The problem with Joe Rogan…and white boys

A group of researchers, doctors and medical experts are concerned about the willingness of the Spotify podcaster to spread false information. People raised red flags about Rogan's willingness to spread white supremacy.

I can tell you what this piece won't be, if you're reading it.

You won't read about how Joe Rogan is racist. Rogan is funny and deserving of being considered the most influential podcaster of all time. I can't say that I'm neutral when it comes to the $100 million white man at Spotify.

I enjoy watching Joe Rogan.

It might be too austere a word. I paid to see him perform. I have listened to hundreds of episodes of The Joe Rogan Experience and that number may well reach four digits if you include the Rogan comedy universe such as Ari Shaffir, Tom Segura and Joey Diaz. I have heard Rogan talk about growing up in liberal San Francisco, living in Florida and spending his teenage years near Boston, which created a diverse set of interests, from mixed martial arts to Egyptology to dick jokes. Rogan seems to be very interested in things and not just on a superficial level. I haven't listened to his show since he became exclusive to the service.

He may be the most powerful person in all of media because he created the most powerful platform in podcasting. His estimated audience nearly triples Tucker Carlson's, dwarfs all three networks' late-night talk shows combined and, when Rogan's YouTube views are included, his audience rivals The Oprah Winfrey Show at the height of its popularity. Rogan has cultivated a legion of young, mostly white, mostly male fans who have elevated him to a level that ranks somewhere between a guru and a renaissance man.

Rogan's status as a counterculture icon of libertarian white boys who wear Ed Hardy shirts to jujitsu practice is why last week a coalition of scientists, medical professionals, professors, and science communicators spanned a wide range of fields. The letter did not ask for Rogan to be banned. They wanted to express their concern over the damage that is being done.

Rogan wasn't shy about sharing his belief that young, healthy people like himself didn't have anything, even before he became the official COVID consultant to NFL quarterback Aaron Rodgers and other prominent celebrities who weren't worried about the coronaviruses until they tested positive for the coronaviruses. According to the data, Rogan was correct about most people not being as healthy as him. More than 80 percent of the people who died from COVID were over the age of 65. Only a small percentage of smokers get lung cancer and most people survive gunshot wounds to the chest. Rogan is fearless about saying what doctors around the world will never tell you.

Joe Rogan isn't a doctor.

Rogan has the same medical expertise as a monkey or a man who makes a living describing face kicks. Rogan's job is to say things and a doctor's primary role is to make sure each one of their patients doesn't die. That is why we rarely hear actual doctors say that.

Rogan got the rona.

He would never be the same after he cured himself with ivermectin and other advanced medical care not available to people who don't have the resources to move halfway across the country. He ranted about how ivermectin was not horse paste, blasted CNN and responded to public criticism by inviting COVID quacks on his show. The public accepted the world medical community's consensus opinion because of the debunked theory of mass formation hypnotism, according to the December 31 episode of Rogan's show. Rogan's audience watched him throw his usual open-mindedness into the wind when he argued that COVID was worse than the vaccine. Rogan couldn't accept the objective facts even as he read the words written by people who know stuff, which caused some of his actual fans to cry.

Joe Rogan is usually very open minded about topics and has acted like this about covid. He won't budge. It is sad to see but it is a once in a lifetime thing and everyone is adamant about it. He is still a good guy.
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January 13, 2022.

Rogan's pattern of white wackadoodle doo would be laughable for almost any other podcaster in America. He was always open-minded, unbiased and would often verify the most innocuous fact. I have heard him dismantle the argument that the moon landing was fake, that vegan people are healthier, and that monkeys eating mushrooms are what made the human brain evolve.

The letter said that by allowing the propagation of false and societally harmful assertions, it was enabling its hosted media to damage public trust in scientific research and sow doubt in the credibility of data-driven guidance offered by medical professionals. Rogan has spread false and misleading claims on his show, provoking distrust in science and medicine. He promoted off-label use of ivermectin to treat COVID-19 and discouraged vaccination in young people and children.

Mass-misinformation events of this scale have dangerous ramifications. This is not only a scientific or medical concern, but it is also a sociological issue of devastating proportions and it is the responsibility of Spotify to allow this activity to thrive on its platform.

I knew how the physicians felt when they wrote about how the Pandemic had stretched the medical systems to their limits. Many of us have pointed out this problem for years, and a lot of Black people knew exactly how the experts felt when the researchers spelled out how they faced backlash and resistance.

I don't think Joe Rogan is a white supremacist.

Rogan has a fascination with white supremacists and has an interest in recreational drugs. Rogan hosted a sit-down with the founder of the Proud Boys, who was indicted for attempting a coup on the American legislature. One of the founding fathers of the "grievance studies" hoax that evolved into the demonization of critical race theory is one of the people he has welcomed. The JRE attracts a heterogeneous audience that includes Christian conservatives, libertarians, centrist pundits and neo-Nazis. Milo Yiannopoulos and Stefan Molyneux are two of the few JRE guests who promote the long-debunked belief that people of African descent have lower IQs.

