These “free speech advocates” (Fox News, 2/2/22) were conspicuously silent when people actually lost their jobs for criticizing cops.
For right-wing and libertarian media, Joe Rogan, host of the Joe Rogan Experience podcast, has become a symbol of resistance to censorship (New York Post, 2/2/22; Fox News, 2/2/22; Reason, 2/2/22; The Hill, 2/1/22).
Musician Neil Young had given the streaming service Spotify, which paid a reported $100 million for exclusive rights to Rogan’s show, an ultimatum: either cut Rogan and his constant misinformation about Covid-19, or lose Young’s music. Spotify—a corporate media service that has been accused of exploiting musicians financially (Guardian, 7/29/13)―chose Rogan.
Contrary to his media defenders, Rogan has not been threatened with censorship. His free speech rights were never in any kind of jeopardy. Young has not crossed into some kind of pro-deep state censorship mode; rather, he left Spotify because he disagreed with its policies, taking his business elsewhere because he has the right to do that.
Young’s departure has cost Spotify $2 billion in market value (Variety, 1/29/22), as other notable musicians, like Joni Mitchell, followed suit (Fortune, 2/3/22). Grammy Award–winning singer/songwriter India Arie made matters worse for Rogan “by sharing resurfaced footage to social media showing Rogan using the N-word” (Hollywood Reporter, 2/4/22).
Both Rogan and Spotify have responded to the outrage, as “Rogan apologized…for his use of a racial slur in past episodes,” and the streaming service removed dozens of his show’s episodes (New York Times, 2/5/22). Such pressure against right-wing, corporate media shock jocks has yielded results in the past: CBS fired Don Imus due to a public backlash against racist and sexist comments he made about the Rutgers women’s basketball team (CBS, 4/12/07; Extra!, 5–6/07). Sometimes it doesn’t, as two dozen advertisers left Tucker Carlson’s Fox News show after he made anti-immigrant comments (Hollywood Reporter, 12/17/18), and he still enjoys top ratings (AdWeek, 1/3/22).
Artists and media consumers free to engage in media activism like leaving a streaming service (a form of voting with one’s dollars and property, supposedly a democratic feature of the free market) or protesting a media company over its content. But these articles imply that the mere discussion of Rogan’s ability to spread misinformation about Covid is an affront to his constitutional right to yell “fire” in a crowded theater. Fox News (2/3/22) paraphrased former Mumford & Sons banjo player Winston Marshall saying that “the state of music censorship in the Soviet Union in 1984” was comparable “to the conditions that Spotify is facing today as calls for it to pull Rogan’s work mount.”
Speech limits for everyday workers
The New York Post (2/1/22) expressed no sympathy for a woman fired for criticizing police–she was “widely condemned for her shameful online rant”–but does feel bad for someone with the same name who was mistakenly subjected to abuse.
Meanwhile, regular, everyday workers live with limits to their “work mount” and their free speech rights because they are at-will employees. And unlike Rogan, who still has the support of Spotify’s boss (New York Post, 2/7/22), these workers are treated as disposable.
A few recent examples: A Catholic high school teacher was fired for a private tweet that apparently questioned her school’s efforts to commemorate two murdered NYPD officers (Daily News, 2/4/22).
Related to the public funeral of one of these slain NYPD cops, a New York City “actress was fired this weekend after backlash over her viral TikTok complaint that the city didn’t need to be shut down for ‘one f—— cop’” (Fox News, 1/30/22). And someone who shares her name with that actor says she has “been harassed and threatened by people confusing her with the woman who made the vile rant” (New York Post, 2/1/22).
In Tennessee, Starbucks fired unionizing employees who had “allowed members of the media into the store as part of the public launch of their unionization effort” (CNN, 2/8/22). For unionists, these terminations aren’t just an immoral violation of labor rights, but an affront to the First Amendment freedom of assembly and, in this case, these workers’ right to publicize their organizing against an enormous and well-known company in the free press.
These are examples of the real predations on free speech in this country, and yet instances like these don’t seem to elicit the same hand-wringing about censorship from right-wing media.
Controversy as sellable brand
Devin Gordon (Atlantic, 8/19/19): “If you look past the jokes themselves and focus on the targets he’s choosing, the same patterns emerge. Hillary, the #MeToo movement, why it sucks that he can’t call things ‘gay,’ vegan bullies, sexism.”
