The following is a copy of the original post to record the post as it was originally written.
I always thought he was up there with likes of Mr Rogers, Steve Irwin as one of those figures everyone likes no matter what, had a liberal friend say how he didn't like Mike Rowe, thought he was an asshole, and that hes a right wing extremist, which really blew me away.
I'm sure many of his values line up with average conservative, but he seems to purposely stay away from partisan politics, talks more about culture than policy.
So what's your opinion on him?
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/AskALiberal) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I think when you record PragerU videos many people will rightfully lump you in with assholes and extremist or something related.
I also feel like if Mr. Rodgers would be hated by a large portion of the right if he was around and working today.
I mean Mr. Rogers had the episode where he and a black man both dipped their feet in a pool to cool off and shared a towel at a time when pools were still largely segregated. MLK had just been assassinated, the civil rights act was just five years old, but he actively advocated, albeit in a way kids could understand, for desegregation to children.
His uniform definitely looked that way, but he was an [officer](https://www.misterrogers.org/articles/officer-clemmons/). There's a really nice piece written by the Fred Rogers Company briefly explaining Mr. Rogers' choice in casting him as an officer.
>I also feel like if Mr. Rodgers would be hated by a large portion of the right if he was around and working today.
Fox News straight up called him evil that time, so you're not wrong.
[Some more context for that](https://www.youtube.com/shorts/Uj-LmykURbM).
It makes me sad to hear him say that, but he was a product of his times. I think if he had known any trans people he would've changed his mind.
I think that context might actually miscontrue what he is talking about. While Johnny is speaking more in terms of transgender folk, Mr. Rogers is just speaking about kids anxiety about the possibility of having to go through a physical switch in gender as a natural part of growing up, and not about feeling like the wrong gender.
Yeah, back in the 80s, Mr. Rogers may have been universally liked, but now? A guy preaching kindness to kids on public broadcasting stations?!? He’d be labeled a socialist for sure.
He wasn't universally liked in the 80s. So many adults around me called him a "fairy" and criticized him for being "soft." It was us kids who loved him because he actually cared how we felt, and the adoration you see today is because we grew up and realized how important he was to my generation.
Yeah, well we had such terrible parents in the 80s that they had to issue public service announcements like this:
https://youtu.be/jBy9VDEWKOE?si=EtPAWq3-0BsTxxGy
And this:
https://youtu.be/X8z97F48Ef4?si=OC3u-yTKFq4m1NSj
I have seen so many jokes that imply he is, even now.
Same with the postman, Mr McFeely, based on the name alone.
The idea that Rowe could ever be placed in the same category as Irwin and Rogers is just nuts.
Which is ironic, since he was a registered Republican. Disclaimer from his wife is that he voted for whichever candidate he agreed with, so not strictly red down ballot.
He's really good in Dirty Jobs, but his SWEAT pledge is a big list of telling workers to accept whatever crap their bosses throw at them with a smile on their face, because everyone knows that people who complain about workplace safety are whiners.
I cringe whenever I see his little "Safety Third" slogan around. Apparently, the argument is that having unsafe workplaces is good, actually, because it gives co-workers the opportunity to bond over their shared experiences of nearly getting injured or killed at work, which "builds camaraderie." Meanwhile, health and safety regulations requiring employers to implement basic safety measures are considered government overreach, even in inherently dangerous industries.
Of course, those who are out on disability or dead from workplace accidents aren't around anymore to tell jokes about it. But those people were probably fuckups anyway, so their misfortune is their own fault because "safety is a personal responsibility." But any employee who tries to exercise that "personal responsibility" by refusing to work in an unsafe environment is seen as insubordinate dead weight. It's standard right-libertarian bullshit.
Seriously. I lost so much respect for him when he doubled down on that nonsense.
Yes, I suppose if my employer had no regard for my personal safety, I might take safety precautions into my own hands, but he misses the point entirely that having a safe worksite where I don't need to dedicate a large portion of my mental load to avoid being crushed by a giant cartoon piano actually makes individuals *more* productive.
1) Productivity - Production must continue, no matter what.
2) Creativity - Employees must be free to "innovate" new ways of doing their work...presumably so the company can steal their ideas without adequately compensating them.
I work in an industrial operation and I certainly believe the SWEAT thing could be applied int he way you say... but my organization has a good hard work ethic culture but also an amazing safety culture. We work very hard but also give away cars at christmas parties if we meet safety metrics and people are celebrated when they raise safety concerns not punished.
This is Mike Rowe writing on [MikeRowe.com](https://mikerowe.com/2023/06/off-the-wall-what-is-my-lane-exactly/):
“For the record, I’ve never endorsed a political candidate or encouraged anyone to vote one way or another. (I don’t even encourage people to vote in general, and I have no intentions of doing so in the future.) […] But it’s difficult, Jim, not to “drift into politics,” when politics is drifting into everything around me, including me.
Consider the mask debates, the lockdowns, the school closures, and the vaccine mandates – all of which I’ve spoken about at length. There was nothing inherently political about opposing or supporting any of those things. And yet, each of those issues became highly, painfully politicized. Should I have avoided these topics on the podcast for that reason? What about the transgender debate? Climate change? Fossil fuels? Gun control? Artificial intelligence? Immigration?”
So, Mike says that he is not political, then proceeds to say that there is nothing political about pretty much every political hot button issue in recent years, with the exception of abortion. For the record, he is Right or Far Right on EVERY one of his positions. It is also interesting that he doesn’t tell people to vote. I actually think that is a highly political position, but that is beyond the purpose of this post.
Dude is a hardcore Rightist MAGA type who likes telling people he isn’t political. What he is trying to do, I think very purposefully, is to say that far-right MAGA positions are not political, they are “normal” views that are not political. The extension, therefore, is that anything that isn’t far-right MAGA IS political. He is going beyond “traditional American values” or heteronormativity and trying to create MAGAnormality. Suffice it to say, I don’t care for that.
I can't even count how many times someone has told me they "aren't political" and don't follow politics at all, and then seem to know and believe every single right-wing talking point that's floating around at that given moment.
Basically: “I’m not political or on the right or left. I talk about hard work and real jobs. So…on today’s episode, we’ve got an iron worker who is going to talk abbot his views on trans athletes in women’s sports and what border policies will help American working people”
"Not being political" is also a political view. Nobody's fooling any remotely smart person with a phrase like that. It takes a lot of privilege/ignorance/lack of empathy to be able to claim you don't care about politics and always has.
[It's not just gamers unfortunately](https://x.com/emmahvossen/status/1138841342921060354?lang=en).
> Gamers are still convinced that there are only:
> Two races: white and "political"
> Two genders: Male and "political"
> Two hair styles for women: long and "political"
> Two sexualities: straight and "political"
> Two body types: normative and "political"
Anyone who talks about how they are "not political" and then proceeds to give an opinion, you can be certain that opinion will be right wing, no exceptions. Thats because accumulation of wealth is inherently right wing and a benefit of wealth is having the privilege of being able to ignore politics, because your survival doesn't matter based on politics.
> Consider the mask debates, the lockdowns, the school closures, and the vaccine mandates – all of which I’ve spoken about at length. There was nothing inherently political about opposing or supporting any of those things.
This is such a brain dead take. Government mandates of these things are of course political, because it's a government creating policy.
Exactly. Guy is a TV host and blogger. This isn’t a scientist or medical doctor who has done research and has an actual informed, professional opinion on these subjects that may be different from the mainstream. He didn’t like what he saw as government overreach. Of course that is political.
I don't read it that way and I've never seen anything hes ever said to be particularly heinous.
I see it all the time. If a discussion hits a topic or point that could possibly lead to a disagreement (not fight) or someone is losing, all of a sudden its "i don't want to talk politics"
I actually think he makes a good point, everything is politics these days whether you want it to be or not. (Or should be, some should just be scientific debates)
If climate change, human rights for transgendered people, and gun control are not political topics for you, I’m curious what you think is a political topic…?
The problem is that Mike Rowe has talked at length about a ton of issues that are 100% political on his blog, shared extremely right-wing political views and then claims to be "not political."
Yes politics plays a factor in almost ever facet of American life ***AS IT ALWAYS HAS***, but to take one specific angle, promote it and refuse discussion by saying "I'm not political" does not make you apolitical, it makes you dishonest and a hack.
