On a recent episode of the Joe Rogan Experience, host Joe Rogan sat down with military veteran and tech entrepreneur Bill Thompson. During the conversation, the discussion turned to discipline and its association with conservative values.
Rogan opened by identifying what he sees as a foundational problem in American culture: “I think in this country, one of the primary problems that people have is a profound lack of respect for discipline and how important discipline is for your life. And discipline is associated with conservatism.”
He was quick to clarify that he does not firmly plant himself on either side of the political divide. He said, “Because of that, a lot of people think that I’m… I don’t think I’m anything. I think I have, politically or ideologically, a lot of everything in me. I don’t think I identify with one side or another.”
That said, he identified one area of clear alignment. “If one thing that I agree with conservative people on, conservative people lend more towards the importance of discipline,” he said. “Hard work, discipline, don’t complain, get things done, deal with the hand that you’ve been dealt with, and just sort it out and get to work. Don’t cry. Don’t look for other people to save you.”
Rogan then pointed to what he sees as the cultural cost of holding that mindset openly. He mentioned: “This is not something that’s celebrated in society. It’s thought of as a cruelty that if you say that you need discipline, that you’re not treating these people that are victi ms of circumstance with the proper respect or with the proper empathy.”
He pushed back on the idea that unlimited empathy is always a virtue. “I think a certain amount of empathy is probably not so good for you at a certain point in time,” he said. “There comes a point in time where you’re letting people wallow in their bulls**t and just make excuses for why they’re not getting anything done.”
Thompson echoed the sentiment, and Rogan immediately connected it to what he views as policy failures in California. He said, “That is a giant part of what’s wrong with California. What’s wrong with California when it comes to cri me, the way they address cri me and the way they address homelessness and all these issues that they have, they don’t put their foot down.”
Rogan then referenced a concept from professor Gad Saad: “At a certain point in time, you’ve got to realize what Gad Saad calls suicidal empathy. Society can suf fer from su**idal empathy. And at a certain point in time, you’ve got to enforce rules and you’ve got to make it so that people have to get their s**t together.”
