Why are we so afraid of Joe Rogan and the "manosphere"?

[RJ-MacReady]

Big deal he has a podcast. He's an ignorant meathead who helps make losers like Andrew Tate famous. Instead of trying to get on his podcast and walk on eggshells around him we need to ridicule him and be dismissive of his idiotic and uninformed views. Turn it on them all their "alpha male" bullshit needs to be mocked and the so called "manosphere" needs to also be ridiculed and belittled. We tried the carrot.

[Conjuay]

1. Who is?

He is one of the MANY people not worth thinking about.
So I don't.

[RJ-MacReady]

3. We

As a party it seems. We seem to put a lot of stock into countering their talking points when we should.be mocking them and being dismissive.

[travelingthrulife]

15. And laughing at them.

[SocialDemocrat61]

2. Not afraid at all

They’re just a bunch of pathetic losers.

[Hotler]

13. And whiners.

[sop]

4. Joe Rogan's audience is "71% male and is evenly split between high school and post-secondary graduates."

'Joe Rogan's Podcast Is Slipping in the Charts'

"Rogan's podcast dropped down into third place, the lowest recent ranking for the podcast, according to the Spotify charts. In second place was the podcast Fall of Civilizations, and in first was The MeidasTouch Podcast."

https://www.newsweek.com/joe-rogan-podcast-slipping-charts-third-2037713

I don't know anyone who views Rogan's podcasts, much less uses the word "manosphere." Most of the people I associate with aren't part of his target audience. On the bright side, the Meidas Touch podcast is number one on the charts, so maybe Rogan's young manospherians are finally seeing the light.

[marble falls]

5. Afraid? heavens no. Serious disconcern bordering on mild disgust.

[allegorical oracle]

7. Would term it more of a "child-o-sphere." nt

[marble falls]

8. More accurate, same disinterest.

[k_buddy762]

6. Have you ever watched any of his stuff?

His interviews with Yang and Sanders were excellent.

Fake boogeymen triggering our emotions are part of the problem.

[RJ-MacReady]

10. How long ago was that?

He had trump on and he admitted he would have never voted for Harris even if she came on. Fuck him and fuck his "conversations".

[Torchlight]

44. I think keeping eyes open is much different than triggered emotions

Not a good look.

[Mountainguy]

9. Because mocking major parts of

The electorate have helped us so much.


Lots of people listen to his show. Want to make a dent in young men turning to the right? Be willing to go there and make those arguments where they are.

[RJ-MacReady]

11. I disagree

He doesn't have this enormous influence. Listeners doesn't mean they will follow everything he says.

[travelingthrulife]

16. So, take the fooish things and dangerous ideas they are floating seriously. Debate their wrongness.

This is exactly how normalization begins.

[Mountainguy]

23. Nornalization happens

When you don't.

Yeah, better to let anyone few million young men listen to an echo chamber of right-wing content without offering a counter.

[Sympthsical]

24. Bernie Sanders was just on Andrew Schulz's show

Which kind of surprised me. Schulz is probably one of the people in that comedy/podcast area I like least. Something about it him just rubs me in all the wrong ways. Him and his sidekick Akaash Singh.

But there Bernie was.

And you know who likes Bernie? Young men. People thought coming up with Bernie Bros was clever derision.

Welp. Worked a peach.

[Scrivener7]

29. The electorate has many different pieces. The piece that listens to Joe Rogan,

and that thinks "the manosphere" is a worthwhile place to spend time, has a fairly specific and obvious psychology.

To be buying the message of "the manosphere," one would need to have a fear of rejection by women, or be intimidated by women. But he would also be someone who wants to hide those fears from male peers, probably by acting as a caricature of masculinity. And they like to stick together for safety in numbers.

I think that's where all the gun crap comes from, because many of those men need the power of the gun to fill the lack of power inside them. I think it's also where problematic policing comes from. Too many men join the police to get outward confirmation that they are tough, though they don't feel tough inside.

These men are all fragile ego. Yes, ridiculing most segments of society doesn't work. But ridiculing the IDEAS of the manosphere seems like a perfect way to get to these guys. An approach of, "Of course YOU don't believe those idiots, do you? You're much too smart. And you have too much self-sufficiency to ever fall for that obvious man-baby crap."

I'm pretty certain a nudging, "We're so much smarter than those idiots, you and I" attitude toward the manosphere devotee would eventually make inroads into their fragile egos.

[Mountainguy]

40. Might

But, how do you scale that? You have to go there and give that nudge to Rogan himself, and mlbt proxy his listeners.

[Scrivener7]

47. Or we can take a page from republiQans. When they want to get a message out, that

message comes out of every republiQan mouth every time it opens.

So Democrats need to do that with a message like, "Trump is only good at being a conman. But he's very good at that. We know there are plenty of voters out there, men especially, who are smart people, good people, but they've been lied to. And they're seeing it now. Trump did a bait and switch on them. He's doing things they never wanted, never voted for. Ridiculous things. Petty, laughable things. And those voters are too smart to fall for his ridiculous, laughable scams. The smart ones will never vote for him again.

[NJCher]

52. Yeah, somebody might

Have to go there and listen to this asshole. Take one for the team.

Not me !

But I sure won’t stop you.

[Mountainguy]

65. I don't think

I have an invite to go on the show

But I would

[BlueTsunami2018]

12. Not afraid of him but his influence over young people is pretty alarming.

He and all the other asshole podcasters.

These kids grow up indoctrinated into this know nothing cult of idiocy. No one thinks, no one bothers to seek truth, they just parrot the nonsense.

[IronLionZion]

14. They drove voter turnout for Trump/GOP

So they are a significant force in elections and policy.

[RJ-MacReady]

19. did they?

I am skeptical of the amount of influence they really have.

[IronLionZion]

20. Back in the day it was RW hate radio

now it's podcasters, youtubers, and social media influencers getting people angry and hateful.

[Jerry2144]

17. I think of alpha male the same way I think about alpha software

Unstable, buggy, unreliable, not fit for public release, primitive, not fully evolved.

[Maraya1969]

18. I go on Youtube a lot and do this. I especially like showing the studies that conclude conservatives

have lower IQ's than liberals. There are several of them now, (well a few). When you post on Youtube your comment is seen easily.

[multigraincracker]

21. Radical Right all need DNA and IQ test.

[k_buddy762]

42. Similar studies have been done

that concretely show the left is much more anxious and depressed than the right https://magazine.columbia.edu/article/why-depression-rates-are-higher-among-liberals. Its all about how you pitch the narrative.

Anything to further the "us" vs "them" agenda.

Or, maybe humans can just sit down and have civil discussions over whiskey and cigars. Which is 90% of what I've seen Rogan do the times that I have watched him (for the guests, because he does book absolutely amazing guests).

I thought the Yang and Bernie interviews I mentioned previously were awesome. I knew next to nothing about Yang at the time and found a lot that I liked and agreed with. And I watch a lot of the Egypt stuff, the ancient history stuff, the Amazon jungle guests, the psychedelic medicine guests, the climate science guys and gals, and a lot of the musicians. I was really hoping he was going to have Harris on. That would have been huge for getting out the message.

[druidity33]

50. Well...Yang turned out to be a real tool. nt.

[NJCher]

53. Looks like an interesting link

Thanks.

I have often said to myself that Democrats get depressed; Republicans get angry.

[TheProle]

48. Do those studies indicate

what happens to IQ when conservatives go liberal and vice-versa? Is there a commensurate spike or drop in IQ?

Seems unlikely.

[Maraya1969]

49. There is one study that found as people become more educated they become more liberal

[TheProle]

51. That makes total sense, but is not the same thing

[Sympthsical]

22. They don't care. We're not their audience

They're well aware the Left is not fond of them. What would the strategy be? 20% more disdain and derision? It just bounces off them, because we have no influence there.

They already make fun of the Left all day. If the Left makes fun back, well, that's just good engagement. It gives them even more fodder for content. The harder people go at them, the happier they are. It's like Howard Stern. They thrive on the negative vibes from certain quarters. Us hating them is their lifetime achievement award.

