Over the weekend, another Joe Rogan story broke, this one about his use of the "N" word on his podcast...
Rogan used the word more than 20 times in the clips from different podcast episodes, which he said were compiled over a span of 12 years. In his apology, Rogan said it's the "most regretful and shameful thing" he has ever had to address publicly. (From CNN)
...which got me thinking about a number of things, including why this is just coming up now? I'm not arguing that the slur is not offensive, it is, but why has it taken 12 years for someone (like Spotify) to notice? Or since he's already being pilloried for COVID, is he now just under greater scrutiny? Or is it because he comes off as a conservative? In interviews, he maintains he is a liberal but politically independent.
Can you imagine what they'd do to Howard Stern if someone went through his shock-jock files?
So I got to wondering about the desired outcome of this push to punish Rogan. IF (and that's a BIG if) he is a shock comedian and that has been his modus operandi for a long time, then the language is still not justifiable, but perhaps more understandable. Is he a devil's advocate stimulating conversation....or is he spouting garbage to hear himself be censored?
Book banning takes many forms. