“He isn’t going to host controversial people who, say, are stridently feminist, support reparations, are extremely critical of police and the military, or who are critical of masculinity and all that macho shit he and his fans are devoted to.”
Feminist /Critical of masculinity— Ana Kasparian
Critical of police/military — Cenk Uygur, Kyle Kulinski, Abby Martin
Supports reparations — Killer Mike
“You’re playing dumb in the way a lot of apologists do by pretending as if he’s a neutral actor who just happens to occasionally give an audience to right-wing darlings.”
You’re projecting. I never once said or implied that he is a neutral actor. In fact, I specifically pointed out in the opening paragraph that Rogan has referred to himself as a liberal guy.
To be clear, he is not neutral on most issues. On climate change, education, health care, UBI, abortion, immigration and the war on drugs, his views range from moderately liberal to undeniably progressive. Aside from abortion, he strikes me as mostly right-wing on other gender issues (gender pay gap, toxic masculinity, third-wave feminism, etc.). He’s obviously extremely anti-PC as well, so I’d put him in the right-wing camp on that one. He seems to go back and forth on gun control, as far as I can tell. He might have clarified his views on it in an episode I haven’t seen. If not, I’d peg him as a centrist on it.
“Even if you can’t see his political bend, though, his far right-wing fans certainly can. It’s why they listen and respect him. He’s on their side.”
Except when he admits to being pro-choice. Or when he characterized Trump’s child separation policy as a criminal act. Or when he took on Peter Schiff on the issues of anti-discrimination laws and Confederate statues. Or when he interviewed a defense attorney about racism in the criminal justice system. When he does that stuff, the alt-righters throw their tantrums and cry foul (usually by downvoting the videos in question or moaning about it on Reddit).
I suspect the claim that Rogan is on the side of the alt-right more accurately reflects the with-us-or-against-us nature of today’s political discourse than Rogan’s actual political leanings or popularity within alt-right circles.
