The Joe Rogan Phenomenon: 5 Reasons American Men Are Drawn to Him
- Mike Sonneveldt
- May 7
- 9 min read
Controversy surrounds Joe Rogan like a flock of shrieking Karens mobbing the assistant manager at Applebees after one too many rounds of frozen margaritas.
From his MMA history, tattoos, blunt comedy, and the stench of rugged individualism to his wide swath of grown men crowding behind him...he's drawn a massive target on his back for the progressive left to blindly shoot at.
The Joe Rogan Controversy
For the past several years, one side has seemed utterly confused at the Joe Rogan aura. They either shellac him as a MAGA warrior forged in the fires of Mount Trump, or they paint him as a conspiracy theory nutcase leading the charge of manosphere idiots who belch Bud Light exhaust as they punch each other in the face before puking on their 1980's firebird.
In fact, I've watched the left with a little bit of a laugh as they try to figure out the enigma that is Joe Rogan and his fan base. They've become so concerned with him and his influence that they've now begun raising up their own champions to step foot onto the battlefield of masculinity.
Progressive Failures at Creating Another Joe Rogan
Sadly, I do not believe Hasan Piker, nominated by a glowing piece in the New York Times, will draw the masses of American men to him as a veritable counter-force.
The progressive movement's desperate attempt to crown someone as their own Joe Rogan will be like taking a paper crown from Burger King and claiming yourself the King of France. Go ahead and do what you like. But don't expect the staff at Burger King to actually make it your way just because you're wearing a crown. (Sorry friend, they're paid to do it.)
The progressive side of the political canyon has looked at Rogan for years now, wondering what makes the random blue-collar country boy such a fan.
They thought they had a sure winner in the masculinity race with good ol' Tim Walz wearing a trucker cap and talking about making "white-guy tacos."
It failed.
They thought they had the Rogan epidemic licked when they put forward commercial after commercial shaming men into being less toxic and yet suggested they be more of a hard-ass by voting for a woman.
(American men, be warned: They said bad words in the commercial...so you know they're seriously tough.)
The tough guy act failed.
It all failed because the confused gaggle of progressive women and slink-along men can't understand Rogan or the magic of the supposed "Rogan movement."
Being Honest...
I find the phenomenon fascinating because I'm merely a loose fan. I don't trip over the guy's every step. I haven't watched a full UFC fight in ages. I'm skeptical of 99% of YouTube shorts claiming highlights from him. I haven't listened to at least 90% of his episodes. And I don't agree with him on some fundamental things.
However, I've noticed some things that I think give hints as to why there is such a large population of men who appreciate the man's body of work.
So, in the spirit of fairness to the progressives bashing their heads against the wall trying to speak the language of the storied "American male", let me give a few reasons as to what makes Rogan such an influential man.
1) Rogan is not a political animal
He may talk politics with guests and have opinions, but he's not the rabid political animal the left believes he is...or secretly wants him to be.
Life is politics to the left (and much of the right), so it's understandably confusing when someone as popular as Rogan hits the scene, yet isn't solely focused on the soap opera we call politics.
The truth is, most American men aren't political junkies. President Trump has obviously awoken a mass of them, but we could also say the pressure on their daily lives from the left was what really did the trick and Trump was a result, not a cause.
As scenes unfolded that forced politics into everybody's personal lives, Rogan pushed back. He recognized the intrusive nature of authoritarian politics and like anything else in his life, spoke up and fought with his feet planted. This enraged the left, seeing him as another one of those pesky maga-idiots who professed pure "misinformation" and needed to be suppressed for the good of the nation. They attempted to cancel him and smear him throughout the media. When that didn't work, they wept and gnashed their teeth all the more.
Unfortunately, the political wave has yet to fully recede. Instead, American men are forced to have politics shoved down their throats in their sports, TV shows, movies, music, and intellectual pursuits. Their social feeds are dominated by the political world and even their video games have been consumed.
So to them, Rogan is a breath of fresh air. They know they'll get some politics, and that's okay. But what draws men to Rogan is that they know they'll hear about the ancient pyramids, the production of Pulp Fiction, and they'll even learn how to make their bed.
They know that there will be little political activism, and any political opinion will not be given with the preface that all men are toxic, evil, oppressive, weak, or worthless.
To men, that's a breath of fresh air from the rest of the media landscape's constant noise.
2) There's nothing fake about Joe Rogan.
There are some people that you get the sense they're giving you their true self. Whatever they're doing, however, they're doing it, there is something real about how they present themselves. Men who enjoy Rogan recognize this. He's not putting on a mask. He's not trying to act how he thinks will impress others.
He seems to be living an honest life, which is recognizable when you spend hours listening to him in conversations with other people.
Unlike most media personalities, Rogan creates magic by giving his guests space to be themselves. This requires a person willing to take a step back and allow the dialog to escape the label "interview" and instead be called what we so desire in our daily lives: a real conversation.
Only a real person, who hasn't trained themselves to bark like a show seal, can provide the grounds for an honest conversation.
With Rogan, you don't get the sense he's playing a part like a seal at Sea World. Instead, you're a fly on the wall as two friends have a drink and discuss the craziest topics.
3) He loves to talk about crazy stuff
It's the crazy stuff that draws men in. And he genuinely loves exploring those topics.
Rogan is a modern iteration of the Renaissance man. He fights. He hunts. He creates art. He can act. He works out. And he is willing to talk about any topic.
This is part of what makes the podcast so enticing. The man has hosted guests from just about every corner of the career and topic world over the course of the show's lifetime. From alien conspiracy theorists to ancient historian debates, he has hosted a plethora of topics that interest the typical male.
And yes, he's had experts who have discussed Rome at length.
Guys Love This Stuff
What you may not realize, is that most men have a curious fascination with things like history, philosophy, religion, and art. While the progressives might not consider the random American male to be interested in these things (since so many of those men scoff at the modern liberal arts university system)...they actually do care about intellectual topics. They love listening to guys talk about alternative historical theories of the Earth, or even Elon Musk's expertise in shooting rockets away from it.
They gobble up the endurance athlete's stories and the hunting trip legends. They love the archaeologists and the theologians, the comedians and the movie producers, the politicians and the businessmen.
No topic seems off-limits for the show, and Rogan's down-to-earth nature and the show's outer limits are what help produce the magic over the long term.
If he were another media shill or stuck to a narrow topic like politics, then it wouldn't see near the reach that it does. It's precisely because it's a man's mind-buffet that it does so well.
But the cool thing about the buffet that Rogan serves up, is that it's built by a rugged guy.
4) Joe Rogan is a true rugged individual
He works out and has the physique to show it. His bald head and tattoos give some grit. He also walks the walk.
The man started fighting in Tae Kwon Do early in his teens and became a US champion. This helped him come to MMA. Now, he lives and breathes the sport. He is not just some commentator who knows the names of the moves and can throw around his opinion like a drunk 26-year-old at Buffalo Wild Wings on fight night.
Guys appreciate this because they admire it. The man is no con man or counterfeiter. He is a legitimately dangerous man and the conservative, red-blooded, American male is willing to give kudos.
Even though he began hunting later in life, he shows dedication and passion for going on the hunts most guys dream of doing. He's not a guy who sits in an apartment on stilts and waits for the deer to do their 4:30 feeding at the Golden Bait Pile like a herd of octogenarians hoping to pass out to Wheel of Fortune from a carb coma.
He backpacks miles into the wilderness, stalks an elk, slings a thin piece of composite material into its heart, field dresses its dead carcass, and then hauls the best parts back the miles of wilderness to civilization.
Give a manly grunt where a grunt is due.
The Attractiveness of Meritocracy
Rogan also believes in meritocracy and taking care of one's self. He expresses his distaste for excuses.
Better yet, he calls himself the laziest man alive. He's honest about how lazy he wants to be. So, he climbs into the cold plunge for a little longer, turns the timer dial further on the sauna and pushes himself to do more reps when he wants to quit.
Men see themselves in the Rogan aura.
He lives the life that so many American men aspire to lead, and yet the same men understand: Rogan doesn't consider himself something special. In fact, if Rogan were sitting across from the random American male, he would look him in the eyes and tell him, "Get up and f-ing do it."
And most men appreciate that. They appreciate the hard truth given by someone who is walking the walk. Those who honor and uphold individual responsibility don't like getting jerked around like a monkey on a chain. They want to be talked to like real men, challenged like men, and pushed to become more of who they were meant to be.
The man who appreciates Rogan loves the idea of self-improvement and Rogan personifies that life.
5) He believes his own things
Despite what the progressive left wants to believe, Rogan is not a dyed-in-the-wool conservative. Yes, he had President Trump on his show. But the left lies and says he didn't want to have Harris on. In reality, Rogan really wanted to have her on. But they kept changing the goalposts.
He states to this day that he just wanted to have a conversation with her. Even if it was just about cooking. He wanted to know the real her...not the media personality they tried to craft out of her.
The thing is, he wasn't a cemented-in Trumpite when he had the President on. He went in with some questions about it all.
But progressives might be more surprised to know that he's not a staunch pro-lifer, he really doesn't care about gay marriage, he supports some form of the welfare state, and he supported Bernie until the DNC stabbed Bernie in the back.
The Left Rejected a Good Thing in Joe Rogan
And the joke on the right? Rogan WAS the left's Rogan. But they were so blinded by their hatred for some of his positions (especially on Covid) that they cast him out, tried to cancel him, and then howled like banshees when they couldn't destroy him.
The worst part for them? That made him all the more inviting to the conservative male. They watched the left try to destroy a man who resembled the conservative male (or what they aspired to be) and he came out unscathed.
Like it or not, it was the same with Trump. A man who, no matter what was lobbed at him, came out on the other side with a victory.
The Teflon nature of Joe Rogan provided the conservatives a sign that there was a light at the end of the woke, authoritarian gauntlet America found itself in.
He followed his own opinions and didn't back down on any of them. He never apologized for what was in his heart and yet retained the humility to admit to mistakes he's made.
His self-sufficient nature in the face of the attacks gave every conservative man paying attention a little encouragement. Even if he didn't align fully with all of their beliefs.
If You Want Your Own Joe Rogan
Look, progressive left, here's the honest truth: you will never have your own Joe Rogan. You can have some people who will make waves and might show glimmers of influence. But you don't really understand fly-over country. You don't speak their language. You've spent your years mocking and ridiculing a massive group of Americans and then wonder why you can't seem to win them over.
The fact is that a lot of men have something primal deep within them. Joe Rogan is as close to an archetype of that primal, yet renaissance man as the modern American male will get to see these days.
Find yourself a man like that, and you may have a shot. The only problem is, that you've already labeled them all toxic...
...including him.
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