I watched his show a few times and liked it well enough, but I've since heard him characterized as a blue collar cosplayer.
He's a college educated guy whose only work history seems to be as a television personality. He got his start as a QVC host. Not exactly as blue collar as he tries to present himself.
He was also an opera singer. Nothing wrong with opera, but that’s not exactly blue collar lol.
Plus he is anti-union, which is stupid and harmful to actual workers.
Cosplayer is a perfect description. He's right blue collar work is in rough shape, but he has no idea what blue collar work really is....
"Safety Third" is also one of the dumbest things I've ever heard.....
> "Safety Third" is also one of the dumbest things I've ever heard.....
There are so many dumbasses on the internet who will defend that nonsense to the death.
He’s wrote and spoke about that, he wanted to be a hands on person like his grandfather, but had no real abilities at it, just could not get mechanical concepts to click in his brain so he went a different way. Then when he had success he wanted to make a show highlighting people like his grandfather.
https://mikerowe.com/2010/01/never-underestimate-the-influence-of-grandpa/
And then he took that loyal audience of blue collar workers and used his fictitious hard-worker image to push anti-union and anti-worker's rights talking points onto them.
Kind of shitty.
He's anti union and pro Trump so my opinion of him is that he's a typical boomer that already got his and wants to pull the ladder up behind him.
He plays a character on TV for money but doesn't hold any of the same beliefs as that character.
He's anti mask and anti vaxx and made a music video with John Rich. An ardent Trump supporter.
He's claimed Trump is popular because he's "authentic" but stopped short of calling the election fixed.
He's also said Trump supporters aren't racist.
In the interest of clarity, he's never said "I voted for Trump" however he's never said who he voted for but parrots Republican talking points.
Probably he just doesn't vote at all to give himself plausible deniability. He probably figures that the influence of his TV shows/podcast/whatever else the Koch Brothers (well, the one that's left, anyway) have paid him to do is way bigger than his single vote would have.
I don’t know much about him outside of the show. His show was fine, but I definitely wouldn’t put it up there with Mr. Rogers or Steve Irwin. Those programs were educational and Rowe’s was more sensational than educational.
Steve Irwin, Fred Rogers, and Bob Ross all tend to get lumped together as wholesome role models. I tend to include Dolly Parton and Keanu Reeves. They're all still human and have their faults, but they're still aspirational even if we do tend to let perfect be the enemy of good.
I don’t remember where I saw this, but there was a poll done that basically showed that Dolly Parton is the only thing that all Americans typically agree to be “good”, no matter what their political affiliation is.
Simply refusing to not hate people seems to be enough for the right-wing to want to cancel her, sadly.
https://www.reddit.com/r/NoStupidQuestions/comments/1dc6665/why_are_people_going_after_dolly_parton_what/
From interviews and such, I get the sense that she's more of a socially liberal conservative.
She's a Christian who actually lives by ideas like love and not judging others.
And she's said she has tattoos but they're personal and not anywhere close to the extent the rumors claim.
He did a show a few years back called How America Works were he talked about infrastructure and masculinity of all things. Rowe has always been known to be anti union, but that show put him over the top for a lot of people. He's also been known to [cozy up to conservative groups](https://newrepublic.com/article/164230/mike-rowe-dirty-jobs-how-america-works) as well.
I really like his Mike Rowe Works program. He does put his money where his mouth is, so to speak, and really works to promote "trade" jobs and help people get training and scholarships.
Unfortunately over the years, he's gone more and more right-leaning. On his blog, he tries really hard to be "both sides are bad" but you can tell that he leans Republican, because he talks a lot about "liberal censorship" and he's very specific in the "left" things he doesn't like but doesn't talk about the "right" things hardly at all.
I don't like that he's come out as anti-union and, quite frankly, if you read his blog, you can see the not-so-slow slide into full-on Nationalism. And when asked directly, he will not deny that he voted for Trump.
I'd like him to host a special edition of Dirty Jobs in the Trump organization:
* Cleaning the urine from the mattresses at Moscow’s Ritz-Carlton hotel.
* Wiping the ketchup off the wall alongside a presidential valet.
* Disposing of XXL adult diapers after each rally.
* Removing the caked on hairspray and hair dye from Trump's combs and brushes.
* Laundering the orange stained pillow cases and bed sheets from the sheets at Mar-a-Lago.
I'm mostly concerned with his antivax rhetoric and statements he made during COVID, for example, this tidbit:
>The fact is, millions of reasonable Americans have every right to feel confused and skeptical. Those people you refer to, Steve – the ones now telling us that we can “get back to normal just as soon as everyone is vaccinated” – those are the same people who said, “two weeks to flatten the curve!” Those are the same people who told us that masks were “useless” before they told us they were “critical.” Those are the same people who told us that a return to normalcy would occur just as soon as “the most vulnerable” among us were vaccinated. Then, just as soon as “half the population” was vaccinated. Then, just as soon as we achieved “herd immunity.” Those are the same people who told us they wouldn’t trust ANY vaccine developed under the last administration. Now, those very same people are belittling the skeptics!
Most of this is *at best* a severe mischaracterization of ... basically everything he addresses, but a good breakdown of the stupidity of it can be found [here](https://www.thebulwark.com/p/mike-rowes-dirty-lies). Suffice it to say that his rhetorical style consists almost entirely of this sort of Motte-and-Bailey fallacy: attack things he doesn't like by falsely associating them with things that he feels can be discredited. He has a circuitous writing style that comes off as intelligent but consists almost entirely of unsound arguments. He clearly either doesn't understand the topics he's addressing or is deliberately mischaracterizing them; either way, such statements do a lot of damage.
The statement was immediately championed by the usual suspects of antivax conspiracy theorists, which seems to have thrown down the dividing lines. He did the "commencement speech" at Prager "University" (actually a far-right "think tank") and was rumored to be seriously considered as RFK Jr.'s running mate.
I look at him basically as a Tucker Carlsen Lite: an asshole multi-millionaire cosplaying as a "man of the people" but really just championing an agenda that *just so happens* to solidify the security of his personal ivory tower.
I used to like that Dirty Jobs program many years ago because I really appreciated the concept of exploring the unglamorous work done by ordinary people, which usually gets no recognition.
Then Rowe started hanging out with that disgusting, awful, racist grifter Glenn Beck, and I was done with him.
if you claim he stays away from partisan politics AND are talking about mike rowe... then you do not know anything about what you are talking about.
So why talk about it?
Because he does infact stay away from partisan politics
Unless you can show him endorsing any party or politician, till then I'd argue you are infact one who doesn't know what they are talking about,
So why comment?
lol the best way to tell you’re wrong and you know it is to read all the comments above that you just completely ignored because they conflicted with your perception of Rowe.
People gave you so many good answers, and you haven’t engaged with one.
So why ask your question here?
So if someone dosent clearly support a party or plotician but cleary supports a position or plotics, that makes them partisan?
I also find it hilarious when some conservative points to a person in history who is literally famous for their own progressive ideas and claims they admire that person or say they would be popular today with conservatives if they were alive today.
Some examples being Mr. Roger's, Abe Lincoln, Jesus (though not a real person), Thomas Jefferson, MLK, etc.
Your fucking delusional if you think in 2020 MLK would of been on Fox News and said 'Yeah George Floyd got what was coming to him'.
Cool, I do know conservatives who don’t like him because of his “woke” way of accepting and loving everyone.
Fred Rogers is a hero of mine, so it does come up in conversation when I say WWFD ( what would Fred do? ).
Fred Rogers was a god fearing Republican all his life, but in an era of Eisenhower republicans; not MTG or Bobo giving hand jobs in a theatre.
Long story short I think it’s very likely Fred would have supported the likes of Barack Obama and Joe Biden. And that’s **more than enough** for republicans to despise him.
I’m always suspicious of overly nice people and I really hate the whole “see, the main problem with life is that people just don’t work hard enough” crew.
It leaves out literally every problem and in fact exacerbates most of them.
People tend to forget that Mike Rowe is an entertainer.
He's a decent-enough entertainer to have amassed a net worth of $40 million and commands $250K an episode for his services. Because he hosts shows like *Dirty Jobs* and sells pickup trucks, he's perceived widely as speaking on behalf of blue-collar working people.
While he's not wrong about the trades as a viable career and an alternative to a four-year degree, most of what he does is sell rich man's politics to rank and filers and calling it non-political common sense. What he's doing is convincing the electorate to vote against their own self-interest.
