Podcast host Joe Rogan has spoken out on Instagram amid a celebrity boycott aimed at getting his show taken off of Spotify due to its supposed “COVID misinformation.”
In a 10-minute response video, Rogan perfectly explained why attempts to ban and crackdown on “misinformation” are so harmful and misguided.
My thoughts on the controversy with @spotify https://t.co/nijJgNSc7m
— Joe Rogan (@joerogan) January 31, 2022
JUST IN: Joe Rogan addresses Spotify controversy pic.twitter.com/3BX9kyQkzX
— Libs of Tik Tok (@libsoftiktok) January 31, 2022
“The problem I have with the term misinformation, especially today, is that many of the things we thought of as ‘misinformation’ just a short while ago are now accepted as fact,” Rogan said. “Like for instance, eight months ago if you said if you get vaccinated you can still catch COVID and spread COVID, you would be removed from social media. They would ban you from certain platforms. Now that’s accepted as fact.”
“If you said, I don’t think cloth masks work—you would be banned from social media,” he continued. “Now, that’s openly and repeatedly stated on CNN. If you said you think it’s possible that COVID-19 came from a lab, you would be banned from many social media platforms. Now that’s on the cover of Newsweek.”
“I do not know [which experts] are right,” Rogan said in the Instagram video. “I’m not a doctor. I’m not a scientist. I’m just a person who sits down and talks to people and has conversations with them.”
He pointed out that he has also interviewed CNN doctor Sanjay Gupta and other experts who hold more mainstream views about COVID-19-related issues.
“I’m interested in finding out what the truth is,” Rogan concluded. “I’m not interested in only talking to people that have one perspective. I’m interested in finding out what is correct, how people come to conclusions, and what the facts are.”
The podcast host is on to something here.
We learn and progress toward truth as a society through robust and open debate—not through deplatforming or silencing dissent. That’s what Joe Rogan understands and his critics completely fail to comprehend.
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