February 6, 2022

"But controversy attracted by Rogan has not been limited to COVID. Singer India Arie this week said she was pulling her music..."

"... and podcasts off Spotify, saying that 'I find Joe Rogan problematic for reasons other than COVID interviews… For me it’s also his language around race.' Arie subsequently posted a video clip on Instagram compiling 24 times Rogan used the N-word on his podcast. 'He shouldn’t even be uttering the word,' Arie said in the post. 'Don’t even say it, under any context. Don’t say it. That’s where I stand. I have always stood there.'"

From "Spotify Removes 70 Episodes of ‘Joe Rogan Experience’; Podcast Host Apologizes for Using N-Word/None of the dozens of segments pulled by the streamer were related to COVID misinformation" (Variety).

If we're going to take the "language around race" seriously and withdraw from group projects that include you with someone who's said something racially wrong, then where can you go? What can you do? And won't we also take the language around gender seriously? All of the machinery of pop culture will collapse. 

ADDED: I've asked where's the stopping point, and I can see an answer in this quote from India Arie: "You" — Spotify — "take this money that you generate and you use it to invest in this guy." It is the special and huge investment in Joe Rogan that makes him different from all the other performers on Spotify whose "language around race" might be considered wrong. That link goes to Independent, where you can see the montage India Arie presented. It's hard to listen to carefully, because the "n-word" is bleeped with a piercing sound, but it seemed to me that Rogan was (always?) talking about the word, not actually using the word. Is there any reason to think that Rogan is a racist? Well, there's reason to think that racism is unavoidably woven into every human organism, but that returns me to my where's-the-stopping-point question.

ALSO: If you search Spotify for the "n-word" (written out), you'll find lots of songs and spoken word. There are artists who use that word as part of their name and at least one who has that as his entire name. And I saw multiple profiles that had just that word as their name, including one whose profile picture is a photograph of a naked, erect penis.

169 comments:

Owen said...

Very much hoping this destroys Spotify.

Humperdink said...

Years ago, not sure when, but when the term "hate speech" entered the lexicon, you knew where this was going. Even Stevie Wonder could see it.

PB said...

It's all about money. India probably makes nothing off Spotify while joe makes !much more. More people choose to listen to Joe and much fewer choose to listen to India. That's what really frosts her, so if she makes a stink she thinks more will listen to her and she'll make more money.

Scott Patton said...

"unavoidably woven into every human organism"
This applies to the totalitarian instinct as well. There is no stopping point for some people.

John henry said...

I listened to the clip and I call bullshit. No context, nothing to allow us to know what he was saying or even if he was saying the deaded word.

I'd need more info to get upset.

She posted two videos about Rogan. In the other she whines about how she only gets $0.003 cents per stream and rogan gets $100 million.

No mention of how Rogan brings 3 hours of new content every day vs her 3 minutes repeated over and over. Our how much rogan spends on employees, studio, gear etc.

I Never heard of this singer before and have no interest in rap. Different strokes and so on. Does she use the forbidden word in her music? Why is she allowed and Rogan not?

John LGBTQBNY Henry

wendybar said...

She should hide in a cave so she never hears a bad word again!! That will take care of the problem.

Bob Boyd said...

whenever you’re in a situation where you have to say ‘I’m not racist,’ you fucked up

Not true. You just have to be accused or slandered or be part of group that is painted with a broad brush.
I'm sure Joe Rogan feels like he fucked up and he doesn't want to try to defend his use of the word or get into an argument about racism right now. That would only be digging the hole deeper.

I don't see where India Arie says directly that Joe Rogan is racist. That's the implication though. And the further implication is that anyone who supports Rogan is also racist.
If someone accuses a Rogan supporter of racism for supporting him, does that mean his supporter fucked up?

wendybar said...

The funny thing, is that The Rock just trashed his long time friendship with Rogan over this subject, but now old Rock tweets are coming out with him despairing transgenders, and imitating and racially insulting Chinese people in the most demeaning way. Now that he's gone woke, he is getting WOKENESS poured on his OWN head. Be careful what you wish for. So much for his Presidential dreams.

Lucien said...

When you’re oblivious to the use/mention distinction you get to treat every mention as a use.

Mike Sylwester said...

I'm sure that Spotify does not allow any rap songs that use the N word.

Dave Begley said...

The Left is doing to Rogan what they did to Rush. It didn’t work against Rush (the Flush Rush campaign) and it won’t work against Rogan.

BTW, my brother (“Spocko”) claims to have “invented” the secondary boycott of radio advertisers and he got some SF radio talkers fired for not representing corporate values. Really reprehensible.

mezzrow said...

This assumes that the stopping point is not a moving target.

Today's stopping point is not next week's stopping point. Pivot from racism to COVID science. Or misogyny. Or violence. Repeat. Escalate.

Eventually, make it existential and make that threat real far in advance. Kind of like what Putin is doing to Ukraine.

If you can paint Joe Rogan as racist, you can paint him as a science denying meathead, or a toxic violent threat, or a woman hater. They are all equally untrue, so you can go to the next one until that gets tired. Then pivot back to where you started because everyone has forgotten by now. Really, they have.

Double down. Then double down again. Then hide like Justin.

Then give each other awards and have shows for the public to share the glory. Stein's law.

Howard said...

What does Rogan have? I'm guessing 5,000-hours of podcasts in the can. Much of it recorded drunk, stoned or tripping. If he was really an evil POS, *they* would have found it already.

This is great airing of grievances. Feats of strength are coming next.

John henry said...

I hope this is not off topic but:

In January Spotify took down a number of jre episodes. I thought it was 17 but may be wrong.

I used to subscribe to jre via Podcast Addict app but that went dead when he moved to Spotify. I noticed yesterday that it now has 11 episodes, all from the last 3 months, that I can download. Malone & McCullough are 2 that I know Spotify took down. It also includes Tim pool, snoop Dogg, jewel and others I don't recognize.

Friday night Spotify took down another 100 eps. It will be interesting to see if they go up for free this week.

At 3+ hours per show, that would make about 350 hours available. Who needs Spotify?

Jremissing.com has a list of all the removed episodes.

John LGBTQBNY Henry

One Eye said...

Gad Saad noted his Rogan episode had been deleted and thinks Rogan mentioned a book with the n word in the title. See his response below.

Gad is not happy.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=GT2yKCcbe8o

rhhardin said...

Banning the n-word is a clever way to affirm that black people aren't bright. Best of all they go along with it, in a sort of child-like self-affirmation.

Anybody who uses the n-word in the dismissive sense does everything necessary to isolate himself socially already. No action required by blacks or anybody else.

There's a hearty rogue sense of the n-word, man living by his wits alone against The Man, which shows up in rap. A white guy would have to do a lot of contextual setup to use it that way, obvious admiration and praise around it.

So it's not a question of limits - the limit is obvious, disparaging sense. Not distinguishing use from mention is book burning, only books you can't write about a curious form of virtue signalling that kills the comforted.

Danno said...

I have never heard of India Arie. A google of her name brings nothing of import either. This just appears to be a loser trying to pile on to the Rogan train.

Hammond X. Gritzkofe said...

If one word is to be proscribed, why not two; or two hundred, or two thousand?

What is the appropriate penalty for uttering or inscribing a proscribed word? Should the sovereign power of Government be invoked? Fines and/or imprisonment?

What, specifically, is the offense? If the word is spoken in the proverbial forest but no one hears it, written down but then erased or obliterated, is there an offense?

The "offense" it seems is in the mind of the receiver, the hearer, the reader. Fer crissake its just a sound. Morning after heavy rains flood the pasture behind our house we awaken to a chorus of frogs in deep-voiced overlapping cacophony proclaiming "n.gg.r"

Take a lesson from King Canute. If a word is deemed offensive and proscribed, but the concept behind the word remains, a new word will appear or be appropriated for the concept.

If it is the concept which offends, then precisely what is the offensive concept?

(OT: in spellchecking for "cacophony" ran across "kakistocracy." Saving that for another post.)

exhelodrvr1 said...

