The holy trinity seems to be anger, calling people “bitches” and Ivermectin
Jayde Atchison // Opinions Editor
Growing up in the early 2000s, I spent a lot of days off school binge watching shows like CSI: Las Vegas, Jerry Springer, and Fear Factor. I grew up and subsequently forgot about the actors, contestants and hosts. Somewhere in the back of my brain, I must have heard the host of Fear Factor say his name but it never registered that it would become a name associated with the epitome of masculinity.
I was so far removed from that side of the internet, television, and podcasts — I remained ignorant to the comedy show. Listening to many clips of Rogan, it leads to flashbacks of conversations I’ve had with men that “want a girl with a sense of humour that isn’t going to be offended easily.” Typically this translates to they’re going to say something offensive and call you stuck up for not finding it funny, even though they said, “I’m just kidding” after.
I have a friend that told me that women just like to hate on Rogan because it’s trendy, and that he’s “actually very liberal and you have a lot in common with him”. My eyebrows arched higher than my hairline, and I questioned how well my friend actually knew me. I am all for dark humour, but when you profit off of being a cis white man that has a big enough following people don’t bat an eye, I draw the line. Making a huge part of your comedy set about wishing you could still call things “gay” just isn’t the vibe.
Mr. UFC seems to be in a perpetual state of trying to prove he is woke, but is stuck in the man’s man rhetoric. The majority of his followers are fully committed to his way of life. Looking at comments online offers a whole new level of devotion. It doesn’t matter what he says, he can do no wrong.
Sure, there are plenty of celebrities that have this kind of following — where their fans fight tooth and nail to defend them against scrutiny. People flock to profiles and comment snake emojis just to show they’re a ride or die. Rogan fans are supposed to take ride or die seriously, because he has been preaching that COVID-19 will not come for young, healthy people and the vaccine was not necessary.
All his zero years of medical school or epidemiology studies have really come in handy for informed medical advice. For someone that has that much influence on such a wide array of people, it’s irresponsible to give such ill-informed opinions about something that is killing millions of people, healthy or not. After telling everyone not to worry, he confesses he has contracted the virus and has taken Ivermectin to cure himself. Ivermectin is a medication used to treat worms in animals and humans. Unless Rogan has some other issues he’s not talking about, he had no business consuming that drug nor boasting about it online. His followers are akin to the girl in Mean Girls who wore camo pants and flip flops because she saw Cady Heron wearing them. There have been many accounts of poisonings from taking Ivermectin, and it is simply not the solution.
In the end though, Rogan is a rich, straight white man and he has built such a cult following of people like him that are scared it’s not their time anymore. He is able to get away with a lot of his behaviour, because “he’s obviously kidding” and he’s still benefiting from his privilege. He’s not the kind of guy that seems like he will change, but hopefully some of his fans reflected on the horse dewormer incident and re-evaluated their devotion.