Joe Rogan Could Have Been The "Joe Rogan of the Left"
On internet influence & pragmatic niceness.
If this edition seems short, that’s because it is: I’m moving apartments this weekend and have been busy packing up all my earthly possessions! As someone who writes about technology and its effect on politics, I just have a few thoughts about the Democrats’ search for the mythical “Joe Rogan of the Left”.
Much digital ink has already been spilled here, with the most common take being as follows: Democrats are too beholden to corporate interests to be in touch with the everyday person in the way that a comedy podcaster can be. Democrats spent the last presidential campaign talking about how great things were going, lying in a way that everybody could see through, and couldn’t paint a compelling enough vision of the future to compete with conservatives. Case in point, Hasan Piker (the strongest actual candidate for “JRotL") was kicked out of the DNC for his pro-Palestine beliefs, which reflect the mainstream Democrat attachment to American imperialism over the interests of their constituents.
I basically agree with this sentiment; as someone who guzzles down hours of leftist (not liberal) political content, I would surely not want to listen to someone parrot the exact party line of the Democratic Party for hours on end. Other writers have pointed out that liberal celebrities (notably not leftists) already have a type of strong cultural impact, with nearly every major beloved actor and pop star having aligned with Harris last election. The problem (at least one of them) is that Hollywood is now less relevant (less culturally impactful overall) than Internet stardom.
Another problem is that the many of the Right’s biggest online figures (as seen in the oft-cited Media Matters chart below) are not explicitly political creators. Theo Von and others are just comedy podcasts that happen to lean right-wing on many issues, whereas the biggest left-wing creators are explicitly political. By this logic, is the “JRotL” someone like Eddy Burback, Anthony Po, Caleb Hearon, or CJ the X rather than Hasan Piker? It remains unclear.
This chart also brings to mind the fact that right-wing viewership is very concentrated on a few sources, whereas left-wing viewership tends to be stratified among many sources. Fox News is the most popular news channel in the country, not out of some immense “silent majority” that reflects the American populace, but because many conservatives only watch Fox News, whereas liberals will sometimes watch CNN, sometimes watch MSNBC, sometimes listen to NPR, etc. It makes me wonder if the right really does dominate the internet, or if leftist viewership is merely broken up across a thousand different video essayists.
Finally, my last contribution: in 2020, Bernie Sanders appeared on an episode of the Joe Rogan Experience. Reactions were mixed, but I distinctly remember a massive wave of backlash from both Democrats and Leftists. Rogan had already been identified by most as a right-leaning figure, though it’s worth noting that at the time he was significantly less insane than he is today, perhaps even a bit centrist. Democrats hated this appearance because they (wrongly) saw podcasts as “beneath them”, despite Rogan having a massive following of the same “everyday Americans” they’re now actively trying to court. Leftists hated this appearance for similar reasons, thinking that merely attempting to converse with a non-leftist somehow tainted Sanders’ message/being. But by having him on his show, Rogan demonstrated an openness to socialist talking points; shouldn’t we have encouraged this behavior?
Am I saying that Joe Rogan would now be a raging socialist if internet lefties were simply nicer to him back in 2020? That’s probably a bit juvenile; the cultural forces and economic incentives that pull large creators to the right are likely outside of our control. I would argue that the Internet is an inherently libertarian force, as I have before. It’s just worth pointing out how the purity testing that’s ever-prevalent in our culture has a tendency to turn people off, and maybe there’s a lesson there. Human beings are not logical creatures, we’re social creatures: getting constant online hate from one group of people while getting hugboxed by another is going to make you more sympathetic to the latter, no matter how evil they seem to be. We shouldn’t abandon our morals, but we also need to think pragmatically about how we’re perceived. The way we convince more people to become leftist isn’t through rational arguments, it’s by materially helping them—cooking them meals, watching their kids, driving them places—until they eventually go “Huh, those lefty folks? They’re alright!”
For more on this, I’ll highlight Hazel Thayer’s video on the subject. This is an important topic of discussion that I wish I could contribute more to, but at time of writing I still have a whole pantry of baking supplies to pack into reusable grocery bags. Here’s hoping I can make some cookies for a crowd again soon.
Action Items
You can now sign up for Accessible Virtual Pride, an event put on by Calling Up Justice! I spoke at this a few years back and it was a very positive experience! https://callingupjustice.com/accessible-virtual-pride-2025/
This past week I spoke at Electric Hydrogen about trans inclusion in STEM spaces. If you’d like to hire me to speak at your company/university about LGBTQ+ inclusion, check out my portfolio here: https://www.thatannamarie.com/speaking
Currently Reading
Detransition expert Prof. Kinnon reflects on The Atlantic’s detransition article from 2023.
An academic takedown of "Gender Exploratory Therapy" as used by anti-LGBT activists.
Watch History
An excellent debunking of claims about the toxicity of sunscreen.
A discussion of the viral headline about there being more people on earth than we think and bad science journalism. Once again, the “silent majority” myth rears its head: rural folks love believing that they’re under-counted/under-represented, and while in many ways they are, but not how they think.
Bops, Vibes, & Jams
The new Deep Sea Diver album, “Billboard Heart”, is rock at its finest.
Nadia Reid, creator of perhaps my favorite album of 2020, is back with a new epic, “Enter Now Brightness”.
And now, your weekly Koko.
That’s all for now! See you next week with more sweet, sweet content.
In solidarity,
-Anna