Bobby Burack
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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.
Embracing those who hate you is never a good idea.
Great article Bobby. Spot on. Very disappointing to see Joe bend the knee
Bobby, the words you wrote are exactly what I was thinking when I watched his video. Bad move Rogan.
Yep, I thought the same thing when he apologized. The left doesn’t want debate – it’s our way or no way. Hopefully he doesn’t fall victim to this mentality.
ONE Voice from the Right NEVER backed-down …. NEVER grabbed his ankles to appease the View mob … ONE Voice from the Right said “If the media makes you – then the media can break you”.
.
That ONE Voice boomed Loud and Long … (is 32 freakin’ years LONG ?)… That ONE Voice passed away one year ago this month. God Bless You El Rushbo!
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Apologies never work out, and this one makes Rogan come across as incredibly weak. In the long run, this approach of appeasement will hurt his show and his overall brand.
Rogan took the knee. Very disappointing. Another supposed tough guy who in reality is a coward. Howard Stern lite.
Rogan fucked up on this one needs to talk to Kid Rock and do likewise
Scared of what? Rogan either keeps his job and he gets paid or Spotify fires him and he gets paid. This is all W’s for Rogan. Or did Burack not listen to his boss’ show yesterday?
And how does everyone who leans right not realize that Joe Rogan isn’t on “your side?” He clearly doesn’t give a damn about the culture war. He would gladly have CNN and the White House on but they don’t have the balls to accept his invitation. Burack’s doing the same thing the SJW’s do: Spinning three or four episodes of an otherwise normal show into shit takes for their respective media. This particular article just happens to be a shittier version of the one Burack wrote yesterday.
I can promise you this, for $100million Rogan doesn’t care that common folks on an internet comment section think he’s weak.
For $100 million he doesn’t care if anyone thinks he’s weak. This is a shit take, plain and simple.
Great article and I 100% agree with this take. Rogan is trying to be reasonable with this response. But it shows he doesn’t truly understand the left by playing their game.
Whoops, sorry Craig. Didn’t mean to reply to you. I’m posting on my phone. Thought I was posting in the main thread.
“Whoops”
That’s okay. I think Rogan understands the left just fine. He just doesn’t care. He’s going to invite these people on and they’re going to shun him because they’re scared of another Sanjay Gupta incident and/or they don’t want to be branded as racists. My comments aren’t completely about Rogan, part of this is directed towards this garbage-tier level of journalism being presented her.
I agree it’s a shit take too. He didn’t apologize for what he did, just said sorry if I offended you… that’s like saying “sorry I made you feel that way” it’s like a bull Shit apology. Now if he stops having real conversations with people and stops giving a platform for ppl that have been silenced, then he has bent the knee. Until then this is just people being mad at someone way more successful than them because they somehow think they can do it better…. At least Joe is someone who can bring moderates together. Far right and far left just become noise…
He cares or he would have kept his yap shut
I think you’re half right Craig. I totally agree that anyone that actually listens to Rogan, and has for years, knows that he is VERY much not fighting for the right. He’s fighting for sanity, but this isn’t a political battle he’s fighting, and anyone mad at him for not fighting for their political party just hasn’t been paying attention. He still wants Bernie to represent him…
I think you’re half right because I think most of this has nothing to with Money and everything to do with who Rogan is as a person. He’s a hippy liberal who wants to love everyone and everyone to love everyone else. That’s who he is and who he’s been for a long time. Joe carries the weight of his “responsibility” heavy, because he doesn’t really want it. If he is actually upsetting people I think that really does upset him. I don’t think you’re going to see Rogan “cave” to anyone – he’s going to keep doing exactly what he’s doing and keep telling people not to take him out of context and make it more than it is.
His hippy liberal desire to explore everything is what makes him interesting. This video was actually exactly in keeping with who he’s always been…
Yes, I would put Rogan in that “hippie” liberal or “classic” liberal category as well. I would also agree that he’s been given a burden he doesn’t want (though I don’t feel too bad for him because he signed a fat contract).
However, the world is changing, and there are people out there who don’t want it to change. This isn’t about “misinformation”, it’s about CNN getting humiliated by the tin foil hat-wearing janitor from Newsradio and only one of those parties giving a damn. Not caring and being “scared” are two different things.
Lmbao…Joe Rogan was told to Shut up and Dribble…I mean podcast .
Bobby and other Very Fine People tried to hang in the nuts of Rogan as part of your culture war and he rolled over and apologized. 😅😂😅😂😅😂
Never apologize to the wack jobs on the left. He didn’t need to and would have been able to recover all of his contract if Spotify tried to cancel. He’s weak, though I applaud him for doing it in the first place. Whether the left likes it or not he’s open some eyes to the fraud being perpetuated by our gvt, medical industry and corporations.
I’m not sure what to think about Rogan’s response. He’s not stupid. I think he wants to avoid being branded as someone on “a side”. That’s fine, but I’m afraid it’s come to a point in this country where that doesn’t work anymore. The issues are too critical to not take a side now and playing this game will only end in concession. The left isn’t stupid either. Better be careful playing this game. I “think” Rogan may just try to be playing judo with critics to gain an even bigger audience through this, while he’s not really changing anything he does. Honestly his show is very diverse already, often too out there for me to listen to or enjoy on some topics, so apparently the critics just don’t listen to him.
Rogan flinched. No doubt.