Entry 2199, on 2022-01-25 at 21:43:34 (Rating 3, News)
The internet offers us all the opportunity to contribute our opinions for the benefit of others. Before that, if you had something to say you had to write a book, or an article in a newspaper, or something similar. Now, anyone can easily have their say.
Obviously this means that ignorant people with no knowledge, experience, or skill can say as much as an expert, so there is a significant possibility for bad information to be promulgated, but equally it provides a chance for worthwhile opinions, which might be unavailable for reasons other than lack of merit, to be expressed.
And that's what has happened with Joe Rogan's podcast.
Joe Rogan is a well known comedian and martial arts expert. Those might not seem to be great qualifications for being a very influential on-line figure, but in addition to that Rogan is genuinely thoughtful about many subjects, doesn't have too many serious biases, and is prepared to let his guests speak freely for long periods of time.
Compare that with the mainstream media: they usually have significant built-in biases; they tend to treat people they are interviewing differently depending on whether they have politically correct views or not; and they generally spend very little time in discussion, resulting in a superficial treatment of most subjects.
Rogan's podcast, "The Joe Rogan Experience" (also know as the JRE) has become incredibly popular and has many very interesting guests, including Elon Musk, Steven Pinker, Ted Nugent, Ben Shapiro, Michael Malice, Sanjay Gupta, Bret Weinstein, Lex Fridman, Quentin Tarantino, Neil deGrasse Tyson, Brian Green, Robert Bigelow, and Aubrey de Grey.
I pulled some of those names out of a list of recent guests, and most people would recognise most of them. I agree not all of them are fully credible according to the mainstream opinion, but that is the whole point. People like Ben Shapiro and Michael Malice are controversial, but why? I would say it is because they are capable of making very good points which contradict the views the politically correct, woke elements in society prefer to believe. Because of that, listening to their opinion is very important.
I think it is necessary to listen to all sides of an argument before deciding what is true, or real, or morally right, but we don't get that opportunity from the mainstream media. They aren't even satisfied with setting up unfair situations where contrarians can have their say; now they just ignore those awkward people completely.
But people still want to hear alternative views, so they go outside the mainstream to sources like the JRE. And why not? That is a perfectly reasonable option, as long as a suitable degree of skepticism is employed, just like is necessary when assessing the MSM.
For people who are not as involved with living on-line as I am, you might be skeptical of what I'm saying, and I hope you are, but here's some recent viewing numbers for the JRE against the mainstream CNN news: CNN Primetime 800 thousand, JRE 11 million. It's not even close.
I often feel a certain amount of schadenfreude when I see the MSM failing so badly, because they deserve it for their incompetence and corruption, but I think it is important to still have mainstream sources as well as "new media". For example, to access local New Zealand news I listen to Radio New Zealand (RNZ) which is an incredibly politically correct and left-oriented; so I have to listen to a right-oriented podcast like Leighton Smith's for balance. Do I always get better information there? Well no, but I do get alternative views, many of which are extremely credible.
The MSM must be becoming very concerned with podcasting taking over their traditional role, because they have been viciously attacking the JRE recently. Here is a recent tweet from a major newspaper in the UK: "When talking shit goes terribly wrong. How did the cult of Joe Rogan take root in the UK? The comedian turned podcast titan has polarised US audiences with his offensive remarks, problematic interviewees and tendency to spread misinformation. But with his show now a smash hit in the UK,..."
Notice the way the subject is biased through the use of unfair words like "cult", "polarised", "offensive" (to whom?), "problematic interviewees" (again, who decides), and "misinformation". This is clearly not a genuine question, but an attempt to silence views which are in opposition to their own, as well as something that threatens their income, no doubt.
Unfortunately for them, it backfired a bit. Here are some comments (and my reactions) replying to that tweet...
Comment: Simple like journalists used to be he interview people with many different views and personalities of many spaces and let's them say what they want instead of guiding them and putting words in their mouth to defame them. Simply put he is the medium for information not the source.
Comment: The guy has long conversations with interesting people, that's all, the fact the media is driving this mass hysteria panic over people enjoying a podcast shows their own insecurities.
Reaction: Exactly. The tweet tells us more about problems in the MSM rather than problems in the JRE. And this word "hysteria" is totally appropriate. The MSM's reaction is to try to discredit their opposition through insults rather than fair debate. That tells us a lot.
Comment: It's funny how the media tries to make villains out of critical thinkers.
Comment: Another hit piece about the podcast!
Reaction: That's right. I agree that some of Joe's guests are a bit nutty, but that's just my opinion. Maybe there really are UFOs (for example, in reference to several guests) and although I'm skeptical about UFOs, I still want to hear what others are saying.
Comment: Who'd of thought someone willing to discuss a wide variety of topics & views with interesting & informed people & allowing people to listen & make up their own minds would be popular?
Comment: Where else can people go for 3 hour unedited and uninterrupted interviews with a wide range of guests?
Comment: I listen in the UK - I don’t always agree with what he says, but he discusses so many interesting topics, has such a wide variety of guests, he is very honest, funny and weirdly addictive to listen to!
Comment: Is it a cult? He challenges, asks uncomfortable questions and talks to interesting people who want to speak candidly.
Reaction: This is totally my point. People should listen to different opinions and make up their own minds, not be told what to think by the establishment - surely that is so obviously a bad thing that we don't weven need to debate it?
Comment: The truth is always a winner.
Reaction: Well, I hope it is. You won't always get it from a podcast, but you aren't guaranteed to get it anywhere else either. If the MSM is portraying the truth then I hope that side wins, but sometimes truth comes from elsewhere.
Comment: One could cut their despair with a knife.
Comment: When they use the word "cult", you know they're seriously scared.
Reaction: I think they are scared. The MSM seems to be in terminal decline, yet they aren't self-aware enough to know why. As long as they keep fooling themselves into thinking that providing only one biased view is a good idea that decline will continue.
Comment: Why have they fallen for a "cult"? Maybe because it's the only way to get some balance in the information you hear, because the mainstream media has completely abandoned its responsibilities.
Reaction: This is my comment, and I think my points are obvious. The MSM could have performed the function the JRE is and become popular themselves, but instead they became the source of propaganda for the woke crowd. Big mistake: that might have worked for a while, but not any more!
So you can see that those comments, despite being on Twitter which has a significant number of woke users, is overwhelmingly against the mainstream media. Those comments above weren't picked out because they agree with mine, they were the first 10 or 20 under the original. People know the MSM are out of touch, but the MSM are so out of touch they can't even see it.
Anyway, that's enough for this blog post; I'm off to listen to a JRE podcast!
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