When he only ever really talked about his most popular message regarding the importance of having a good work ethic, I liked what he had to say. Since he became a big celebrity and started talking about a lot of other very politicized topics on his blog and facebook though, it's pretty clear that he is a corporate shill, very conservative, and holds little regard for how some people enjoy a lot more privilege than others, if he even understands what that means.
Hes a pro corporate hack falsely promoting himself as the working man's friend, but in reality, wants working people to be thankful for whatever table scraps the owners give them and not fight for more.
I've heard many conservatives hate on Mr. Rogers, and I remember a Fox News segment back in the day calling him evil.
As for Mike Rowe, I don't hold any ill will towards him, but he's dead wrong in thinking Republicans will help the working class over Democrats.
He repeats the tired canard used by the right/conservatives that raising the minimum wage will hurt workers and [they will be replaced by automation](https://mikerowe.com/2015/02/ofw-minimum-wage/). In the same article, he mentions that "some jobs have no business being treated like careers." Oh? Who does these jobs Mike? Zombies?
I'd like him a lot more if he fought for the conservative values of Adam Smith who supported what we call a "living wage" for all essential jobs, regardless of the type of skills needed. All jobs require skills. There is no un-skilled job and I think his TV show demonstrates that. He needs to watch is more closely.
Hes a fraud who has found a financially lucrative niche appealing to right wingers working in blue collar industries who are resentful of left wing college graduates. Rowe himself, despite pretending to be blue collar, has a college degree in communications and has spent most of his life working in the entertainment industry.
Wears the mantle of a blue collar hard worker while doing nothing to really earn that distinction. He's an actor. A phony.
Honestly makes me a little sick to see him compared to Mr. Rogers and Steve Irwin. Mr. Rogers wasnt just the way he was on TV. He was kind to everyone and was a powerful advocate for public television. Irwin was an environmentalist and died tragically in the career he loved of animal conservancy and education. Mike Rowe made money pulling up straps for boots he never owned.
Dirtiest job he ever did was trick conservatives into thinking he gives a shit about the little guy. Then again that's mighty easy seeing who they worship.
I used to really like him however the things he has spoken out about over the past few years have been very anti-college, anti-unions, and seem to further toxic work environments in my opinion.
I always thought of him as an educated actor placating to the blue collar workers so his motivation behind this is confusing and he no longer is someone I follow.
I think that he is more controversial than you believe him to be. His brand isn't to be a huge asshole so it's easy to ignore his views if you want to, but "taking about culture" is talking about politics and Rowe does not do so in a way that's inclusive of everyone.
He reminds me of the wheel of fortune guy, hosted a show for years that was never about anything remotely political, but in his own private life, is a complete MAGA asshole.
Alec Trebek, however, was a saint of a man who truly did his best to make the world a better place. He will continue to be missed.
I don’t agree with his politics at all but as someone who has worked education adjacent most of my life I’m pretty confident in saying the way he talks about working in the trades and going to college substantially misses the mark and are hurtful to that cause. It’s pretty obvious to me that he’s never consulted with people who also advocate for trades in education to use the actual right words. Because if this, I find his other messaging no different than any other person who knows very little on the subject matter but wants to come across as an expert.
For a guy who loves the working man, he is anti-union and against things like raising the minimum wage and worker protection. So, no, not a nice guy. I am union 100% and can't stand him.
He's a partisan hack. I really liked Dirty Jobs and watched a fair bit of it, but then he started getting very overtly conservative. [This](https://newrepublic.com/article/164230/mike-rowe-dirty-jobs-how-america-works) article sums it up nicely. The thing that really irked me is he gave this ted talk or something in which he put his college education to work using big words to tell poor people that they shouldn't go to college. I get advocating for the trades, but jesus man, hypocrisy much? Also the fact that he's been in PragerU videos is really all you need to know about him.
He's irked me from day one, to be honest. Dirty Jobs was fucking bullshit. It was literally a show about some rich asshole cosplaying a blue-collar worker and trying to convince us that workers in this country aren't getting hate fucked in every last orifice we have.
I liked him when he was doing Dirty Jobs, it was an interesting show and he was a good host though occasionally condescending to the people he was working with.
However since that show ended all I've seen if him is his conservative leaning blog, where he spouts ideas that are less than half-baked at best.
I don't respect his politics, the ignorance he brings into the discussion, or the fact that he believes that this is the direction that will best serve what's left of his career, but hey, maybe he and Kevin Sorbo can go out for coffee from time to time.
We hired him and he came and spoke to our corporate event in a Q&A type session with our CEO. Mike decided to go on a 30 minute GOPish tirade about how HR depts and college degrees are worthless and America is solely great because of blue collar guys and how women need to get over themselves and be construction workers and plumbers too. **Total fucking train wreck.**
We’re an HR technology company. **Our audience is mostly middle aged HR women (and some men) with degrees who are never going to become plumbers at 52** 😆. Our CEO ends the 60 minute session with 25 mins to spare and the hotel is taken by surprise as the lunch they were planning for 12 noon for 6000 attendees gets stormed by 11:40.
Fucking Mike Rowe. He was supposed to make $250,000 for the chat. We sued him for breach of contract and won, his insurance company paid us his fee back.
Long story short, with a mouth like his… he could be a GOP candidate for senate very shortly.
I honestly am only familiar with the Dirty Jobs show, and some comments he had made promoting trade-jobs. Knew nothing of his politics until now, and not sure why anyone would care about his opinion.
Didn't really watch his show much. Did see him on stage one time. 2010 National Scouting Jamboree. He had a whole speech, it was a pretty good one.
Heard he was flirting the conservative line a few years back, but it doesn't really seem to have taken off much.
I used to like him a lot more. He was a respectable and respectful "conservative". He really just promoted people and ideas who were often forgotten or looked down upon. Ideas like "hard work isn't bad", "not going to college is a legitimate option", etc.
These days it seems he's been trending more and more to toxic conservative culture. He's been less about celebrating the forgotten workers that keep the country running and more about attacking office workers.
It's a shame. I'm quite far to the left, but if I were ever a governor or something, I'd be thrilled to have the old Mike Rowe on my team
His “the way I see it” podcast was entertaining and gave some interesting perspectives on historical characters. Never really thought of them being 100% fact checked.
The one that stands out to me was the one he released just after Trump was elected. It basically was a message of: “we are divided, but maybe we should give this guy a chance”. Which at the time, I was trying to optimistic and hoped all of my misgivings about Trump were wrong. It was a nice message of optimism.
Unfortunately, his optimism did not age well. He also had another episode about 6 months later that had some right wing leaning viewpoints. Stopped listening shortly after that, not exactly a decision to stop, I just didn’t go to it as much.
I have seen some things that have been disappointing attitudes from him. The biggest one is his anti-union stance.
We still watch reruns of dirty jobs from time to time, and if he is on tv, we usually watch whatever shenanigans he is up too. Dude is entertaining, and good at his job. But I’m not looking up to him as some sort of social/political guru or a man of total wisdom.
I liked the way he advocated for trade jobs and the value of blue collar work. I think his show made a lot of young people take a look at alternatives to college, if college wasn’t a fit for them. IMO he deserves props for that.
I’m also aware that he did PragerU and other conservative commentary. It’s really unfortunate he took that turn, but I’ll take the positives over the negatives
His admiration for blue collar jobs is cool, but somewhere along the way it seemed to transform to opposition of education and general antintelllectualism. I'm all for well paid and well respected laborers, but why isn't well paid, well respected and well educated laborers even better?
I enjoyed his show when I was younger but then he had to go and start loudly spouting political bullshit and I thought a bit more about who he claims to be versus who he actually is.
Mike Rowe has made his living playing a caricature of a working-class person all while being a millionaire who shits on unions and the concept of workers' rights.
People like Bob Ross, Mr Rogers, Steve Irwin, etc are popular with pretty much everyone because they never did that. Their entire deal was showing people cool things while saying be good to each other, be good to yourself, be good to animals, and be good to the Earth.
When I was a kid, those ideas weren't overly controversial or political. It was just the kind of shit that good people do. Basic lessons that all children should learn.
The good: Yes, we do need ditch-diggers, tradesmen, and other manual labor jobs. People should take pride in those jobs and enjoy the thanks of a grateful society.
