Don’t underestimate the Rogansphere. His mammoth ecosystem is Fox News for young people
Don’t underestimate the Rogansphere. His mammoth ecosystem is Fox News for young people
Podcasts like Joe Rogan’s and Theo Von’s aren’t on the fringes. Their blend of off-the-cuff, Trump-leaning commentary blurs traditional lines between left and right – and offers listeners companionship
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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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.
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.
But they are not a coordinated cabal like Fox, which is the point I was trying to make.
I agree with everything you said, except Kill Tony being funny. I have not heard anything from him that made me laugh.
I am genuinely still waiting.
Kill Tony is the name of a show that has featured hundreds of comedians—that is what I was endorsing as funny, and that is what most viewers come to see. Tony Hinchcliffe is a person, and he serves primarily as a judge on the show, not a featured entertainer.
This exact misunderstanding—that enjoying the product is an endorsement of the political opinions of the creator—is a good example of what I’m talking about. If Democrats want that audience to watch a Democratic comedian’s show, then all they have to do is make a better comedy podcast than he did.
I saw him on tour earlier this year (or maybe last year, I can't keep up with time anymore). Had never heard of him but we had free tickets. There were 3 or 4 openers, all people part of the Kill Tony family or whatever. His openers were hilarious, he was....very not funny.
We are being downvoted for this but it’s funny to me that they are calling him Fox News for young people. The show really isn’t all that political. Instead of whining about Rogan, democrats need someone who occupies a similar space as Rogan that young people want to watch.
When I was younger we had Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert. Times have changed and right leaning comedians are edging out left leaning comedy, for whatever reason. Maybe the left is too PC? I don’t know.
The problem is that Rogan is the beginning of algorithmic rabbit holes that relatively quickly draw people into further right-wing political commentary, pundits like Ben Shapiro or Matt Walsh or Tim Pool start popping up more and more on recommended pages, for whatever criteria the almighty algorithm had decided Joe Rogan and right-wing pundits have in common.
He might not seem very political, but he has politically engaged figures on his show quite often.
Even on my own YouTube, I actively curate the recommendations and channels that get suggested to me and tend to cut out the extreme right wing and I still get suggestions for anti-woke conservative videos.
Rogan is an inflection point that leads many people to right wingers.
People often think propaganda is done by hiding something or lying. More often they don't need to do either of those things. Once you have a pulpit it's more about who you choose to elevate and amplify.
Even on my own YouTube, I actively curate the recommendations and channels that get suggested to me and tend to cut out the extreme right wing and I still get suggestions for anti-woke conservative videos.
For reasons I cannot explain sufficiently, YouTube seem to be in full we-have-no-ideas panic mode and spitting out lots of right wing crap regardless of what your algorithms used to be.
The best thing one can do on YouTube (alas, I'm a Premium subscriber I must admit), is TURNING OFF VIEWING HISTORY.
I cannot emphasise this enough, please show your parents, your children or cousins how to turn it off. It makes your viewing experience so much better.
I keep getting youtube videos from folks with a thousand subscribers max, I think youtube just kinda imploded somewhat.
Those other guys you mentioned are certified douchebags. Joe Rogan is way more moderate than those clowns.
If Tim pool appeals to young people, then we have to ask ourselves why. It’s not because they may like Joe Rogan. I have a maga buddy who is a huge pool fan but doesn’t like Rogan
Congratulations you've pointed out the obvious they're douchebags who lean further right than rogan, it doesn't change the fact that algorithms have linked Rogan with these douchebags.
No need to act like you’re better than me for whatever reason. It sounds like you’re blaming Rogan instead of the algorithms. If that’s not good enough then shout at the sky because hacks like Tim Pool exist. You all are going out of your way to blame something else that isn’t even the problem to begin with.
You need to work on your reading comprehension. I am primarily pinning it on the algorithm but I'm also pointing out that Rogan's podcast is leading people to right-wing commentators, partly because of the guests he has on and partly because the algorithms push people in that direction.
He has plenty of left wing guests on. I have no idea what the situation is with algorithms because I don’t get any right wing nonsense in my feed despite watching Rogan from time to time.
I will say that I checked my ChatGPT and it thinks I’m a right winger because I’m always fact checking my maga friend. What I’m saying is that if people are like me and have right wing friends they argue with, they may get flagged as right wing just from checking their links.
I’m sure I trust someone with the username “ThirdWorldOrder” telling me Joe Rogan isn’t al that political. It’s just a joke, bro!
I’ve had this username since StarCraft 1… so a long time ago. What does ThirdWorldOrder mean to you? lol
democrats need someone who occupies a similar space as Rogan that young people want to watch.
I've said it before and I'll probably say it another hundred times but that.cannot.happen. It's not possible. It's like saying "democrats should fight an armed conflict with water balloons and paste" - it is not a possible thing to do.
There are some really interesting reasons why that is, but the TL;DR of it is right-wing conservative bullshit does not translate. So what we'd get is a left-wing liberal papier-mâché version that wore thin quickly.
All I'm saying is don't bother going down this road. It'll eat up lots of time and have no results that will help. The answer to Fox News Limbaugh Rogan Chudville Station is not the opposite sameness. It's entirely different media.
Don't fight against them, expose the sources of funding they get and go after the money. Almost immediately after Tenet was found out to be a Russian front paying for and delivering talking points to Podcaster like Tim Pool, Lauren Southern, etc and was shut down. All these shows suddenly started dropping what they could do because they lost a significant source of funding and content.
Well, good luck finding something that appeals to young men then.
I mean, that's easy. It just doesn't have any politics in it.
Edit: overt politics
In my opinion, the heavy policing of language during the 2010’s made the Democratic Party a hostile environment for improvisational artists. The whole style of their art is to make an omelette on the fly while definitely breaking a few eggs along the way. It is fundamentally necessary for them to be able to make a mistake and move on, and that is something that the “cancel culture” was progressively trying to deny.
It has gotten a little better, but this latest round of blaming comedians and podcasters for Trump isn’t going to help. The Democratic Party needs to realize that when they point the finger at others, there are three fingers pointing back at them.
The whole style of their art is to make an omelette on the fly while definitely breaking a few eggs along the way. It is fundamentally necessary for them to be able to make a mistake and move on, and that is something that the “cancel culture” was progressively trying to deny.
Is this cancel culture in the room with us now?
No, but it sure was in the room when a lot of people got fired.
A lot of Democrat spaces have been in purity spirals for closing in on a decade. It's not enough to just be pro choice anymore, you have to support free home delivery of abortion meds via text message, elective abortion into the third trimester...
you have to support free home delivery of abortion meds via text message, elective abortion into the third trimester...
Where in any Democrat aligned policy us this the case? The only people getting late term abortions are people who've had something catastrophic happen during their pregnancy. No person is going through 6+ months of all the challenges and difficulties associated with pregnancy just to decide they don't want a baby at the very end.
Don't just parrot what you hear off of Fox News or Breitbart or Daily Wire, look shit up and verify what they're saying is true.
Top line policy and allowed opinions in various groups are different. I don't think you understand a purity spiral, it's not realistic or logical, it's about signalling increasingly extreme adherence to a belief. Whether that is third trimester abortion, or anyone not worshiping X god in exactly the right way or you burn in hell, it's the same root problem.
Got a source on those policy positions to back that up? Any politicians that explicitly are running on encouraging 3rd trimester abortions?