Rogan has been immune to this kind of pressure, largely because his controversial statements are exactly what makes his media brand sellable; the Atlantic (8/19/19) said in 2019 that his show has “been the No. 2 most-downloaded podcast on iTunes for two years running,” and “his YouTube channel…has 6 million subscribers.” LGBTQ groups like GLAAD (Twitter, 7/22/20) have criticized the host for promoting anti-trans viewpoints, but Rogan is protected from his critics because by all metrics, he’s a benefit for the corporate services like YouTube: The Hill (2/1/22) argues that with 11 million listeners, “Rogan’s popularity is precisely due to the fact that he is uncensored in what he says.”
That is a very different story for the 99 Percent, who can become victims of a very real cancel culture, because things like being critical of the police at the wrong time can be seen as beyond the bounds of free discourse. Corporate media haven’t focused on them as victims; in fact, the tabloids and Murdoch-owned media have painted them as extremists who got what was coming to them.
And libertarians haven’t made them a cause, either. That’s because these pieces that treat Rogan as a free speech warrior aren’t honest. Their defense of Rogan, who said he would vote for Donald Trump in the last election (Guardian, 4/20/20), is not about the sacredness of free speech; while he is facing a lot of public criticism, he is not being regulated or stifled as a result. In fact, these articles celebrate the degree to which protests by musicians haven’t actually silenced him, an admission that his speech was never really under threat.
These pieces, instead, are a political defense of Covid-19 misinformation and bro jock racism. Robust public health measures to control the pandemic are seen by the right as left-wing government overreach, and therefore someone who criticizes them, however inaccurately, is on their team.
The Rogan affair is a spectacle by right-wing media to paint an advocate for a right-wing political cause as a victim. Meanwhile, right-wing tabloid vitriol has celebrated the punishment of speech by regular working people.
Are you challenging media bias? Soooooo funny. How is this article any different from any mainstream biased media? The funny thing is that articles like this only further entrench FAIR in your impotent echo chamber. You are losing the fight. People aren’t buying the nonsense. The only reason I found this article was because I was looking for The Foundation Against Intolerance and Racism. https://www.fairforall.org/. Great organization.
Spot on.
Vanderaj, i concur.
this is 100% awful reporting and it advocates censorship. Shame on Fair.
Nowhere did I see FAIR advocating censorship, though I did note FAIR got one point wrong – Neil Young did not issue an ‘ultimatum’ to spotify to deplatform Joe Rogan or he would leave – that’s just the way the media initially framed it, which was then echoed widely.
Neil Young simply decided he could no longer support spotify with his music and decided to leave, then explained why – not only the deadly misinformation but also spotify’s exploitation of musicians and low fidelity music streaming…
Got to hand it to Neil Young going to such an upstanding corporate citizen as Amazon that employs illegal union busting tasks, fires union organizers under false pretense, places their drivers under dystopian scrutiny every minute they are on the road, must feel so good to be now supporting this unbiased, generous corporate entity….bwahahahah
Joe Rogan is not a “right-wing, corporate media shock jock” as you intimate. Have you even watched any of his lengthy podcasts? You also miss that Joe Rogan NEVER voted for a Republican in his life, that he comes from a hippie background in SF, that he favors Universal Health Care, a Universal Basic Income, gay rights, women’s rights, trans rights, and prizes individual freedom. You obviously have been fed the corporate media’s profile of Joe Rogan, but instead of investigating for yourself, you took the easy path to vilify one of the most truthful and honest broadcasters around. Do some research. Here’s a small clip from Jimmy Dore: https://youtu.be/kAkLBNRNkOo FYI: I’m a LONG-TIME FAIR follower.
I agree with Mr. Melio. I, too, am surprised to read a FAIR article which begins with a blatantly biased and false caricature of the subject (Rogan) as “right-wing.” The author would have benefited by actually listening to some of Rogan’s podcasts. A journalist who had done so could not in good conscience write the obviously wrong assertion that “Rogan has been immune to this kind of pressure, largely because his controversial statements are exactly what makes his media brand sellable.” As anyone who has listened to Rogan knows, his popularity is due to his thoughtful, fun, and extended conversations with interesting people–something that almost never occurs in other commercial media outlets. I would have thought a FAIR writer would be aware of that.
