The Mandate Letter, by Jason Rogers, focuses on the intersection of masculinity and mental health. Thanks for being here. If you were forwarded this email, get your own:
Hello Friends! After some time off to recharge during the holidays, I am ready to get the Mandate Letter back off to the races!
New Piece for Men’s Health
First off, I’m excited to share some new work. Last September, I joined a river rafting trip led by Joe Hawley, a former center in the NFL. The retreat was the second outdoor experience offered by the Hart Collective, a community that Hawley founded to help male, ex-pro athletes rediscover the feeling of brotherhood after transitioning out of sports. However, what makes Hawley’s collective unique is its focus on emotional and spiritual growth. (note: since the time of writing, the Hart Collective has expanded into a broader community)
Besides Hawley and myself, we were joined by five other ex-NFLers, a photographer, a videographer, and the fine folks at Adrift Dinosaur (the rafting company). By day, we took on all the river could throw at us. By night, we dove into really meaningful conversations about fear, love, anger, and shame. I’m incredibly grateful to have met this remarkable group of guys and so honored to have been party to the kind of courage that goes along with men deciding to undertake this kind of deep emotional work.
That said, this piece was very challenging to write. Going into the trip, I was already confident in the notion that vulnerability is the key to improving the mental health of men at large. However, I would be neglecting my journalistic duties if I did not subject the trip’s premise and my own advocacy to scrutiny. I also thought long and hard about the average Men’s Health reader. He is much more likley to be skeptical of all this vulnerability stuff or perhaps only passively supportive at best.
How could I tell him a story that would earn his trust? How could I get him to stay with the piece until the end and actually listen when I offered him my conclusion: If men like this choose to do this work, you should too.
Read on Apple News | Read on Men’s Health (requires subscription)
(If neither of those options works for you, shoot me an email — jason (at) jasonrogers.co)
New Formats!
The funny thing about self-perception is that it’s often wrong. I generally think of myself as a highly structured person who delights in the regimentation of monastic routines. And yet, that probably is not true at all. As I’ve written about in the past, I can get pretty obsessive about improving productivity. However, I actually get more energy from optimizing a routine rather than sticking to my plan.
All of that is to say, that I will try to get on some kind of regular schedule with the Mandate Letter. At what cadence, I’m not quite sure yet. I suspect that I will publish around two letters per month, every other Friday. I plan to continue doing short essay-based work. However, I will also be sending Mandate Minis, basically extended versions of the Department of Links (i.e., cool things in culture that I think are worth your attention).
As always, I welcome your feedback and your suggested links!
New Focus: Mental Health
This newsletter began with a pretty basic premise: exploring how masculinity is evolving in culture. And over the last forty-some editions of the Mandate Letter, I’ve touched on a variety of issues (gender, politics, etc.) under that mantle. However, a core theme has been mental health. We are witnessing epidemic rates of suicide and depression among men (this was in full swing even before the pandemic). If we are going to encourage wholesale change in the way men navigate the world, we need to start by addressing how they ask for help.
This is, in part, why I’ve written so often about the importance of vulnerability and, in my editorial work, have explored various spaces where men are made to feel safe sharing what’s on their hearts and minds.
So, the Mandate Letter will continue to explore masculinity in all senses of the word, but mental health, for now, is going to sit up top.
New Logo!
You might have noticed already, but we have a new logo! When I began this project, I started learning how to use Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, and After Effects to make the header animations for each installment. I did this so that I could stop asking my wife (who has her own cool job that she needs to focus on) for such things. But it was also because I am genuinely interested in motion graphics and design. That learning curve has been steep but also very rewarding.
Still, I cringe when I look back at some of the early header animations. Right now, I’d peg my ability at the level of a drunk hobbyist. And I’m sure that in 6 months’ time, I look back at the work of today and think “oy vey, that does not look good.” Nevertheless, I designed a new logo for the Mandate Letter (with the kind assistance of my wife, who has a better-trained eye). I look forward to continually failing forward in this arena. If there are actual designers on this newsletter, please forgive me for my sins.
Musings: Joe Rogan Needs a Better Team
A debate is raging around the wildly popular podcaster, so I can’t resist weighing in. Musicians Neil Young and Joni Mitchell have pulled their music from Spotify (which has the exclusive rights to The Joe Rogan Experience) for the pod’s alleged role in spreading misinformation about COVID mandates and vaccines. Spotify is defending Rogan but, as NY Times editorial board member Greg Bensinger points out, when tech platforms offer a vehement defense of free speech, it’s often a smokescreen for the safeguarding of dollars and cents.
I’ve noted some of Rogan’s antics on this newsletter in the past. And I generally take the view that he’s probably a reasonably well-intentioned guy. But he often says things like I’m just asking questions, which I don’t think is an ample response when guests repeatedly say harmful stuff on your show.
In fairness to Rogan, he’s made some good points in his defense. He’s noted that what’s considered “misinformation” today may not be in a year and said he just wants to have conversations that help us get to the bottom of the truth. The guests in question — Dr. Peter McCollough and Dr. Robert Malone — are not random guys off the street (McCollough is particularly well credentialled). Rogan has also said that he welcomes COVID-related warning labels on his content and will try to provide more diversity in opinion especially after controversial guests.
However, what has been the most revealing about this controversy is what it has revealed about the inner workings of Rogan’s show. I would expect that running a podcast of that magnitude is stressful. However, an implicit part of his defense is that he is doing his best and that the pod has become an “out of control juggernaut that [he] barely [has] control of.”
The Rogan/Spotify deal was reported at north of $100 million. He apparently does all of the guest bookings himself. For someone that publishes on average 148 episodes a year, that’s absolutely insane. He also said that he could come to the interviews better prepared. Dude, hire a research assistant! It’s really strange that he’s painted his show as this one-man-band operation. When you have arguably the most popular podcast in the world, it’s your responsibility to get the help you need, do your research, and for god’s sake, slow down!
Department of Links
🛹 Skating and Talking — I am loving this new Vice series that goes inside the world of skating boarding and mental health. The inaugural episode featured a story about Ben Raemers, the incredibly talented British rider who took his own life in 2019. He lives on with the Ben Raemer’s Foundation, which helps to raise suicide awareness through training. — Vice
🤳 Bo Burnham’s “Inside” — How I forgot to include comedian Bo Burnham’s latest show for Netflix on my list of favorite creative work last year is a personal mystery. It’s hard to describe exactly what it is — a video diary? a comedy special? a musical? Whatever it is, it’s a masterpiece. Burnham spent a more than a year sequestered in a single room studio shooting himself singing, dancing, laughing, crying, and lamenting about the state of his mental health and personal misgivings with our culture in recent years (especially during the Pandemic). He gives us a rare picture of what we all might feel like if we were isolated alone at the end of the world. — Netflix
🎤 Juice WRLD: Into the Abyss — If there is one thing you can say about the rapper Juice WRLD, who died in 2019, it would be that he was radically open. This doc goes inside the life of one of the most dynamic hip-hop performers we have seen in quite some time. I really struggle to lay too much praise on artists who promote a drug-obsessed lifestyle as part of their oeuvre, but in the case of Juice WRLD, I do think it’s possible that his vulnerable disposition might have done more good than harm. (Also, on his album “Fighting Demons,” there is a whole interlude with Eminen talking about overcoming drug addiction. It’s clear that, on some level, he wanted to make a change) — HBOMax
🎙 Alpha Male Podcasters — Apropos of the above section on Rogan, the TikToker dancer “Social Justice Bard” comments on how some male podcasters pull one over on their listeners by reflecting insecurities about masculinity back on men — TikTok
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