Joe Rogan is an unlikely figure on the frontiers of intellectual life. The self-identified meathead, wrestling commentator, and stand-up comic doubtless didn’t expect to be interviewing presidential candidates, space-voyaging CEOs and New York Times hacks when he started his podcast. But a decade and a $100 million Spotify deal<\/a> later, here we are.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n Despite this popularity and success, Rogan\u2019s presence has largely been an unwelcome one from the view of progressive pundits. Many of the profiles written about the podcast are only grudging in their praise, as writers clearly not in his usual audience grapple with why so many enjoy listening to him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The results read like an explorer documenting an uncontacted tribe. As Devin Gordon wrote in the Atlantic last year after his attempted immersion<\/a> in the Joe Rogan Experience:<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI came away more comfortable with Joe\u2019s vision of manhood \u2013 and more determined to do the exact opposite. We\u2019re just different. Joe Rogan lives every day like it\u2019s his last. I live every day like I\u2019m going to have to do most of this crap again tomorrow.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n The other main objection to Rogan is that he publicises politics that progressives don\u2019t like. His frequent hosting of members of the so-called Intellectual Dark Web, a group of dissenting smarty-pants who share a dislike of progressive censorship and push back against progressive nostrums, is one part of it. Another is his habit of entertaining figures often described as \u201cfar right\u201d \u2013 sometimes even justifiably.<\/p>\n\n\n\n