Hacker News Reader

Comment by jvagner | Hacker News Reader

He’s amused by ideas. I think that’s where it came from.

I’ve been listening to him for years now, most often on BART. I can’t resolve his acceptance of Alex “he’s a really nice guy” Jones, but what I have come to terms with is this: almost everyone I really know has some crazy or indefensible belief. For many it’s their family or partner relationship. Dig into that, and people are living lives premised on an externally unacceptable belief. Have any finance people in your life? I guarantee their political beliefs are hard to swallow.

Joe puts his out there. He’s not embarrassed by himself. From there, he makes more sense.

That said, he has a platform. I think he’s a net positive.

View on HN

>I can’t resolve his acceptance of Alex “he’s a really nice guy” Jones, >Have any finance people in your life? I guarantee their political beliefs are hard to swallow.

I don't really enjoy Joe Rogan due to the college dorm room style mentioned above, but I don't understand this sentiment against Joe for being too accepting. There are people who get very unhappy whenever they are reminded that their opinions are not universal, and even further beyond them is a position that in my opinion is pretty dangerous: people who dislike anyone that doesn't share their militancy. People who really hate Joe Rogan because he fraternizes with the enemy are helping to contribute to America's polarization problem.

> he fraternizes with the enemy are helping to contribute to America's polarization problem.

This statement is a bit ironic no? Then again I have no clue what helps get rid of polarisation.

>People who really hate Joe Rogan because he fraternizes with the enemy are helping to contribute to America's polarization problem.

Grammatically, that sentence is saying that the people who hate Joe Rogan for his liberality are contributing to polarization.

Ah, I misread it. Cheers!

The most curious responses on Twitter to the article were those that went something like, "You have to read this article about Joe Rogan. Proves it."

This article seems to have been embraced by both pro- and con- Roganites alike.

I've only seen clips of "late stage" Alex Jones where he's very clearly gone off the deep end, but it's interesting that earlier Richard Linklater cast him in "Waking Life" (2001) and "A Scanner Darkly" (2006) as a ranting blowhard shouting into a bullhorn.

I get the sense that Linklater saw him as basically a harmless crank local to Austin. I don't really know much about the arc of Jones' career but it seems his rantings carried him off into a very dark place indeed and one I assume Linklater would totally disavow.

Jon Ronson also met Alex Jones before his fame skyrocketed and occasionally reflects on it:

https://www.thisamericanlife.org/670/beware-the-jabberwock/a...

Reply on news.ycombinator.com