Joe Rogan - We Have Political Discourse Fatigue

On having five kids, but like I'll do, like if I talk about having five kids in New York City, at a show in New York City, people are like, you're crazy. And then if I talk about having five kids in Boston, and I'm generalizing, people in Boston might be like, you're crazy, I came from one of those families. And if I do it in Utah, people would be like, yeah, we are crazy for having five kids. So it is the same joke, and it's the same point of view, but it's tweaked a little bit. And it's so fun kind of traveling around and learning that material, and learning the impact and how it's digested. Well, comics have a unique perspective on America because of that, because we don't just go to these different places, but we also perform material in all these different places. So I think like, we, I've been talking a lot with comics lately about like, what was your reaction to Trump winning the election? Comics saw it coming more than most people who live in LA, because most people live in LA, very liberal, very left wing, convinced that, you know, this is, even it didn't matter who you voted for, Hillary was going to win California no matter what. Like we were, this was a pro Democrat state. And when Trump won, I ran into people that were shell shocked. They couldn't fucking imagine. I mean, I think, I mean, I was surprised. I was definitely surprised. But that being said, I wasn't surprised by the logic behind some of the people that voted for Trump last time that are sheepish to admit it now. Yes. I understood some of that logic, but I thought it was fascinating because there was a time for me, because I tour with Ted Alexander a lot and he's like, I love Ted. He's like, he's like an Occupy Wall Street guy. Like he's like, very progressive. And we would tour and he would have during the election, he would have some material on Hillary and some material on Trump. And it worked everywhere. It worked in Texas, worked in Tennessee, which I think is the most conservative place outside of Nashville. And so it would work everywhere. And then the election happened and that same material, and it wasn't just the context of the post-election. It was, I describe it as people looking at the ceiling, is that people didn't want to hear it. And I think some of it is people like, we deal with this all day. We need a break from it. But it was both sides. So like Trump voters were more emboldened, kind of like, that's right. And then also the left people were like, please, can I, I just want to hear Jim talk about horses for 10 minutes. Do you know what I mean? And so there is something fascinating that occurs. And there's also something fascinating about international shows, because when Bush was, when W was president, there were much more people coming up to me going, how dare he start the Iraq war. And with Trump, they're like, yeah, you probably didn't have anything to do with that. Yeah, I would say that's my takeaway. Yeah, it's people are definitely fatigued. I think we have political discourse fatigue. It's never ending. Never ending. And if it's how much of it is your life? If you really stop and think about it, if you're alive for 75, 85 years on this planet, and most of your waking time interacting with people is discussing politics, how much of it actually does affect your life other than those conversations, those conversations, it's a giant part of a lot of people's anxiety, a giant part of the argument, the real life like getting up in the morning, fixing breakfast for your kids, taking them to school, how much does fucking Trump play a part in any of that? I did a CBS Sunday commentary on how all conversations lead to Trump. Like, it's just every conversation eventually gets to, and then Trump did something like that. But it is, I was also thinking like, because we live in this very precarious time and a very divided country on a lot of different levels. And there's so much drama and there's environmental disaster impending. And again, to my point of like, we finally figured it out. This is the most dramatic period. But compared to World War II, no, this is nothing. Nothing. This is nothing. I was in Central Europe. What the? Like human beings, like we, you know, and we're going around this terrorism, this place outside of Prague where they stuck all the Jewish people. And with my children and my children who like just want to play on iPads were just mesmerized. They're like, what? And the takeaway was not, oh, the Germans are bad and Nazis are bad. The takeaway is, oh, humans are crazy. Like, it's just a matter of months that these same people that were your neighbors, that you would go to their kids birthday parties, you were waving goodbye to because you got their apartment. And I'm like, oh, like it was terrifying. Like human beings, it's very easy for us to go. Yeah, it was the Germans. It was the Germans that did that, you know, it was