Not allowed to really discuss racism, because it involves too many truths that are uncomfortable for blacks and the left to acknowledge.

Tom said...

This is an attempt to cancel a person for attempting to grapple with racism in a real and thoughtful manner. He’s doing what law professors used to do - tackle very difficult and triggering matters of extreme controversy with care and concern. He’s not using the word like a white suprematist, a rapper, or a Quentin Tarantino film.

We shouldn’t cancel people for having the courage to discuss immensely difficult issues with care and concern.

The real hate in the world is now being generated by the people who are seeking to cancel Ilya Shapiro, Whoopi Goldberg, and Joe Rogen for grappling with tough things. Canceling all three won’t make the world less racist. It will make the world more fearful.

TreeJoe said...

I make an infinitesimally small amount of money off Spotify and now I would like Spotify to immediately go through every podcast and song and all audio content...

... and not just censor, but ensure full removal of the entire audio experience, anything for any duration that involves a word that should not be uttered by the person uttering it. Such definitions shall evolve over time and Spotify must be ever poised to censor as needed.

Also, independent groups of cultural, racial, and minority experts shall make their own determination of who is banned from speaking certain words or phrases.

....

Explain to me how anything I wrote above is not exactly what just happened. What is happening. And what will continue to happen, as such behavior, once rewarded, is thus encouraged.

Mark said...

'Friday night Spotify took down another 100 eps. It will be interesting to see if they go up for free this week.'

I get the idea that both Spotify and Rogan are looking at the fine print of their contract. I would be surprised that Spotify paid for exclusive rights and allow him to post shows elsewhere, but we will see.

When Joe moved to Spotify, they disappeared something like 70 episodes of his. He was fine with that then, who is to say he isn't ok about these joining them

Tank said...

Never apologize to these people!

Never!

Freder Frederson said...

The amusing thing about althouse concerns about censorship, is that if you use a certain word that kind of sounds like niggardly, your post will be deleted in a heartbeat. Heck, she doesn't even like the word "niggardly ".

hawkeyedjb said...

The stopping point? There is none. There are always new people and subjects to be censored, and always those who want to do the censoring. It's a whack-a-mole game, and just as there will always be new moles, there will be whackers. It has nothing, literally nothing, to do with content. It has to do with power. The whackers want to have it, and show that they have it.

Tim said...

I have always had a problem with this. There should be no word that is unusable for purposes of discussion. Period. If Rogan is denigrating (should we ban that word as well? niggardly? remember the flap over that?) people with the word, that is an issue. If he is discussing the word and its connotations and the reaction to it, I have no issue with it. And that really does go the heart of it. I am tired of people trying to control thought by controlling language.

Mark said...

Watch Joe laugh loudly along when his friend says this on his podcast:

"“You think I’m f*cking kidding you? F*ck yeah, you gotta suck my d*ck to get up in The Belly Room. I’m makin’ a call for you. That’s the f*cking gateway for coming into Hollywood, everybody knows that,” said Diaz. 

He then went into further detail about a specific woman who he treated this way. He added, “I had this little blonde open mic chick … and just take me up to The Belly Room and suck my d*ck and then go do her set, she was tremendous. She finally freaked out. When she got to Hollywood bro, she was beautiful. But when she left, she had dirty f*ckin’, her nails were dirty. And then she wrote me a letter to The Comedy Store. ‘You c*cksucker you broke me.’”

Party of Family Values my ass.

MayBee said...

I was just trying to put together a playlist of the Super Bowl Half Time show artists. Do you know how many times the N word appears in those songs? And it isn't all Dr Dre. Eminem says it too. Speaking of which.....do you remember when Eminem was considered inappropriate? People were calling for him to be banned from MTV and to not be able to play live at awards shows? Then Elton John played with him (at the Grammys?) and Eminem was no longer The Bad Person.

Anyway, I'd love to know who is behind the push to eliminate Joe Rogan from our culture.

Gahrie said...

'He shouldn’t even be uttering the word,' Arie said in the post. 'Don’t even say it, under any context. Don’t say it. That’s where I stand. I have always stood there.'"

I bet there are hundreds, if not thousands, of songs on Spotify that use that word. Nobody gives a shit about that.

traditionalguy said...

Everybody must get stoned. It’s now Rogan’s turn. But the destroy America guys are on target. Rogan is by far their greatest enemy, like Saul of Tarsus’ teaching the gospel of Jesus was the greatest enemy of the cults of his day.

Fernandinande said...

COVID misinformation"

These trashy articles almost never say exactly what the horrible statements were and the only supposed "covid misinformation" I've seen quoted from his shows was the statement about (paraphrase) "If you're young and healthy and get plenty of exercise covid isn't much to worry about", which is basically true.

it seemed to me that Rogan was (always?) talking about the word, not actually using the word.

That should be irrelevant to anyone concerned about actual "free speech".

Anywho, if Rogan were a little tougher he'd distribute his own shows/file from his own servers and not let others control the content of his shows; now he might as well be part of the MSM/DNC propaganda machine.

"The nail that sticks up gets hammered down."

Unknown said...

It's really just de-Roganing Spotify. Rogan's audience will reconstitute itself on his new platform, be it a new streaming service or Dixie cups at the ends of a string...

Balfegor said...

It is the special and huge investment in Joe Rogan that makes him different

Yes, but I think that points in the opposite direction from what they think. He isn't big because Spotify is promoting him. He was big before, and Spotify paid him an enormous sum to go exclusive so he would promote them. If they no longer want the benefit of his being on Spotify, is that really his problem? He's getting their money no matter what, isn't he?

I guess the real question is whether the contract allows them to prevent him from releasing a show elsewhere if they pay him and simply refuse to post any of his content. If the objective is to create a "garden of pure ideology where each worker may bloom, secure from the pests purveying contradictory thoughts," then it might be worth Spotify paying millions to silence him, I suppose.

Sebastian said...

"then where can you go?

Nowhere and anywhere: nowhere deplorables live, anywhere you have the power to crush them.

"What can you do?"

Keep crushing the deplorables. Scorch the earth.

"All of the machinery of pop culture will collapse."

No, just transformed to fit prog commands.

There is no stopping point, and progs like it that way: there's always one more kind of wrongthink to be suppressed, one more deplorable wronghthinker to be eliminated. The scorching is the point. It is endless.

Strick said...

I've watched the clips and barring a really early one where Rogan still had hair that looks like it was filmed in a bathroom, they mostly seem to use the offending word with air quotes around it. I could be wrong.

Joe probably didn't think much about using the word because he thought he was part of the right cultural tribe, a working class kid who grew up in the neighborhood. Those of us who know better, who are presumed guilty even when proven innocent, would have known better. I can't repeat my favorite Redd Fox joke, the one I learned from a record smuggled to school back when vinyl was the only choice we had, because it won't work without the word he used to describe himself. I can imagine how Rogan might think he could get away with it.

Ray - SoCal said...

Reports are Obama threatened to leave Spotify:
https://www.businessinsider.com/obamas-new-podcast-partner-spotify-deal-ends-2022-2?op=1

The Democrats are going all out against Rogan.

The attacks against Rogan are only going to get worse to he either:

1. Punches back
2. Neuters himself
3. Leaves Spotify

Racist charges are the ultimate cancel culture weapon.

Browndog said...

The first time I saw a written definition of racism it said "The belief that one race is superior to another.". It has always been, and will continue to be the definition I hold to be true.

I often pondered how a belief can be criminalized. The only way to know what a person believes is self profession. No man can see into another man's heart, as they say. So, I've never been on board with all this racism bullshit the left uses as a hammer to remove individual identity, using one collective to crush and destroy a different collective.

I have a 6" thick Webster dictionary from the 1930's. Very curious to see how it defined racism. It's not in there. Fascism is: The unholy marriage between business and government.

Kevin said...

But controversy attracted by Rogan has not been limited to COVID.

When has an attack by the left been limited to a single grievance?