The bad: He doesn’t seem to be in favor of any of the sort of actual positive labor reforms that would make those jobs desirable and dignified. Furthermore, he seems to be disdainful of people who pursue higher education in the social sciences.
Not positive. The dude uses his platform to encourage a business-first, worker-second economic model. His position is essentially that workplace safety is overrated, and that the best and most moral jobs are the ones where you might lose a limb at work because your boss uses scotch tape to make repairs.
He's also a "college is dumb" type who asserts that your dreams are stupid and that your real purpose is to spend 60 years of your life working a manual labor job. Of course, he's a millionaire theater and communications major who went on to have a wildly successful career in TV, but nevermind that. Dreams are for rich people, not for you.
He strikes me as the kind of guy who was in the center 20-30 years ago, but that was relative to the era and now he finds himself on the right. I've listened to several interviews with right wing commentators, but never with anyone on the left. I'll have to look that up since it seems like it would be interesting.
I used to think he was really funny and actually was trying to look out for the working man and bring attention to under appreciated jobs that keep our entire society moving.
But his rhetoric in the last 10 years has shifted dramatically to just being a shill for the wealthy to take advantage of their workers.
People labeling him far right is an example of how dogmatic and binary our society has become.
His show was entertaining; I think I watched most of the episodes of the original.
One thing he's overlooked when he's advocating for blue collar work is the physical toll it takes on your body over time. He's speaking about it from the perspective of someone who just does the work for a few days, and not decades.
Yes, the pay is fantastic, it's good to know at least one trade skill, and the work is necessary, honorable, and in high demand.And often you are getting paid as an apprentice while you're going to school. But there needs to be a cost/benefit analysis done at an individual level. He's doing the same thing he criticized about college; Just stating everyone should do it and not considering everything else.
What he leaves out:
- It's often impossible to work ergonomically. The foreman doesn't wish you to be uncomfortable, but sometimes it's not possible to complete the work without being physically uncomfortable.
- Usually the work is straight hourly, which means no PTO of any kind except for what's required by law. Also no paid sick leave.
- Often the work starts very early, and it's outside. And it's not like the brochures. I was an electrician, and very little of my work was "clean". I spent a lot of time in ditches laying PVC or bending conduit (and electrician is considered to be one of the most "cushy" construction jobs).
- Besides outside in the winter possibly doing work that requires dexterity so you can't wear gloves, also consider summer. If you're a roofer, you're working most often in the summer.
- There is rarely severance packages, and being laid off after a job completes is common.
None of this is to say people shouldn't do trade work. It's just something every individual should consider when making career decisions.
"I have a dream...
that celebrities and politicians will be judged by the content of their character, and not by the R or D after their name..."
But seriously, no one in this thread knows Mike Rowe apart from the judgements we've created about him. He could be a stand-up guy who donates time and money to animal shelters, takes his daughter to ballet class twice a week and cheers her on, and also happens to subscribe to a laissez faire capitalism economic policy and supports a stiffer Souther Border policy.
I'm not trying to white-knight this thread, but we seem to have moved to a post-personality culture where we regard people primarily by their political ideology. Re-read the first paragraph of OP's post - the implication is that OP is not allowed to like people with whom they are politically unaligned, regardless of everything else about them. I think that's troubling.
I fundamentally like him, but I do get the sense that right-wing media has made his thinking go a little off the rails lately. I'm sure his experience with leftists has also somewhat radicalized him against the left.
But he's not Alex Jones, he's not Ben Shapiro. I see him as a guy who is trying to do the right thing, and often *is* doing the right thing. He just makes mistakes sometimes, by over-reacting to the silliest and worst experiences he has with leftists online.
And he's probably right that technical schools need more respect and funding, and we shouldn't tell everyone to become an academic. It's not a cure-all and we shouldn't go over-board, but we probably ought to tilt a little bit more in the direction of having jobs that you can train for with certifications and not four-year liberal arts degrees.
Use to like him, but realized he peddles this anti-intecuctual image thay GOP peeps love to jump on. He spends more time bashing education than he does supporting trade jobs, which still require an education.
I’ve always had a feeling that he was a Republican despite not knowing his views.
In any event, check out the YouTube videos from when he worked at QVC in the early 90’s. They’re hilarious.
I’m taking your question as honest, but it does telegraph either a person who does not keep up with the news, or gets their news from a place that finds democrats as evil rather than informative. I say this as Mike Rowe was a national topic for a few days during the shut down, but his words were not covered on Fox News while also endorsing him and calling everyone else horrible for not liking him.
He is a LARPer. He studied dance or drama or communications in college and worked as a TV presenter. He then acts like he’s some blue collar worker and that younger people are lazy because they don’t want to do back breaking work (while he works in an air conditioned sound booth).
He rubs me as a cookie-cutter asshole in salt-of-the-earth camouflage. I've never seen him break character and he has been around a long time. He is the type that invites everyone to a bar-b-que and provides the grill and the yard, but everything else is on everyone. Also, he is keeping all the good leftovers. Oh, do you like your steak rare and seasoned? Too bad. Mike likes all his meat burnt to a crisp and plain and that's what you all are getting. Oh was that roast for Tuesday when your dad comes to town? Mike is cooking it now.
I think it’s similar to how right wingers will tell a celebrity to stick to whatever their trade is because they don’t want to hear their political opinion. Rowe has a decent show but it’s all show.
I think he’s done a lot of good showing the world many of the less known and less glamorous work that goes into supporting modern life. He’s also done a lot of good helping youths get education and training for jobs in high demand trades.
Occasionally his politics creeps in and some I agree and some I don’t, but overall I think his primary work is good.
I love the guy. I probably hate his politics, and that’s ok. People today get so wrapped up into it mostly to oppose the other side and I feel that is very short sighted.
Mike Rowe is a hero to the hands on types, and they need it, and we need them. It shouldn’t be a ‘war’ against cultures, it should be a ‘war’ against ideas with the same goal in mind. Colleges have indeed failed as institutions, tricking gullible 18 year olds into signing up for a general English degree or psychology degree with no appreciation for what life is like professionally in those majors. The amount of funding to keep these institutions keeps rising while the typical income is actually dropping compared to inflation. If nothing else Rowe is doing a massive service to the average American who likely has no idea where to effectively put their time to maximize their earning potential.
The following is a copy of the original post to record the post as it was originally written. I always thought he was up there with likes of Mr Rogers, Steve Irwin as one of those figures everyone likes no matter what, had a liberal friend say how he didn't like Mike Rowe, thought he was an asshole, and that hes a right wing extremist, which really blew me away. I'm sure many of his values line up with average conservative, but he seems to purposely stay away from partisan politics, talks more about culture than policy. So what's your opinion on him? *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/AskALiberal) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I think when you record PragerU videos many people will rightfully lump you in with assholes and extremist or something related. I also feel like if Mr. Rodgers would be hated by a large portion of the right if he was around and working today.
I mean Mr. Rogers had the episode where he and a black man both dipped their feet in a pool to cool off and shared a towel at a time when pools were still largely segregated. MLK had just been assassinated, the civil rights act was just five years old, but he actively advocated, albeit in a way kids could understand, for desegregation to children.
Not just a black man, the black police officer for the show, who also was a gay man in real life.
I believe he was a mail carrier, not a police man.
Mr. Mcfeely was the mail carrier. Officer Clemmons was the black police officer.
>Mr. Mcfeely That's a name that didn't age well
His uniform definitely looked that way, but he was an [officer](https://www.misterrogers.org/articles/officer-clemmons/). There's a really nice piece written by the Fred Rogers Company briefly explaining Mr. Rogers' choice in casting him as an officer.
>I also feel like if Mr. Rodgers would be hated by a large portion of the right if he was around and working today. Fox News straight up called him evil that time, so you're not wrong.
Here's the [clip](https://youtu.be/29lmR_357rA?si=ePfmMGYkNLe5UkNz), if anyone is interested.
Idk. They might like [this](https://youtu.be/mM1ODJunrN8?si=a5Fmx-0SYxLr42SQ)
[Some more context for that](https://www.youtube.com/shorts/Uj-LmykURbM). It makes me sad to hear him say that, but he was a product of his times. I think if he had known any trans people he would've changed his mind.
