Revisiting the 2022 Campaign Against Joe Rogan
A Legacy Article
I wrote this article way back in 2022, right after Joe Rogan came under fire for inviting anti-vaxxer guests onto his podcast. Joe Rogan, and my own views about him, have evolved significantly since this article was written. However, I chose to publish it today because I believe it provides example from recent history how groupthink behavior influences popular responses to dissent.
It’s safe to say that the last of the dust has settled in the wake of the months-long battle over the future of the acclaimed podcast, “The Joe Rogan Experience”. Yet, while the viperine news outlets and outraged online brownshirts that prosecuted the recently foiled cancellation campaign against Rogan’s show have laid down their arms in begrudging despair, the revelations that we can glean for this event will surely continue to ring true for years to come. This lesson is that both the established media and their censorious online allies are threatened by Joe Rogan’s model for free expression. Joe Rogan challenges these unscrupulous arbiters of acceptable thought and communication in a way his incensed critics can neither understand nor hope to emulate without revealing themselves as total frauds.
Looking back, it’s no surprise that the depraved powers-that-be launched a propaganda campaign against Rogan. What is surprising, is how long they waited before they waged one. By the time Rogan had incurred the wrath of power-drunk media corporations and rabid progressive goon squads, his wildly successful podcast had already been running for years, earning $200 million its recent Spotify deal alone.[1] The key to its success was Rogan’s use of long-form conversation with a diverse array of guests, including artists, politicians, MMA fighters, doctors, neurologists, and fellow podcast hosts and comedians. His novel use of long-form interviewing occasionally exceeds four hours, giving guests opportunities to properly present their ideas, along with any exceptions and nuances that go along with them. Rogan routinely challenges the views of his guests and offers his own thoughts and opinions in matters, as anyone would do during an honest conversation. However, he has consistently proven himself to be a listener, asking questions and allowing his guests to articulate themselves in a comfortable, open-minded setting. The last point, which cannot be overstated enough, is that during all of this, Rogan never used his influence to force an opinion or mindset upon his listeners. He simply invites guests onto his show and converses with them because he’s interested in what they have to say. The impression he exudes is one of humility, curiosity, and a willingness to consider new ideas. Long-time listeners may even notice that he becomes progressively more polite and open-minded and that his growing knowledge portfolio has grown considerably over the years. A recurring theme in Rogan’s mindset is, “improve upon yourself”. The Joe Rogan Experience, therefore, is a groundbreaking media form, due to its open-minded and unassuming approach, emphasis on listening, rather than lecturing, and encouraging self-improvement among its listeners.
There could not be a sharper contrast between this and the sad state of our conventional media. News stations like CNN, Fox News, and MSNBC utilize a formula that chiefly employs selective data reporting, short-form commentary, often damning sound-bites, and egregiously slanted presentations. Guests on these disingenuous programs are hardly invited to convey their thoughts in a calm and collected manner. Rather, their purpose is to reinforce the respective news station’s adopted narrative. Some accomplish this by acting as shills who completely agree with the anchor and provide supplemental information and commentary. Others are vacuous buffoons whose sole purpose is to be crushed in a public debate to make the network’s purported views appear stronger and more legitimate. These straw men are as qualified or well-equipped for their challenge as a prisoner of Rome condemned to be devoured by lions in the Coliseum. Like their doomed counterparts, these poor patsies are easily torn to shreds for the viewing pleasure of a grand audience. Networks’ selectively chosen issues are adulterated with official narratives prior to presentations. Anchors seem more like actors, faking light-hearted smiles and looks of concern while they report “the news”. In their commentaries, deceivingly categorized as “fair persuasion”, they directly tell you what to think. Even if these pontificating con artists don’t convince you completely, their efforts to frame the argument along their lines are generally effective. Through their narrative-pushing, selective reporting, and bad-faith interview practices, conventional news media today is more akin to a propaganda machine than a functional institution fit for a free and decent society.
This is the true source of antagonism between the corporate media and podcasters like Rogan. Listeners’ increasing preference of programs that provide for free thought and open conversation and debate are a direct threat to the deceitful executives that run old-school media corporations. Fortunately, they failed to nip their adversary in the bud. Little by little at first, sheep began to stray from their duplicitous shepherds, right under their noses. As the momentum slowly built under their radar, the talking heads droned on as if nothing were happening.
Then the COVID-19 pandemic struck. Both the threat presented by the virus itself and the world’s response to it, exacerbated social tensions that had, up until then, gone largely unnoticed. Among these was the growing concern over the rise of deceptive, offensive, or otherwise “harmful” content on social media platforms. Sites like Facebook and Twitter had already been taking steps to remove “misleading” content for years. But the emergence of “potentially dangerous” claims that contradicted scientific consensus, such as COVID denial, opposition to vaccination, and conspiracy theory-laden videos such as the infamous YouTube documentary, “Plandemic”, provided platforms with a justification to take suppressive measures to new and terrifying levels. While these sites initially applied measures relatively conservatively, their repressive impulses were soon emboldened by legions of caviling wokescolds, who not only supported the current policies, but called for even more stringent measures. This led to the expansion and intensification of the use of suppressive tactics, ranging from fact-checking and shadow-banning to outright restriction, which were applied to an ever-expanding range of unacceptable positions on a multitude of issues. The chokehold that social media platforms placed their communication highways during the COVID-19 pandemic ensured that anyone found in violation of “community standards” would be swiftly identified and dealt with accordingly.