It’s NEVER about what they claim, so we should stop engaging in the rhetoric about whether their claim has merit.

The only question is whether or not we are free to speak. That is the only question we should consider.

Koot Katmandu said...

I am listening to Gone with the Wind now on audible. Lot of use of the N word in the book. I wonder how long before they ban it? What about Mark Twains books?

If they can not ban or burn the books, will they stop stores like audible from selling them?

Free speech appears to be dead right now and what you can say is getting less and less.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

"You" — Spotify — "take this money that you generate and you use it to invest in this guy."

This other guy says Rogan is hosting Spotify and not the other way around. Rogan should get out of there while he still has an audience.

Link to video

The need for Rogan is bigger than Rogan and Spotify combined. If Rogan doesn't continue to do Rogan another Rogan will come along and fill in the ever-widening gap.

The attempt to cancel Rogan is more proof that what he does is needed.

Scott Gustafson said...

The Spotify Rogan deal reminds me of the satellite radio Howard Stern deal. Stern moved and brought enough listeners with him to pay him millions per year. Spotify is doing the same thing with Rogan. I don’t recall anyone (including the artists in this story) leaving satellite radio over Stern.

natatomic said...

@Mark

That you assume he’s a republican puts a bright spotlight on your ignorance of who Joe Rogan actually is.

He supported Bernie, ffs.

JPS said...

The people trying to silence Joe Rogan are starting to seem desperate. It's playing out like this:

"Rogan spreads disinformation!"

Shrug. So do all you assholes when it suits you, why do you think we're interested in new sources?"

[Oh crap. They don't care.]

"Rogan is a racist! See?! We've got him saying the n-word! Even we can't even say it, that's why we're calling it the n-word! Surely now you'll agree he's beyond the pale. Also we're pretty sure he treats women like crap, or has failed to immediately denounce guests who do."

[Aside to Mark "Party of Family Values my ass": I have never listened to the Bernie-Sanders-Endorsing Joe Rogan. I was uncomfortable when Bush the Elder invoked "family values" as a campaign point, and I'm no longer a Republican. We good now?]

WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...

The pure thoughts and word police. Obey.

Temujin said...

When the Left is coming to remove someone, censor a thought or a person, they bring out all of their old weapons. And nothing is more tried and true than pointing out someone said 'n'. Please note- I wanted to write out the actual word, but I did not want Althouse to have to explain herself to Blogger and the rest of the world.

That said: Kike is allowed. Spic. Wop. All allowed. Cracker is applauded. Mick is AOK. Coon is not good, but is often given a pass. Dago, Hebe, Hymie, Kraut, Nip, Wetback- all good. Beaner, Cabbage Eater, Camel Jockey, Coolie, Dink- perfect. Paddy, Ginzo, Yid, and on and on. But don't say that 'n' word, don't think it, don't read it, and never ever sing along to a hip-hop recording that uses it regularly.

And for the love of God, if you're white, you can never ever use it. Only black people can use this word and all of the other nice words listed above with regularity. Black people get a pass on racism because, well, they can never be racist. So just know that each and every one of you is guilty and the Left will bring out the goods on you when it's convenient for them to do so. When nothing else will shut you down.

Hell with Joe Rogan. Joe Biden should be next.

Wince said...

As I've been advocating for some time, content contracts with large "publishers" should be written in the form of a right of first refusal.

That is, if the publisher passes on or cancels content, there should be a reversion of rights to the creator (or the public domain), and the creator should be able to publish elsewhere without penalty or retaliation.

Doug said...

I wonder if someone(s) is/are combing through all of India Arie's social media posts to see if she has said anything that should run her career?

Temujin said...

PS- If Spotify caves to the totalitarians and dumps him, he'll show up on another platform and drive that platform beyond it's wildest expectations. And Joe Rogan will continue to do what he does.

In the meantime, anybody buying any Neil Young lately?

Amadeus 48 said...

Tall poppy syndrome in action. Who does that Joe Rogan think he is with that $100 million deal?

These people are as predictable as they are tiresome. This just in: it is just a word that is spoken freely among a certain set of people. Can we talk about it?

tommyesq said...

Presumably she will pull her music from any other streaming cites that permit rap, will boycott Def Jam Records, and will avoid anyplace that has that black-faced bitch Joni Mitchell, right?

hombre said...

Rogan is a non-leftist with a big following. He must be canceled. The reasons given are bullshit. Bullshit is the lefty offering — always.

The Lord Voldemort (OMG! I said it.) syndrome is flourishing and real to lefty world. Words that shall not be spoken.

Another old lawyer said...

I can't decide whether Spotify is a secondary target (because of hosting Joe Rogan and others that it's refused to control to date, and/or the amount of royalties it pays to individual singers) or is a just happy collateral damage.

The older I get more of Monty Python has become real life. In this particular case, the scenes on the Knights Who Say "Nee", keepers of the sacred Word. Until the price has been paid, and the sacred Word changes.

Over the years, I've wondered why MP settled on "Nee" and not some other sound.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

What rh said.

Always got the sense that both blacks and whites are invested in keeping the currency alive.

Whites: See? they can't put the past behind them (unsaid- we are better than them)

Blacks: See? you people have not changed one bit. (whispered, sometimes aloud- we are owed!)

farmgirl said...

https://www.breitbart.com/clips/2022/02/04/maher-a-lot-of-covid-misinformation-was-from-the-medical-establishment-they-havent-earned-monopoly-status-on-information/

I don’t even like Bill Maher because I believe him to be mean- spirited. A lot like Joy Behar. But his dialogue is irrefutable.

tommyesq said...

Also, what the hell is wrong with India Arie for giving Rogan a pass on the Covid misinformation - is she a science denier?

Ann Althouse said...

"Yes, but I think that points in the opposite direction from what they think. He isn't big because Spotify is promoting him. He was big before, and Spotify paid him an enormous sum to go exclusive so he would promote them. If they no longer want the benefit of his being on Spotify, is that really his problem? He's getting their money no matter what, isn't he?"

I'm not sure what "they" refers to. I guess people like India Arie who are disconnecting themselves from the platform. I don't agree that they don't understand the situation. I would credit them with knowing the facts and not presume otherwise. Their behavior makes sense under the true fact, which is that Spotify wanted to grow its business using what Joe had built up. He chose to become part of what they had because they offered him a lot of money and also some guarantees of no censorship.

"I guess the real question is whether the contract allows them to prevent him from releasing a show elsewhere if they pay him and simply refuse to post any of his content. If the objective is to create a "garden of pure ideology where each worker may bloom, secure from the pests purveying contradictory thoughts," then it might be worth Spotify paying millions to silence him, I suppose."

I've been planning to do a post on this subject. I need to look up the old Marx Brothers scene where the last line — after something like "What would it cost for you not to play at all?" — and Chico says "Oh, you couldn't afford that."

wendybar said...

It's funny that the left thinks Joe is a Right Wing phenom. He was a Bernie Bro.

Ann Althouse said...

Basically, Spotify and Rogan just have to renegotiate the contract.

Ceciliahere said...

Spotify knew what they were getting when they signed Joe Rogan up for a $100,000,000 contract. Now, some disgruntled progressive are objecting to the language and content on his show and Spotify is censoring Joe. What cowards these Spotify execs are! You have the ‘golden goose” and now you’re going to kill him? Makes no sense… it’s bad business. Spotify is a Swedish company. I don’t think the Swedes are particularly prudish regarding language, sex, etc. But they are giving in to the special interest groups who are “offended”, i.e. so-called feminists, BLM, Covid police, and assorted progs who want to censor whatever they do not like. Spotify is going the way of Twitter, Facebook, etc.

Ceciliahere said...

Spotify knew what they were getting when they signed Joe Rogan up for a $100,000,000 contract. Now, some disgruntled progressive are objecting to the language and content on his show and Spotify is censoring Joe. What cowards these Spotify execs are! You have the ‘golden goose” and now you’re going to kill him? Makes no sense… it’s bad business. Spotify is a Swedish company. I don’t think the Swedes are particularly prudish regarding language, sex, etc. But they are giving in to the special interest groups who are “offended”, i.e. so-called feminists, BLM, Covid police, and assorted progs who want to censor whatever they do not like. Spotify is going the way of Twitter, Facebook, etc.

tommyesq said...

