Efforts to deplatform the highly popular “Joe Rogan Experience” podcast have amped up over the last month, with cable news channels like CNN, daytime shows like “The View,” and left-wing celebrities discussing or outright calling for the silencing of host Joe Rogan.
“Joe Rogan is the media’s new Trump,” declared Jack Posobiec, referring to the hyper-focus on Rogan.
Joe Rogan is the media's new Trump
— Truckistan Amb. Poso 🏁 (@JackPosobiec) January 29, 2022
The incessant attacks sparked many to defend Rogan and, more generally, the principle of free speech.
“I like listening to Joe Rogan. I don’t agree with every opinion I hear on his show, but I appreciate being able to access opinions that challenge the dominant narratives,” posted Breitbart’s Brandon Darby. “You censorship advocates scare the hell out of me and you can f*** right off too. Thanks.”
I like listening to Joe Rogan. I don’t agree with every opinion I hear on his show, but I appreciate being able to access opinions that challenge the dominant narratives. You censorship advocates scare the hell out of me and you can f*ck right off too. Thanks.
— Brandon Darby (@brandondarby) January 30, 2022
“The anti-censorship crowd wants to de-platform Joe Rogan,” criticized columnist Erick Erickson. “The anti-racists want kids to be defined by their race and class. The anti-segregations wants kids locked into public schools with no way out. Post-modernism is really just insanity pretending its the sane one.”
The anti-censorship crowd wants to de-platform Joe Rogan.
The anti-racists want kids to be defined by their race and class.
The anti-segregations wants kids locked into public schools with no way out.
Post-modernism is really just insanity pretending its the sane one.— Erick Erickson (@EWErickson) January 30, 2022
“These musicians are willing to pull their music from Spotify over Joe Rogan [but] so far none of them have said anything about Apple’s links to Chinese human rights violations,” commented Lauren Chen. “Strange…”
These musicians are willing to pull their music from Spotify over Joe Rogan
But so far none of them have said anything about Apple's links to Chinese human rights violations
Strange… https://t.co/f5DKSaxHjd
— Lauren Chen (@TheLaurenChen) January 30, 2022
CNN commentator Mary Katharine Ham said that she’s “weirded out” about how many people want to silence Rogan’s podcast.
“I don’t mind that I disagree with him sometimes, enjoy long-form interviews with interesting people that not a lot of people do, am suspicious of motives for shutting him up, & am weirded out by how many people desire it,” she wrote.
I don’t mind that I disagree with him sometimes, enjoy long-form interviews with interesting people that not a lot of people do, am suspicious of motives for shutting him up, & am weirded out by how many people desire it. https://t.co/AhP8AuFt1l
— Mary Katharine Ham (@mkhammer) January 30, 2022
“Elite liberal media types want Joe Rogan banned for the same reason they call anti-mandate truckers fascists—both speak for millions of working class people who were abandoned when liberals got rich and woke. Rather than confront this, they silence or smear anyone who exposes it,” argued Newsweek’s Batya Ungar-Sargon.
“Liberal elites believe they should be able to tell the hoi polloi what to think, so they imagine the people they envy—like Rogan with his 11 million listeners—have that influence,” she added. “The truth is the opposite: Rogan has that audience because he mirrors his listeners’ skepticism.”
Liberal elites believe they should be able to tell the hoi poloi what to think, so they imagine the people they envy—like Rogan with his 11 million listeners—have that influence. The truth is the opposite: Rogan has that audience because he mirrors his listeners' skepticism.
— Batya Ungar-Sargon (@bungarsargon) January 31, 2022
“These artists have a right to remove content in protest. But make no mistake, their intent is to force Spotify to censor Joe Rogan so that you and I can no longer choose for ourselves whether to listen. They’re on the wrong side of history,” posted intellectual Bret Weinstein. “Truth persuades. It doesn’t coerce.”
These artists have a right to remove content in protest. But make no mistake, their intent is to force Spotify to censor Joe Rogan so that you and I can no longer choose for ourselves whether to listen.
They’re on the wrong side of history. Truth persuades. It doesn’t coerce.
— Bret Weinstein (@BretWeinstein) January 29, 2022
Journalist Glenn Greenwald wrote a column on liberals’ obsession with censorship, as evidenced by their attacks on Rogan, titled, “The Pressure Campaign on Spotify to Remove Joe Rogan Reveals the Religion of Liberals: Censorship.”
“All factions, at certain points, succumb to the impulse to censor,” Greenwald wrote via Twitter. “But for the Democratic Party’s liberal adherents, silencing their adversaries is now their primary project. They simply cannot abide the idea that those who see the world differently have a platform to be heard.”
All factions, at certain points, succumb to the impulse to censor. But for the Democratic Party's liberal adherents, silencing their adversaries is now their primary project.
They simply cannot abide the idea that those who see the world differently have a platform to be heard.
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) January 29, 2022
Related: Prince Harry and Meghan Markle Have ‘Concerns’ About Spotify Misinformation Amid Joe Rogan Drama