What you don’t understand about Joe Rogan
If you spend any significant amount of time on social media, it is likely that you have heard of Joe Rogan. In 2020, Rogan inked a blockbuster exclusive contract with Spotify to host The Joe Rogan Experience. Since then, controversy has swarmed the comedian.
Some say that Joe Rogan is a bad faith actor that platforms bigots and traffics in misinformation. Others champion him as a hero for free speech. To some extent, I agree with both of these views. However, the whole truth, at least in my opinion, is far less polarizing, and pays homage to the philosopher William of Ockham.
Joe Rogan is attempting to punch far above his weight class.
I don't think Rogan is an idiot. When it comes to marketing, he knows how to pull an audience. When it comes to show topics, he understands how to become the center of conversation. What he routinely misses is the basics.
For starters, Rogan is a comedian with a casual storytelling style. On stage, he is moderately animated, but shouts non-punchlines while making fun of the absurdities in his day-to-day experiences. I don't particularly find him funny, but for the most part, his material fits his ability to deliver it.
He gets in trouble when he strays from his wheelhouse.
There are comedians with enough talent to take conversations about anything from the most mundane to the most controversial and make them funny. Bill Burr comes to mind. Burr tells a story about visiting his girlfriend at 3:30 am in Harlem. The way he frames his anxiety amid misconceptions about black neighborhoods is brilliant. Instead of making fun of black people, he turns the joke on himself, which makes the entire bit work.
I recently watched Pete Davidson's episode on the Kevin Hart hosted Hart to Heart. During this episode, Davidson talks about his Harry Potter fandom, then juxtaposes it with the stereotypical Staten Island denizen's assessment of the franchise. (If you haven't seen this episode, you should. It's on Peacock TV, and it is hilarious.) This time, the joke is pointed directly at a group of people, but it's a group with which Davidson shares familiarity.
Compare these to the "Planet of the Apes" controversy that surfaced last year. Rogan clumsily tells the story of traveling to a "ghetto neighborhood" with his friends in an Uber. He lazily drops the punchline, "we walked in to Planet of the Apes," describing the area outside the theater. The only qualifier here was that it was filled with black people.
Does Joe Rogan really believe that black people are apes? No, I don't believe so. He instantly regretted his word choice and took it back, and then got to the point of his story. In a similar vein to Bill Burr, he was trying to say that his perception of black neighborhoods was wrong. For the listener, however, the damage was already done. Racism in some form may be at play here, but it isn't the root cause. Joe Rogan is just not a talented enough comedian to pull off that story and make it funny. The subject is very delicate, and requires skill to pull off. The crime here is that Rogan doesn't have the self-awareness to realize that this type of comedy is above his pay grade. That is equally offensive.
Rogan's relationship with misinformation runs along a similar track. Whether it's talk about furries in schools, vaccines, or cancel culture, his opinions are couched in flimsy reasoning and backed by tenuous research. When he asserts something as fact, it is usually followed by an apologetic selfie video.
It is clear that Joe Rogan has pretty strong opinions about certain things. He is a vaccine skeptic. He is uncomfortable with the direction society is taking regarding gender norms. Furthermore, he feels we are becoming too sensitive. In some sense, he may have a point on some of these. The problem starts when he tries to add weight to his opinions.
Let's start with his vaccine skepticism. On its face, there is nothing wrong with questioning what goes into your body. It's important to make informed decisions about health. What is not ok is to drop your head in the sand and ignore reality. COVID-19 made us change our lifestyles overnight. People lost loved ones. Careers were ended. Mental health suffered. It's normal to feel resentment at the state of affairs over the last few years. It is inappropriate to create false realities to solidify your position, especially when you have a massive platform.
Joe Rogan has routinely held conversations with vaccine deniers, COVID-19 conspiracy theorists, and other debunked people on his show. Many of these guests have had horrendous appearances on other programs, or have had their work panned by their respective professional communities. Regardless of their credentials, Rogan seems to be all too eager to lap up information that paints mRNA vaccines as wildly dangerous, often with embarrassing consequences. Again, there is nothing wrong with not being an expert. The issue starts when you deny reality in favor of your own fantasy.
Over the past couple of years, a story about students in schools identifying as animals and demanding litter boxes has surfaced a few times as a talking point for anti-trans pundits. The claim is that parents in some districts have successfully lobbied for litter boxes to be placed in either restrooms or directly in classrooms for their children to feel comfortable acting as cats or dogs in class. Some versions of this story add that non-"furry" students have had to witness bathroom acts in class. The story is laughable on first listen, since there is zero evidence to back it up.
Rogan was late to the party on this one. Clearly, this is a story that is designed to be attached to the transgender movement and paint them as perverts and degenerates. It isn't even a good effort at this, since it basically only captures the minds of the vilest far-right bigots. That didn't stop Rogan from crafting an anecdote about an anonymous (and likely fictional) friend of his that had experience in this arena. It was a story that he quickly had to walk back, adding a horribly unbelievable rationale for even telling it in the first place.
Is it wrong to platform discredited individuals? Not necessarily. We live in a society that thrives on discourse. The problem starts in the lack of nuance and context and ends in the absence of critical thinking. Is it terrible to talk about debunked stories? Not really. However, it's always important to provide a full accounting of the elements of the story and a basis for any good faith, rational analysis of the facts.
This is where Joe Rogan consistently fails. For the amount of money he is getting paid, Rogan should have a staff of researchers making sure his information is vetted before he blesses it with his tacit endorsement. At a minimum, he should consistently make his listener aware that he knows little to nothing about certain topics, instead of waiting for a mealy-mouthed apology a week later. This isn't to imply that he should have his speech censored or even scripted. He should just have enough respect for his talking points to get some knowledge about them first.
He is capable of this in some spots. Joe Rogan had a conversation with Dave Rubin regarding the ability of the private sector to take over public sector tasks. Specifically, they discussed private companies taking over in case the Post Office was gone. Rogan quickly posited that the Post Office does certain things that no private company would want to do. Namely, they deliver certain items (such as live chickens) and travel to rural areas (where it wouldn't be worth it for a private company). The sad part is that while he was a hundred percent correct in his assessment, it didn't come from any research. Rogan added that he avails himself of these services, and therefore he knows about them intimately.
So, what is the bottom line on Joe Rogan? Is he a bigot, conspiracy theory wielding, menace to decent punditry? No. At least not on purpose. I believe that Joe Rogan is someone who is attempting to swim in waters too deep for his skill set. I believe this oversight does more damage than anything else that's in his head. I don't think there is an easy solution to this, save encouraging people to engage in better vetting of their listening material. I do, however, think that I have ample reason to avoid anything about Mr. Rogan in the future.
