You could spend the rest of today "explaining" Rogan's appeal to me, and I still wouldn't get it.

[Miles Archer]

$200 million from Spotify? For WHAT, exactly?

I realize that MAGAt dudes need a "big brother" or "father" figure, someone with a big mouth to tell them things that validate their miserable lives.

And honest to God, if I could see what Rogan brings to the table BEYOND THAT, I'd say that I "got" it.

I do not "get it."

[marble falls]

1. I don't get him, either. But then we aren't the demographic that TACO is trying to woo.

[LSparkle]

2. I'd forgotten that he had something to do with WWE

Or some other wrestling league. The only wrestling I’m familiar with is Lucha Libre 😀.

[Callie1979]

5. He's never been involved with WWE. But he's had wrestlers on his show.

[TheRickles]

15. He was an announcer and promoter of UFC, and is a former state champion (MA) in tae kwon do.

[Johonny]

3. He speaks moron to morons

Beta males need entertainment too and he is apparently in the zone talking to them. That's the business. That's why they pay him. Why there are so many Beta males... It started with Reagan and the fall.of unions and the high school educated middle class...

[haele]

8. Ya, he's pinnacle Dude Bro...

Made his money early being a mouthpiece for slackers, which means he used a network to get noticed from a relatively young age.

If he came from a working class family, he obviously doesn't remember the work it took for his parents and neighbors to get where they were, and how lucky he was to get where he is.

Doesn't care about anything, doesn't need to care about anything, has enough money banked to do whatever he wants, and assistants to play mommy and daddy, taking care of the hard or expensive stuff for him so he never has to count his change two days before payday -
Unlike all his followers - the raised by TV dude-bros and gals who float through Millennial or Gen Z circles, wondering why they can't just have a car or a cool apartment, or be able to collect all the toys, instead of paying attention to what's actually going on or being curious about how the world works, or why they and any respect for their potential are being passed by "society" in general.

It's an outlook that's all so shallow, and wastes productive like constantly watching streams or playing video game instead of examining a puzzle or finishing a project.
Totally dependent on the system they operate in; they're basically NPCs and they're willing to sit back and live that way.
They've grown up with the expectation that if things get too hard, the can just switch the channel or hit reset - unfortunately, that's something only rich dudes can do anymore.

Looking forward, if society collapsed, there's nothing "there" Rogan and his dude bros can fall back on. Except for being relatively strong back
S to be used by whichever warlord or regional dictator is clinging to power until he wears out.
Rogan's not going to be in charge of "Bartertown", he doesn't have the imagination or smarts to make it to the to the top. At best, he'll will end up a disposable work gang boss due to the ability to be recognized by lemming bros

[travelingthrulife]

11. I remember so clearly when I graduated from high school in 1974, so many white males

we're crowing that they didn't need no stinking college. It struck me as a new phenomena at the time.

Nixon's resignation from office blew a lot of Republican brains out.

[Callie1979]

4. For ratings. He's the #1 podcaster. And he's got the "tough guy w/tattoos" look MAGA loves

He also lets pretty much anyone on & rarely questions what they say.
You could tell him "Did you know most people have the ability to be an Olympic athlete if they only hade the proper training?" and Rogan would answer "Really? Wow! I did NOT know that!"

[BComplex]

14. I'm pretty sure his numbers are padded with bots from overseas.

I refuse to believe that anyone can be so stupid as to really love that dude. But then again, several million people truly did vote for donald.

[Callie1979]

19. We have MILLIONS of obvious idiots out there. Educated ones too

I know many; I live in a deep red area.
And I'll never understand it.

[betsuni]

16. When I first heard about him I watched some of his podcasts and that's the impression I got.

A mirror reflecting back whatever's happening at the moment. In one he described himself as being from a Democratic family and had always been a Democrat until 2016, but in another said he'd been a libertarian and in another it was something else. -- I guess who he is and what he thinks depends on who he's talking to.

Trump can hardly form a sentence without contradicting himself so seems like the same kind of audience that only hears what they want to.

[doc03]

6. He is a hero to the MAGA dudes, he fits the WWE profile, pumped up on steroids and a

big mouth. He has the same act as Alex Jones with his gravely tough guy voice. They are cowards that
want to project a tough guy image.

[Miles Archer]

7. Yes, and there is still something in me that asks "what ELSE," when I know that sums it all up

I don't imagine many MAGAts huddle around the TV set to watch Lawrence O'Donnell on weeknights.

And I guess that because I am what I consider to be a "reasonably well-adjusted adult male," I am in total agreement with everything you laid out, and I have absolutely none of that in me.

I sucked at sports in school. As a result, I didn't become the world's biggest sports fan. But I'll occasionally turn on a football or baseball game and consider it to be "entertaining." I really don't think we have to be "ALL IN" on EVERYTHING in life. If I put on Neil Young & Crazy Horse's "Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere," I am all in, 100%, transfixed. Baseball and football? "Fun every once in a while.""

But the phobias and fetishes and obsessions of the MAGAt dudes? Might as well speak a foreign language to me that I don't understand, you know?

[ornotna]

9. Simple explanation

Simple minds
Simple pleasures

I don’t get it either.

[Norbert]

10. Never had any inclination to watch or listen to him.

[Amaryllis]

12. How about a clue to what you are referring to for those of us just getting online today?

[Crowman2009]

13. He's just another dumb meathead who climbed up via by kissing ass.

[Americanme]

17. I don't get it either.

When I first heard he had influence, and a podcast, I thought, you mean the weirdo from Fear Factor who made people eat gross things? Why would anybody care what he says? I remember back in the 80's, just about every new construction jobsite had Rush Limbaugh on the radio, all day long. Are they listening to podcasts now? Rush made them feel good by putting down women, education, liberals. Are these podcasts doing the same thing? I don't listen to them, so I don't know.

[LeftInTX]

18. He was also the host of a popular reality show called Fear Factor

I caught an old episode of Fear Factor while we were in vacationing and for some reason that's what was on. Boy was it lame and totally annoying. Joe Rogan was the host. But I think I remember watching it years ago at home and some woman was eating a ton of bugs...

I think it's the younger generation that tunes in to him or something. Certainly not my cup of tea.