Lithuanians who did it, but it wasn't. It was human beings that were like, manipulated like that. Yeah. If we catch the wrong leader. Yeah. Yeah. Like we're right next to you. That's that is a World War II helmet. That's a legitimate World War II helmet and a bayonet. Wow. That it's a good reminder. It's filled with little holes and shit. There's apparently places in Europe where you can find thousands of those things just scattered out there. You know, there's areas in France that are impossible for people to go to because there's so many rounds that have been shot into the ground there and so much toxic chemicals and stuff from World War II that to this day, they don't want people traveling to. I mean, it's an enormous the size of Paris. It's in France. Really? Yeah. See if you can find that. That's amazing. Like there's also. To this day from the 40s. So like when I was in Prague and you know, you go on these tours and the punishment, like they would just be like, and this, I also learned this in Greece, they'd be like, they'd be like, okay, so as punishment, we are going to murder an entire village. So we're going to, and you're like, what? And by the way, again, we can characterize this, because on the internet, everyone's going to be like, Gaffigan was defending Nazis. That's not my point at all. It's just that human beings, like it wasn't that long ago when like rape and pillage was the go-to tactic. It's like, all right, we'll conquer then we'll rape and pillage. You know, there were some guys that were like, you know what? Can I just pillage? I just, you know, I got a girlfriend now and I don't really feel like raping. Well, we were talking about Kyrgyzstan the other day that to this day, 20% of all marriages begin in kidnapping. What? Yes. 20%. So one out of five marriages started with the groom kidnapping the bride. Like that's how they had to get married because he raped her. So in order for her, so it's romantic. It's that's unbelievable. It's fucking crazy. Here it is. The red zone in France is so dangerous that a hundred years after World War II, it's still a no-go area. There's all sorts of rounds and munitions and there's all sorts of, I mean, there's so many rockets were fired into this area that this shit is still in the soil and everyone. Why, you know, this also brings up a separate point. Why is this surprise? Like humans also have a really, a real short-term memory problem. Like we don't remember things. Right. Like I don't think people really appreciate, you know, that World War II was like 70 years ago. Right. Like it was not that long ago. Right. Like even the, you know, like Serbia, I was in Dubrovnik and they're like, yeah, up there, the Montenegrins used to shoot at us. All those guys, you know, now we go to their bar and you're like, what? Like that was the nineties. Yeah. It's just, it's just terrifying. It's, it's hard to believe, but if you're in the wrong place in history at the wrong time, like right now, if you're in Libya, Libya right now or Syria. Yeah. Well, Libya is a failed state. I mean, Syria is horrible. You got Assad running it, but Libya is no one running it. Libya, they're selling slaves on YouTube. I mean, you can watch slave auctions in real time right now. It's a terrifying, terrifying place. And it's because they killed, uh, Muammar Qaddafi. And then the rebels took over and then it became a failed, a failed state. It's chaos. And this is right now in 2019, if you were unfortunate enough to be born in Libya, you are stuck there right now. And you're living in hell. You're not living in Manhattan in 2019, where it's wonderful with Jim Gaffigan can hop on over to Gotham. Yeah. Say hi to Jerry Seinfeld, do a set and have a meatball sub and, you know, do whatever the fuck you want. No, you're living in a chaos filled environment where barbarians are running the show. And this can happen. This can happen. And this is one of the reasons why our democracy is so important. It's one of the reasons why compassion is so important and kindness and talking to people. And it's also important to look at things objectively and label things based on, uh, compassion and looking at things in, in an intelligent, non-biased way. So you could really get a sense of what the landscape really is. If you're, you know, you're, everybody's a fucking Nazi and everybody's terrible and white privilege this, white privilege that everyone's a criminal, everyone's bad. No, no, no. There's real crime in the world. There's real terror and real awful things. We have more unity and we have more in common than, than we promote. You know what I think is, and I think this is also a reflection of the success of comedians' podcasts, is that what people don't realize is that comedians really appreciate a different point of view. We actually like, we have friends that like, we don't agree with. In fact, we almost find it entertaining. Like, let's talk to this friend because I know I