Let me start by declaring my ignorance. I never heard of Joe Rogan until a few weeks ago. When Neil Young recently announced that he was pulling all his music off Spotify, I took an interest. And the more I read and listened, the more I admired what Young had done.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Watching Rogan engage in friendly banter with the likes of Canada\u2019s Jordan Peterson or Britain\u2019s Douglas Murray, you can instantly spot the appeal. Rogan is a smarter, friendlier version of Trump. People who listen to him a lot will challenge that, of course, but I wasted several valuable minutes of my life watching Rogan\u2019s video trying to explain himself. After all, Young had accused him of something very serious: spreading disinformation about COVID through his enormously popular podcast hosted on Spotify.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I posted something on Facebook, as one does, that I thought would prove pretty uncontroversial among my friends. Here\u2019s part of what I said:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHey, Joe Rogan, 3 million of your followers just heard you tell us how much you love Joni Mitchell, especially her song \u2018Chuck E.\u2019s in Love\u2019. (Which, of course, is not her song.) And then you explained that from now on, you will follow \u2018controversial\u2019 guests (meaning liars) with \u2018other viewpoints\u2019. You\u2019ll keep hosting people who spread disinformation about the pandemic, you won\u2019t stop doing that, but you\u2019re happy to tag on a reasonable person at the end of the show.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I thought that was a pretty fair summary of what Rogan said. And most people I know agreed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But not all. One British leftist who I actually met when he came to a Bernie Sanders campaign event a few years back, instantly denounced me with this comment: \u201cIt is called free speech. Something the Pfizer-left does not believe in.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I don\u2019t know why I bothered to respond, but knowing this fellow\u2019s views on the pandemic (from elsewhere) I thought, what the heck. I\u2019ll go nuclear with my response – that will shut him up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I simply wrote, \u201cJust out of curiosity – unrelated to Joe Rogan – do you support \u2018free speech\u2019 for Holocaust deniers too? Or do you place limits?\u201d I guess my point was that maybe some \u201cfree speech\u201d (like spreading COVID disinformation) might be a problem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That was sure to return my Facebook page to its previous calm. I imagined he\u2019d say something like \u201chow dare you bring the Holocaust into this?\u201d. (Which would be a fair point.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But nope, that\u2019s not what he said. What he wrote \u2014 and this is a member of the British Left, a Corbyn supporter \u2014 stunned me: \u201cHow would you know what Holocaust denial is unless it is expressed?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A couple of exchanges later and he clarified exactly what he meant: \u201cHow would you know the contents of Mein Kampf unless they are available to read?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That\u2019s right \u2014 in defence of Joe Rogan, prompted by a cursory Holocaust comparison I admittedly raised first \u2014 I got this comrade to compare the Joe Rogan show to a publisher who releases a new edition of Mein Kampf.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I know that there are differences on the Left over the question of \u201cno platforming\u201d the Nazis. For many years it was true that in the US, most liberals and leftists opposed any kind of censorship at all. The American Civil Liberties Union famously defended the \u201cright\u201d of Nazis to march through a Chicago neighbourhood populated by Jewish survivors of the Holocaust.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But in Europe, a different view prevailed \u2014 especially in Germany, where Nazi propaganda is pretty much banned. If you want to buy Main Kampf there, you can \u2014 and this is very recent \u2014 buy a thick, heavily edited volume in which most of the text is from historians pointing out what crap Hitler\u2019s book is.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I tend to line up with the \u201cno platform for Nazis\u201d crowd on this one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Which brings me back to Joe Rogan. Apparently the number of people listening to Neil Young\u2019s songs has gone up as a result of this, which is a good thing. But Joe Rogan is also now better known, which is probably not so good.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
People who are worried about \u201ccensorship\u201d can calm down. Spotify is happy to keep Rogan on air, because he\u2019s a huge money-spinner for them. Apparently he\u2019s worth more to them than Neil Young or Joni Mitchell.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As for critics of the (non-existent) \u201cPfizer Left\u201d? Some of them, at least, seem to be just one Facebook comment away from defending the Nazis\u2019 \u201cright to free speech\u201d. And that really is a depressing thought.<\/p>\n\n\n\n