I honestly can't believe we're going over this. Again.
For the uneducated at home, Joe Rogan is a comedian. Sometimes he moonlights as an UFC commentator. Joe Rogan, as an American, is protected by the First Amendment.
Yesterday, Folk Singer Neil Young, who, as an American (as of 2020), is protected by the First Amendment also, came out and said "I want you to let Spotify know immediately TODAY that I want all my music off their platform...They can have Rogan or Young. Not both.”
The statement is wrong on so many levels. Let's start with the platform. I'm not on Spotify, I'm a Pandora Guy, but the same concept applies. According to Spotify's own website, 57,000 artists make up just over 90% of the streams. Neil Young wants you to believe there's not room for Joe Rogan and Neil Young? That's simply is not the case. Apparently there's room for 57,000 viewpoints. If you're on Spotify and you never want to hear Joe Rogan, you never have to hear him. Ever.
Just because you don't like Joe Rogan, who's a comedian, doesn't mean others don't like him. Let's hypothetically say that Neil Young said "I don't like the objectification of women in rap, they can have Jay Z or Neil Young. Not Both."
Oh my god, there would be a new level of shitstorm, but this time from a different segment of Americans. Outlets like CNN would not be so quick to defend Young with THAT statement. The left would show up on Neil Young's lawn with torches and pitchforks and take him to the Canadian border themselves to boot him from the country. What Neil Young is trying to do is pick winners in the culture wars, not protect kids from hate speech. Young's angle is that his opinion matters, Rogan's doesn't. Just a reminder, Free Speech protects unpopular speech.
Now idiots chirp that there's not "freedom from consequences." Dammit, Joe Rogan is not a governor. Joe Rogan is not a CEO. Joe Rogan is an artist, just like Neil Young. What the hell is so hard to understand about that? If it was up to Neil Young, Lynryd Skynyrd probably wouldn't be on Spotify either.
There is only one comedian right now whose words have the heaviness of life and death and that's Volodymyr Zelensky.
What if Neil Young said there's not enough room on Spotify for himself and CNN's Dean Obeidallah, resident Partisan Hack and bad comedian? There wouldn't be the same outcry because Young and Obeidallah are on the same team and, frankly, Obeidallah's Show isn't that popular. I read the Young/Rogan story at Brooklyn Vegan and Facebook was overwhelmingly against Rogan because Vegan's readers lean left. Then I saw a similar Young/Rogan story at the Blaze and 90% of the Facebook comment were against Young because the Blaze's readers lean heavily right.
I went to Facebook myself when CNN's Jill Fillipovic jumped on the Neil Young bandwagon. She agreed Rogan should be banned from Spotify. I made the free speech argument and, within 10 minutes, it was already a dog pile. One tool re-iterated "free speech doesn't mean yelling fire in a movie theater."
That is not what Rogan is doing. Let me be clear, I got my first 2 shots and had a life-threatening reaction to the second. The same day the Young/Rogan Story broke, I saw a meme that said;
First they said the Vaccine would stop covid.
Then they said the Vaccine would stop the spread of covid.
Then they said the Vaccine would stop the symptoms of covid.
Then they said the Vaccine would stop serious symptoms of covid.
Now they say if you get the vaccine and die you go to heaven.
I laughed, but it was just a meme. I believe that vaccines prevent 99% of the serious covid cases. My wife at the hospital said everyone at her hospital that died in the latest wave were unvaccinated. My whole family is up to date with 3 shots, except for me, who's stuck at 2. Now pay very close attention dummies:
AT NO TIME DID JOE ROGAN'S OPINION WEIGH IN ON MY DECISION MAKING PROCESS FOR GETTING THE VACCINE.
Every single Libertarian Website that I follow posted this meme today. Every. Single. One.
Joe Rogan is simply the Howard Stern of 2020's without the gratuitous sex banter. The Left thinks free speech only applies to their side and all other angles are hate speech that needs to be restricted. It is that simple.
I really don't like Neil Young, or folk music in general. And, as I've mentioned, I don't have Spotify. But I do like Weird Al.
Weird Al covering Neil Young:
This Weird Al Original is better than anything in Neil Young's Discography: