Just some of the photo captions from the NYT article: "A Progressive Mind in a MAGA Body/Hasan Piker pumps iron, likes weapons and wears pearls. His brand of masculinity has won him many fans online — and has been a useful vehicle for his politics" (free-access link).
The author is Jack Crosbie. Sample sentence: "This fluency between culture and ideology has led many to brand Mr. Piker a Joe Rogan of the left — if Mr. Rogan had a mop top and painted his nails."
I'll just say: The search for The Joe Rogan of the Left goes on... with low-level desperation.
Stray sociology: "Mr. Piker benefits from 'jock insurance,' said Tristan Bridges, a sociologist who studies masculinity and gender at the University of California, Santa Barbara. The term is used to describe how men with 'a lot of masculine gender capital' are generally given more leeway to do things like challenge norms and make mistakes, he added."
How are you spending your masculine gender capital? Do you get more value if you wear tank top that shows off your arms?
Posts
56 comments:
I’ve never heard of this guy but I’ll repeat what I feel the need to say every time I hear about a Joe Rogan of the left—there already was a Joe Rogan of the left. His name was Joe Rogan.
If another Joe Rogan appears, they’ll do the same thing to him that they did to the last one.
"tim maguire said...
I’ve never heard of this guy but I’ll repeat what I feel the need to say every time I hear about a Joe Rogan of the left—there already was a Joe Rogan of the left. His name was Joe Rogan."
Right, what we really need is a Russell Brand of the left. Or a Tulsi Gabbard of the left. Or an RFK Jr. of the left.
Hasan Piker is going into terror simp mode, to the point of alienating relatively apolitical streamers like Asmongold, so he might get a knock from Kash Patel's FBI. But the Democrats have a straightforward problem: they want to have "populist socialism" while maintaining the same oligarchy which dominates the financial structure of the party. The Republicans mostly severed the influence of the globalist free traders, and will likely finish the job over four years. What can the Democrats sever from their unwieldy yet insufficient coalition? If the answer is "we need better marketing," they may never return to power in this incarnation.
""Some of Mr. Piker's followers say that, by wearing jewelry and painting his nails, he has helped to promote different forms of gender presentation"
Big deal! 1980's Hair Metal bands did the same thing.
The way these two guys converse is a bit taxing on the ears. Their linguistic registers approach Jeff Spicoli territory.
Copy not create, modify not build - not original.
The gender capitalists where we shopped our gender startup wanted too much equity…and inclusion…
He’s 6’2 at most. Not 6’4
FFS…
On with the Freak Show, good health to you.
Has his first meal around 2:00pm? If you are eating more than one meal a day, your’e not really fasting, are you?
And being a tall/jock figure, but wearing jewelry etc. - have you ever seen NBA players off court? Like this is something new.
See intermittent fasting.
“America deserved 9/11, dude,” he said. “Fuck it, I’m saying it.”
- Hasan Piker, stud.
Ugh, not Jack Crosbie again.
Why does the NY Times go to academia for insight into masculinity? Charles Barkley would have more interesting thoughts.
Bum, fasting has a medical definition that differs from the one you (and I) were raised with.
“I like guns, but I would never keep one in the house.”
He's lying.
This fluency between culture and ideology has led many to brand Mr. Piker a Joe Rogan of the left — if Mr. Rogan had a mop top and painted his nails.
And if Joe Rogan didn’t resemble one of the Seven Dwarfs.
He reads like a spoiled boy, and will he ever be great with a name like 'Piker'? By definition, no.
The Progressive train continues its cannonball to the Left, yet the team wonders why the train is so empty. What could be causing it?
The search for the Joe Rogan of the Left has been going on since it was a search for the Rush Limbaugh of the Left. Air America isn't on many radio stations these days, IIR.
Joe Rogan was the Joe Rogan of the Left before the left decided to allow a bunch of mentally ill angry because they can't get laid any more morbidly obese liberal women (latest example: Criminal judge Hannah Dugan) to overrun the party.
Bring back cranky old farts who yell at clouds: James Carville
At least they're entertaining.
I'm thinking I should get some pearls. As my mother said, they are a classic and never go out of fashion whether one is being intersectional or fluid; whether one being expressive and clutching or simply accessorizing gymn wear or even dressing nicely - pearls give a finished look.
Put them around a MAGA hat, get a cane with a COEXIST sticker, and go over to shop at Whole Foods. Ask where the Hershey bars are. Trouble is, young people today are so nice to the old that they'd probably run about without a word of complaint trying to find me something.