Exactly.
This exactly. Rogan is a lefty pot head conspiracy guy that says dumb things all the time and thinks he’s cool enough to use the N-word in a conversation just like Bill Maher. They are a form of pseudo intellectuals that think because they support “minority” rights they can use hurtful words and ideas as if they are just being open minded and exploring the issues. I expect FAIR to be better than this and explore the nuances of issues not just repeat the same corporate media us vs them talking points we see everywhere else.
One last point: this hit piece on Joe Rogan is a COMPLETE EMBARASSMENT for a group whose moniker is “Fairness and Accuracy In Reporting”! Shame on you.
+1
Two Thumbs Up
Right on!
Yup
Exactly, this lazy smear job is so antithetical to FAIR’s ethos that I thought it might be a joke. I guess it is a joke in a sense, but not the funny kind. It will be tempting to dismiss me and others who feel similarly, but I have visited this site hundreds of times over many years because it rings true to me, even donated iirc. Also, I am not really a Rogan fan, only watch when he has someone good like Matt Taibbi.
+100
It is disingenuous to call Rogan “an advocate for a right-wing political cause”. He endorsed Bernie Sanders in the last election cycle and has heterodox views, most of which are left-wing. Your point about double standards around free speech in right wing media is valid, the broader point that you are missing is that mainstream liberal media has been advocating for censorship to suppress so called “misinformation”, whether Rogan was actually threatened by this is besides the point. These outlets are responsible for FAR more misinformation than Rogan, who (unlike them) has corrected and apologized for the content on his podcast that was problematic. Fair.org used to be about exposing this, apparently not anymore
Good comments.
+1
“But these articles imply that the mere discussion of Rogan’s ability to spread misinformation about Covid is an affront to his constitutional right to yell “fire” in a crowded theater.”
So questioning vaccine and mask mandates amounts to yelling “fire” in a crowded theater?
I don’t think so Mr. Paul. But I get it. Joe Rogan is not in your tribe, so no slander is beyond the pale.
What a joke of a write up. I used to be a FAIR fan, but this is too much. You guys need to check your COVID coverage. It’s appallingly bad.
Exactly!
Nowhere in this article was mentioned the mis-information Rogan propagated about covid.
All I saw was a lot of what about this and what about that.
Who listens to Niel Young anyway?
Apparently plenty of people, given that Spotify lost so much market value…
I have to ask: Has FAIR become an extension of the national DNC / DCCC Democrat party apparatus? If so, how will they possibly maintain “Fairness and Accuracy In Reporting”?
You keep on using the term “COVID 19 misinformation”. But what exactly is this “misinform ation”? If you mean, for example, the information in Robert Kennedy Jr’s book “The Real Anthony Fauci”, then you really mean “information we do not agree with.” With its many detailed footnotes and hundreds of agreeing doctors, Mr. Kennedy Jr’s book contains well-documented alternative viewpoints.
It’s all about the vaccinations. Anyone publishing false information that will lead fewer to being vaccinated is assisting in the spread of the vaccine, which is very high right now. It is true that the preponderance of deaths will be among seniors, and may be you don’t count the too highly, As Mr. Young said, helping to spread the virus through false statements will result in the greater loss of life.
bullshik, STUDY THE DATA NOT CNN!
“Anyone publishing false information that will lead fewer to being vaccinated is assisting in the spread of the VACCINE, which is very high right now.”
LOL! Who’da thunk?
Highly vaccinated countries have higher case rates than less vaccinated countries – these vaccines have very low or even negative efficacy. It’s astounding that FAIR supports pharma talking points rather than critically examining them. I guess the media’s labeling all vaccine criticism as “right wing” has been inoculated FAIR against any sort of “doing your own research”. Only fools and crypo-fascists doubt Pfizer.
Exactly.
You don’t even say what the “misinformation” was that Joe Rogan supposedly propagated. I am thoroughly disappointed in the content of this article. It is truly a propaganda piece. I am truly shocked that FAIR would allow such lies to be published, and I have been a lifelong Democrat, and a Socialist.
This article is an utter embarrassment to a once vital publication.
+1
I fear we’ve entered an era where propaganda has replaced journalistic integrity. This hit piece is evidence of my claim.
Check his assertions! Totally and intentionally mischaracterizes Joe Rogan!