The only way out of that, to diminish their influence, is to make ourselves more appealing to their audience in non-toxic ways. Which is sort of where we get stuck. How do we appeal to young men? Ridicule ain't going to work on that one. Ridicule and disdain is what drives them to the manosphere to begin with.

Our problem is that we don't know how to do it, and there are cultural political elements in our camp that really aren't fond of the idea of making the attempt. "Appeal to men? Ugh, gross."

So, whatever. Here we are.

[RJ-MacReady]

25. good points

Especially on some in our camp being "man haters" or diminishing white males and their concerns. I agree with these points.

[Aviation Pro]

26. Wanna know why there is such fear?

Last edited Tue May 20, 2025, 11:37 AM - Edit history (1)

Because an underlying subfloor of the manosphere is gym culture and that culture breeds toxicity like bacteria in a Petri dish. Combine that with PEDs and you create a cohort of aggressive, testosterone fueled fuckheads, who specialize in overt and not so overt intimidation. As a competitive powerlifter, I move in and out of this ecosystem and get to see it firsthand; fortunately, since I look and lift like them, I'm accepted as one of the bros and can make these observations with certitude. Many fear these "men" because they are large and unhinged.

Years ago, after those two fuckwits that bombed the Boston Marathon, I made a casual statement to watch the gyms because they "trained" regularly at an MMA club. I was castigated for suggesting this and here we are today.

[Basso8vb]

27. About as much as I was afraid of the high school goons who played grab ass in the back of the classroom.

In other words, these morons don't scare me in the least.

[Walleye]

28. I fart in his general direction. I will taunt him a second time.

[biocube]

30. Nothing gets left-leaning people to

sound like a pull-yourself-up-by-your bootstraps conservatives like bringing up young men's issues.

[ECL213]

31. It ain't just him...

It's the whole right wing noise machine. The vitriol spouted on social media against "liberals" (I prefer progressives) is just insane. Liberals want to end America. Liberals are all pedophiles. Liberals want to kill us all. Liberals want to open our borders to rapists and terrorists. Liberals want to put us all in camps. Liberals worship Satan. Liberals want to poison us with their vaccines. Liberals want to monitor us with microchips. Jan 6 was a liberal plot. And on, and on, and on...

The motherfuckers are brainwashed by 40-years of Fux News, Rush Limballs, O'Reilly, Carlson, et. al.

The absolute, bat-shit crazy-talk that these people fling about on a daily basis has to be pointed out as the insane rantings of lunatics that they are, by everyone, everywhere, in every forum. We have to reintroduce sanity into the discussion, and quash the insanity.

...and then we round them all up and ship them off to the camps.

[BannonsLiver]

32. Acknowledging the "manosphere" aided Trump is not the same thing as being afraid of it.

Some folks aren’t up for burying their heads in the sand and running it back in 2028 the exact same way while expecting magical results.

[DickKessler]

33. Not afraid, it's just they have an awfully large audience and they did play a big role in 2024.

So it’s important to understand why, at least.

[obnoxiousdrunk]

34. The so called

ignorant meatheads are winning .

[NJCher]

54. Yeah

They probably thought habeas corpus was misspelled. It should have been Harris corpse.

[JustAnotherGen]

35. I think Democrats

Should go on his show and belittle and laugh at him. Belittling and Laughing at him would be TELLING THE TRUTH. We are never getting those listeners. Might as well use it to correct lies and make fun of conspiracy theories. Punctuate responses with what is really happing and keep pointing out Trump wears diapers and is mentally deficient.

[mr715]

36. The smell.

Combination of monster energy drink, sal ammoniac, unwashed pads, and a heaping spoonful of stoopid.

Smells kinda like a primate exhibit or the intellectual equivalent of post-JV football jockstrap laundry. Offends the delicate sensibilities of those with a prefrontal cortex.

Or as Joe Rogan would say, "Ah... Ohhhhhh.... Woooowww, ya know, Ooohhh"


Edit to Include: from Family Guy character Chris Griffin, "Oh Joe Rogan! He's our dumb guy king!"

[RJ-MacReady]

37. yup

Its now a part of MMA culture too.

[mr715]

39. Just a touch of homoeroticism.

Little too much crotch huffing for me to claim otherwise.



Edit: AND THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH THAT! But... keep him outta the HS boys lockerroom.

[Ping Tung]

38. My doctor has me on a strict diet. "No garbage". I wouldn't know the guy if I saw hm or heard him.

[Qutzupalotl]

41. Why anyone would want to be "influenced"

when they have a brain and can think for themselves is beyond me.

I chalk it up to intellectual laziness, and maybe sleeping through civics class.

[NJCher]

55. Or speech class

sleeping through civics class.

If they can’t sleep, they sit in the back and compose rap lyrics. They think they are Eminem.

They prolly have a new diversion now. That was a while back.

[usedtobedemgurl]

43. Who is afraid of him?

I have never heard this before.

[IcyPeas]

45. This country is being led by "celebrities"

Flavor of the week.

[mr715]

46. Except for the awful one that gets like 200 weeks

Who is a Democratic celebrity, besides (either) Obama? Or (either) Clinton?

I realize I'm making the point for you, but it seems these "flavor[s] of the week" coalesce around incrementalist policies on the Democratic side and full on authoritarianism on the Republican side.

I disagree with you in that I think that the Democrats need a celebrity, and I can't for the life of me 'sense the vibes' now. And I remain very optimistic, but I'm looking for someone that could be a celebrity.


I hope the flavor of the week isn't salt and vinegar

[DFW]

56. Oh, he's one of those

I keep seeing the name, but had no idea who he was, and never bothered to look him up

[betsuni]

57. Harris not going on Rogan's show contributed to her losing -- another asinine Blame Kamala "reason" out there.

As if.

Lots and lots of whining about platforming and normalizing and so on if she had done the show, of course.

[lonely bird]

58. Just a few points...

Look into surveys. Yes, know they are capable of being slanted by the manner in which questions written. They are still useful

Gen Z

Young men are trending more conservative especially socially.
Young men are trending more religious

Influencers

Media has been fractured. The owners of fractured media are not what has been traditionally called media. Rogan’s podcast is excellent example of that. As the population changes due to age attrition ignoring the media landscape which has been changed like a meteor impacting the planet is dangerous. While the concept of influencers demonstrates a herd mentality an underlying anxiety drives it. It emphasizes tribalism based upon a culture that has become significantly more psychologically damaged.

I am well aware of the toxicity of the manosphere. Ignoring or casting aspersions at it will do nothing to diminish it. In point of opinion, the socio-politico-economic forces colliding which underpin it are extremely powerful.

Know thy enemy. Perhaps your enemy can become your friend or at least your enemy’s impact can be lessened.

This. Is. War. War for the soul of not just this country but the world, in general. All tools must be used.

[k_buddy762]

59. This is a good take

The next Presidential election will be decided on podcasts. Debates will happen online, on major podcasts, and on social media platforms (I think this is gross, but it is what it is). Every single candidate will have to do the podcast circuit and sit down for actual, meaningful, in-depth 1, 2, and 3 hour conversations. No talking points, no rehearsed lines given by media training consultants.

Mark my words.

[RJ-MacReady]

61. remains to be seen

You might be right but we'll see. Podcasts are given too much credit.

[RJ-MacReady]

60. disagree

About Gen Z. They are moving away from religion and not shifting right. This is an old right wing talking point from 6 years ago.

[lonely bird]

62. Wrong

Check the surveys.

Gen Z young men are trending socially conservative and religious.

https://www.vox.com/life/413227/gen-z-men-women-religion-spiritual-christianity-politics

[RJ-MacReady]

63. I don't buy it

I guess time will tell but religion is on a decline and most Gen z are liberal. We give way too much oxygen to the "manosphere". Way too much.

[lonely bird]

64. It is not about giving oxygen to the manosphere

It is about understanding why.

Why is the most critical question because why underpins everything.

The Nation had an article that discusses whether or not young men are in trouble. This, imo, is due to the extremely psychologically damaging political economy of the U.S. which underlies the culture. It is also due to, again, imo, the lag of emotional/psychological evolution behind technological evolution in the brain and mind.

