Rogan is a great example of a few things:

• The Dunning-Kruger effect

• “I’m just asking questions” being used as an excuse to host an unbalanced number of individuals purporting one specific worldview

• Toxic masculinity posing as intellectualism

He is extremely popular with one particular demographic. That demographic tends to share the toxic masculinity and the Dunning-Kruger-fueled belief that they can be experts at everything from the armchair.

Speaking of toxic masculinity, I remember Joe Rogan during Covid saying that he decided to stop masking and isolating because it made him “feel like a pussy” IIRC.

It’s weird to me because in my view, a strong person doesn’t care what other people think of them. Rogan’s actions just seem extraordinarily cowardly and weak to me.

Like, he needed to eat elk meat to feel like a man? I understand we all have negative thoughts like that, but to be compelled to act out of your own fears doesn’t strike me as masculine in the least.

Is that a part of toxic masculinity? That it’s centered around fear of judgment and a low sense of self worth? That they feel a need to project an image that’s exactly the opposite of how they really feel?

Because if so, then it seems like even the slightest bit of critical thinking ability would easily steer men clear of it.