Anyone who has listened to even 1 of his podcasts could easily see the blatant falsehoods in this deplorable hit piece (see comments above for other excellent examples).
I am a big fan of FAIR but I agree that this article does not meet the usual standard.
ditto
I have to agree with most of these comments. Joe Rogan interviews a wide range of subjects. He’s not right wing. He’s willing to talk with a wide range of people.
This is disappointing for FAIR and really amounts to nothing more than tired establishment liberal propaganda.
Removing Rogan’s program because some people disagree with things said on the program is not “censorship?” I never thought Ari Paul could write something so stupid. As fascism descends on the United States, dialogue and argument are disappearing and are replaced by censorship, in social media and broadcast media. The response to speech we disagree with should be our own speech pointing out what we think are the flaws in the opposing arguments. Freedom of speech is meaningless if it excludes the right to be wrong and even (gag) to endorse Trump. The worst of it is that the corporate media are succeeding in their campaign to replace free dialogue with fascist censorship.
Spot on.
I’ve been a strong supporter of FAIR for many decades and frankly this article is so inaccurate and clueless partisan democrat demagoguery that I was completely astounded that you would publish it here.
Ari Paul and FAIR have really jumped the shark and climbed aboard the ultra-partisan Dem “I Hate Joe Rogan (even though I’ve never seen his show)!” bandwagon (to mix metaphors), which has been designed to distract folks from the Biden Regime’s existentially dangerous Wag the Dog against nuclear armed Russia.
I will defend Ari Paul’s right to write whatever sorts of nonsense he wishes (as would Joe Rogan) but I’m afraid this one is way below your standards.
If anyone wants the TRUTH about where Left-Wing Libertarian and Peace and Social, Civil and economic Rights Joe Rogan – allow Rogan to speak for himself and watch this video:
Debunking Media’s ‘Right Wing’ Rogan Narrative
https://youtu.be/QiejPMHhtTQ
It’s not a good excuse, but apparently lying about Rogan has become a closet industry even for those to the “Left” of the Woke Dem Cancel Culture like FAIR and David Sirota.
Very, very sad.
PS: I kept waiting for the “April fooled ya'” punchline and when one didn’t come…
I’m really disappoint in this take on Rogan. It’s fine to accuse him of spreading mis or disinformation but not if you don’t specifically point out exactly what he may have said that qualifies as that and offer a refutation of anything he offers to support that misinformation. Of course don’t forget to include any context. Doing any less than that makes you no better than the MSM that you so accurately critique.
“FAIR” readers are interested in censorship. Just a few articles ago, a reader asked for my comments to be removed. Censorship is alive and well. To “FAIR’s” great credit, they did not comply
In which thread did a reader ask “for your comments to be removed”?
Tim and his aggrieved reactionary poor me campaign – his bogusness never ends. Oh okay….hey Tim! I feel sorry for you bro!
Seriously though, in which piece did someone ask to have Tim’s comments removed?
On to my hyperbolic vitriol…pretty much all of the other commenters who blew rhetorical smoke rings out of their backside, or showed up to troll the article’s title without actually reading the piece, are here in solidarity for The Fear Factor game show host Joe Rogan – a la Idiocracy.
One even started his comment off something like ‘Removing Rogan’s program because of something others disagree with is not censorship?’ Which is a flagrant burning of a straw man, since nowhere in the piece was “Remove Rogan’s program” even remotely advocated for nor mentioned.
The piece talked about how no one says squat when it’s people from the 99% whose First Amendment rights are actually suppressed or flagrantly violated. Oh but they’re here to whine about a faux threat to Rogan’s freeze peach rights…go figure.
All I can to that is… Joe Rogan has electrolytes!
*All I can add
Poor review of Rogan. He is not far right wing.
And the censorship of Rogan should have been front and center in this article. Rogan should be able to have a platform to say what he thinks. There is no proof he is giving wrong information. He doesn’t feel the handling of the epidemic was done right. I don’t either.
We should be PROTECTING people against censorship. Not censoring them, which, this article seems to advocate.