Most episodes of The Joe Rogan Experience are not about the intellectual and social superiority of people who don't listen to Joe Rogan. Rogan sometimes disagrees with his guests and often pushes back against them. He believes that thoughts should not be restricted. Rogan isn't having a conversation with these guests in his living room over a joint and a cup of Bulletproof coffee; he's asking them to speak into a microphone and talk to tens of millions of people, many of whom are probably dumber than Rogan. Rogan is probably more open-minded, more progressive and more informed than many of his audience. His curious personality makes it seem as if he agrees with what his guests are saying.

Rogan isn't intellectually equipped to challenge many of his guests' ideas because they are based on faulty research, personal prejudice and anecdotal evidence. Rogan was obsessed with the lawsuit accusing Harvard of discriminating against Asian-American descent. He said that the Ivy League institution's admissions policy was racist because it denied students who tested higher on standardized tests.

Joe Rogan is a commentator at the UFC 209 event at T-Mobile Arena. The photo was taken by Jeff Bottari.

Rogan never mentioned that research shows wealthy students enjoy significant advantages throughout the college application process, and that income greatly impacts a student's performance on standardized tests. Asian Americans have the highest income in America. He didn't acknowledge that most Black students attend high-poverty schools that don't have the same academic resources. He didn't think about the fact that standardized tests don't measure college success. He never spoke about the right of private institutions to create a diverse academic environment. He never quantified what he meant by the best students. Rogan never mentioned that the people who overcome disparity might be better students than those who graduate from the best schools, have the best test preparation money can afford, and have been guided by people who know how to get into Ivy League schools. He never considered that these differences prove that white supremacy exists. There is a good reason for this.

Joe Rogan didn't know what he was talking about.

He was just talking. Into a microphone. To millions of people. Because he can. White boys get to do that. Rogan and his minion of bearded free-thinkers who used to be libertarian will never be affected by the deadly virus of white supremacy. Rogan pretends that he is allowing his audience to explore ideas without acknowledging the actions these positions can inspire and the harm these racist concepts cause in real life. Rogan's guests know that millions of people are listening. Hundreds of thousands of people have been converted to a baseless philosophy thanks to Rogan's pulpit.

Rogan or his children probably won't be murdered by a transphobic bigot, so it might be interesting for him to sit down with the author of The Transgender Craze Seducing Our Daughter. He doesn't have to wonder if his kid's teacher or his cousin's employer saw that Rogan clip and reached a different conclusion if he debates if white people are more intelligent than sub-Saharan Africans. White boys will say stupid things and wipe away the chance of being held accountable if they say: "I'm just asking questions!" It is a neat trick. It is as if the entire universe is an Etch A Sketch for white boys to wipe out the consequences of their actions. Asking questions could be wrong.

White boys are free to play with the poisonous snake of white supremacy because they are born with natural immunity. They can talk about how people who have 888-492-0 888-492-0 888-492-0 888-492-0's should fight voter suppression. Women will never be forced to carry an unwanted pregnancy to full term if they sit on a Supreme Court and decide what to do with their vaginas. They can explain why Black people should obey the law because they have never been afraid of being hunted by people with guns and the authority of a legal system.

Rogan has a fascination with tossing around the n-word as if it were a firework. Rogan doesn't think it's a piece of dynamite. It doesn't conjure up the memories of his grandparents with their lynchings or the wealth taken from everyone in his family before they began. As if it is a game of cornhole or a theoretical hackysack, watch him laugh while kicking the history of a people's pain around.

Joe Rogan is not a white supremacist.

Rogan built a soapbox that allowed white supremacists to stand. Some people will claim that Rogan is being held accountable for the stage he built. My child, if there is anyone who can't be canceled, it's Joe Rogan and white boys like him. He will have to earn millions of dollars performing comedy around the country while hosting his own show, where his pre–Spotify audience was even larger, if all else fails. White boys will never lose their freedom to speak even if they claim they are just asking questions.

The Supreme Court justice and free speech advocate wrote that public opinion is a sort of atmosphere, fresh, keen and full of sunlight. To expose selfishness, injustice, cruelty, tricks and jobs of all sorts is to defeat them. One issue that was not covered in any of the volumes of fearless opinions written by Brandeis was social justice. Whenever a case involved black people, Brandeis would be silent. He did not write an opinion on the race question for 23 years on the Supreme Court.

Louis Brandeis was not a white supremacist.

Even though he voted in favor of the Klan and helped elect a white supremacist president, it doesn't mean he was wrong. Joe Rogan is a bright and shining star and speech should be free.

Joe Rogan isn't the sun.

I could be biased.

I like Joe Rogan.

Michael Harriot is a Spades player. His book will be released in 2022.

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The problem with Joe Rogan appeared first on TheGrio.