It was during this watershed moment in the history of the free world that Joe Rogan invited the controversial Dr. Robert Malone onto his show. The podcaster was by no means a stranger to controversy. In the past, he received tepid backlash for interviewing cultural pariahs such as Alex Jones, and his decision to take doctor prescribed Ivermectin as treatment for COVID invited widespread ridicule. But allowing Dr. Robert Malone, an experienced and credentialed doctor to espouse heresies such as questioning the efficacy and safety of vaccines was a cardinal sin. Sensing that the tide of history was on their megalomaniacal side, the Cancel Culture Army took to the warpath. CNN raged while artists like Neil Young demanded that their music be removed from Spotify if Rogan’s podcast was allowed to stay on. When allegations of spreading Covid disinformation proved to be insufficient, his free-speech hating adversaries combed Rogan’s past episodes for any instances of wrongspeak. Soon, they found what they were looking for; instances of Rogan uttering racial pejoratives. Ignoring context, opponents shifted tactics and demanded swift and unforgiving retribution for the show’s alleged promotion of racism and bigotry. This time-tested tactic allowed for the maximization of merciless criticism from both public figures and private individuals, a great many of whom supported the outright cancellation of Rogan’s podcast. Rogan publicly apologized for what he agreed were mistakes, defended himself in other matters, and pledged to use the recent criticism constructively. Spotify also deleted selected episodes of the Joe Rogan Experience and added disclaimers that informed listeners of potential “disinformation”. But this did little to assuage the vengeful wrath of his carping denigrators. They wanted Rogan and his free and open podcast gone and out of the way.
Rogan sustained volleys of criticism and histrionic demands for his banishment from public forum before Daniel Ek, the CEO of Spotify, made a decision that doubtlessly made corporate media fraudsters and PC disciples alike seethe with anger. He refused to cancel Joe Rogan’s podcast. In a message sent to Spotify employees on February 6, 2022, Ek stated that, “While I strongly condemn what Joe has said and I agree with his decision to remove past episodes from our platform, I realize some will want more …. And I want to make one point very clear – I do not believe that silencing Joe is the answer.”[2]
While Ek did not say so explicitly, it can be assumed that the decision was primarily based the upon the fact that the cost of cancelling Rogan outweighed any gain doing so. Retaining the small number of embittered customers who would likely cancel their accounts in protest amounted to mere pocket-change compared to the goldmine that the JRE proved to be. I am not suggesting that Ek’s other stated reasons for keeping Rogan on were not genuine. Yet this author believes that in a world where leading actors and other public figures end up fired, banned, other otherwise disenfranchised in face of similar accusations, their downfall is due to their relative lack of monetary value. While everyone from the Dixie Chicks to Gina Carano have been banished from the public sphere for even the slightest indication of unorthodoxy in the eyes of their fans or benefactors, Rogan’s podcast, shielded by its promise of profit, lived to see another day. In fact, Joe Rogan stated last April that the controversy that his list of subscribers had actually increased following the controversy.[3]
Since then, the corporate media, exhausting all options and understanding their fanbase’s need for an ever-changing news cycle, dropped the subject, and moved on to the next top story as if nothing happened. The legions of online trolls and quibbling cry-babies likewise relinquished their efforts in a rare case of defeat, undoubtedly nursing their wounds while hunting for new blasphemies to combat.
Rogan’s ability to withstand the onslaught of cancel-culture and character assassination where so many others have fallen, is both a sign that the supporters of speech-suppression can be stopped, and a testament to the success and durability of open and honest sources of information. As I have noted before, it was the value, not the substance of the podcast that most likely convinced Ek to keep Rogan on. Yet it wouldn’t be worth anything to begin with if not for the multitudes of listeners that support the show. It’s a sign of a changing trend in the consumption of media. More and more people, especially younger listeners, are turning away from long-established corporate bullshit factories in favor of sources that provide long-form open conversation, unadulterated by network-supported narratives or clear efforts to manipulate the public.
This is a cause for hope. The ensuing democratization of independent podcasts present a new and wonderful opportunity to both break corporate media’s stranglehold on “truth” and stop mob censorship. Honest and independent podcasts help open minds by getting listeners into the habit of entertaining, while not necessarily accepting, a multitude of differing opinions. It teaches, by example, how to have a mature and civil conversation, even with someone you completely disagree with. Lastly, it presents conversations, and even arguments as a means for all parties to reach a greater understanding of the respective subject and use that information to improve themselves.
This is precisely why corporate media can’t stand them, and why the sanctimonious woke mobs don’t understand them at all. For these two groups, orthodoxy is the only good. Dissent is disinformation, opposing opinions, hate. They fear free and independent shows like the JRE, because it provides the antidote to their noxious poison. This antidote, readers, is the rise of a humble, mature, articulate, educated and respectful citizenry that fosters a healthy, free, and flourishing marketplace of ideas that almost inevitably leads to a better society. Against this, the disingenuous frauds that run the corporate media, and the unstable online bullies that they so often pander to and ally with, can only bow their heads and turn away sullenly in defeat. And so long as we strive for truth and integrity in the spirit of good faith, our potential is boundless.
[1] https://www.forbes.com/sites/masonbissada/2022/02/17/joe-rogans-spotify-deal-allegedly-worth-200-million-doubling-initial-report/?sh=4e485fe52c39
[2] https://www.npr.org/2022/02/07/1078774392/spotifys-ceo-says-the-company-isnt-ready-to-part-ways-with-joe-rogan#:~:text=Spotify%20CEO%20Daniel%20Ek%20said,Ek%20said%20in%20the%20note.
[3] https://www.vulture.com/2022/04/joe-rogan-spotify-subscriber-growth-controversy.html