Don’t underestimate the Rogansphere. His mammoth ecosystem is Fox News for young people

https://lemmy.world/post/22240648

Don’t underestimate the Rogansphere. His mammoth ecosystem is Fox News for young people - Lemmy.World

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.

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.

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.

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.