Joe Rogan Sounds Scared

On Sunday, Joe Rogan posted a 10-minute explanation video to Instagram to address the recent backlash over the guests he's hosted and their opinions about COVID-19.

Rogan's video drew mixed reviews, but strangely, the four angry ladies on The View seemed to understand his point most accurately.

“I am so used to seeing these people who lie and misinform and spread conspiracy theories double down instead of apologizing,” said Ana Navarro. "I found it refreshing to hear the words 'I’m sorry' come out of his mouth.”

Ana Navarro is right. In the video, Rogan doesn't "double down" on the sanctity of free speech or the importance of dialogue, he asks for forgiveness.

Joe Rogan sounds scared.

"I pledge to balance out the more controversial viewpoints with other people's perspective so many we can find a better point of view, I don't want to just show the contrary opinion to what the narrative is. I want to show all kinds of opinions," Rogan said.

Despite the utter reasonableness of his discussions, the woke have targeted Rogan aggressively over the past two years. Why? For starters, Rogan is the most independent voice in media, perhaps in all of American culture. The Joe Rogan Experience is the top podcast in the world and the rare open forum for people with differing views. Rogan also overcame COVID with the use of ivermectin, which upset the Left. They haven't been able to shut him up, so they hate him. Deeply.

That is, they haven't been able to shut him up yet. Cancel culture works so long as the target apologizes for the sin of wrongthink, explains himself to an unnecessary extent, and then complies with the mob's demands. The woke are small in size and hardly impressive or creative in nature, and until Sunday, Rogan had rarely acknowledged their calls for boycotts and censorship.

Yet this time, Rogan apologized, explained and said he would comply.

If Rogan didn't think this latest outcry would have serious repercussions for his relationship with Spotify, he would not have addressed it. Rogan is clearly more concerned this time.

Money makes people weak, as history has long demonstrated. While Rogan will remain uber rich, with or without Spotify, he may never get another $100 million audio licensing deal again.

To its credit, Spotify has mostly supported Rogan, recently pulling Neil Young’s music after the aged rocker demanded Spotify silence Rogan. However, all media corporations crack eventually. Perhaps Spotify's decision to slap "content advisories" on select podcast episodes -- which Rogan says he supports -- was a sign that Spotify would be next.

And for the first time, Rogan has said he will make accommodations.

"If I've pissed you off, I'm sorry," Rogan says. "I'll try to balance."

Rogan is apologizing to the writers, anchors, musicians and medical experts who have labeled his commentary on COVID "dangerous misinformation." Ironically, the misinformation label is now a precursor to a proven fact.

In early 2020, the New York Times quashed an investigation into whether COVID-19 accidentally leaked from a Wuhan lab. Other prestigious outlets called the idea an anti-Asian, racist conspiracy. Now, scientists say a leak is the most likely origin of the virus. 

Facebook and YouTube have also banned users who doubted the efficacy of cloth masks. It turns out that cloth masks don't work -- even CNN admits it.

Eight months ago, blue city dissidents couldn't safely ask whether the vaccine actually prevents COVID. Now, it's become clear: the vaccine doesn't prevent COVID -- your positive COVID test and vaccine card are proof.

Joe Rogan and his guests addressed these perceived "misinformation" points early, and they were right to do so. Yet he's the one apologizing.

Look, Rogan is not always correct. No one is. He also fact-checks himself on the spot and, unlike the groups who loudly cry, "It came from a bat!" and "The vaccine will end COVID by the spring of 2021!" he admits when he's wrong.

It seems Rogan wants to have a rational conversation with people who have been wrong from the start, the very people who want to prevent Rogan from proving them wrong again. (And spoiler, he soon will. Maybe on the topic of ivermectin.)

Rogan thinks the media will forgive him if he brings on "approved" pundits after each "controversial" guest. They won't. Rogan is stunningly naïve if he thinks a compromise will appease progressives. They don't compromise. 

Perhaps Rogan has been sitting for too long in a small Texas studio with exiled voices, doped-up fighters and shamed comedians. He obviously doesn't know the people to whom he's apologizing. These people are not looking to have a conversation but to conquer him, break him. They want to destroy everything that they don't currently control. They want to mask children and keep them home away from school to protect teachers unions and the politicians in their pockets. Rogan is looking to reason with the unreasonable.

The blue-checks will not relinquish the pressure on Spotify if Rogan spends less time with Dr. Malone and more time with the smirking medical experts on Meet the Press. Media hall monitors will not forgive Rogan until he becomes Howard Stern, a formerly brave broadcaster who has become a shill for the establishment. Perhaps coincidentally, Stern turned into a mentally unstable coward when he reached $100 million. Rogan should take note.

The only winning move for Rogan and anyone else caught in the crosshairs of the Twitter mob is not to play. For a while, Rogan had chosen not to participate, and he had been winning. That's why Rogan's apology video is so incredibly disappointing. Rogan decided to play along, and he now looks submissive and desperate to be understood.

"A lot of people have a distorted perception of what I do, maybe based on sound bites or based on headlines of articles that are disparaging," Rogan said in his video clip.

Bloggers, critics and mostly irrelevant fellow podcast hosts do take most of Rogan's three-hour episodes out of context and turn them into misleading 30-second clips. Why would they do that? To satisfy those who aren't looking for the truth in the first place -- those who know they're looking at a snapshot of a much longer conversation and simply don't care. They use these out-of-context videos as confirmation that Rogan is dangerous. Over two hundred mostly non-medical doctors even sent a letter to Spotify last month that called Rogan a "menace to public health." They are trying to destroy him, and by apologizing, Rogan is aiding in his own demise.

Rogan won't ever change their minds. No one will. Those who want power and care nothing about the truth will never listen to reason. Yet these are the people Rogan tried to convince as he looked into his iPhone. 

You don't sound reasonable, Joe. You sound scared.