Party of Family Values my ass.

Mark clearly does not know that Rogan is (and still considers himself to be ) a liberal, but given this fact, Mark is essentially correct - D's are not the party of family values.

Ceciliahere said...

Okay, no more Joe Rogan and his objectionable content. Let’s censor him, or maybe cancel him. Now, we have more time to listen to Harry and Meghan, that is If they ever find something to talk about on their podcast that people want to listing to. Still waiting… I believe they were paid $35million. That was for sure a bad investment. They are too preachy, self-righteous and just plain boring.

paminwi said...

Who wants Rogan off the air? Plain and simple the crazies in the government who are afraid he’s influencing too many to disregard their Covid crap. So many people love their power and ability to wield it-they don’t want to let it go.

Big Mike said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
tommyesq said...

I guess the real question is whether the contract allows them to prevent him from releasing a show elsewhere if they pay him and simply refuse to post any of his content.

This sort of thing happened in the music industry on a regular basis - bands would sign multi-album deals with a label that prohibit the band from releasing any material elsewhere until the contract is fulfilled, and the label would refuse to release one of the albums, effectively preventing the band from releasing anything.

narciso said...

well he's a free thinker, I don't get why he brought on tulsi six times, and then endorsed grandpa bernie, that's just stupid,

gilbar said...

Can We ALL Agree,
that absolute censorship; of all words, thoughts and ideas is the progressive goal?
and Can We All Agree, that This is Double Plus Good?
LONG LIVE BIG BROTHER!!!!

Bob Boyd said...

Basically, Spotify and Rogan just have to renegotiate the contract.

"Just"

They could easily destroy the show in the process. Who will want to listen to Joe knowing Spotify is making sure he toes the party line? Might as well go watch CNN.

Mark said...

You can argue all you want that Rogan is on the left, but his many fans and defenders all seem to show otherwise.

He is lefty like David Brooks is a Republican.

gilbar said...

wendybar said...
It's funny that the left thinks Joe is a Right Wing phenom. He was a Bernie Bro.

Well according to our local centrist Robert Cook.. Bernie is Extremely to the Right (of Robert Cook)

Breezy said...

Rogan should host Indie, Neil and any other person that thinks they are in charge of what we all should even hear, let alone enjoy, hate, agree or disagree with. Let them talk it out like the free people we are supposed to be.

Another old lawyer said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
tommyesq said...

I am listening to Gone with the Wind now on audible. Lot of use of the N word in the book. I wonder how long before they ban it? What about Mark Twains books?

The left is waaaaay ahead of you.

https://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/ny-new-jersey-tries-banning-huckleberry-finn-20190321-rhrsvjxn6nb4hpozxvacgk5qu4-story.html

Iman said...

Mark… your work here are done.

Achilles said...

Mark said...

You can argue all you want that Rogan is on the left, but his many fans and defenders all seem to show otherwise.

He is lefty like David Brooks is a Republican.


The "right/Left" argument has always been stupid.

This is about Freedom vs. Fascism.

It is time for the fascists to be suppressed. They are incompatible with a free society.

Death, exile, or submission to freedom.

Bob Boyd said...

You have the ‘golden goose” and now you’re going to kill him?

Strangely, Spotify is in the position of wanting the goose to stop laying the most valuable eggs.

Achilles said...

Right now we are watching the Democrat/Corporate alliance tell people to just accept Chinese Genocide and slave camps.

Because they profit from it and support it. Lebron needs someone to make his shoes.

It is not hard to see where the Biden Regime and the people that support it plan to go. They support censorship. They supported the BLM violence and destruction and the Antifa occupations. The corporations and political parties will need someone to grow their food and build their stuff.

WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...

Democrat party values = White Left schizophrenic Antifa thuggery, BLM top-heavy money laundering that screws black people, the burning down black businesses... and white leftists named Rosenbaum who rape rape young boys. all in the name of... Justice for Juicy!

but don'; you use that N-word in a discussion.

Freder Frederson said...

That said: Kike is allowed. Spic. Wop. All allowed. Cracker is applauded. Mick is AOK. Coon is not good, but is often given a pass. Dago, Hebe, Hymie, Kraut, Nip, Wetback- all good. Beaner, Cabbage Eater, Camel Jockey, Coolie, Dink- perfect. Paddy, Ginzo, Yid, and on and on. But don't say that 'n' word, don't think it, don't read it, and never ever sing along to a hip-hop recording that uses it regularly.

You must hang out with a bunch of raging assholes if you think these terms are acceptable and allowed.

Hammond X. Gritzkofe said...

"I have a 6" thick Webster dictionary from the 1930's. Very curious to see how it defined racism. It's not in there. Fascism is: The unholy marriage between business and government."

Thank you, Browndog. I was given to understand (late 1950s or early 1960s):
..Communism: means of production are owned by and controlled by government.
..Fascism: means of production are privately owned but controlled by government.

Contemporary usage seems to have drifted from that meaning.

But more apropos to topic, cui bono? Who benefits when a word is destroyed; when disorder and chaos are intentionally injected into a language; when effective communication among humans is intentionally disturbed and disrupted?

hawkeyedjb said...

At least we have now dispensed with the notion that the Rogan controversy is about "Covid misinformation." It is about the power to control and censor, and nothing else. If we can't get him for "misinformation" we'll get him because he's racist. And if that doesn't work, we'll keep trying until we win. Independent voices must be silenced if they are found to have any influence at all.

AlbertAnonymous said...

So a third “artist” virtually no one knows is pulling music from Spotify? Who gives a f@ck?

As to the cancel culture BS, it’s BS and just a weapon of the left. They don’t get cancelled (only occasionally) so it’s a tool against the “others”. And they drive you from the BS social media platforms. If you go somewhere else (or start a new one) they claim you’re an alt right person on an alt right platform. Can’t be mainstream on Twitter et al…

The whole thing is too Old Testament for me. I don’t want to play that game or live in that world. Everyone will be blind and toothless and calling out “unclean unclean” as we walk thru town. No, JC had it right.

WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...

The Witch-hunt to cancel Rogan ... because he's popular.

and he isn't t a lock-step Maddow liar.

Lloyd W. Robertson said...

The Marx Brothers piece is hilarious. I've been reading a piece about the difficulties in re-printing great works by Fitzgerald and Hemingway. And, maybe not so great, Yoko Ono. I'll try again to get a link to work.

Ken Whyte.

What would someone have to pay Hemingway's estate to prevent any of his stuff from being published?

Achilles said...

Lindsey Graham is pushing for bills that allow the government to openly spy on everyone.

What is the difference between the CPP and the Democrat/GOPe parties?

Placement on the timeline.

Achilles said...

Breezy said...

Rogan should host Indie, Neil and any other person that thinks they are in charge of what we all should even hear, let alone enjoy, hate, agree or disagree with. Let them talk it out like the free people we are supposed to be.

Pretty sure this is tongue in cheek which highlights the point quite well.

The supporters of the Regime cannot openly talk about what they are trying to do. They can't defend it honestly.

That is why they have to resort to censorship.

chuck said...

I'll just wait until the thundering herd of lemmings passes by.

Ann Althouse said...

"Basically, Spotify and Rogan just have to renegotiate the contract"/"Just"/"they could easily destroy the show in the process. Who will want to listen to Joe knowing Spotify is making sure he toes the party line? Might as well go watch CNN."

I was actually picturing releasing him from the platform and going elsewhere with his show. It's just a question of how much to pay him as he leaves. But if they want him to say, they need to show some support for him, and I don't know what he would demand. I'm guessing Spotify is already in breach of the contract.

Hey Skipper said...