FWIW, Hasan Piker is a political Twitch streamer whom I would describe as a champagne socialist (complete with expensive Porsche and multi-million dollar home). Among his more 'charming' proclivities is his support for groups like the Houthis and Hamas (endorsed Hamas' actions on October 7, 2023), and his token one day Twitch ban for saying Senator Rick Scott from Florida should be killed. I suppose that's charming to some people, I guess.
NYT fashion of the day: manosphere as mammosphere.
People don’t listen to Rogan for his opinions. They listen for his facilitation of open minded discussion with his guests.
The notion that the NYT is a credible source of cultural trend information will never die. Piker epitomizes their concept of the vanguard of leftwing metrosexual edginess. Millions of highly educated people apparently agree.
"How are you spending your masculine gender capital?"
I painted my nails when I played guitar in a rock/country band, back in the 80's and 90's, I would lay down a base coat of silver or gold, then paint on thin red, blue and black diagonal stripes. I had to trim the little brushes to get the stripes as thin as I liked 'em. I had a few guys hit on me, but I don't think anyone mistook me for a faggot. Certainly the gals didn't.
“America deserved 9/11, dude,” he said. “Fuck it, I’m saying it.”
Oh, so he's a neo-con.
NYT's low-T crew are laboring under the comforting delusion that Trump won because Joe Rogan likes him, and as a consequence, Rogan led his robotic followers to cast their ballots accordingly. This absurd belief puts the cart behind the horse -- so far behind the cart that the horse is grazing in a distant county pasture, unshod and devoid of harness. The importance of Rogan's podcast stems from his format of long meandering conversation with his guests, which something very few leftists will tolerate because the control of the "narrative" (i.e. the Big Lie) is fundamental to their electoral success. Such control makes disguising the fraud possible. Harris declined Rogan's invitation because her handlers knew the danger of certain questions, questions the MSM never ask, being raised. Not appearing on the Rogan show didn't doom her, Harris was a dead candidate walking from way back, even before Biden tapped her for Veep.
This sort of magical thinking is co-joined at the hip with progressivism. We saw it before when the elites whinged unceasingly over Rush Limbaugh and the alleged spell he wove over people who saw through left wing icons like Jesse Jackson and Bill Clinton. MSNBC was founded as a direct reply to Limbaugh's radio show. Unfortunately, they didn't hire any full-fledged wizards, just blundering acolytes who couldn't stir the cauldron or recite the incantation. The wizard search goes on...
A little of Joe Rogan's regular guests goes a long way for me. I mean how many comedians are there in this world--and how funny can they be. The answers are "a lot" and "not very".
But when Rogan interviews a political figure--and that includes Trump, Vance and or could include say AOC, Kamala (she passed) Schumer or Schiff--the long form rambling interview yields some valid insights. A listener can get the impression--valid or not--that he or she knows something about the person being interviewed. And if the impression is good--then votes will follow. An airhead word salad type like Kamala knew that a Rogan interview would be a disaster for her. And at least she, or her handlers, were smart enough to avoid that. So there is that.
He's a Twitch streamer with a good following, but he's in the "Twitch-OF" world of reactors, gamers and e-thots, he's not really breaking out of there. His crossover appeal is pretty limited. He's not that guy that talks to guest and gets a good soundbite out of them. He lacks the humility to be receptive to someone else's thoughts and the whit to make his ignorance of the subject entertaining.
The one time she didn't turn left.
So, being fit is having a "MAGA body" now. Oh-Kay.
Wow. That dude is dumb as a post, or pretending to be.
No "undocumented immigrants" are not your landlord. But they ARE competing with you for a limited number of rental spots. And in a lot of cases (like the Haitians in Ohio) they have subsidies from the Fed taxpayer, so they can outbid you.
I'll just say: The search for The Joe Rogan of the Left goes on... with low-level desperation.
Low-level desperation with the intensity of high-level desperation.
Send him overseas to the Middle East, where they’ll throw his sorry hind end off a tall building.
"How are you spending your masculine gender capital?"
I invest it and accrue interest.
The downside of social media is giving a mass platform for people with massive egos and limited educations who spew nonsense. Listening to these two guys talk is genuinely a waste of time.
Maybe their conversation could provide useful data for a sociologist doing a study on various cultural male patterns of communication and dominance, etc. But this conversation is useless for gaining informed insights.
I couldn't commit to watching the whole thing so I jumped through parts. Piker goes on at length about what is "wrong" with the US -- the subsidies the US govt. gives some large corporations and then rambles on about how the oil and gas industries refused to increase production (under Biden). Yes, the oil and gas industries were reluctant to increase production because Biden had committed to eliminating fossil fuels. When he finally got realistic about the time factor to make that switch and the effects of the Ukraine war on the market, the industries eventually increased production.