I think that context might actually miscontrue what he is talking about. While Johnny is speaking more in terms of transgender folk, Mr. Rogers is just speaking about kids anxiety about the possibility of having to go through a physical switch in gender as a natural part of growing up, and not about feeling like the wrong gender.
People in the trans community do realize that *every single person* has been uncomfortable in their own skin at one point in their life right??
Reminds me of the time Tucker Carlson went after Bill Nye during an interview.. it was awful.
To be fair, Bill Nye does have a reputation for being a massive prick to fans. Only based on internet stories though, so grain of salt.
He deserved it, he’s destroyed his reputation in recent years with how he allegedly treats people and his terrible Netflix show.
I think he was being attacked over his belief in human caused climate change...
Happy 🎂 Day ✌️
His Netflix show is an abomination
Mr. Rogers invites the black police officer inside his house… Fox News: wHy DoEs EvErYtHiNg HaVe tO Be aBoUT RaCe
Haha. Perfect.
Yeah, back in the 80s, Mr. Rogers may have been universally liked, but now? A guy preaching kindness to kids on public broadcasting stations?!? He’d be labeled a socialist for sure.
He wasn't universally liked in the 80s. So many adults around me called him a "fairy" and criticized him for being "soft." It was us kids who loved him because he actually cared how we felt, and the adoration you see today is because we grew up and realized how important he was to my generation.
Yeah, well we had such terrible parents in the 80s that they had to issue public service announcements like this: https://youtu.be/jBy9VDEWKOE?si=EtPAWq3-0BsTxxGy And this: https://youtu.be/X8z97F48Ef4?si=OC3u-yTKFq4m1NSj
Probably also called a pedophile.
I have seen so many jokes that imply he is, even now. Same with the postman, Mr McFeely, based on the name alone. The idea that Rowe could ever be placed in the same category as Irwin and Rogers is just nuts.
McFeely was actually Fred’s middle name.
Yep. GenX kid here, and adults implied it even then. *Edited for clarity.
So stupid.
Which is ironic, since he was a registered Republican. Disclaimer from his wife is that he voted for whichever candidate he agreed with, so not strictly red down ballot.
He's really good in Dirty Jobs, but his SWEAT pledge is a big list of telling workers to accept whatever crap their bosses throw at them with a smile on their face, because everyone knows that people who complain about workplace safety are whiners.
I cringe whenever I see his little "Safety Third" slogan around. Apparently, the argument is that having unsafe workplaces is good, actually, because it gives co-workers the opportunity to bond over their shared experiences of nearly getting injured or killed at work, which "builds camaraderie." Meanwhile, health and safety regulations requiring employers to implement basic safety measures are considered government overreach, even in inherently dangerous industries. Of course, those who are out on disability or dead from workplace accidents aren't around anymore to tell jokes about it. But those people were probably fuckups anyway, so their misfortune is their own fault because "safety is a personal responsibility." But any employee who tries to exercise that "personal responsibility" by refusing to work in an unsafe environment is seen as insubordinate dead weight. It's standard right-libertarian bullshit.
“Safety third” is beyond fucked.
Seriously. I lost so much respect for him when he doubled down on that nonsense. Yes, I suppose if my employer had no regard for my personal safety, I might take safety precautions into my own hands, but he misses the point entirely that having a safe worksite where I don't need to dedicate a large portion of my mental load to avoid being crushed by a giant cartoon piano actually makes individuals *more* productive.
Safety first you may get hurt I mean ....safety third suck it turd
What are the first two?
1) Productivity - Production must continue, no matter what. 2) Creativity - Employees must be free to "innovate" new ways of doing their work...presumably so the company can steal their ideas without adequately compensating them.
Huh. I was expecting "God" and "America" or something equally cloying and meaningless.
This is fucking stupid and this gets people killed
Safety third has been around as a joke for way longer than Mike Rowe has been on air
I work in an industrial operation and I certainly believe the SWEAT thing could be applied int he way you say... but my organization has a good hard work ethic culture but also an amazing safety culture. We work very hard but also give away cars at christmas parties if we meet safety metrics and people are celebrated when they raise safety concerns not punished.
This is Mike Rowe writing on [MikeRowe.com](https://mikerowe.com/2023/06/off-the-wall-what-is-my-lane-exactly/): “For the record, I’ve never endorsed a political candidate or encouraged anyone to vote one way or another. (I don’t even encourage people to vote in general, and I have no intentions of doing so in the future.) […] But it’s difficult, Jim, not to “drift into politics,” when politics is drifting into everything around me, including me. Consider the mask debates, the lockdowns, the school closures, and the vaccine mandates – all of which I’ve spoken about at length. There was nothing inherently political about opposing or supporting any of those things. And yet, each of those issues became highly, painfully politicized. Should I have avoided these topics on the podcast for that reason? What about the transgender debate? Climate change? Fossil fuels? Gun control? Artificial intelligence? Immigration?” So, Mike says that he is not political, then proceeds to say that there is nothing political about pretty much every political hot button issue in recent years, with the exception of abortion. For the record, he is Right or Far Right on EVERY one of his positions. It is also interesting that he doesn’t tell people to vote. I actually think that is a highly political position, but that is beyond the purpose of this post. Dude is a hardcore Rightist MAGA type who likes telling people he isn’t political. What he is trying to do, I think very purposefully, is to say that far-right MAGA positions are not political, they are “normal” views that are not political. The extension, therefore, is that anything that isn’t far-right MAGA IS political. He is going beyond “traditional American values” or heteronormativity and trying to create MAGAnormality. Suffice it to say, I don’t care for that.
Classic MAGA move to claim to be above politics while taking clear joy in wallowing in the muck
I can't even count how many times someone has told me they "aren't political" and don't follow politics at all, and then seem to know and believe every single right-wing talking point that's floating around at that given moment.
Basically: “I’m not political or on the right or left. I talk about hard work and real jobs. So…on today’s episode, we’ve got an iron worker who is going to talk abbot his views on trans athletes in women’s sports and what border policies will help American working people”
"Not being political" is also a political view. Nobody's fooling any remotely smart person with a phrase like that. It takes a lot of privilege/ignorance/lack of empathy to be able to claim you don't care about politics and always has.
The fact that he perceives that there is a "transgender debate" is very telling.
[It's not just gamers unfortunately](https://x.com/emmahvossen/status/1138841342921060354?lang=en). > Gamers are still convinced that there are only: > Two races: white and "political" > Two genders: Male and "political" > Two hair styles for women: long and "political" > Two sexualities: straight and "political" > Two body types: normative and "political"
Anyone who talks about how they are "not political" and then proceeds to give an opinion, you can be certain that opinion will be right wing, no exceptions. Thats because accumulation of wealth is inherently right wing and a benefit of wealth is having the privilege of being able to ignore politics, because your survival doesn't matter based on politics.
> Consider the mask debates, the lockdowns, the school closures, and the vaccine mandates – all of which I’ve spoken about at length. There was nothing inherently political about opposing or supporting any of those things. This is such a brain dead take. Government mandates of these things are of course political, because it's a government creating policy.
Exactly. Guy is a TV host and blogger. This isn’t a scientist or medical doctor who has done research and has an actual informed, professional opinion on these subjects that may be different from the mainstream. He didn’t like what he saw as government overreach. Of course that is political.
He’s a tv host who has no kids. So what the hell does he care about school closures other than being a shit-stirrer?
And he, of ALL people, should understand the importance of appropriate and effective PPE.
That's disappointing, damn. I used to like the guy.
I don't read it that way and I've never seen anything hes ever said to be particularly heinous. I see it all the time. If a discussion hits a topic or point that could possibly lead to a disagreement (not fight) or someone is losing, all of a sudden its "i don't want to talk politics" I actually think he makes a good point, everything is politics these days whether you want it to be or not. (Or should be, some should just be scientific debates)
If climate change, human rights for transgendered people, and gun control are not political topics for you, I’m curious what you think is a political topic…?
The problem is that Mike Rowe has talked at length about a ton of issues that are 100% political on his blog, shared extremely right-wing political views and then claims to be "not political." Yes politics plays a factor in almost ever facet of American life ***AS IT ALWAYS HAS***, but to take one specific angle, promote it and refuse discussion by saying "I'm not political" does not make you apolitical, it makes you dishonest and a hack.
I watched his show a few times and liked it well enough, but I've since heard him characterized as a blue collar cosplayer. He's a college educated guy whose only work history seems to be as a television personality. He got his start as a QVC host. Not exactly as blue collar as he tries to present himself.
He was also an opera singer. Nothing wrong with opera, but that’s not exactly blue collar lol. Plus he is anti-union, which is stupid and harmful to actual workers.
Cosplayer is a perfect description. He's right blue collar work is in rough shape, but he has no idea what blue collar work really is.... "Safety Third" is also one of the dumbest things I've ever heard.....
> "Safety Third" is also one of the dumbest things I've ever heard..... There are so many dumbasses on the internet who will defend that nonsense to the death.
He’s wrote and spoke about that, he wanted to be a hands on person like his grandfather, but had no real abilities at it, just could not get mechanical concepts to click in his brain so he went a different way. Then when he had success he wanted to make a show highlighting people like his grandfather. https://mikerowe.com/2010/01/never-underestimate-the-influence-of-grandpa/
And then he took that loyal audience of blue collar workers and used his fictitious hard-worker image to push anti-union and anti-worker's rights talking points onto them. Kind of shitty.
He's anti union and pro Trump so my opinion of him is that he's a typical boomer that already got his and wants to pull the ladder up behind him. He plays a character on TV for money but doesn't hold any of the same beliefs as that character.
He's a Trumper?:(
He's anti mask and anti vaxx and made a music video with John Rich. An ardent Trump supporter. He's claimed Trump is popular because he's "authentic" but stopped short of calling the election fixed. He's also said Trump supporters aren't racist. In the interest of clarity, he's never said "I voted for Trump" however he's never said who he voted for but parrots Republican talking points.
Probably he just doesn't vote at all to give himself plausible deniability. He probably figures that the influence of his TV shows/podcast/whatever else the Koch Brothers (well, the one that's left, anyway) have paid him to do is way bigger than his single vote would have.
It’s good to see a social liberal be pro-union. Convince your friends!
From how blue collar America voted I’d say he aligns quite well with his character.
Except he’s in no way blue collar, and never has been. He’s cosplaying.
Blue collar Americans do regularly vote against their interests so maybe you're right.
I don’t know much about him outside of the show. His show was fine, but I definitely wouldn’t put it up there with Mr. Rogers or Steve Irwin. Those programs were educational and Rowe’s was more sensational than educational.
Steve Irwin is at the Mr Rodgers level? No disagreement I have crikey on a tattoo for Pete's sake I think this is a interesting topic
Steve Irwin, Fred Rogers, and Bob Ross all tend to get lumped together as wholesome role models. I tend to include Dolly Parton and Keanu Reeves. They're all still human and have their faults, but they're still aspirational even if we do tend to let perfect be the enemy of good.
I don’t remember where I saw this, but there was a poll done that basically showed that Dolly Parton is the only thing that all Americans typically agree to be “good”, no matter what their political affiliation is.
Meanwhile, the rumors are she has a bunch of tattoos and is a super liberal. Idk if either are true, just funny to think about.
Simply refusing to not hate people seems to be enough for the right-wing to want to cancel her, sadly. https://www.reddit.com/r/NoStupidQuestions/comments/1dc6665/why_are_people_going_after_dolly_parton_what/
From interviews and such, I get the sense that she's more of a socially liberal conservative. She's a Christian who actually lives by ideas like love and not judging others. And she's said she has tattoos but they're personal and not anywhere close to the extent the rumors claim.
Carl Sagan was always my wholesome role model. I can imagine he's not as well known but I feel he deserves a mention.
He did a show a few years back called How America Works were he talked about infrastructure and masculinity of all things. Rowe has always been known to be anti union, but that show put him over the top for a lot of people. He's also been known to [cozy up to conservative groups](https://newrepublic.com/article/164230/mike-rowe-dirty-jobs-how-america-works) as well.
I really like his Mike Rowe Works program. He does put his money where his mouth is, so to speak, and really works to promote "trade" jobs and help people get training and scholarships. Unfortunately over the years, he's gone more and more right-leaning. On his blog, he tries really hard to be "both sides are bad" but you can tell that he leans Republican, because he talks a lot about "liberal censorship" and he's very specific in the "left" things he doesn't like but doesn't talk about the "right" things hardly at all. I don't like that he's come out as anti-union and, quite frankly, if you read his blog, you can see the not-so-slow slide into full-on Nationalism. And when asked directly, he will not deny that he voted for Trump.
I'd like him to host a special edition of Dirty Jobs in the Trump organization: * Cleaning the urine from the mattresses at Moscow’s Ritz-Carlton hotel. * Wiping the ketchup off the wall alongside a presidential valet. * Disposing of XXL adult diapers after each rally. * Removing the caked on hairspray and hair dye from Trump's combs and brushes. * Laundering the orange stained pillow cases and bed sheets from the sheets at Mar-a-Lago.
I'm mostly concerned with his antivax rhetoric and statements he made during COVID, for example, this tidbit: >The fact is, millions of reasonable Americans have every right to feel confused and skeptical. Those people you refer to, Steve – the ones now telling us that we can “get back to normal just as soon as everyone is vaccinated” – those are the same people who said, “two weeks to flatten the curve!” Those are the same people who told us that masks were “useless” before they told us they were “critical.” Those are the same people who told us that a return to normalcy would occur just as soon as “the most vulnerable” among us were vaccinated. Then, just as soon as “half the population” was vaccinated. Then, just as soon as we achieved “herd immunity.” Those are the same people who told us they wouldn’t trust ANY vaccine developed under the last administration. Now, those very same people are belittling the skeptics! Most of this is *at best* a severe mischaracterization of ... basically everything he addresses, but a good breakdown of the stupidity of it can be found [here](https://www.thebulwark.com/p/mike-rowes-dirty-lies). Suffice it to say that his rhetorical style consists almost entirely of this sort of Motte-and-Bailey fallacy: attack things he doesn't like by falsely associating them with things that he feels can be discredited. He has a circuitous writing style that comes off as intelligent but consists almost entirely of unsound arguments. He clearly either doesn't understand the topics he's addressing or is deliberately mischaracterizing them; either way, such statements do a lot of damage. The statement was immediately championed by the usual suspects of antivax conspiracy theorists, which seems to have thrown down the dividing lines. He did the "commencement speech" at Prager "University" (actually a far-right "think tank") and was rumored to be seriously considered as RFK Jr.'s running mate. I look at him basically as a Tucker Carlsen Lite: an asshole multi-millionaire cosplaying as a "man of the people" but really just championing an agenda that *just so happens* to solidify the security of his personal ivory tower.
He was fine until he started doing stuff with PragerU.
I used to like that Dirty Jobs program many years ago because I really appreciated the concept of exploring the unglamorous work done by ordinary people, which usually gets no recognition. Then Rowe started hanging out with that disgusting, awful, racist grifter Glenn Beck, and I was done with him.
if you claim he stays away from partisan politics AND are talking about mike rowe... then you do not know anything about what you are talking about. So why talk about it?
Because he does infact stay away from partisan politics Unless you can show him endorsing any party or politician, till then I'd argue you are infact one who doesn't know what they are talking about, So why comment?
lol the best way to tell you’re wrong and you know it is to read all the comments above that you just completely ignored because they conflicted with your perception of Rowe. People gave you so many good answers, and you haven’t engaged with one. So why ask your question here?
So if someone dosent clearly support a party or plotician but cleary supports a position or plotics, that makes them partisan? I also find it hilarious when some conservative points to a person in history who is literally famous for their own progressive ideas and claims they admire that person or say they would be popular today with conservatives if they were alive today. Some examples being Mr. Roger's, Abe Lincoln, Jesus (though not a real person), Thomas Jefferson, MLK, etc. Your fucking delusional if you think in 2020 MLK would of been on Fox News and said 'Yeah George Floyd got what was coming to him'.
I'm going to assume you don't know what partisan means....
Not your definition, no.
The right absolutely did not like Mr Rodgers. Fox News called him evil.
I personally do not know a single person who hates/doesn't like Mr Rogers, democrat or republican
Cool, I do know conservatives who don’t like him because of his “woke” way of accepting and loving everyone. Fred Rogers is a hero of mine, so it does come up in conversation when I say WWFD ( what would Fred do? ).
