The Joe Rogan Experience:

Cesspool of Toxic Masculinity or Blueprint for a Healthy Lifestyle?

In early 2022 Joe Rogan was public enemy number one in the eyes of the mainstream media and half the country. Every other day there was a hit piece written about him, or he was trending on Twitter where many were crying for him to be de-platformed by Spotify for promoting “COVID misinformation,” or for any number of other “violations.” As a regular listener of his podcast, the Joe Rogan Experience (JRE), since 2015, I felt like most of the defamation and hatred toward him was misguided or flat out wrong. To this day, there is a persistent narrative that has built up around him: that he is a purveyor of “misinformation,” “toxic masculinity,” and his show is harmful to society. Most of the criticism he has received over the years lacks nuance and understanding of what he is about, largely because many people are only willing to watch clips or read headlines. Despite this narrative, the reality is that Joe Rogan pushes himself and others to be happier, healthier, stronger people. The foundation of the JRE is built upon the core principles of self-improvement, discipline, hard work, humor and curiosity. It has helped me tremendously in changing my life for the better. I have no doubt it has done the same for many others. Joe Rogan and the JRE are undeniably a force for good in this world.

I graduated high school in 2008 (barely), had no plans of going to college, and basically floundered for the next five or six years. I was lost. In 2015 I moved in with my long time girlfriend, finally got a decent job and began working towards a college degree. Around this time is when I discovered the JRE. It helped me on my path towards getting my shit together.

There have been 2,061 episodes of the JRE at the time of writing this. The average length per episode is 2hr 37min. He does a lot of talking. He’s going to say things you do not agree with. If you can get past these things there is a lot of value that you can take away, as I have. 

When I first started listening to the show and heard Joe and certain guests talk about kettlebells, I was trying to get in shape; it sounded like a tool that I would enjoy, so I ordered some. At the time, a coworker of mine said, “you’re drinking the Joe Rogan Kool-Aid.” He was right. If you truly drink the Joe Rogan Kool-Aid, you will become a better person. His show is a gateway drug to many health, fitness and other positive behaviors if you buy into it. It is a phenomenal source of information on how to find motivation, cultivate healthy habits, build discipline, ask questions, and laugh.

One of the most valuable aspects of the JRE is the people you are introduced to. Through it, I have discovered people who have literally changed my outlook on life. To name a few, Dr. Peter Attia MD - has been a wonderful guide in the areas of health, fitness and longevity. If you are looking to live a longer, healthier life, there is no better resource than him. Aubrey Marcus - spirituality, mental/physical health and self forgiveness. His company Onnit is where I purchased my first pair of kettlebells. That act alone was a game changer. Ben Greenfield - health, fitness, parenting. I have learned more about exercise and nutrition from him than anyone else. He has a very holistic, ancestral approach to these subjects which has really resonated with me over the years. Sam Harris - meditation, consciousness, philosophy. I have tried several meditation apps, and Sam’s is the best that I’ve found. He explains meditation in a way that makes sense (like the name of his podcast). Using his app, and cultivating the habit of meditation is one of the single greatest things I have done for my mental health. Naval Ravikant - investing, work, happiness. Naval is an unbelievable treasure trove of knowledge. So much so that an author named Eric Jorgenson collected and curated his publicly available wisdom and created The Almanack of Naval Ravikant, an entire book, which is available for free online. I could easily write an essay on the positive impact that each of these individuals has had on my life, but I feel it’s more important to begin with the common denominator, which is where I discovered them. I have shared the podcasts, books and ideas of these people with friends and family over the years and they are all better for it. My wife and sister have picked up meditation, and I’ve been able to get several loved ones to start exercising and eating better, thanks in no small part, to Joe Rogan. 

Joe was one of the first people I heard talk about how good it is to “suck” at something and work your ass off to become better. Seeing yourself improve is a powerful process. I had no notion of this growing up. As an adolescent and young adult, if I did not “master” something in the first few tries, I would give up. The show inspired me to pick up acoustic guitar and hunting, among other hobbies, in my mid twenties. Things I had wanted to pursue but had been hesitant to because I thought it was “too late,” or would “take too long” to become decent at. One line that sticks with me from a podcast interview Joe did with Aubrey Marcus went something like: “A friend of mine has been training jiu jitsu for three years, loves it very much. The other day I was training with him and he said ‘I wish I had started when I was younger.’ Yeah, well you didn’t, so shut the fuck up and lets keep going (smiling and laughing)”. He also points out that this person would not be who he is today (a successful standup comic), if he had started jiu jitsu earlier.

In a very non-traditional way, Rogan is a role model. He discovered the thing that he is uniquely good at (making people laugh). Through failed sitcoms, moderately successful specials, Fear Factor, UFC, and finally the podcast, he carved his own path and achieved massive success, while maintaining his ability to pursue the things he wants. Joe is arguably a big part of the reason that podcasts are so popular today. He has helped pave the way for many in this space and personally helped many more achieve massive success just by having them as guests on his show.

One of Rogan’s greatest strengths as an interviewer and conversationalist is that he approaches every topic from an objective standpoint. In a recent episode (1:38:20), Sam Altman pointed this out. “I mean this as a great compliment, you are one of the most neutral people I have ever heard talk about the merge [with AI] coming”. In this same episode Joe calls the podcast an “unexpected education,” and says it has made him a much better person. He does not have any academic credentials in the traditional sense. Yet, one of the best ways to learn is by talking to people, especially if those people are smarter than you. He has been doing this on record for almost a decade-and-a-half. Talking to some of the top people in many different fields. This has given him a perspective that is unique, valuable, and entirely missed by his critics.

In January of 2022, Neil Young along with several other notable artists gave Spotify an ultimatum: remove Rogan from the platform for spreading “vaccine misinformation,” or remove their music. The “misinformation” boiled down to a few things: Rogan talking about his decision to not get vaccinated, his belief that healthy young people did not need to get vaccinated, and his experience that Ivermectin was an effective treatment for those infected by COVID-19. Spotify faced a great deal of pressure from the public and mainstream media to terminate Rogan, but they ended up standing by him. Young and others had their content removed. 

Coincidentally, or not, shortly after this controversy, a montage video of out-of-context clips of Rogan using the N word surfaced. Most of the clips appeared to have been at least five to ten years old (in 2022). In the aftermath, Rogan released a heartfelt apology. In it, he explained the context of some of the clips, which made the video seem a bit less egregious. He said he had not used the word in years, but back then, “I thought as long as it was in context people would understand what I was doing.” He also acknowledged, “whenever you’re in a situation where you have to say that you’re not racist, you fucked up.” Even some of his critics praised the apology. Many of his African American friends spoke out publicly in his defense, including David Goggins, who said in an Instagram post “The fucked up thing about all of this is that all eyes aren’t on Joe because of his use of the “N-word” rather for his views on other matters. They are using race, which is a real, emotionally-charged, divisive subject as a smokescreen for the real issue & that is what pisses me off.” By “other matters” Goggins is referring to Joe’s views on COVID and specifically the fact that he was unvaccinated. The producers of the video tried to paint him as a racist, not because he is, but because they did not agree with him on COVID issues. 

There have been hundreds if not thousands of anti-Rogan articles written over the last several years. Many of these articles have common themes, or to put it another way, they all say the same thing. The author of one article listened to 350 hours of the JRE and in an interview was asked why he decided to do this and replied “I started regularly monitoring Joe Rogan’s podcast beginning last year in 2020 when he had Abigail Shrier on to push anti-trans rhetoric.” This author describes the podcast as a “cesspool of toxic masculinity that discusses elk hunting, mixed martial arts, anti-trans views, and harmful health information about the coronavirus pandemic.” This description pretty well sums up the conclusion of every one of the anti-Rogan articles that I have come across. 

This author listened to 350 hours of the JRE! Albeit at 2X speed. However, based on his own claims, it did not appear that he went into the ordeal with an open mind, but rather, with a preconceived agenda. Considering the 2X speed and strong preconceived dislike, it seems there may have been some confirmation bias involved. This author did a lot more than most though. Most likely just used some carefully curated, out-of-context Youtube clips as their source material to bash him.

Rogan’s public image may have improved since I started writing this, yet I still hear things like, “he had Alex Jones on his show back in the day, so I refuse to listen to anything he says,” and more often, “I just don’t like him.” Of course, we all have a right to not like someone. The problem is when you dismiss someone's ideas simply because you don’t like them, or they have an opinion you don’t agree with, you miss the chance to learn from them. I believe this is exactly what happens to many people when it comes to Rogan. He says many things that I don’t agree with. He can come across as insensitive on certain topics, especially when clips are taken out-of-context. But I believe that most people, if they were to listen to an entire episode, would find that he is an incredibly thoughtful, kind, articulate, funny person. 

The last thing I will say about the criticism of Rogan is that throughout the pandemic, he had many “experts” on the show with a wide range of opinions. The first guest he had on the show regarding the subject of COVID, was Michael Osterholm, a well respected epidemiologist who on November 9, 2020, was named to President Biden's COVID-19 Advisory Board. No one talked about that or the other “real scientists” he had on during that time. He was condemned for having guests whose opinions were at odds with that of the NIH, CDC, etc. That is what “spreading misinformation” really meant. Further, he made his own decisions on how to approach vaccination (or lack thereof), treatment, etc. Which, thankfully in this country we are still allowed to do. I am glad that Spotify stood by him during that time and allowed him a place to exercise his and everyone’s right to freedom of speech.

It’s hard to quantify what he has brought to the world. If just ten thousand people have benefited as greatly as I have from his podcast, that is quite significant. Yet, I think it is reasonable to say that many more have. There is a reason it has been one of, if not the, most popular podcasts in the world for over a decade now. I stumbled across a comment on Reddit which echoes my experience and succinctly articulates it: “I can seriously look at almost every facet of my life, my relationships, my health, mental health and hobbies. I have worked to improve them, largely with some of Joe’s words bumping through my head. So yeah, he is a moron, but I am a moron too, and his words helped me not be so critical of myself that I didn’t even try.” (Not a direct quote, edited due to typos/grammar). 

Many of the positive behaviors that I have adopted over the years, I discovered on or through the JRE. My dedication to fitness, healthy diet, mindfulness, and supporting regenerative agriculture to name a few. Some criticisms of Rogan are fair and warranted, but many of them over the last several years are baseless. If you don’t want to take the time to listen to the show, you should not have strong opinions on him or the show. I have probably listened to more than 350 hours of it, and my takeaway is that Joe Rogan is a good person who is providing tremendous value to the world.