Awesome analysis of Rogan and his themes.  He is the "everyman" on a cosmic
voyage

-Chance

On Tue, May 26, 2020 at 3:06 PM Henriques, Gregg - henriqgx <
[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> Thanks for this deeply insightful reflection, Owen. It is well worth the
> time to read through and sit with.
>
> G
>
>
>
> *From:* tree of knowledge system discussion <
> [log in to unmask]> *On Behalf Of *Owen Cox
> *Sent:* Tuesday, May 26, 2020 2:17 PM
> *To:* [log in to unmask]
> *Subject:* Re: Joe Rogan's deal
>
>
>
> Dear all,
>
>
>
> As a young man, the JRE feels like the thing more than anything else that
> I share in common with guys of my generation. There's something for
> everyone to connect around, both intellectual and non-intellectual types. I
> feel like if and when we are older, Rogan's show will be looked back on as
> one of the defining features of our era.
>
>
>
> Then there's the fact, not really mentioned in the article, about how
> instrumental his show was in the rise of Jordan Peterson, who became a one
> man lightning rod for the culture wars. Meanwhile, Rogan was there in the
> background, doing his thing.
>
>
>
> There's a couple of lenses through which to look at what makes him so
> popular. One is about the nature of the "priesthood" in society. Following
> the work of Alexander Bard, we know the priesthood are responsible for
> creating and managing symbolic power, the stories that tell people who they
> are, the nature of things, and how to be in the world. At the beginning of
> Capitalism, the function of priesthood ceased to be located in the Church
> and Monastery and instead moved to academia (and journalism as downstream
> from it). The new capitalist priesthood were concerned with the dominant
> metaphysical ideas of the time, namely rationality and objectivity. The
> problem? As we know, rationality and objectivity offer no answers to the
> fundamental existential questions of life. The academic priesthood is
> incredibly powerful in wielding its machine, namely science, but also
> pathetically dry at taking care of the human needs of people. There is
> barely any space for the all-too-human in the halls of the capitalist
> priesthood. In fact, the place the human surfaces is in tabloid magazines,
> reality TV etc. And culture is starved.
>
>
>
> Rogan is of a different sort. He is connected to the profound thinkers and
> ideas and gets the stories out, but is also a deeply human person, and
> isn't afraid to laugh, make jokes, get wasted, talk about sex and partying,
> hunting and fighting. All in a way that is deeply friendly and respectful
> to his guests at the same time. And in doing that he achieves everything
> that the capitalist priesthood are supposed to do with their bourgeois
> "good manners" and elite degrees, but avoiding the snootiness of it all.
> His connection to the martial arts world also gives him a deep
> respectability and trustworthiness. You know he could kick your ass and as
> such he's not trying to compensate for anything. And in a supposedly
> post-religious world, a martial arts school is one of the few places one
> can experience what religion is supposed to be. Deep belonging to a
> trusting and legitimate community. One can rely on people who choke each
> other out for fun.
>
>
>
> The other lens relates to the Blue Church phenomenon and mass
> infantilisation of broadcast society. The method for managing human
> complexity involves making a few people the "adults" in charge of thinking
> and deciding, while the rest are dripfed their information and their lives
> via the TV tube and the newspaper. And the "adults" meticulously curate
> their elite world and who can enter it - again with fancy degrees and
> etiquettes of behavior.
>
>
>
> Rogan puts two fingers up at this. Of course he is also an informational,
> priestly elite - there will always be an elite so long as human capacities
> are unevenly distributed. Nonetheless, he is elite in a way that is far
> more accessible to non intellectuals, and thus blurs the lines between
> middle and working classes. Meanwhile, his stoned explorations into the
> nature of reality and his simple dudeliness bring back the element of
> existential questions and the all-too-human that are scoffed at by the
> capitalist priesthood.
>
>
>
> This disruption is deeply dangerous - the blue church strategy for
> managing complexity held a lot of shit together. Broadcast era mass
> infantilisation worked for some purposes. The digital world, of which Rogan
> is at the spearhead, is a wild west and perfect for the genesis of
> bloodthirsty, AI backed cults.
>
>
>
> Such is where we are...
>
>
>
> Hungoverly,
>
> Owen
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> On Tue, May 26, 2020, 4:38 PM Henriques, Gregg - henriqgx <
> [log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
> Hi List,
>
>   As I have repeatedly noted, there is a major shift happening in the
> media, such that more and more information is being shared in
> nontraditional ways and outlets. Joe Rogan, the King of the Podcast World,
> is an example. Here is a mainstream article on whether or not he
> exemplifies what might become the new mainstream media in the strange
> digital world that is emerging.
>
> https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.nytimes.com_2020_05_25_opinion_joe-2Drogan-2Dspotify-2Dpodcast.html&d=DwIFaQ&c=eLbWYnpnzycBCgmb7vCI4uqNEB9RSjOdn_5nBEmmeq0&r=HPo1IXYDhKClogP-UOpybo6Cfxxz-jIYBgjO2gOz4-A&m=k0k34aaNG_TfZ_QgOl2rBPc5EHutaaEBEWHZc6oEP18&s=u_e1Pcw4e2naQSqT6rwh9ILEOwy8nxae0NNUCH_11fk&e= 
> <https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.nytimes.com_2020_05_25_opinion_joe-2Drogan-2Dspotify-2Dpodcast.html&d=DwMFaQ&c=eLbWYnpnzycBCgmb7vCI4uqNEB9RSjOdn_5nBEmmeq0&r=HPo1IXYDhKClogP-UOpybo6Cfxxz-jIYBgjO2gOz4-A&m=TisbEBZ7XrZNmLLXC45zbzDKJsL3sGbPuSuT5DBr8Ck&s=rWU8x6ngISz_-DOES87aVB5iez1Y2SC-03yOH9caKaw&e=>
>
>
> Best,
> Gregg
>
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