This NYT OpEd, What the Joe Rogan Backlash Reveals About How We Handle Misinformation reveals what constitutes Rogan's "disinformation":

• Of the coronavirus vaccines, Rogan said, “If you’re a healthy person, and you’re exercising all the time, and you’re young, and you’re eating well, like, I don’t think you need to worry about this.”

• When Rogan himself came down with Covid, he claimed he was treating himself with ivermectin, a drug that has become a popular vaccine alternative despite opposition from federal health authorities.

• In Rogan’s final episode of 2021, he interviewed a scientist named Robert Malone, who likened the vaccine mandates to Nazi-era oppression and said Americans were trapped in a “mass formation psychosis.”


Apparently, because he specifically listed them, those are the author's (and, by extension, the NYT's) three most egregious examples.

QED: Progressives have completely abandoned reason.

Clyde said...

Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.

Hey Skipper said...

Oh, and in related censorship news, the legacy media have completely avoided covering the Johns Hopkins University sponsored study demonstrating that Non-Pharmaceutical Interventions were worthless.

Isn't suppressing information, itself, disinformation?

wendybar said...

I'm just sitting here eating my pop corn, watching the left eat each other and try to outdo each other over who is more Woke. The right doesn't want cancellations, we just want fairness. Like the Whoopie scandal...Sharon Osborne got fired for WAY less than what Whoopie got a 2 week vacation for. FAIRNESS would be that Sharon never got fired either. She didn't say a thing. She STOOD UP for a friend who was being accused of being a RACIST.

wendybar said...

Hey Lefties...Cancel Howard Stern now!! This is fun!!! https://twitter.com/i/status/1490129423470891013

jim5301 said...


I don't understand why everyone is giving Neil Young shit. We all make decisions who to do business with. He made a decision not to do business with Spotify for rational reasons - he thought they were spreading - and profiting from - misinformation about COVID. Who here can say that politics never is a factor in deciding who to buy from. No one.

Mark said...

These "n-word" episodes were out there for everyone to see and hear for years. And no one on the left had any objections then.

But now that Rogan says something that strays off the Plantation, NOW all of a sudden they are outraged. Shocked, shocked, that gambling is going on here.

Reminds me of when Trump was a Democrat, they were quite enamored of him and fine with him grabbing women by the p****. But once he left, it was the fainting couch for them.

Meanwhile, everyone on the left is using, has used, the offensive word (including the other Joe, the one called Brandon). In fact, if THEY would stop using it, the word would probably disappear from social usage.

Nancy said...

Ann wrote:

I recommend not using the word at all, but people should remember that it was until quite recently considered appropriate to "mention" the word but not to "use" it.

But Ann! You just *mentioned* not using it! That's a stoning offense!

https://youtu.be/Cnn2aGVcCEc

Mark said...

Kike is allowed. Spic. Wop. All allowed. Cracker is applauded. Mick is AOK. Coon is not good, but is often given a pass. Dago, Hebe, Hymie, Kraut, Nip, Wetback- all good. Beaner, Cabbage Eater, Camel Jockey, Coolie, Dink- perfect. Paddy, Ginzo, Yid, and on and on.

I never hear any of these words. The only thing I ever hear is the "n" word. And I only hear it from people on the left.

Michael K said...

Rogan, who I don't listen to, could go to Substack, which has podcasts, and keep his $100 million. Sounds like somebody did not think this out fully and it isn't Rogan. The left was always going to freak out. The Covid thing, like Jane Fonda said, was "a gift from God to get rid of Trump." They are still deathly afraid of him.

MayBee said...

Last week the left went crazy because a school district in Tennessee removed Maus from its curriculum, thereby "banning" the book. But banning a podcast is a desirable thing?

NorthOfTheOneOhOne said...

India Aire may regret going down this road.

Newly sworn-in New York City Mayor Eric Adams called his white colleagues at the New York Police Department (NYPD) “crackers” during an unearthed video from late 2019.
...
Black Lives Matter activist Thomas Lopez-Pierre shot the video and uploaded it to his Youtube channel on Tuesday. Lopez-Pierre defended Adams’s racially-charged diatribe, telling New York Daily News, “This is how Black people talk. To us, it was family. We were having a conversation with family.”
Source

If that's the case I'm sure she's got some skeleton's in her closet as well.

JK Brown said...

Is it just me, but isn't there a very nice opportunity in a few months for Rogan to open up a non-Spotify archive channel of "Joe Rogan Uncensored" for all this content that Spotify is removing from their purview. Spotify only has broadcast rights, and I think only original broadcast. They don't own the production, don't fund the production.

Achilles said...

jim5301 said...


I don't understand why everyone is giving Neil Young shit. We all make decisions who to do business with. He made a decision not to do business with Spotify for rational reasons - he thought they were spreading - and profiting from - misinformation about COVID. Who here can say that politics never is a factor in deciding who to buy from. No one.


Case in point.

The fascists just cannot be honest about what they are trying to do.

Drago said...

Dumb Lefty Mark: "You can argue all you want that Rogan is on the left, but his many fans and defenders all seem to show otherwise.

He is lefty like David Brooks is a Republican."

Uh, no.

But then again, you aren't Dumb Lefty Mark for nuttin'.

Bob Boyd said...

I'm guessing Spotify is already in breach of the contract.

If you're correct, I guess we'll see who Joe Rogan really is. I don't mean to imply that Rogan owes it to me to be who I want him to be. Maybe he doesn't want to be a dissident, but it's going to get harder and harder to remain neutral, for everybody.

Butkus51 said...

Nothing is black and white. After all, Joe was all in on Bernie. So theres that.

mccullough said...

The struggle for power continues

NorthOfTheOneOhOne said...

MayBee said...

Last week the left went crazy because a school district in Tennessee removed Maus from its curriculum, thereby "banning" the book. But banning a podcast is a desirable thing?

Did that school board really "ban" the book?

It's going to be fun to watch the Woke trip over their own rhetoric.

cfkane1701 said...

"Take a lesson from King Canute. If a word is deemed offensive and proscribed, but the concept behind the word remains, a new word will appear or be appropriated for the concept."

This is true. I've watched a few videos by Paul Joseph Watson on YouTube and the comments can get pretty...spicy. And the new word cropping up to replace the proscribed word is "joggers."

Innovative, no? It approaches the status of a shibboleth. If you can decode the intent and meaning of "joggers," it proves you're one of them.

It explains why the left is even going after hand gestures, like the OK sign. But another shibboleth will rise in its place. You don't solve racist attitudes by forbidding words or gestures. Not even by cutting out tongues and tying hands.

Michael said...

Breach of contract. I expect that if Rogan is owed a flat 100 m and does not receive per episode fees based on viewers then Spotify could be free to eliminate content. If Rogan is obligated to provide ongoing content he can, in retaliation, make it shitty.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

The danger of censorship... mission creep.

link to video

Of course, it wouldn't be a controversy if irony was not involved. While we are dismantling the best safety tool devised by man- free speech, we are doing so in the name of safety.

WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...

Russel Brand and Joe Rogan talk about the mis-information used as a weapon.

hombre said...

India Arie, videographer/editor. Impressive, eh? Who knew?

PJ said...

"You" — Spotify — "take this money that you generate and you use it to invest in this guy."

This is almost the quiet-part-out-loud. With the still-missing phrase: "You take this money that you generate *by underpaying us* and you use it to invest in this guy." Neil, Joni, et al. may appreciate it when others play real good for free, but it ain't for them, and neither is market pricing.

They probably know that they can't kill Joe Rogan even if Spotify completely cuts ties with him, but at least that would poking a stick in Rogan's eye. And if they're lucky, Rogan will kill himself, by apologizing and compromising until he loses his truth-seeking maverick vibe.

Gospace said...

Singer India Arie? Who? I've heard of Joe Rogan- read a lot about him. Never watched his podcast, or anyone's podcast for that matter. Know the names of a lot of living singers, including ones I don't listen to- but India Arie? I guess now she's known for jumping on the anti-Rogan bandwagon, because she certainly isn't known for her singing.

