158. Helen Lewis on Geniuses, Gurus and Some Regular Guy Named Rogan

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“It’s a Tuesday night in downtown Austin, and Joe Rogan is pretending to jerk off right in front of my face. The strangest thing about this situation is that millions of straight American men would kill to switch places with me.”

With that on-fire of a lede, Helen Lewis explores the appeal of the world’s top podcaster and, by extension, the city of Austin, to whence a platoon of self-proclaimed heterodox thinkers have decamped, in her latest essay for the Atlantic, where she’s a staff writer. (Our own Sarah Hepola is interviewed for the piece.) Helen discusses the podcasts of the man-o-sphere, how Trump’s conversations with Theo Von, et al, were like a chat show circuit for men, and her upcoming book, The Genius Myth.

Also discussed:

* That infamous Jordan Peterson interview

* The time Helen was invited to Tucker Carlson’s log cabin

* “The male Oprah”

* What is the “heterodoxy,” anyway?

* Elon Musk is to Thomas Edison is to Prometheus

* “Shit-posting has eaten the world”

* Can a genius also nurse a baby?

* The optimum age to be considered a genius is …

* Teal Swan is not a good hombre

Plus, Helen lives up to Sarah’s idea of British stereotypes, Robin D’Angelo disappears, the mysteries of the corn dog, and much more!

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