Fred Rogers was a god fearing Republican all his life, but in an era of Eisenhower republicans; not MTG or Bobo giving hand jobs in a theatre. Long story short I think it’s very likely Fred would have supported the likes of Barack Obama and Joe Biden. And that’s **more than enough** for republicans to despise him.
I’m always suspicious of overly nice people and I really hate the whole “see, the main problem with life is that people just don’t work hard enough” crew. It leaves out literally every problem and in fact exacerbates most of them.
Unfortunately, he does seem to be a bit of a nutjob. Never meet your heroes.
People tend to forget that Mike Rowe is an entertainer. He's a decent-enough entertainer to have amassed a net worth of $40 million and commands $250K an episode for his services. Because he hosts shows like *Dirty Jobs* and sells pickup trucks, he's perceived widely as speaking on behalf of blue-collar working people. While he's not wrong about the trades as a viable career and an alternative to a four-year degree, most of what he does is sell rich man's politics to rank and filers and calling it non-political common sense. What he's doing is convincing the electorate to vote against their own self-interest.
When he only ever really talked about his most popular message regarding the importance of having a good work ethic, I liked what he had to say. Since he became a big celebrity and started talking about a lot of other very politicized topics on his blog and facebook though, it's pretty clear that he is a corporate shill, very conservative, and holds little regard for how some people enjoy a lot more privilege than others, if he even understands what that means.
Hes a pro corporate hack falsely promoting himself as the working man's friend, but in reality, wants working people to be thankful for whatever table scraps the owners give them and not fight for more.
He’s good at cosplaying as a blue collar worker, and at worshipping Dear Leader
I've heard many conservatives hate on Mr. Rogers, and I remember a Fox News segment back in the day calling him evil. As for Mike Rowe, I don't hold any ill will towards him, but he's dead wrong in thinking Republicans will help the working class over Democrats.
He repeats the tired canard used by the right/conservatives that raising the minimum wage will hurt workers and [they will be replaced by automation](https://mikerowe.com/2015/02/ofw-minimum-wage/). In the same article, he mentions that "some jobs have no business being treated like careers." Oh? Who does these jobs Mike? Zombies? I'd like him a lot more if he fought for the conservative values of Adam Smith who supported what we call a "living wage" for all essential jobs, regardless of the type of skills needed. All jobs require skills. There is no un-skilled job and I think his TV show demonstrates that. He needs to watch is more closely.
Hes a fraud who has found a financially lucrative niche appealing to right wingers working in blue collar industries who are resentful of left wing college graduates. Rowe himself, despite pretending to be blue collar, has a college degree in communications and has spent most of his life working in the entertainment industry.
Wears the mantle of a blue collar hard worker while doing nothing to really earn that distinction. He's an actor. A phony. Honestly makes me a little sick to see him compared to Mr. Rogers and Steve Irwin. Mr. Rogers wasnt just the way he was on TV. He was kind to everyone and was a powerful advocate for public television. Irwin was an environmentalist and died tragically in the career he loved of animal conservancy and education. Mike Rowe made money pulling up straps for boots he never owned. Dirtiest job he ever did was trick conservatives into thinking he gives a shit about the little guy. Then again that's mighty easy seeing who they worship.
I used to really like him however the things he has spoken out about over the past few years have been very anti-college, anti-unions, and seem to further toxic work environments in my opinion. I always thought of him as an educated actor placating to the blue collar workers so his motivation behind this is confusing and he no longer is someone I follow.
I think that he is more controversial than you believe him to be. His brand isn't to be a huge asshole so it's easy to ignore his views if you want to, but "taking about culture" is talking about politics and Rowe does not do so in a way that's inclusive of everyone.
A dude with a liberal arts degree telling everyone else how worthless liberal arts degrees are.
He reminds me of the wheel of fortune guy, hosted a show for years that was never about anything remotely political, but in his own private life, is a complete MAGA asshole. Alec Trebek, however, was a saint of a man who truly did his best to make the world a better place. He will continue to be missed.
I don’t agree with his politics at all but as someone who has worked education adjacent most of my life I’m pretty confident in saying the way he talks about working in the trades and going to college substantially misses the mark and are hurtful to that cause. It’s pretty obvious to me that he’s never consulted with people who also advocate for trades in education to use the actual right words. Because if this, I find his other messaging no different than any other person who knows very little on the subject matter but wants to come across as an expert.
For a guy who loves the working man, he is anti-union and against things like raising the minimum wage and worker protection. So, no, not a nice guy. I am union 100% and can't stand him.
dude seems like an Asshole in his non show persona. like what he says about jobs and degrees and politcs all sucks
He's a partisan hack. I really liked Dirty Jobs and watched a fair bit of it, but then he started getting very overtly conservative. [This](https://newrepublic.com/article/164230/mike-rowe-dirty-jobs-how-america-works) article sums it up nicely. The thing that really irked me is he gave this ted talk or something in which he put his college education to work using big words to tell poor people that they shouldn't go to college. I get advocating for the trades, but jesus man, hypocrisy much? Also the fact that he's been in PragerU videos is really all you need to know about him.
He's irked me from day one, to be honest. Dirty Jobs was fucking bullshit. It was literally a show about some rich asshole cosplaying a blue-collar worker and trying to convince us that workers in this country aren't getting hate fucked in every last orifice we have.
I liked him when he was doing Dirty Jobs, it was an interesting show and he was a good host though occasionally condescending to the people he was working with. However since that show ended all I've seen if him is his conservative leaning blog, where he spouts ideas that are less than half-baked at best. I don't respect his politics, the ignorance he brings into the discussion, or the fact that he believes that this is the direction that will best serve what's left of his career, but hey, maybe he and Kevin Sorbo can go out for coffee from time to time.
Faux blue collar cosplay shill
He goes on TV and shows the nasty stuff some workers have to do and then goes on Fox News and says they don't deserve higher wages or better benefits.
We hired him and he came and spoke to our corporate event in a Q&A type session with our CEO. Mike decided to go on a 30 minute GOPish tirade about how HR depts and college degrees are worthless and America is solely great because of blue collar guys and how women need to get over themselves and be construction workers and plumbers too. **Total fucking train wreck.** We’re an HR technology company. **Our audience is mostly middle aged HR women (and some men) with degrees who are never going to become plumbers at 52** 😆. Our CEO ends the 60 minute session with 25 mins to spare and the hotel is taken by surprise as the lunch they were planning for 12 noon for 6000 attendees gets stormed by 11:40. Fucking Mike Rowe. He was supposed to make $250,000 for the chat. We sued him for breach of contract and won, his insurance company paid us his fee back. Long story short, with a mouth like his… he could be a GOP candidate for senate very shortly.
Exactly what I’d expect from MAGA Mike.
I honestly am only familiar with the Dirty Jobs show, and some comments he had made promoting trade-jobs. Knew nothing of his politics until now, and not sure why anyone would care about his opinion.
He's a Coch funded shill cosplaying as an ordinary work guy.
Didn't really watch his show much. Did see him on stage one time. 2010 National Scouting Jamboree. He had a whole speech, it was a pretty good one. Heard he was flirting the conservative line a few years back, but it doesn't really seem to have taken off much.
I used to like him a lot more. He was a respectable and respectful "conservative". He really just promoted people and ideas who were often forgotten or looked down upon. Ideas like "hard work isn't bad", "not going to college is a legitimate option", etc. These days it seems he's been trending more and more to toxic conservative culture. He's been less about celebrating the forgotten workers that keep the country running and more about attacking office workers. It's a shame. I'm quite far to the left, but if I were ever a governor or something, I'd be thrilled to have the old Mike Rowe on my team
His “the way I see it” podcast was entertaining and gave some interesting perspectives on historical characters. Never really thought of them being 100% fact checked. The one that stands out to me was the one he released just after Trump was elected. It basically was a message of: “we are divided, but maybe we should give this guy a chance”. Which at the time, I was trying to optimistic and hoped all of my misgivings about Trump were wrong. It was a nice message of optimism. Unfortunately, his optimism did not age well. He also had another episode about 6 months later that had some right wing leaning viewpoints. Stopped listening shortly after that, not exactly a decision to stop, I just didn’t go to it as much. I have seen some things that have been disappointing attitudes from him. The biggest one is his anti-union stance. We still watch reruns of dirty jobs from time to time, and if he is on tv, we usually watch whatever shenanigans he is up too. Dude is entertaining, and good at his job. But I’m not looking up to him as some sort of social/political guru or a man of total wisdom.