PJ said...

The Marx Brothers snip reminded me of a guy who used to get on the 6 train and blow a saxophone loudly until nearby riders paid him to stop. Maybe Ann remembers him.

Big Mike said...

Does India Arie really have ancestors from the subcontinent of India? If not, I call cultural appropriation!

What's emanating from your penumbra said...

India Arie? She is offended by people using the N-word because that's exactly what she is. A Nobody.

Anthony said...

Who?

[kidding. I've heard of her. But the sentiment is accurate)

Temujin said...

Freder Frederson said: "You must hang out with a bunch of raging assholes if you think these terms are acceptable and allowed."

Acceptable and allowed are two different things. Many of you on the Left don't get the difference.

I don't accept any of it, unless it's used in comedy. And believe or not, until about 5 years ago, ethnic names and stereotypes were used to build and grow many famous comedian's careers. Entire comedy careers were made and grown playing on ethnic names and stereotypes. We used to be able to laugh at ourselves and laugh at clowns who used those terms to hurt. Now you curl up with thumbs in mouth, but demand that the person saying 'bad' words must be eliminated.

All of those words and many more that are tossed around this country and many more than that tossed around other countries have been used before you and yours came into the world and will be used long after you're gone. I grew up with it all. I did not die. I did not lose my sanity or my life. It was part of growing up, living among other humans.

It still is. I'm not saying its good or right. But you can't stop people from thinking or speaking. And, cut the crap. What people may have said years ago cannot always be hung around their necks to bring them down today. If that were the case, no one would be walking free among us. You included. I am damn sure of that. Cut the sainthood crap.

Achilles said...

Freder Frederson said...

That said: Kike is allowed. Spic. Wop. All allowed. Cracker is applauded. Mick is AOK. Coon is not good, but is often given a pass. Dago, Hebe, Hymie, Kraut, Nip, Wetback- all good. Beaner, Cabbage Eater, Camel Jockey, Coolie, Dink- perfect. Paddy, Ginzo, Yid, and on and on. But don't say that 'n' word, don't think it, don't read it, and never ever sing along to a hip-hop recording that uses it regularly.

You must hang out with a bunch of raging assholes if you think these terms are acceptable and allowed.

This is exactly the sort of distraction and lie that we can expect out of these fascists.

Freder knows that democrats and their supporters are using all of these terms far more than his political opponents do.

He knows that rap artists all over Spotify much less everywhere else are using the N word right now.

He knows that Joe Biden made prolific use of it. He knows Joe Biden was friends and allies with segregationists. He knows that Joe Biden is a racist. He knows that the democrat party is based on racism.

Freder cannot deal with this topic honestly because he cannot spell out exactly what he wants to do and still convince people it is OK.

Freder is a fascist. All supporters of the Biden Regime are supporting Government/Corporate censorship.

It is gross.

Temujin said...

Mark- people don't use those words out loud, or in 'mixed' company much these days. Everyone is looking over their shoulder. But depending on where you live, let's say South Boston, or parts of Chicago, Detroit, definitely boroughs of New York and into New Jersey, down to New Orleans, over to LA- you're going to hear people called words you may not hear among you and your friends.

It's only shocking in parts of today's polite company. But it's there. Just under the surface. Not everyone is tuned into correct-speak. And many just don't care. Frankly, I miss the days when people could just speak their mind, let you know who they were and where they stood. Instead of today's fear-ridden society where everyone is just a quick google search from being eliminated.

It's nuts. There's no defending censorship and cancellation. None.

Jupiter said...

"ALSO: If you search Spotify for the "n-word" (written out), you'll find lots of songs and spoken word."

I assume, Althouse, that you aren't just making this up. You are speaking from experience. So, my question is, WHO spelled out the "n-word" for your search engine? Aren't you aware that people afflicted with whiteness, like yourself, are not permitted to spell out that word? Did you hire a POC to hit that particular set of keys for you?

I suppose what you could have done, is to misspell "non-integer" with two g's, like snoop doggy dogg. than you could make strategic use of the delete key to prepare for the desired search. But I am guessing that a perusal of your key-logger data will show that you did no such thing.

Get some cancel in here, we've got a racist on Aisle Althouse!

Jupiter said...

"It's going to be fun to watch the Woke trip over their own rhetoric."

It would be fun to watch them being torn to shreds by lions. That's about the only way I can see having any fun watching the Woke. Well, sinking slowly into quicksand might be amusing ...

loudogblog said...

It occurs to me that if Joe Rogan was just saying the N-word to reference someone else saying the N-word, that India.Arie just did the same thing by posting up a video referencing someone (Rogan) saying the N-word. Obviously I can't look up each time Rogan said the N-word to verify that, but it is plausible.

Owen said...

Prof A @ 9:48: "...I'm guessing Spotify is already in breach of the contract." Not gonna take the other side of that bet.

I would imagine that Joe Rogan, being no fool and a veteran of the shark tank called the Entertainment Industry, decided that a $100 million deal was worth some good lawyering, and therefore his contract has got lots of nice words about "constructive breach" and "liquidated damages" stuck in it. It would be SUCH fun for a law school class in contract negotiation and drafting to get its hands on that agreement!

Jim at said...

So they're going to pull all the music that uses the 'n' word?

No? Why not?

Jim at said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
guitar joe said...

"Years ago, not sure when, but when the term "hate speech" entered the lexicon, you knew where this was going." No question, and I'm speaking as an old time lib. I knew when I started hearing this term that libs had lost their way.

William said...

On the plus side, we're given much more latitude to say George Carlin's seven deadly words aloud. Ricky Gervais has really freed up the cunt word. You can call someone a cunt and not get accused of being a misogynist. Some of the details are unclear though. I wouldn't advise calling India a dumb cunt. That might get you banned.

William said...

A fair number of great writers used the n-word. They didn't use it in any kind of ironic or meta way either. They used it as contemptuous way to refer to Black people. How far back do you want to take this banning and how thorough do you want it to be? State the parameters. Two years? Twenty years?

tommyesq said...

jim5301 said...


I don't understand why everyone is giving Neil Young shit. We all make decisions who to do business with. He made a decision not to do business with Spotify for rational reasons - he thought they were spreading - and profiting from - misinformation about COVID. Who here can say that politics never is a factor in deciding who to buy from. No one.


Neil Young didn't simply remove himself from Spotify and assert his reasons for doing so - I would be fine with that. He demanded that Spotify censor someone else, and pulled his music when they refused. That is the difference between principled and extortionary (however misguided the extortion threat may have been).

tommyesq said...

Is it just me, but isn't there a very nice opportunity in a few months for Rogan to open up a non-Spotify archive channel of "Joe Rogan Uncensored" for all this content that Spotify is removing from their purview.

Trump should be pushing hard to lure Rogan away from Spotify to his new social media network, much the way Sirius/XM pushed hard to get Stern.

tommyesq said...

Kike is allowed. Spic. Wop. All allowed. Cracker is applauded. Mick is AOK. Coon is not good, but is often given a pass. Dago, Hebe, Hymie, Kraut, Nip, Wetback- all good. Beaner, Cabbage Eater, Camel Jockey, Coolie, Dink- perfect. Paddy, Ginzo, Yid, and on and on.

I never hear any of these words. The only thing I ever hear is the "n" word. And I only hear it from people on the left.


I think that was a verbatim quote from a Spike Lee movie "Do the Right Thing."

Bruce Hayden said...

“Also, what the hell is wrong with India Arie for giving Rogan a pass on the Covid misinformation - is she a science denier”

They all are. The actual science says that COVID-19 vaccinations for those under, say, 50, without well known comorbidities, is stupid, and child abuse if under 18. Destroying our military readiness with a vac mandate should be impeachable (their personnel have an insanely low chance of dying from the virus, but instead are forced to accept a vaccine that might kill them and everyone around them). Face diapers are idiotic (still, I pick up my free ones every time I go by the pharmacy - I paid for them with my taxes, so why not?)

Iman said...