It is very ingenious of FAIR, non-partisan organization that it is, to put the recent attack on freedom of speech and expression on the right. Most of the country has been led to believe that it was the left out there forcing the resignation of Senator Franken, and the same the resignation of New York Governor Cuomo, and those two at Georgetown Law, on of who was fired for lamenting in a private conversation the fact that black students tended to congregate at the bottom of her class, and the administrator who objected to President Biden restricting selection of a Supreme Court Justice from the pool of black women judges, since that meant that the female Judge of Asian Indian descent on the D.C. Circuit Court preferred by this administrator would be denied the office in place of an inferior selection.
But it would be bad to have the Democrats actually believe that this was a Republican affair and have them halt their efforts to control their Progressive wing, not liked by moderate Democrats, before a great contribution is made to an election disaster the country cannot afford.
As an outsider I wonder about the emotions expressed in this thread. Is the USA really in such a sorry state? Are these claims of censorship and fascism and what have you really to be taken seriously? It really sounds as if your country is imploding. Surely your country can not be in such shambles.
Deplatforming in today’s world is censorship, and it happens all the time often to things that later prove to be true, or that threaten entrenched power etc. Our country is not in shambles, but it’s fair to criticize this
Unfortunately its is in shambles, as we still do not have government coverage of our health care costs, pay more for prescription medication than any other nation, have not had an increase to the minimum wage in 13 years, with 2,000 families now effectively controlling 90% of our collective wealth.
The average American has been propagandized into a state of confusion by mass media conglomerates owned by billionaires who pay little or no federal tax, and who not only profit from the sale of advertising to election campaigns, but wield undue influence over our federal elected officials through unlimited campaign contributions funneled to them through giant corporate loopholes.
Back when the U.S. had a thriving middle class, the most advanced infrastructure on the planet, and almost no national debt… the wealthiest Americans were subject to income tax burdens as high as 91% of their income. In the modern U.S., Donald Trump paid only $1,500 in federal income tax over a ten year period.
While everyone in the working class is looking for someone else to blame for allowing their government to be effectively captured by just 1% of the population, the rich are busy building yachts that require removing bridges in Rotterdam, taking selfies on electric surfboards, or slapping themselves on the back for their suborbital joyrides.
So… yes we are a disintegrating society prone to civil war and armed with nukes.
That, my friend, is extremely well put. I agree with every word. Thank you.
Lucas
Excellent, poignant, and accurately stated. Thanks!
Never thought this would be for you guys…
https://politicalfilm.wordpress.com/2022/01/29/land-of-censored-imbeciles/
Joe Rogan is a leftist, by the way. #IncompetenceOnDisplay
The anti BDS laws forbidding criticism of Israel’s apartheid state (and/or requiring what amounts to a loyalty pledge to Israel) are another extreme example of real censorship…
It’s now official kids. Ari Paul, with this pointless speculation, and prepossessed thinking has made himself irrelevant. What happened to the ideals of fairness and accuracy?
I have been a fan of F.A.I.R. since the late 1980’s and this recent attack article about Joe Rogan from Ari Paul blemishes an otherwise decades long reputation of fairness and accuracy and debunking corporate owned media propaganda. Either Ari Paul is intentionally being disingenuous or he did zero research about Rogan’s 10 plus years of programs. I expect FAIR to challenge the misinformation from the corporate media NOT join in and support it.
You stated: “And monopolistic corps are not within their rights to silence that percentage of the population that can’t afford to buy a media platform.”
Anyone with about $100 can purchase their own web domain and hosting, and any content they choose to create is their own.
By agreeing to Terms of Service in order to access an online platform, you grant that entity the LEGAL RIGHT to determine whether your content meets the standards of the written contract you approved. That’s not censorship, it’s curation.
There is no “right” to access digital communication, regardless of your opinion.
The “terms of service” argument is rank sophistry until it explains how it is acceptable (it never explains this) that Parler tried to do – and did for a short while – just what the “terms of service” crowd always said it should do and then was swiftly banished from the internet by a juggernaut of tech monopoly interference and sabotage that Glenn Greenwald can tell you about in more detail. Sorry, the internet does not belong to the tech monopolies, even if they think they own it. It’s also claptrap to mouth “terms of service” when the government has long been threatening successful social media platforms like Spotify with collateral legal sanctions if they do not “deplatform” speech that the government doesn’t like, or “do more” to monitor “disinformation”. It’s time for the intellectual dishonesty of this standard retort to be retired.
“Sophistry” is not part of the legal lexicon, but please don’t let that stop you.
FYI- I ignore all appeals to listen to Greenwald, Taibbi, or Tucker Carlson.
