Have Rogan & Musk 'remade' Austin?
The effect of reactionary tech bros has been greatly exaggerated.
How Joe Rogan Remade Austin is the headline in an Atlantic article by Helen Lewis.
The article was entertaining; Lewis's description of a certain niche of very online men rings true:
It is also the center of the Roganverse, an intellectual firmament of manosphere influencers, productivity optimizers, stand-ups, and male-wellness gurus...
The city attracts people with a distinct set of political positions that don’t exactly line up with either main party. They might be religious but are equally likely to be “spiritual.” They shoot guns but worry about seed oils. They are relaxed about gay people but often traditional about gender. They dabble with psychedelic drugs but worry about drinking caffeine first thing in the morning. Their numbers might be relatively small in electoral terms, but they transmit their values to the rest of America through podcasts, YouTube, and other platforms largely outside the view of mainstream media.
Rogan and his fans are often called “heterodox,” which is funny, because this group has converged on a set of shared opinions, creating what you might call a heterodox orthodoxy: Diversity-and-inclusion initiatives mean that identity counts more than merit; COVID rules were too strict; the pandemic probably started with a lab leak in China; the January 6 insurrection was not as bad as liberals claim; gender medicine for children is out of control; the legacy media are scolding and biased; and so on.
Lewis highlights the recently-founded University of Austin (or UATX) as evidence of this sub-culture's imprint on the city. The university's founders explicitly name-checked Rogan and Elon Musk (albeit with tongue at least partially in cheek) when describing their decision to locate here.
She also touches on the fact that many of those who swim in this world of self-proclaimed political mavericks are just regular old conservatives. The self-serving political views of Elon Musk and Joe Lonsdale, a local tech entrepreneur who has become a major conservative political funder, align pretty well with those of previous generations of robber barons.
Anyway, I found the article to be an interesting glimpse into an online community that has formed a bit of a niche in Austin, but it fell far short of proving the alarming headline. Joe Rogan has not transformed Austin. Let me explain.