disagree with him and we can have that banter. And I think that particularly in this, cancel culture, there is, and so like you get these comedians, like you hosting these podcasts, having these discussions and, and comedians have kind of like the boldness to step in it and say, hey, I don't know about that. Tell me about that. Whereas like from a societal basis, there's like, don't question, don't question why we're pursuing this. Because if you question it, that means you're not a true believer and we're looking for true believers. Whereas, and by the way, it's, it's just interesting because I think, you know, I have a friend, Tom Shalhout, who I love, who's, who has a show on, on Fox Nation. And it is weird because like six years ago, and I did this interview and I talked about it and, and I could see the interviewer go, your friends with someone that works at Fox. And I'm like, yeah, you know, it's like, it's okay. It's okay. He's not a monster. Yeah. He's not killing, you know, he's not putting children in cages. I'm good friends with Steve Hilton. He has a show on Fox. He interviewed Trump about my family and his family going vacations together. And it's like, why? Like, it's, it's, it's this strange thing where I'm like, I can understand how important these beliefs are. And I can understand how threatening democracy is. And I can understand how we have to face our history and, and all these things, but it's like the discourse has to remain, doesn't it? Yes, we have to be able to talk to each other. And I think that's one of the things that kind of died with the Trump election. People were like, you're with us or against us. You're either for him or you're for the future and compassion and, and caring about everyone, or you're a monster. And there's no, there's no discussion about finances or the best way to run the economy or international trade. No, no, no, no, no, no, you're, you're with the good or the bad. You're binary. It's one or zero. You're black or white. You're one or zero. And that is the same thing that they criticized about W. Saying you're either with us or against us, which by the way, being a father of daughters, you know, is also a line from beauty and the beast. Yeah. And appropriately so, right? It's like very childlike, like that, that perspective is very childlike. There's a lot of people that are conservative that are very good people. Absolutely. That's, I, you know, here's another thing that I find very frustrating. I feel as though I'm sometimes, and sometimes I'll get messages on social media and they'll be like, you know, that some of the people that like your comedy are Trump supporters. And I'm like, I hope so. I hope that I appeal to a lot of different people. You know, I, it's, it's a very strange, like, I remember the success I had and I'm so grateful for the success that I've had on Beyond the Pale. I remember like I came back to New York after I had done this tour and you don't know with standup, you don't know how long it's going to last. You don't know what's going on. And I came back and I remember someone reading an article, maybe it was in Time Out New York and they're like, he's very mainstream, mainstream. And there was recently a New York Times article, he's very conventional. And I'm like, what is that? Do you mean like conventional in that people want to go and see me perform? Like a lot of people like you. Like that's, like that's a crime. Yeah. Like that's, he's, you know, you know, it's like, it's so, we live in this age, like there used to be comedians and I think it's inhibited some people's success. Where like, if it's like Bill Burr, one of the best comedians today. And I think people are, sometimes people in the media are like, you know, the wrong people might like his material. And you're like, that doesn't, do you know what I'm saying? Maybe I'm being paranoid, but I'm like, no, I get that from this podcast. It's a very strange, it's almost kind of a, you know, and I don't know if I've talked about this, but like, you know, like there's this cultural revolution that is occurring that is, it's well intended, but it's almost, it's almost puritanical. And by the way, I'm not somebody, I'm against any form of censorship, but I'm also somebody that believes that if we can articulate transgender terms that make people that are transgender feel comfortable, there's nothing wrong with that. We can adjust our language. We do it all the time. But I do think that there is kind of this almost puritanical thing that's ironically happening on the left. That is what we, you know, as comedians, we used to make fun of the right for. Does that make sense? Yes. It's a very strange kind of like, wait, you guys are doing what you accuse these guys of doing forever. They don't see it that way because they feel like they're right. And if you're right, then it doesn't matter. Well, intended. I do think it's well into, I don't question someone's motives.