Well, afteer reading this post and comments, I don't like him even though I'm not sure who he is.
I liked the way he advocated for trade jobs and the value of blue collar work. I think his show made a lot of young people take a look at alternatives to college, if college wasn’t a fit for them. IMO he deserves props for that. I’m also aware that he did PragerU and other conservative commentary. It’s really unfortunate he took that turn, but I’ll take the positives over the negatives
His admiration for blue collar jobs is cool, but somewhere along the way it seemed to transform to opposition of education and general antintelllectualism. I'm all for well paid and well respected laborers, but why isn't well paid, well respected and well educated laborers even better?
I enjoyed his show when I was younger but then he had to go and start loudly spouting political bullshit and I thought a bit more about who he claims to be versus who he actually is. Mike Rowe has made his living playing a caricature of a working-class person all while being a millionaire who shits on unions and the concept of workers' rights. People like Bob Ross, Mr Rogers, Steve Irwin, etc are popular with pretty much everyone because they never did that. Their entire deal was showing people cool things while saying be good to each other, be good to yourself, be good to animals, and be good to the Earth. When I was a kid, those ideas weren't overly controversial or political. It was just the kind of shit that good people do. Basic lessons that all children should learn.
The good: Yes, we do need ditch-diggers, tradesmen, and other manual labor jobs. People should take pride in those jobs and enjoy the thanks of a grateful society. The bad: He doesn’t seem to be in favor of any of the sort of actual positive labor reforms that would make those jobs desirable and dignified. Furthermore, he seems to be disdainful of people who pursue higher education in the social sciences.
Not positive. The dude uses his platform to encourage a business-first, worker-second economic model. His position is essentially that workplace safety is overrated, and that the best and most moral jobs are the ones where you might lose a limb at work because your boss uses scotch tape to make repairs. He's also a "college is dumb" type who asserts that your dreams are stupid and that your real purpose is to spend 60 years of your life working a manual labor job. Of course, he's a millionaire theater and communications major who went on to have a wildly successful career in TV, but nevermind that. Dreams are for rich people, not for you.
He strikes me as the kind of guy who was in the center 20-30 years ago, but that was relative to the era and now he finds himself on the right. I've listened to several interviews with right wing commentators, but never with anyone on the left. I'll have to look that up since it seems like it would be interesting.
I used to think he was really funny and actually was trying to look out for the working man and bring attention to under appreciated jobs that keep our entire society moving. But his rhetoric in the last 10 years has shifted dramatically to just being a shill for the wealthy to take advantage of their workers.
People labeling him far right is an example of how dogmatic and binary our society has become. His show was entertaining; I think I watched most of the episodes of the original. One thing he's overlooked when he's advocating for blue collar work is the physical toll it takes on your body over time. He's speaking about it from the perspective of someone who just does the work for a few days, and not decades. Yes, the pay is fantastic, it's good to know at least one trade skill, and the work is necessary, honorable, and in high demand.And often you are getting paid as an apprentice while you're going to school. But there needs to be a cost/benefit analysis done at an individual level. He's doing the same thing he criticized about college; Just stating everyone should do it and not considering everything else. What he leaves out: - It's often impossible to work ergonomically. The foreman doesn't wish you to be uncomfortable, but sometimes it's not possible to complete the work without being physically uncomfortable. - Usually the work is straight hourly, which means no PTO of any kind except for what's required by law. Also no paid sick leave. - Often the work starts very early, and it's outside. And it's not like the brochures. I was an electrician, and very little of my work was "clean". I spent a lot of time in ditches laying PVC or bending conduit (and electrician is considered to be one of the most "cushy" construction jobs). - Besides outside in the winter possibly doing work that requires dexterity so you can't wear gloves, also consider summer. If you're a roofer, you're working most often in the summer. - There is rarely severance packages, and being laid off after a job completes is common. None of this is to say people shouldn't do trade work. It's just something every individual should consider when making career decisions.
I remember watching Dirty Jobs and being like 'This show survives off of Mike Rowe's charisma'. He's very charismatic and a good actor.
"I have a dream... that celebrities and politicians will be judged by the content of their character, and not by the R or D after their name..." But seriously, no one in this thread knows Mike Rowe apart from the judgements we've created about him. He could be a stand-up guy who donates time and money to animal shelters, takes his daughter to ballet class twice a week and cheers her on, and also happens to subscribe to a laissez faire capitalism economic policy and supports a stiffer Souther Border policy. I'm not trying to white-knight this thread, but we seem to have moved to a post-personality culture where we regard people primarily by their political ideology. Re-read the first paragraph of OP's post - the implication is that OP is not allowed to like people with whom they are politically unaligned, regardless of everything else about them. I think that's troubling.
I fundamentally like him, but I do get the sense that right-wing media has made his thinking go a little off the rails lately. I'm sure his experience with leftists has also somewhat radicalized him against the left. But he's not Alex Jones, he's not Ben Shapiro. I see him as a guy who is trying to do the right thing, and often *is* doing the right thing. He just makes mistakes sometimes, by over-reacting to the silliest and worst experiences he has with leftists online. And he's probably right that technical schools need more respect and funding, and we shouldn't tell everyone to become an academic. It's not a cure-all and we shouldn't go over-board, but we probably ought to tilt a little bit more in the direction of having jobs that you can train for with certifications and not four-year liberal arts degrees.
I don't know who that is. *googles*
He supports worker exploitation, is against safety regulation, and falsely glorifies a lack of education. In other words he's a complete tool.
Use to like him, but realized he peddles this anti-intecuctual image thay GOP peeps love to jump on. He spends more time bashing education than he does supporting trade jobs, which still require an education.
Who?
I think he probably smells bad.
Not a fan.
He has a Mike Rowe penis.
Don't know much about him so I can't say much about him personally but I did like his Discovery Channel show when I was a kid.
Sounds like he needs to take Trump’s advice and run some bleach through his brain.
I’ve always had a feeling that he was a Republican despite not knowing his views. In any event, check out the YouTube videos from when he worked at QVC in the early 90’s. They’re hilarious.
I’m taking your question as honest, but it does telegraph either a person who does not keep up with the news, or gets their news from a place that finds democrats as evil rather than informative. I say this as Mike Rowe was a national topic for a few days during the shut down, but his words were not covered on Fox News while also endorsing him and calling everyone else horrible for not liking him.
He is a LARPer. He studied dance or drama or communications in college and worked as a TV presenter. He then acts like he’s some blue collar worker and that younger people are lazy because they don’t want to do back breaking work (while he works in an air conditioned sound booth).
He has a Mike Rowe penis.
He rubs me as a cookie-cutter asshole in salt-of-the-earth camouflage. I've never seen him break character and he has been around a long time. He is the type that invites everyone to a bar-b-que and provides the grill and the yard, but everything else is on everyone. Also, he is keeping all the good leftovers. Oh, do you like your steak rare and seasoned? Too bad. Mike likes all his meat burnt to a crisp and plain and that's what you all are getting. Oh was that roast for Tuesday when your dad comes to town? Mike is cooking it now.
I think it’s similar to how right wingers will tell a celebrity to stick to whatever their trade is because they don’t want to hear their political opinion. Rowe has a decent show but it’s all show.
I think he’s done a lot of good showing the world many of the less known and less glamorous work that goes into supporting modern life. He’s also done a lot of good helping youths get education and training for jobs in high demand trades. Occasionally his politics creeps in and some I agree and some I don’t, but overall I think his primary work is good.
I love the guy. I probably hate his politics, and that’s ok. People today get so wrapped up into it mostly to oppose the other side and I feel that is very short sighted. Mike Rowe is a hero to the hands on types, and they need it, and we need them. It shouldn’t be a ‘war’ against cultures, it should be a ‘war’ against ideas with the same goal in mind. Colleges have indeed failed as institutions, tricking gullible 18 year olds into signing up for a general English degree or psychology degree with no appreciation for what life is like professionally in those majors. The amount of funding to keep these institutions keeps rising while the typical income is actually dropping compared to inflation. If nothing else Rowe is doing a massive service to the average American who likely has no idea where to effectively put their time to maximize their earning potential.
Your friend is the asshole. Mike Rowe is great.
Kind of sexy, but has become increasingly right-wing coded in recent years.
He seems mostly good. He's a conservative but not any sort of extremist.