Why Are Conservatives Obsessed with Brazilian Jiu Jitsu?Spoiler: Joe Rogan
While right-wing politics has always celebrated sports, especially violent, hyper-masculine ones, jiu jitsu has taken center stage in conservative circles over the past few years. Joe Rogan talks about it on every podcast episode, when there’s time left after glazing hedge fund managers and promoting brain pills; Mark Zuckerberg began training as part of his “masculine energy” lifestyle; and Elon Musk claims jiu jitsu is one weapon in his hand-to-hand combat arsenal, along with full contact karate and “no rules street fighting.” (Only the monkeys who had their brains fried by Musk’s Neurolink believe that.) Following Trump’s inauguration, a cadre of MAGA-obsessed jiu jitsu practitioners and MMA fighters were personally invited to the Mar-A-Lago celebrations.
While 21st-century American conservatives have claimed the sport, the jiu jitsu-practitioner-to-fascist pipeline is nothing new. Helio Gracie, the patriarch of the aforementioned Gracie family, was a tried-and-true fascist. He was a member of Brazil’s Catholic fascist party (the Ação Integralista Brasileira) in the 1930s and wore the fascist uniform during high-profile fights and public events.
Whoa. I did not know that about Helio.
(I did know that he was a thug, though.)What makes jiu jitsu different from other sports is that conservatives frequently position the martial art as a model for their ideal society. In the below clip from his podcast, Joe Rogan claimed Mark Zuckerberg’s libertarian politics came from practicing jiu jitsu. (He also mentions he has terrible CTE, which people should remember when evaluating Rogan’s claims.)
I do think you have to be self-obsessed to come to that conclusion when doing martial arts. What about all your training partners and teachers? Don't they have something to do with your progress? To me, it's the one of the most communitarian activities you can do. Libertarian jiu-jitsu would have no community space, people refusing to train with beginners or anyone else that's not going to improve their game, and no rules at competitions.
I feel bad for Brazilian jiu-jitsu people. It has roots in pro-fascist sympathizers, but for a while it was nearly completely divorced from that stuff. It has got to suck to just be enjoying working on your guard passes and then have Rogan and
Zuckerberg blight your martial art.