Joe Rogan's podcast guest Lex Fridman discusses Russia-Ukraine situation - "Everybody is a victim of somebody's propaganda"
![Joe Rogan (left), Lex Fridman (right) [Image courtesy of @lexfridman on Twitter]](https://staticg.sportskeeda.com/editor/2022/05/dcc4e-16538175091085-1920.jpg?w=500)
Joe Rogan recently hosted Lex Fridman on the Joe Rogan Experience podcast, where they discussed the current conflict in Ukraine and Vladimir Putin. Fridman is a Russian-American computer scientist, podcaster, and teacher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
The 35-year-old explained to Joe Rogan his thoughts about how different societies view propaganda and how that influences an individual's feelings towards other nations.
During his appearance on the JRE episode, Fridman stated:
"The thing is, there is, if you look at the details, a fundamental difference between what Vladimir Putin is doing and what the United States is doing."
"Now, everybody is a victim of somebody's propaganda. I talked to Russians, which is a very interesting thing, both Russians and Ukrainians say that they are not at all under the influence of propaganda. Russians believe there is no propaganda in Russia and Ukrainians believe there is no propaganda in Ukraine."
The Russian-American computer scientist went on to say how each country believes the other nations are influenced by propaganda but denies being influenced themselves. This leads Fridman to think that it's hard to truly understand what is happening, with multiple different news stations having conflicting stories.
Fridman discussed with Joe Rogan the reality of Putin's influence in Russia, saying that the Russian politician is very popular in his country and others. In Fridman's opinion, he believes that the reality is that Russia is an authoritarian country that is trying its best to appear democratic.
Rogan and Fridman have had a long friendship and various storied interactions. The UFC commentator famously gifted the computer scientist his favorite watch while filming a JRE episode. On his YouTube channel, Fridman described this as "one of the most meaningful moments" of his life.
The JRE podcast is known for having interesting conversations around complex or sensitive topics, so it's no surprise that the current conflict between Russia and Ukraine has been mentioned.
Watch Lex Fridman's latest appearance on the JRE podcast here:
Joe Rogan shares fake CNN Russia-Ukraine story
In February, Rogan would again be in the mainstream news when speaking about a sensitive topic. However, this time it was for negative reasons, with the podcast host sharing a fake CNN report from the conflict.
The report claimed that Steven Seagal had joined the Russian special forces during the invasion of Ukraine.
Seagal is a 70-year-old American actor and martial artist with a 7th-dan black belt in aikido. However, it was clear to many and later proved that the sensational story was fake, leaving Rogan to be mocked by a large portion of his audience.
The podcaster later deleted the post a wrote a statement on his Instagram account, stating that he now realizes the post was a parody.
Rogan also linked to a previous Steven Seagal article by the Washington Post, stating that the actor was banned from Ukraine after being deemed a security threat by the country's national security.