Doing sociology and philosophy in real time by looking at developments in contemporary Western politics and culture, from a Moral Libertarian perspective. My mission is to stop the cultural systemist left and the authoritarian right from destroying the West's Enlightenment traditions.
Why the Bernie Sanders Joe Rogan Endorsement Drama Troubles Me A Lot | TaraElla News
Today, I will be looking at the recent drama surrounding Joe Rogan's announcement of his support for Bernie Sanders, the Bernie campaign's decision to publicly acknowledge this, and the unexpected backlash it generated. Basically, while most Bernie supporters are overjoyed that a popular media personality is endorsing their candidate at this crucial time, some people, not necessarily Bernie supporters, have attacked the Sanders campaign's decision to acknowledge it, because they see Joe Rogan as someone with views beyond the pale. Many people have interpreted this drama in the context of the Bernie vs Biden vs Warren race, but I think it's not so simple. Remember, I don't have a horse in this race: my favorites are Yang and Gabbard. But some of the stuff being said worries me.
Firstly, this drama essentially confirms my worst fears: the 2010s Left's practice of essentially categorizing people into 'wokes' and 'deplorables' and pushing everyone in the latter category away, is still alive and well. Despite the appearance of a calmer discourse in the past 2 years, the problem is still present. Now, I don't agree with some of the controversial things Rogan has said, but I don't think it should be a reason to push people away. I'm a realist in politics, which is why I acknowledge that not everyone is going to agree with me on every issue. But that doesn't mean they are the enemy. While I do sometimes have strong disagreements with Rogan, I also admire his independent thinking, his skepticism of mainstream media narratives, and his outspokenness. Plus the fact that, overall, I think he is acting in good faith. I really don't think we should push someone like that away, especially when we need to bring people from all walks of life together to enact some important structural economic change, in the face of the coming forth industrial revolution. I think there's a good reason why Yang, Tulsi and Bernie don't push people away over cultural disagreements, and I think it's something we should learn from.
Secondly, while some Bernie supporters have also essentially made the same argument that I just made, I still feel quite uncomfortable about perhaps most leftist discourse over this matter, because their overall tone strikes me as strategic and opportunistic. What I mean is that I feel like they defended not canceling Rogan this time only because he's good for Bernie's campaign at the moment, rather than that they think it's the right thing to do. My overall impression is that many of these people would have been comfortable labeling Rogan as a bigot and call for his cancellation, had he supported Biden or Warren instead, for example. They probably don't truly support free speech or even oppose cancel culture at all, but have simply made a strategic argument to help Bernie. I think this kind of insincerity is a big reason why many people, especially from the working class, have become skeptical of the left, broadly speaking. They suspect, and it's unfortunately correct to a great extent, that some so-called progressives sometimes only maintain a big tent for long enough to achieve specific political goals, after which they would start going full Hillary and label everyday working people as 'deplorables'. Naturally, nobody wants to join a movement that would keep you on board only for opportunistic purposes, so this kind of opportunistic thinking never works, especially in the face of working class common sense. Instead, the only way to build a big tent to achieve the necessary economic structural changes, is to commit to building a permanent big tent for real, with tolerance for viewpoint diversity and respect for free speech being absolute and guaranteed forever.