The backlash against #metoo as well as influencers (there’s that term again) particularly women who champion the mantra of celebrating men having built civilization. This is false because humans built civilization, warts and all.

We ignore the changes at our peril.

[Scrivener7]

66. Why would these influences put young men "in trouble," and not young women?

The "why" of this is really not complicated.

Young men have lost a fraction of the unearned advantages relative to women and/or brown people that their fathers had. They were raised in a million ways to believe that dominion over women and/or brown people is their biological right. Not least of the influences that told them this are many religions, so they believe this dominion is also a God-given right.

So now, when they are challenged by women and/or brown people, they feel as if the masculinity they are supposed to possess has been challenged and they feel emasculated. Some feel as if those uppity women and/or brown people who are not succumbing to them are working against God's will.

All this terrifies them. The terror is expressed as anger and need to dominate.

[lonely bird]

69. Sure

But then what?

Do we ignore the changes? Do we ignore the potential for violence? Do we ignore the move to charlatans? Look at Trump. He is the essence of a charlatan. How many people especially including ing young men support the brain-damaged idiot? Gen Z is, iirc, almost as large as the Baby Boomers were in sheer numbers. Do you want psychologically fragile men running the country in 10 years? Perhaps damaged worse than the old men who support Trump?

I don’t.

[Scrivener7]

73. Well first, your post reads as if mine is lacking because it doesn't go into the solution. But neither does yours.

But as to a solution, just as the psychology of these men is not complicated, neither is the method to deal with them.

IRL, the men I have encountered who fit this profile are among the easiest to influence.

The force influencing them now is carefully placed constant republiQan messaging. I'm sure an actual psychologist could have a field day constructing an effective message to use their own psychology to counter those messages and change their minds. And an actual PR firm would have no problem seeding that message into places where they meet and form their beliefs.

I have been saying the same thing for years now. We say, "but they have AM radio." They have had AM radio for at least 4 decades. It's high time we figure out a way around it. People hate when I say this, but it's simply the truth: our messaging sucks. And there's no excuse for that.

[RJ-MacReady]

67. The people who rage over #metoo

Should ne ridiculed demonized and marginalized.

[lonely bird]

70. Wrong

That makes them more prone to potential violence.

Should they be coddled and given whatever they want? No, not by any stretch of the imagination.

There are millions of them. If we do not deal with them then the law of unintended consequences will surely have something to say about it.

The ruling classes thought the Nazis were stupid and they laughed at them. That didn’t work.

[RJ-MacReady]

71. how should we deal with it then?

[lonely bird]

72. Counter them

Counter them by interaction. By using the same media tools that they use. Engage with a Joe Rogan. We do not have to agree with anything they say or do. What we need to do is disarm them. Yes, I know that there are hardcore believers that will not be changed but their belief structures, fears and anxieties are not inherited, they are learned.

The political economy we live in is toxic. It is also finite. Large scale employment such as existed in the so-called golden age is not coming back. People, all people, must feel and belief that they are useful. The mental decline and psychological damage caused by uselessness either real or believed is extremely unstable.

Unfortunately, the monies and programs needed for everyone are not going to come for free. The war we are currently engaged in is merely stopgap. Unless there is massive change in how we govern ourselves as society and how that organization translates out in the political economy of exchanges and transactions we will continue down an untenable road to collapse.

[RJ-MacReady]

74. we forget or refuse to acknowledge

Pandemic living did a huge number on our party and turn off large swaths of then underage people who are now voters. In the beginning "lockdowns" were necessary but they persisted for far too long in some places. Its what ultimately lost us the govenor race in VA. Well into 2021 restrictions persisted, at least here in NJ. For example going out to eat you couldn't sit at the bar but you could a table. This stuff hurt us far more than we like to admit and still does.

[JanMichael]

68. Just 5 years ago the world was shut down.

In some places for months and some more. Youth and I mean anybody under 21 at the time when it started had a brain jolt. Suddenly they couldn't talk to anybody in person. Suddenly everything was online. A lot of kids fell behind.

That's got to be playing a role in this somewhere.