You missed the point about sophistry, the “appeals” you ignore reveal you’re worth ignoring.
except when it is subject to the control of and censorship by government or NGO organizations associated with governments. Then it is de-facto government policy, determined by un-elected corporations.
Nowhere in the user agreements did I, nor any other person agree to have my excess behavior, as measured and collected by both government and private interests shared, sold, traded or acquire, stored or altered in or out of any context. Your argument is best tossed on the sh%%pile by reading Surveillance Capitalism by S. Yuboff. None of us have ever agreed the the aforementioned service agreement, which is installed against our will, and is the centerpiece and largest asset of the 1% ruling class in it’s desperate attempt to hold power in the world.
A contract is a contract. It’s really not all that complicated.
Don’t like the Terms of Service? Start your own web-site!
Want to create a wide open platform? Purchase your own servers!
America’s legendary rugged individualism, has apparently morphed into a 21st century culture of online entitlement, full of snotty little snowflakes.
First ACLU, and now FAIR .. like others here I have been following FAIR since the 80’s and to see the tripe that this article by Ari Paul espouses is just beyond the pale.
You guys need to do some critical self introspection and perform a course correction or your going to crash this ship right into the rocks.
you can’t crash a ship that has already sunk.
These “journalists” are simply saying what their paychecks depend on. Rogan doesn’t. Free speech means the freedom to discuss opposing views, and to dissent. When anyone says you can’t have your opinion, no matter how whack job crazy you might be, you live in tyranny, controlled by outside forces.
Also, often times whack job crazy people turn out to be the most ethical, intelligent people in the room, who are also brave enough to hold a dissenting opinion in the face of blatant and aggressive totalitarian control systems, as exist now and are incrementally increasing daily. FAIR is part of that system.
It seems a lot of folks interpret right wing media’s strategy in defending “the Rogan Affair” as Rogan himself being a right winger. He’s not (at least I don’t think he is).
Joe definitely took a turn rightward when Covid restrictions put his and other entertainers income in jeapardy, not to mention that of many others who’s income was impacted. I disagree with that shift, but understand the reason.
Joe ain’t perfect, and he seems to shift opinion depending on who he’s interviewing. That’s natural (or part of his strategy for getting interesting guests). I definitely do always agree with him or his guest, but his podcast IS frequently interesting/entertaining.
Summary: I think Joe got off the rails here, but he’s not the evil person being portrayed by the left, nor the shining beacon portrayed by the right.
Edit: I definitely DON’T always agree with him or his guest
Kudos to you Bob! I doubt the dozens of derogatory comments here are legit.
Yeah, it’s a bit “interesting” how many comments this article generated .. WAY more than usual I think. Wouldn’t surprise me in the least if most are fake. Either that or almost everyone read it differently than I did.
Hmmmm .
The ONLY possible statement that might legitimately be misinterpreted as claiming Joe Rogan is somehow a part of the “right wing,” reads as follows: “an advocate for a right-wing political cause.”
PLEASE EXPLAIN HOW DOZENS OF FIRST TIME POSTERS COULD MISS THAT FACT?
What are you talking about? The whole article is about how he is in “solidarity” with right wing causes
Could you please provide ANY direct quote that might back up assertion, without using the one I previously provided in my original comment?
I’ve read the article three times, and no matter what you and others would like people in this forum to believe… there simply is no there, there. Period.
Discussing a right-wing corporate defense mounted to protect Joe Rogan, merely because his COVID misinformation aligns with their interests, IS NOT THE SAME THING as stating Joe Rogan is part of the “right wing.”
Good for you Ari!
Writing about a washed up MMA chump whose safety, comfort, class, merit, prestige, and free speech are nowhere near being threatened got you hella buzz and blather!
(Maybe you are onto something eh?)
Ari was pummeled pretty badly for his previous piece on Israeli apartheid.
The Rogan fans in this comment section are cranky cause they’re late for their nightly weed and porn binge.
Plus, I’ve heard horse de-worming paste leaves a really nasty taste in your mouth.
Nothing screams “I’ve no idea what I’m talking about” louder than parroting the MSNBC/CNN term “horse dewormer”
Nothing screams “I am a willing dupe,” louder than consuming horse paste.
Are you actually serious about this, Bradley? I assumed your original comment was a joke. You have to know that ivermectin is not just a “horse dewormer.” Right? I could say asprin is “dog medicine,” because it is commonly given to dogs by vets for things like osteoarthritis. That would not mean people taking aspirin are taking “dog meds.” It’s just so silly. I don’t understand how discourse gets to this point. I guess maybe I do understand because of the media blitz about ivermectin awhile back, but still ….
Lucas,
Americans have been actually been eating horse de-worming paste!
Please feel free to conflate however you choose, and/or equivocate.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQY9yVriU10
Click on my name for more info about the true price of stupidity.
Americans have been eating horse dewormer paste. Sure. And the link you provided indicated that they had done that to some degree before Rogan had said anything about ivermectin. It isn’t a particularly new phenomenon. The idea of people stupidly taking animal meds instead of meds prescribed for humans goes back well before Joe Rogan ever had a podcast. See the link below. And the story that was run in the media about Rogan taking “horse dewormer” was absolutely false. It simply was false. You cannot deny that. He was taking medicine prescribed by a doctor for humans. He made a point of clarifying that. I’ve yet to see any reporting that Rogan suggested anyone take “horse dewormer,” or that anyone took “horse dewormer” because Rogan told them to. I get that it is a talking point for people, and that it is so much easier to regurgitate talking points than to have discourse. But it is kind of silly. And it certainly conflates the medical use of ivermectin for humans with the mal-use of its animal counterpart by some.
https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/bs-xpm-2002-09-29-0210010484-story.html
Lucas,
The first reply I posted in this thread, was a humorous response regarding the “Rogan fans” mentioned in Hank’s original comment.
I have never stated that Joe Rogan eats horse de-worming paste.
Many have eaten, and continue to eat, horse de-worming paste.
Some “Rogan fans” have eaten horse de-worming paste.
Some “Rogan fans” are idiots.
Some “Rogan fans” are so focused on protecting their mentor, they jump to conclusions, and seek any opportunity which might provide space in which they can post links intended to salvage his reputation.
I sincerely hope this clears up any confusion.
“No one gives a damn” wrote Kathy, followed by a whole paragraph critiquing FAIR.
As Joe Rogan has said
“The answer is not to silence me, the answer is [for] you to do better,”
https://heavy.com/sports/ufc/joe-rogan-media-do-better/
Oh BS. Nobody can’t do “better” than a moron with a rabid fanbase who’re gonna believe whatever crap he says because they’ve already bought into his schtick and are gonna ignore how objectively dumbass he is.
That’s like Jim Jones saying, “Why didn’t you talk all my followers outta drinking poisoned Kool-Aid? That’s on you!”
Hey buddy… don’t forget it’s all about the “right wing” reference, correct? LMFAO
You are totally wrong in your “right-wing” characterization of Rogan.
“by sharing resurfaced footage to social media . ..”
Here’s a recently released compilation of Rogan clips. He endorsed Bernie Sanders, UBI, is pro-civil, LGBT, trans, and women’s rights. The only thing I don’t like is his praise of the Obamas. It’s two-minutes, 19-seconds in length:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0l0bAHZpif8&ab_channel=TheKadera22M
“Nobody has stronger opinions about Joe Rogan than people who have never listened to Joe Rogan.” — Edward Snowden
You are totally wrong in your “right-wing” characterization of Rogan.
“by sharing resurfaced footage to social media . ..”
Here’s a recently released compilation of Rogan clips. He endorsed Bernie Sanders, UBI, is pro-civil, LGBT, trans, and women’s rights. The only thing I don’t like is his praise of the Obamas. It’s two-minutes, 19-seconds in length:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0l0bAHZpif8&ab_channel=TheKadera22M
“Nobody has stronger opinions about Joe Rogan than people who have never listened to Joe Rogan.” — Edward Snowden
Some examples of his misinformation would have greatly helped your case, (if you have one), as well as a comparison with other misinformation that has been spread throughout the media world and government agencies. I don’t follow Joe Rogan, so I left with taking your word which I will not
“The rich countries have had nearly a decade…to build a network of global defenses against the impending pandemic. But the crash program in vaccine development and antiviral stockpiling…has yet to really commence. In Washington, London, and Tokyo, health ministers pay religious deference to pharmaceutical industry patents and profits while failing to assure the elementary provision of lifeline medicines. In Asia, as well as California and British Columbia, governments have covered up outbreaks, lied to international agencies, threatened whistleblowers, and possibly concealed illnesses and deaths. The huge livestock multinationals…have exploited the crisis to restructure poultry production to their selfish advantage…” ~from the conclusion to “The Monster Enters” by Mike Davis
This article is a Straw Man fallacy conflating all forms of censorship with government censorship. I highly doubt that if a big oil company pulled their advertising from a news program because they didn’t like an interview with a climate activist FAIR would declare ” disagreed with its policies, taking (their) business elsewhere because (they have)the right to do that.” This doesn’t mean that Young doesn’t have a right to do that, only that it IS in fact a form of censorship. Also, aside from fanning the Culture War flames, I don’t get what implicitly portraying a politically independent Bernie Sanders supporter as some type of right wing ideologue serves.
