Joe Rogan must be stopped.
This is the consensus from all of the wisest and most compassionate voices in our society. According to the White House, Spotify should not merely lead off Rogan's COVID-19-centric episodes with a content warning; according to press secretary Jen Psaki, "our view is that it is a positive step, but that there is more that can be done." According to CNN's Brian Stelter, host of the ironically named "Reliable Sources": "He is now apologizing. And we're going to find out if that's enough for Spotify, the company that has an exclusive distribution deal with him." Has-been rocker Neil Young agrees; he, along with some other washed-up old hippie musicians, has taken his music off of Spotify to protest Rogan.
What was Rogan's great sin? To hear the media tell it, his great sin was COVID-19 "misinformation." Now, this is a rather vague charge, given the fact that our public health authorities have informed us over the course of the past two years that lockdowns were effective, cloth masks worked, masking of children was necessary, vaccines prevented transmission, natural immunity was inferior to vaccine immunity, and the virus could not have originated with a Chinese lab leak -- all pieces of misinformation later reversed. Nonetheless, Rogan vowed to become more informed and to have on more diverse guests with regard to COVID-19 and vaccines.
When Spotify didn't deplatform Rogan over that charge, the rationale for his demanded deplatforming morphed: now Rogan was a racist for saying the N-word while quoting rap lyrics years ago. After a Left-wing activist group promoted a compendium video of Rogan using such language, Rogan apologized again. But apologies aren't the point. No one actually thinks Rogan is a racist. For the radical Left, you either become a tool in their arsenal or you become an object lesson. And Rogan has now become an object lesson.
He has become an object lesson for two main reasons. First, Rogan has steadfastly refused to toe the party line with regard to President Joe Biden; ire broke out against Rogan in 2020 for the crime of noting that Biden appeared "mentally compromised" in the middle of an election that the media had declared a turning point in the future of democracy. Second, Rogan has hosted guests who do not simply repeat the nostrums of the Left on a wide variety of issues. That's why the Left has demanded that Spotify remove old episodes of his show entirely: Alternative voices must not be heard, and Rogan has the unfortunate habit of talking to such voices for hours at a time and letting them say their piece.
There are several takeaways from the Rogan dust-up.
First, corporate overlords are absolutely gutless. CEO Daniel Ek believed that picking up the exclusive license to Rogan's show would increase listenership and advertising dollars; he was clearly blindsided by the blowback, to the extent that he issued a mewling letter to the company's woke interns begging their forgiveness for their hurt feelings.
Second, the media are not interested in freedom of speech as a principle. They're interested in freedom of speech for themselves and no one else. It's been fascinating to watch the evolution of our treasured Journalismers (TM) from guardians of the First Amendment to attack dogs on behalf of Big Tech censorship of their perceived enemies.
Third, apologizing to insincere radical Left alligators is always a mistake. Their goal is not a conversation. Their goal is destruction. If they find you useful, they may allow you to become Reek to their House Bolton; if they don't, you become Ned Stark to their Joffrey.
Rogan will survive all of this. Perhaps Spotify ends up paying him a bag of cash to leave, and he takes his audience and goes elsewhere, tanking Spotify's stock price on his way out the door. That would be precisely what Spotify deserves for their cowardice. But no matter what happens, the lesson will be learned by those who don't have Rogan's audience: shut up or face the whirlwind. And most will shut up.
Ben Shapiro, 38, is a graduate of UCLA and Harvard Law School, host of "The Ben Shapiro Show," and editor-in-chief of DailyWire.com. He is the author of the New York Times bestsellers "How To Destroy America In Three Easy Steps," "The Right Side Of History," and "Bullies." To find out more about Ben Shapiro and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.
COPYRIGHT 2022 CREATORS.COM
19 comments:
It's really hard to cancel someone with 100m listeners who know the truth by screaming to the 47 people watching CNN still who don't. The (formerly) mainstream media simply don't have the reach for their lies to take hold here.
Republicans approve of dissent now? Since when?
-Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger
I didn’t listen to Joe Rogan’s Podcast until after he was on Art Bell’s podcast talking about how much Art inspired him. Then he proceeded to talk about psychedelic drugs and also discussed interviewing Bob Lazar and Bob Bigelow.
