick of that top 10 hit? Check out what the worst people in the world are thinking today!

[–] [email protected] 12 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Makes me glad I never subscribed to Spotify

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[–] [email protected] 12 points 6 days ago (7 children)

And the people bankrolling these podcasts, or at least sponsoring them to push a slant to the right, are fully aware of the similarities. It's why they do it, they already did the math.

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 6 days ago

Goddammit I don't want another round of right-radicalization like the 90s. Fuck's sake. Wasn't living through one round enough?

Goddammit.

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[–] [email protected] 28 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (1 children)

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 "

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[–] [email protected] 26 points 6 days ago* (last edited 6 days ago) (9 children)

Personally, i don't like joe rogan. He does a horrible job at making sure he isn't spreading misinformation and he is indeed contributing to influencing people in a bad way

That being said, i think acually challanging and approaching these mindset is valuable to show that the left is present in politics, not just the one we agree with all the time. If we dont open up discource on platforms that the right accually watches, more left wing discource, ideas and topics gets lost in the echo chamber of "we don't want to talk to anyone on the right". We cannot think people on the right and people alienated by the democrats will suddenly start consuming leftist idea if we wont bring that to their turf. I think a lot of people supporting the right are accually in agreement with the left such as economic reform etc , just that the right have much better platforms and charismatic people that accually adress their concerns.

Im not saying we should consider rasist, misogynistic and hatefull speech to be okay at all, and we are not part of the problem if we are present on platforms trying to challenge them. But we need to show that we are here for everyone, not just ourselves. The people we disagree with don't vanish because we dont want to talk with them, because they will find other people who want to talk, and they might be encouraging their already damaging viewpoints.

I came across this video a few days ago and i was intrigued, i reccomend watching, it gave me an idea on why we are stuggeling to reach more people:

https://youtu.be/_TQLDygbI-s

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[–] [email protected] 16 points 6 days ago (13 children)

Yes, we need more attempts to "reason" with the horse paste people.

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[–] [email protected] 21 points 6 days ago (1 children)
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[–] [email protected] 5 points 5 days ago

Does anyone remember when Joe played Joe on Newsradio? He played an insecure muscle headed conspiracy nut job.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 6 days ago (2 children)

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?

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[–] [email protected] 10 points 6 days ago

Broprah is a tool, in every definition of the word.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 6 days ago (29 children)

I find this frustrating. Yes, many of those podcasters are conservative and have participated in spreading misinformation, but there is a huge difference between a private cable news company that is designed to manipulate the electorate, and a bunch of loosely connected yahoos on YouTube who share similar opinions.

Trump gained ground with nearly every demographic out there. They weren’t all watching Kill Tony. Working class people, comedians who rely on unrestricted speech, and a whole lot of other demographics have legitimate grievances that the Democrats have either ignored or shamed them for. They either need to lean how to address these people’s needs, or they will continue to suffer the consequences.

And when you aren’t trying to form a political opinion about it, Kill Tony is actually a pretty funny show. That is why it is the number one comedy podcast, not because of Tony’s political opinions.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 6 days ago (1 children)

loosely connected yahoos

This particular yahoo has a $100 million deal with Spotify.

He may not have the multi-billion dollar revenue of Fox News Media. But he does only have a fraction of their staff and operating expenses. That is certainly no pittance.

The rest of the yahoos are emulating him. Together they have a huge impact.

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[–] [email protected] 9 points 6 days ago (26 children)

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.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Tbf, anyone listening to Joe Rogan is stupid.

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[–] [email protected] 11 points 6 days ago (1 children)

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.

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