This article is missing nuance. As is the headline, which SHOULD read as follows:
SOME Defenses of Rogan Aren’t JUST About Free Speech; SOME are ALSO ABOUT Right-Wing Solidarity
I say this not necessarily as an indictment of FAIR.org, but for the benefit of some of the many comments that don’t seem to have been written by people who actually read the article.
To the MANY commenters who obviously didn’t read the article or grasp the nuance that WAS there, here’s the concluding paragraph:
“The Rogan affair is a spectacle by right-wing media to paint an advocate for a right-wing political cause as a victim. Meanwhile, right-wing tabloid vitriol has celebrated the punishment of speech by regular working people.”
So nobody is saying Rogan HIMSELF is “right wing”, they’re saying that the right and right-wing tabloids and talking heads have jumped in to supposedly defend free speech, but what they’re really doing is supporting a narrative about COVID and the CORPORATE mainstream illiberal media that they’ve been flogging for decades.
Hence this article wasn’t a critique of Rogan, but of the fair weather right-wing fans of his in the right-wing corporate media.
Well, the article is titled the way it is titled. Readers did not force the title on the author. It is what it is.
I really don’t get this one. I came here via link from my favorite podcast, Citations Needed. I’m almost baffled by the take on this. I’m not a Rogan fan. But the seemingly targeted outrage directed at him is concerning to me. Precisely because it seems to be targeted. And as “ordinary people” more and more have their entire existences recorded, the idea of targeted protests led by legacy media and establishment types seems like a very real problem. Rogan had guests on his show that some people didn’t like, expressing views that many didn’t like. Neil Young tried to sway Spotify by using his platform to de-platform Rogan, but that didn’t work. Then, suddenly, the old racist comments flooded the internet, and it became the news cycle for days. And anyone who says Rogan’s apology is enough? Well, they are just showing “right-wing” solidarity? Unlike those who give Jimmy Kimmel a pass for his blackface history (for which he never actually apologized) or accept Joy Reid’s preposterous fiction about time-traveling Russians having framed her for homophbia or … well, you get the picture. It is one thing for people to react to something negatively, and to protest it with their voices or their pocketbooks. It raises some scrutiny from me, though, when legacy media and establishment types (left or right) seem to engage in a coordinated attack. I have listened to Joe Rogan’s podcast exactly once — to hear Bernie Sanders. Rogan seemed like an “ordinary Joe” with an open mind. I listened to his apology about his past remarks, examined the context of many of them, and I consider it to be a done deal. If that makes me a “right-wing” something or other, so be it. Seems short-sighted. But maybe that is just me.
Completely agree, and portrayals of Rogan as “right wing” are disingenuous, he endorsed Bernie Sanders in the last election and has mostly left wing views
Got here via the Citations Needed newsletter link as well.
Listen to his episodes with Malone, McCullough or even some of the more innocuous guests like Jocko.
Rogan has been more consistent in repeating right wing talking points lately and the right wing defense of him is a defense of their interests.
“…misinformation(1)… misinformation(2)… misinformation(3)” ~ Ari Paul
Nope.
Mass Formation Psychosis.
There. Fixed it for you.
No mention of Malone anywhere here, BTW.
How convenient for your Mass Formation Psychosis, Ari.
Get well soon.
Thanks so much: your response proves exactly how deluded Rogan supporters are.
Wow, big words from the commenters on this article: heterodox, media capture, mass formation psychosis…
I wonder who uses those words on their “long form podcasts.”