I listened to Joe a few more times until Art Bell died and then Joe Rogan became my new substitute for Art Bell. Joe Rogan is doing a good job of carrying Art Bell’s torch. He is waaay better than George sNoory.
@5:38
There is a difference between dissenting against evil and becoming a traitor and joining evil.
It’s becoming more clear each day that the democrat party is actually, genuinely evil.
5:38 - Republicans have never attempted to silence a segment of the community, at any level. If you disagree, back it up. Meanwhile, every democrat from The View to Facebook to the House and Senate and down to main street would like to silence every conservative.
But attacks on Colin Kaepernick for kneeling are justified and righteous. Got it.
I’m gonna tell you something you might not know about me Joe Rogan…..I SMOKE ROCKS!
5:38 Name the Democrats who dissent from Pelosi and Schummer.
We are waiting.
Democrat Party = Group Think
And please, don't even think of listing Joe Manchin and Senima. At least they think 7% inflation is acceptable. The rest of the D's in Congress think 10%+ inflation is fine and dandy.
@5:03pm - 100m listeners eh. Might want to check again.
The GOP and social conservatives have routinely tried to shut up gays and lesbians, frequently resorting to slurs and insults, for most of my lifetime. In 2002-03 anybody who opposed the Patriot Act or so much as wondered whether invading Iraq was a good idea was branded a traitor and jihadist sympathizer. One of them became president, an election that blew so many GOP fuses that a majority of the party pushed the racist conspiracy theory that he was born in Africa. The GOP then nominated the country's most prominent birther to be president.
A few years ago, the Republican president openly demanded that any athlete who knelt during the national anthem be fired. He campaigned on a promise to ban all Muslims from entering the country. Hardly a night goes by on Fox News, the GOP's most lucrative propaganda outlet, that some representative of the left, usually a minority or woman or both, is not called "un-American" or accused of "hating America." Across the country there are currently dozens of GOP-proposed bills to censor materials and curricula from schools, even in states, like this one, where those curricula do not exist. Right now the GOP is actively purging any officeholder who dares suggest that Donald Trump should be held responsible for the attempted insurrection of Jan. 6. Any party member who demurs from party orthodoxy and unthinking loyalty to Trump is labeled a RINO; any officeholder who demurs will be successfully, ruthlessly primaried.
I could go on. Nobody freaks out over dissent like the GOP.
The right-wing is in a loser-take-all race with the hard left to decide whose victimhood, real or imagined, is worth more power.
5:58:
I disagree. You must not have listened to King Trump much these last few years. He wanted to cancel, fire, boycott, or shut pretty much anyone or anything who spoke ill of him. Would post examples, but there isn't enough room. He's still doing it. Since most other republicans don't have spines and do as he decrees, they do it too.
100m listeners = already has their crack pipes and knows how to use them!
There are Millions of Democrats that don’t want to get vaccinated, don’t believe in abortion, believe in the right to carry a gun and much more that isn’t lock step with the party. You can’t really say that about the cult with conviction.
I seem to remember National Review running off all the conservatives who were against invading Iraq or is my memory flawed?
To all of the dumbass progressives who think they are geniuses, talking shit about Trump… each passing day proves him correct. Obama, Hillary, and the Democrats committed real crimes and real treason. Meanwhile, no evidence was ever found of any wrongdoing by President Trump.
Unfortunately it’s s going to take a few more years to unravel the crimes committed by the Democrats during the 2020 Election. But the mountains of evidence are coming to light. Dominion employee subpoenas will be issued soon. Can’t wait!
Moderates rise and take it all back !!! Lets go !!!
@ 6:42 Colin Kaepernick is held as semi-deity by the left. Colin Kaepernick received a $76M settlement from the NFL for being box-office poison with little skills.
I'll swap with Colin Kaepernick any day if I don't have to hang out with the loons he loves.
I think 7:40 knows where the Pillow Guy’s drugs went when he got clean.
Jeez, it’s a Wednesday. Save that nonsense for the weekend!
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