Just R Experience

 I’m going to do the military thing where you start with bottom line up front. Here goes: I don’t care much for Joe Rogan.

That statement isn’t really much in itself and I’m going to do everything I can to support it but it’s going to be indirect and may not even necessarily be about the man himself. It’s highly possible I do like the dude; if we were somehow to meet without cameras around we would have conversation and I would be blown away by what a complete human he is. Maybe. I try to be open minded so that is a possibility. With that out of the way:

One of the…things that bugs me about, I dunno if it’s even endemic to just MMA/jiujitsu culture or if it’s widespread to overall “manly” culture…ugh. Let me try this again. I am not the hugest fan of the “image” of being a man. No matter what, there aren’t really a ton of things around that are required for you to be a man anymore. One might say that’s the problem overall with society and I’m not really here to discuss that. What I am saying is whatever a man is or isn’t seems to be dictated more by who is trying to sell you what rather than just being a human male who is put here on earth to take care of their friends, family, responsibilities, and the environment around them. 

Take me for instance. I can change a tire, sure, but can I strip an engine and put it back together? Can I start a fire with two sticks? Can I construct a house with raw materials? Nope, nope, and nope. There are some people who are very quick to go on social media with pictures of them doing this stuff and swearing that makes them manlier than you. I’m sorry, a manicured picture doesn’t really do anything for me.

Within the fighting community the same behavior occurs: because person X does jiujitsu they’re a “savage” or a “killer”and then that slowly morphs into believing that you are somehow more of a man than the next person who does not train. Which is one heck of a slippery slope. It’s a martial art. The purpose of which is to improve yourself and others around you and discovering the beauty within that. Also, choking the hell out of people. But mostly that first thing, because it ties into my overall point of what I think a man ultimately is: someone who takes care of people. Himself and others around him. There are MANY ways to do that and to think that it only has to be one specific thing or things is short sighted.

That’s where Rogan comes in. Whether he meant to or not he personifies this culture of “you must do things the way I do them and if you don’t you’re not manly”. He is the dude who is seen as the person who will have any host on to learn any number of perspectives, another way of that is saying “he sees both sides”, but it always seems like he leans towards this direction of thinking of things in the most meathead manner possible. Which is just directly contradictory in so many ways. You can take opinions from both sides but ultimately you have to draw your own conclusion about what you have learned from both sides. Otherwise you’re just being dishonest with yourself and other people.

His followers feel they’re sophisticated but they do exactly the same thing that any fans of any rich personality does: everything the person with the platform says is law. It’s never questioned in any way. Which means that Rogan never has to be challenged in any way. Which means he absolutely has to regress, by definition. But he keeps soldering forth buoyed by legions of yes men, having the opposite effect of a rising tide lifting all ships. Which, you guessed it, is literally the opposite of what I think a man is and should do. The end result is a whole bunch of dudes more impressed with the image of what a man is rather than actually being men. 

As I get older, I’m just more interested in people who are trying to improve themselves and those around them. I’m less interested in a cult of personality who seems more interested in enriching themselves and in turn, teaching people in his cult to do the exact same thing. None of it seems to make anyone better. Just more interested in tuning in for the next show.