Letters: I'm a middle-aged, middle-class, left-wing woman – and I like Joe Rogan

Big Issue readers make their feelings known on Joe Rogan and his provocative podcasts, and the idea of an inheritocracy. Plus, a warrior princess writes…

Have you even listened to Joe Rogan?

I just read Sam Delaney’s article and his claim that Joe Rogan’s (etc) worldview is “broadly conservative, laced with provocative humour and righteous anger” and that the content is aimed at “angry young men: socially isolated spoiled brats who don’t understand why guys aren’t allowed to be arseholes any more”. That sweeping generalisation and mischaracterisation really saddened me. Based on this assessment I’m wondering how many full episodes of Joe’s podcast Sam has listened to. 

I am a middle-aged, middle-class woman. I am a wife and mother of two teenage children, I have a degree in psychology, I run a business with my husband and I am a therapist. I live in the UK and have always politically aligned with the left. I have given my time in various volunteer roles over the last three decades. I regularly listen to Joe Rogan’s podcasts and find him funny and interesting.

I have learned from people and perspectives I would never have otherwise been able to hear. Joe Rogan has a huge love for and respect for people, and yes, a sense of humour. He has a strong sense of morality and always condemns racism, sexism, war and corruption. 

Yes, some of Joe’s listeners may be angry young men, but instead of labelling and condemning them I think we need to find out why they’re angry, listen to them and have compassion. I would also say that in listening to Joe Rogan those same young men might find a reason to start believing in themselves, to be inspired to live a life that gives them self-worth and purpose. There really is some great content there if you give it a chance.

Helen Morris

Terrifying times

Homelessness is getting worse here in Newcastle and it’s terrifying to think this could be any one of us: you lose your job, bills very quickly spiral out of control, an unsympathetic bank or landlord kicks you out and you’ve no family. Terrifying.

@northernmodman, Instagram 

• Jon Ronson: ‘Everything’s become a culture war’
• Woke or anti-woke? Culture wars are poisoning society and politics, eye-opening study finds
• Nathan Filer’s podcast Why Do I Feel is a series of beautifully told stories

Big thanks 

Thanks to @BigIssue for the most personal interview ever, promoting #NeverLookAway the Margaret Moth Story!!

@RealLucyLawless

A not-OK Boomer 

I need to bust some myths in Eliza Filby’s article, ‘We need to talk about inheritocracy’. Firstly, the Boomers’ generation encompasses many different people, including those of us from BAME backgrounds – we never get mentioned, and neither do poor/low-paid older people. Millions of us older people have never been able to buy a home. I’m in my early sixties and I’m STILL renting! Millions of us older women were in low-paid work. 

While Filby quoted the average price of a house in the 1980s was around £48,000, there was no mention of what wages were like. I don’t think I was living on more than £40pw. Working conditions were bad and offices were smoke-filled. Housing conditions were awful. I was homeless at 16, and no family home since then, so no bank of mum and dad. People who were able to buy homes were generally married/couples. Filby states “65% of new homeowners would have struggled to buy without parental support”. It’s always been impossible to buy without financial help!

Miss Dee, London

Truth to power

John Bird’s walking out of the parliamentary hearing into homelessness wasn’t rude: speaking truth to power more like. He’s right. We’ve been all talk and sticking-plaster action for too long. And this government, promising ‘change’, has instead spectacularly missed opportunities to prioritise prevention of poverty from the start: refusing to cancel the two-child benefit cap; cutting the winter fuel allowance; failing to reintroduce Surestart and been so obsessed with not offending the City that they’ve undermined their own growth aims with NI increases. All they can do is trumpet a few bob more on the living wage, ie more sticking plaster.

So, more rudeness, please, John!

And if they won’t listen to you, maybe the Trump rebirth will make them pause. As things are, Kemi (and probably Boris) must be salivating about 2029.

John Bishop

Private thoughts 

The government via DWP should only be allowed to know a claimant’s income, NOT expenditure. How you choose to spend your income is irrelevant to the supposed purpose of detecting fraud and ensuring correct benefits are being paid. I’m sure there would be an outcry from those non-claimants, including DWP staff if such a gross invasion of privacy was carried out on them. I would love to see a group test case taken to the high court to challenge the legality of scrutinisation of expenditure.

Phil Boardman, Salford

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