Piker wants more direct centralized government control over our industries, like they have in China. According to Piker the Chinese are more dedicated than the US to the wellbeing of their people. This is the leftist alternative to MAGA. He doesn't mention that the Chinese were much slower in adopting modern industrialization because they held onto their agrarian traditions. Now that they decided to modernize they have accomplished this mass transition by selling their people's cheap labor. China is definitely not a kinder culture dedicated to the well being of the people.
Reality check:
Has the US oil and gas industry increased production?
ChatGPT said:
Yes, the U.S. oil and gas industry has increased production, reaching record levels in recent years.
Oil Production
In 2024, U.S. crude oil production averaged 13.2 million barrels per day (bpd), surpassing the previous record of 12.9 million bpd set in 2023. Production continued to rise, hitting a new monthly high of 13.491 million bpd in December 2024 . The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) forecasts that production will increase further to 13.5 million bpd in 2025 .
EIA
Reuters
The Permian Basin has been a significant contributor to this growth, accounting for nearly 48% of national crude oil production in 2024. Despite a reduction in active rig count, production in the Permian rose due to greater well productivity and technological innovations .
MRT
EIA
Natural Gas Production
U.S. natural gas production also reached record levels. In 2024, dry gas production averaged 103.2 billion cubic feet per day (bcfd), with projections indicating an increase to 105.2 bcfd in 2025 . The Permian region saw a 12% rise in marketed natural gas production, primarily as a byproduct of oil extraction .
Reuters
EIA
The Joe Rogan of the left cannot be a straight white cis-gender male. The left already has their Joe Rogan, and it's Rachel Maddow.
"How are you spending your masculine gender capital?"
I went for a walk today, in the nice 70 degree sunny weather, wearing a pastel blue shirt and pastel green workout shorts.
I thought at first that it said TwinkCon and decided to skip it.
On second thought maybe there's not that much difference.
You know who used to be the Joe Rogan of the left?
Joe Rogan.
Then they tried to cancel him for not wanting to get sick with Covid.
Given all the energy the Left is putting into brining back that Maryland Man, it seems entirely fitting and just that the Joe Rogan of the Left would sport a wife beater.
The term is used to describe how men with 'a lot of masculine gender capital' are generally given more leeway to do things like challenge norms and make mistakes, he added."
Now do beautiful women, or excuse me, women with a lot of feminine gender capital.
"Now do beautiful women, or excuse me, women with a lot of feminine gender capital."
That analysis is called the "hot/crazy matrix". Although, it isn't really a matrix, it's just a graph.
I spend my masculine gender capital by welcoming the soft bigotry of low expectations. At work, if we have a potluck, I can getaway with bringing donuts and nobody expects me to remember birthdays or the names of their children.
Piker seems more like the Theo Von of the Left. That is not meant as a criticism, but does the journalist know anything about Joe Rogan?
Rogan was a nationally known comedian for thirty years, and doing martial arts for longer than that. His podcast succeeded because he was never trying to be the anyone of anything, he just wanted to talk to his friends and other interesting people.
Curious, I fired up the podcast and skipped to a randomish point I figured would be past the throat clearing. ~34:30. He describes america as 50 corporations in a trenchcoat, extracting wealth from taxpayers and funneling it to those corporations. That's a take. Not one I'm particularly interested in. I look forward to ignoring or laughing at Mr. Piker in future.
All this discussion about Joe Rogan's appearance. Does the NYT think people look at Joe Rogan when they listen to him for 2 to 3 hours? His appearance holds their attention that long?
“I'm just reacting to the NYT, the journalism and politics, the obsession with the manosphere, the way Joe Rogan has driven liberals out of their mind.” I was going to say that I think you mean ‘minds,’ but then it occurred to me that this might be deliberate. The totality of liberals has only one mind.
You know who is "just like Joe Rogan?" Joe Rogan.
It's the messaging, it's the messenger, anything but the message.
Just use Joe Rogan.
If Kamala Harris, AoC or any other Democrat should just go on Rogans show, then all the legwork is done. I don’t think he would turn any of them down. Has he turned anyone down because of their political affiliation?
" Air America isn't on many radio stations these days, IIR."
Gone since 2010.
"He describes america as 50 corporations in a trenchcoat, extracting wealth from taxpayers and funneling it to those corporations."
Sounds about right, actually.
That's very touching, Jupiter. Except he celebrated the mass rape and murder of Israeli families on Oct. 7, and said America deserved 9/11. So this is what the left wants to promote, again? A limousine socialist who is in no hurry to share his wealth. Another antisemitic, anti-American leftist fascist in (glittery) earth shoes.
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