“The liberal Joe Rogan,” sanewashing and other media topics

One of the right wing’s biggest advantages is that they have such a massive media network, ranging from Fox to talking-head podcasters. You can have Tucker Carlson declaring in WW II we should have supported Hitler. Charlie Kirk declaring even legal immigrants are not real Americans. Fox pundits celebrating Jim Crow, celebrating teachers beating students and calling for the annexation of Western Canada.

A number of pundits and Democratic activists have suggested we need to put money behind a “Joe Rogan of the left,” somebody who can attract male listeners who’ve been swinging to the right (yes, it’s that issue again). This is not a new thought; 30 years ago I remember discussions about finding the Rush Limbaugh of the left. I agree with the Intercept it’s not a great idea.

First off, right-wing talking heads have the advantage that they’re feeding an audience that wants a constant diet of rageahol. If that requires bullshit and lies, cool. Liberals, mad though we may be right now, aren’t looking for lies (not that we need to, given reality is outrageous enough). As someone told the Intercept it’s hard to get something big going that doesn’t feel like it’s exploitative, exaggerated or preachy (whereas right-wing talking heads are somehow not seen as preachy).

There’s also the simple fact that becoming successful is hard. There are lots of talking heads out there but even on the right, most of them do not become Joe Rogan or Limbaugh; loathsome as Limbaugh was, he was very skilled in his propagandist role.

Rather than thinking of a silver bullet for the right-wing media dominance, possibly the solution (this is not an idea that originated with me) is to shoot lots of little bullets. Lots of communities suffer from being news deserts with no local news; why not start underwriting nonprofits like The Local Reporter, the hyperlocal website I freelance for?

Papers like ours may seem small — we are — but letting people know what’s going on with their government and community is important. And even in an age when city councils routinely stream their meetings to YouTube, having someone condense them down and share the key takeaways is a good thing. Even if all it does is build engagement at the local level, I think it’s healthy. Here’s some discussion on Bluesky (I agree including high-school sports is going to grab attention). A genuine newspaper would help counteract the fake newspapers right-wingers have set up to spread propaganda.

Also, as the Intercept suggests, look for podcasters, YouTubers and others who are already doing the sort of things the “Joe Rogan of the Left” would do. Lots of them. Eventually one of them may grow into a Joe Rogan naturally. Even if not, more voices on the left for people to listen to might make a difference. I doubt there’s anything that can smash the right wing media ecosystem but we can chip away at it, bit by bit. That may not get us out of our current battles with fascism but the fascists won’t be going away, even if we turn things around. Long-term tactics are important too.

Meanwhile our nominally neutral/centrist big media are doing a shitty job. As I blogged about yesterday, their crusading zeal has been more the exception than the rule. Part of that is the will of their owners; as Lawyers Guns and Money says of the WaPo “Bezos doesn’t care about the money so reducing the Post to a zombie shell is pretty clearly the end, not the means.“

For instance we have President Snowflake demanding red states gerrymander to give him more seats in the house, Texas complying, Ron deStalinist saying hold my beer, and Democrat-run states saying “Okay, if you do this, we do it too.” But according to the WaPo, the message is both sides do it. A recent headline described the Felon’s military occupation of DC as “well, he’s always had a fantasy of being a big-city mayor.”

The NYT is particularly odious, painting the Felon’s deportation policies as a way to provide more housing for Americans. Asking if it isn’t sensible for colleges to concede to some of the Felon’s demands, an idea parodied here. And rather than say RFK Junior is risking a catastrophe with public health, it’s described as “alienating allies who fear a public health crisis.” Then there’s headlines —

“Maximalist” sounds so much better than “fascist” or “dictatorial.” Or consider this bit on the Felon extorting money from colleges:

Meanwhile CNN announces the Epstein scandal is over, done, nobody cares, because Google searches on Epstein are down. And besides, the Felon is a political genius! As one Bluesky thread says, if the media don’t talk about Epstein or the Felon’s dementia, for lots of Americans it hasn’t happened.

Under Republican rule, multiple feed-the-poor programs have been gutted. Nevertheless The Atlantic is still willing to gush about RFK Jr. having a vague sort of possible plan for mailing veggies to the poor.

I’m not sure what the solution is, other than accepting they’re not going to stand up to fascism. And they’ll keep lowering standards to get clicks and attention, like Jim Acosta interviewing an AI avatar of a Parkland shooting victim.