The Newest Attempt to Cancel Joe Rogan Won't Work Any Better Than the Previous Ones

The King of Podcasting p, Joe Rogan, interviewed Dr. Robert Malone, an accomplished virologist who patented portions of the mRNA technology, worked for the Salk Institute, and has worked with the Department of Defense and our public health agencies for decades. Of course, now Malone is persona non grata because he expresses concerns about the potential short- and long-term side effects of the COVID-19 mRNA vaccine and staunchly opposes vaccinating children.

To shut down debate and any alternative point of view, 270 medical professionals, “science communicators,” and researchers signed an open letter to Spotify. In it, they demanded Spotify adopt a misinformation policy and censor Rogan’s podcasts related to COVID-19 for information they disagree with. While their complaints are many, the only evidence they provide supporting their point of view is that the FDA does not recommend ivermectin for COVID-19 . The FDA also did not recommend Bactrim for pneumocystis pneumonia in AIDS patients in the 1980s. Now it is the only recommended drug for the illness.

The authors’ real beef is with Rogan’s reach and influence. In their conclusion, they lament, “As scientists, we face backlash and resistance as the public grows to distrust our research and expertise. As educators and science communicators, we are tasked with repairing the public’s damaged understanding of science and medicine.” Many of them may be medical professionals, but they misdiagnosed the problem. The damage they must repair is to their own credibility, not the public’s understanding. Science and medicine are processes, not simple declarations from their esteemed institutions.

Rogan has interviewed scientists and doctors on both sides of issues related to COVID-19. Rogan and Malone spoke for just over three hours on a range of topics related to the virus. The fantastic Kevin Downey Jr. of PJ Media listened, so you don’t have to, and wrote a Cliff Notes version. In the clip that went viral, Malone explained the concept of mass formation psychosis:

When you have a society that has become decoupled from each other and has free floating anxiety and a sense that things don’t make sense, we can’t understand it. And then their attention gets focused by a leader or a series of events on one small point, just like hypnosis, they literally become hypnotized and can be led anywhere. And one of the aspects of that phenomena is the people that they identify as their leaders, the ones typically that come in and say, you have this pain and I can solve it for you. I and I alone can fix this problem for you. Then they will follow that person. It doesn’t matter whether they lie to them or whatever. The data are irrelevant. And furthermore, anybody who questions that narrative is to be immediately attacked. They are the other. This is central to mass formation psychosis.

The parallels to the COVID-19 response are apparent. It seems about one-third of the country takes what Dr. Anthiny Fauci says as gospel and still thinks vaccine compliance is a way to eradicate COVID-19. They clearly see people who disagree with them as “the other.” If you need proof, read the results of a Heartland Institute/Rasumessen Reports poll released Thursday. A few highlights of the views of Democrats in Covidstan:

59% support a policy that would keep the unvaccinated confined to their homes except for emergencies.
48% think federal and state governments should be able to fine or imprison individuals who publicly question the efficacy of the existing COVID-19 vaccines on social media, television, radio, or in online or digital publications.
45% favor governments requiring citizens to temporarily live in designated facilities or locations if they refuse to get a COVID-19 vaccine.
47% favor a government digital tracking program for people who won’t get the COVID-19 vaccine to ensure they socially distance and quarantine.

Hopefully, Spotify will react the same way it has responded to every other attack on Rogan. The episode with Dr. Malone is still available on the platform. We need more in-depth conversations with people who have different points of view, not fewer. Undoubtedly, some of them will be proven wrong, and some will be proven right. That is called science and open inquiry. It is why Rogan’s ten million-plus listeners tune in. For Spotify, that is a massive number of customers to put at risk.

Listeners expect to tune in and hear a long-form discussion that delves into a significant amount of detail. Rogan prepares for his interviews, asks thought-provoking questions, and regularly challenges the views of his guests. He requires them to be precise and digs in until he understands what they are saying. Then Rogan leaves his audience to make up their own minds between alternative points of view. Perhaps, that is the real reason the left and the establishment attack Rogan repeatedly.

Watch the complete interview between Joe Rogan and Dr. Robert Malone