10,000 youngs
were losing their bungs
over a candid rogan?

Iman said...

Having said that, some good has come of this episode for me:

I’ve rediscovered how great the second side of “Rust Never Sleeps” is. Great God, Almighty!

Critter said...

Althouse said: Well, there's reason to think that racism is unavoidably woven into every human organism..."

I am so disappointed that you would fall for this propaganda. Once you do, you are owned by CRT and the left. That's why this unsubstantiated claim is important. Actually, there is NO reason to believe that racism is unavoidably woven into every human organism. NO EVIDENCE. If you study the history of the world, you will find that racism was not the source of hatred for other peoples. The real source was how people dressed, kept their hair/beard, used tattoos and piercings, and behaved. This was important to know in order to protect your group of people, as there was constant fighting over wealth and land.

I challenge you to find evidence of overt racism in Roman times (600 B.C to 400 A.D.). Slaves came from all nations and peoples. There is also ample evidence that England did not harbor a racist view culturally until the rise of the slave trade outside of Spain (about 1500 A.D.). Prior to that , blacks from Africa settled in England and married English women. The English only cared if they led a moral life and went to church. In fact, this continued as a disconnect from the slave trade for some time.

Only if one thinks that the world began with chattel slavery in the West and the human organism totally changed at that time (which of course it didn't) do you believe the propaganda. We need to stop going along to get along. This claim about racism is false and dangerous.

Bruce Hayden said...

I don’t think that you can call anyone who tries to silence people like Dr Malone pro-silence. They are science deniers, plain and simple. He is an expert in the field. At least close to being The expert. There are scientist who could, no doubt, debate the merits of his claims. And he readily admits when he is saying something that cannot, yet, be definitively proven. No one will debate him, because anyone with anywhere as much expertise on the subject knows that they won’t be able to show that he is wrong.

We expect artistic types, like these musicians to be scientifically illiterate. Many never graduated from college, and if they did, it wasn’t in STEM. But Spotify here, by pulling the Rogan/Malone episodes has aligned themselves with the anti science bigots, siding with those scientific illiterate, whose opposition to him is religious and political, and not based on anything close to science. Sciency? Maybe. But nowhere near scientific.

Why does this matter? Because it is going to kill their brand, kill their company’s future. The left wing woke crowd managed to panic them into cutting their own throat. There is a saying: Get Woke - Go Broke. GoFundMe just committed suicide this week by grabbing the Canadian convoy money the had collected, and then claimed the power to send it wherever they wanted. Nope. A couple quick letters from a couple state AGs, along with Gov DeSantos, put a quick end to that nonsense. But the damage was done. They are no longer a safe way to raise money for anything opposed by the hard left. (Yes, they agreed to refund all the money, and give the money to those it was supposed to go to, but that was too little, and too late). There are alternatives out there, and GoFundMe just gave them a golden opportunity to them to take this business away from them.

Bruce Hayden said...

GI don’t think that you can call anyone who tries to silence people like Dr Malone pro-silence. They are science deniers, plain and simple. He is an expert in the field. At least close to being The expert. There are scientist who could, no doubt, debate the merits of his claims. And he readily admits when he is saying something that cannot, yet, be definitively proven. No one will debate him, because anyone with anywhere as much expertise on the subject knows that they won’t be able to show that he is wrong.

We expect artistic types, like these musicians to be scientifically illiterate. Many never graduated from college, and if they did, it wasn’t in STEM. But Spotify here, by pulling the Rogan/Malone episodes has aligned themselves with the anti science bigots, siding with those scientific illiterate, whose opposition to him is religious and political, and not based on anything close to science. Sciency? Maybe. But nowhere near scientific.

Why does this matter? Because it is going to kill their brand, kill their company’s future. The left wing woke crowd managed to panic them into cutting their own throat. There is a saying: Get Woke - Go Broke. GoFundMe just committed suicide this week by grabbing the Canadian convoy money the had collected, and then claimed the power to send it wherever they wanted. Nope. A couple quick letters from a couple state AGs, along with Gov DeSantos, put a quick end to that nonsense. But the damage was done. They are no longer a safe way to raise money for anything opposed by the hard left. (Yes, they agreed to refund all the money, and give the money to those it was supposed to go to, but that was too little, and too late). There are alternatives out there, and GoFundMe just gave them a golden opportunity to them to take this business away from them.

Narayanan said...

So ...
looks like Joe Rogan = one man = Canada Trucker Convoy threat happening in USA

people who want to cancel him = Justin Trudeau = open / not hiding

Greg The Class Traitor said...

ALSO: If you search Spotify for the "n-word" (written out), you'll find lots of songs and spoken word. There are artists who use that word as part of their name and at least one who has that as his entire name. And I saw multiple profiles that had just that word as their name, including one whose profile picture is a photograph of a naked, erect penis.

Yep.

When you're ready to destroy every single individual who uses the "n word", not matter the color of their skin or their politics, then I'll listens to whine's about someone using the "n word".

But there are no patent's of nobility allowed in America. If it's acceptable for anyone to say it, it's acceptable for everyone to say it

Greg The Class Traitor said...

Althouse said: Well, there's reason to think that racism is unavoidably woven into every human organism..."

Distrust of "the Other" is woven into every human organism.

One need only look at the Tutsis and the Hutus, or the German Nazis vs the Slavs to know that skin color / "race" is usually utterly irrelevant to the issue.

Critter's response to you was entirely correct, and your claim is entirely wrong

Mark said...

Bruce, just because there is a saying that goes 'There is a saying: Get Woke - Go Broke.' does not mean that the saying has any validity.

Haven't conservatives been trying to cancel Penzeys for going woke 4 years ago? Seems like going woke ended up being good for their business.

I thought you were smarter than believing every saying.

n.n said...

n-erd

walter said...

Part of the reason Spotify got Rogan exclusive was protection from this shit.
But he doesn't help himself agreeing to them putting wrongthink arning labels on certain podcasts.

K Brown said...Is it just me, but isn't there a very nice opportunity in a few months for Rogan to open up a non-Spotify archive channel of "Joe Rogan Uncensored"
--
Something like Banned.video

Freder Frederson said...

The actual science says that COVID-19 vaccinations for those under, say, 50, without well known comorbidities, is stupid, and child abuse if under 18.

Do you have a link for the "actual science"? Otherwise I will just assume that the actual science was learned from the monkeys flying out of your butt.

Drago said...

Narayanan: "So ...
looks like Joe Rogan = one man = Canada Trucker Convoy threat happening in USA"

Correct!

And surprise! Now the Howard's of Canada are calling the truck/convoy protests in Canada "violent insurrection" and "terroristic".

Sound familiar?

MadisonMan said...

A fair number of great writers used the n-word
Go read Unnatural Death by Sayers.

NorthOfTheOneOhOne said...

Mark said...

Bruce, just because there is a saying that goes 'There is a saying: Get Woke - Go Broke.' does not mean that the saying has any validity.

Spice company that called Republicans racist begs for gift card purchases after losing customers

Mrs. X said...

"It didn’t work against Rush (the Flush Rush campaign) and it won’t work against Rogan."
Disagree. Rush didn't care about being liked by liberals. Rogan, based on his groveling apologies and his promises to do better in the future, does care. He's not down to be the anti-censorship voice that interviews who he wants and bucks the approved narrative. Rogan will censor himself from now on, lose his audience and be forgotten. He's got his 100 mil.
Someone else will show up to fight the media power. I hope.

Bender said...

Haven't conservatives been trying to cancel Penzeys for going woke 4 years ago?

I'm pretty sure that 99 percent of conservatives would say, "Who or what is a Penzeys?"

Owen said...

If Rogan did indeed grovel, that is IMHO sad. I don't need to see him or anyone else posture as a hero against these evil halfwits, but I DO need to see focused intelligence on the task of delivering incessant and unbearable pain to them. Only thus will they ever change. And, boy, do we need change.

Bunkypotatohead said...

I'd hate to be the guy in charge of bleeping out the nword during the superbowl halftime next Sunday. It's an all jogger show.

Drago said...

Dumb Lefty Mark: "Haven't conservatives been trying to cancel Penzeys for going woke 4 years ago?"

Uh, no.

As usual.

The Penzeys CEO went public to make it clear he did not want conservatives as customers, so many conservatives said "ok".

But it is adorable how hard you work on these transparently false comparisons.

I mean, it would be adorable if you were 13 or so......

Michael K said...

Do you have a link for the "actual science"?

I know Freder has troubl;e with the military, let alone science but this might help.

Severe side effects of vaccines may appear in some individuals vaccinated in mass vaccination programs. Also, given the short development time and the novelty of the technologies adopted, these vaccines may have serious side effects that will only be revealed after some time [13]. One potential mechanism is the free-floating spike proteins, synthesized by cells targeted by the vaccines, that circulate in the blood systematically interacting with angiotensin converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) receptors. These reactions may ultimately lead to platelet aggregation, thrombosis, and inflammation [14]. In this review, the potential cardiovascular complications of SARS-CoV-2 vaccines will be discussed.

The mortality rate for those healthy and not obese under 50 is very small and for those under 18 is near zero. Especially athletic boys between 14 and 18, the risk of the vaccine is greater than the risk of the virus.

Static Ping said...

Never, ever apologize. If you admit to the SJWs that they have a point - even a small point - you will never be rid of them. They are vicious and once you show any weakness they are going to try to ruin you. They may not even understand why they hate you, but as soon as they decide they hate you, you are permanently targeted for death. They will find things from 20 years ago, find things so far out of context as to be meaningless, and, if all else fails, lie. This will be perfectly fine as far as they are concerned since they are our moral betters and, well, they rarely think anyway, going purely on emotion. Playing apology games will, if anything, speed up the process and make things worse.

Critter said...

We now know that Rogan is the target of a sophisticated hit by a super-PAC with Hollywood connections. Here's a link that provides some of the evidence:

https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1490220423270699009.html





farmgirl said...

I listened to NPR briefly the other day. I haven’t done that in yrs. Terri Gross was interviewing some scold about the “book banning” in schools and the animosity of school board meetings as parents attack members of said board. It was such a blatant review of what went down. How people speaking were tantamount to Fascists, shouting down others and threatening violence and maybe they were. But, context matters and when a government calls a group of people(parents) domestic terrorists… gloves are off.

Our Founders were also called Framers, yes? Well, we have a new set of framers- and they have nothing to do w/the foundation of Truths we hold self- evident. They twist the words and actions to give the things happening in real time- things as mundane as school board meetings- to put pitchforks and torches in the hands of parents attending to make them look deranged- all w/out context.

Something’s gonna give.

wendybar said...

Mark said...


"Haven't conservatives been trying to cancel Penzeys for going woke 4 years ago? Seems like going woke ended up being good for their business."

Oh honey. Penzeys owner hates US. HE has been hating on US for 4 years. My husband and I always used Penzey spices. He sent US an E mail that if we didn't vote the way he did, that he didn't want US to buy any more of his spices. HE DID THIS! Conservatives did not. YOU should buy from this asshole because his company is going down if you don't. He threw away good paying customers HIMSELF.

wendybar said...

And the FUNNIEST thing about old man Penzey, is that he has always been a crazy Progressive, but until he got that Trump Derangement Syndrome, he wasn't throwing good money away. He always sent out crazy progressive e-mails hating on people who weren't like him, but he hadn't yet told us NOT to order from him anymore. Ben and Jerry's ice cream is going down the same path, but have yet to come right out and tell us not to buy their ice cream. I am not one to boycott, but when the owner tells you he doesn't WANT your business..you take him seriously.

Bruce Hayden said...

“Do you have a link for the "actual science"? Otherwise I will just assume that the actual science was learned from the monkeys flying out of your butt.”

I will assume that you have nothing, no real science, on your side, if you respond to me this way. Burden of proof is on you, since you are apparently on the pro-panic side. Where’s your science? Why is your side pushing deplatforming “disinformation” so hard, if you have science on your side.

In any case, you can find the demographic data (a bit inflated, of course) on the CDC web site. They kindly break down the deaths by age brackets, and then divide by demographic size. Also by race, sex, etc. Your tax money at work. Dangers of the vaccines can be found everywhere, but of special interest was the recent testimony before Sen Ron Johnson (WI) about the statistical blowout over the last year in a number of areas in the military. Heart attacks, strokes, miscarriages, fertility issues, etc have exploded over the last year. Talking military, there was the Project Veritas exposé showing that DARPA had turned down funding the project that Dr Fauci apparently did fund, that funneled US tax money to the Wuhan Institute of Virology to study Gain of Function in bat born SARS type coronaviruses, after it was made illegal in this country.

In any case, given the discussion here, the most relevant reference is the interview by Rogan of Dr Robert Malone. It was kindly archived all over the place, including in the Congressional Record, in anticipation of the anti-science side of this debate trying to silence Malone. You can find the podcast in a lot of places, by (preferably non-Google) searching with the search string: “joe rogan interview of dr Robert Malone transcript”. Here is a copy of the transcript on Scribd. What you need to do to maintain credibility as being on the actual science side of this debate is to go through the Rogan interview of Dr Malone, and point (page and line) out where he is wrong. Cite your sources, and preferably provide their CVs. Are we talking recording artists and public health bureaucrats, or actual researchers with credentials at least equal to Maloney?

farmgirl said...

Ok- I give up…
Who is Penzy?

farmgirl said...

Bruce- thank you for keeping Sen Ron Johnson in print here. He’s doing his constituents and the entire country a great service for those who have been vaccine injured. It’s a thing.

Bruce Hayden said...

This is who is behind the Rogan attacks. The answer is apparently PatriotTakes, a Dem super PAC that made its name attacking Trump.

Fûz said...

Volokh Conspiracy hosted a series of posts on the "use versus reference" distinction around the n-word not that long ago.

Using the word, and seemingly endorsing the racial disparagement that comes with it, must be distinguished from referring to the word, and how it has been used. One must be free to refer to the word to challenge the logic behind the disparagement, and critically to empower (specifically) students of the law to mount those challenges.

Otherwise, we are merely sentencing a word to death, and inviting such sentence on other words, but not on the thoughts that give rise to those words, or the actions inspired by those thoughts.

farmgirl said...

This guy gets it- what do u suppose he’s on?

https://youtu.be/FJ-dnLt5nDg

wendybar said...

farmgirl said...
Ok- I give up…
Who is Penzy?

2/7/22, 7:28 AM

Penzeys is a mail order (some stores) spice seller. He sells bumper stickers, hats, aprons ect...with cute little Kindness and love slogans, but he is a hypocritical hater of anybody who voted for Trump and he sends out e-mails telling his customers that if they voted for Trump that he doesn't want their business and he hates them...NOW since business is floundering he is begging people to buy discounted gift cards so he doesn't go out of business. I hope he does. He doesn't deserve any sympathy, when he asked for this himself. I ignored his e-mails for years, but he really doubled down on it recently...so we are done with him. He cancelled himself.

TheOne Who Is Not Obeyed said...

For those who like P-word's spices but not P-word himself, a similar but apolitical purveyor of quality spices is Spice House (thespicehouse.com). Similar sourcing, and I think the owner is related to the P-word somehow. But without the woke grandstanding.

pacwest said...

The n-word? LOL. What exactly is that?

Why would saying "n-word" be any different than saying "n*****"? Personally I think n-word is much more derogatory. Sounds like a bunch of jr high students. Giggle, giggle.

If you say n-word, you same as said the real word, and emphasized it!

(I've said n***** one time in my entire life, directed at Obama, shocked my family who had never heard it from me before and I wasn't proud of myself after. I've said n-word zero times and wouldn't write it here, except Althouse will delete the comment unless I use some derogatory made up fake word instead. It's as weird and repulsive to me as n*****, if not more so.)

Get it out of the fucking lexicon.