A couple of years ago I engaged in some research by listening to the Joe Rogan Experience. At the time I was concerned about media coverage of Rogan’s positions on COVID and the vaccine and wanted to go beyond what others were saying to see for myself.
I came away unimpressed and agreed that the press coverage about his COVID-related positions were highly problematic. I found Rogan to be an able interviewer and entertainer who nonetheless thought that googling things on the fly was real research and was a person who subscribed to some crackpot ideas.
I am not, therefore, surprised at this:
He willingness to believe Kennedy’s book uncritically (I mean, after all, he would have sued if it wasn’t true!) reminded me very much of the kind of “research” he does on an ongoing basis on his show and that I described in my 2022 post.
Back to the googling, this was done several times during the interview, often over minor things, like one might do at a bar drinking and talking with buddies to confirm what year Tom Brady won his first Super Bowl or somesuch. Further, the sophistication of information sorting was not much better than a B-/C+ undergrad who knows they want information on, say, the history of the sugar trade (a real topic from the show) but really has no idea how to sort through the results of a search for quality information.
Again, if this is how he does his covid research, no wonder he ends up where he does. However, and I will reiterate, I am sure that this kind of thing is convincing to a lot of listeners because Rogan appears to be actually looking beyond himself for information. But what are the odds that most listeners then go and look at the links to assess their quality or to determine if they say what is claimed? (Likely only a weirdo would do that).
That Rogan is a “fan” of RFK, Jr. is highly unsurprising to me and confirms and reinforces my general assessment of Rogan himself. I still don’t think that Rogan is as odious as someone like Alex Jones, but I do think he is a purveyor of serious misinformation that is packaged in a way to appeal to a lot of people who are likely to believe it.
I note this via the Washington Examiner: Joe Rogan likes RFK Jr., and that’s bad news for Trump.
Here’s a key quote from the link above:
“I am a fan. He’s the only one that makes sense to me,” Rogan said of Kennedy during a recent show. “He’s the only one that doesn’t attack people. He attacks actions and ideas, but he’s much more reasonable and intelligent. The guy was an environmental attorney and cleaned up the East River. He’s a legitimate guy.”
Rogan says this is not an endorsement:
“For the record, this isn’t an endorsement. This is me saying that I like RFKjr [sic] as a person, and I really appreciate the way he discusses things with civility and intelligence,” he wrote in a statement Friday afternoon. “I think we could use more of that in this world. I also think Trump raising his fist and saying ‘fight!’ after getting shot is one of the most American f**king things of all time. I’m not the guy to get political information from.”
Still, I do expect that a lot of people do get their political (and other) information from Rogan. And while I am sure that the margins are small, Rogan’s praise of RFK Jr. is certainly worse news from Trump than it is for Harris.
