I think the reason why this may be something you’re wondering about is because we have given podcasters a larger influence in recent years. Not to say that’s bad, but it’s new.
Personally, I don’t consider podcasters or YouTubers, etc., trustworthy sources of information or honest dialog. I’m not sure that’s something that even exists anyway now.
There’s a much larger conversation to be had about where we spend our time and give our attention and why. The real news is boring so we turn to salacious clickbait that we often know has a bias to it. The more time we hand our emotions over to this content, then more it becomes part of our psyche. Sometimes we don’t have a choice but I still know a ton of people who are entirely clueless about politics. So, some people are making choices, for better or worse.
I see Kirk’s legacy the same as Rogan’s and Trump’s. These people are a reflection of our times. Something is very wrong in our world today and we’ve spent the last twenty five years shifting, metaphorically, from CBS Evening News to The National Enquirer.
This is the result of great freedom: a wild storm of ideas with equal opportunity to be expressed and heard. Not something that existed before the internet or having instant world wide communications in your hand or selling your information in order to maintain your attention with biased (mis/dis)information.
If zines were delivered directly to all of humanity instantaneously and were an actual money maker financed by mega corporations, sure.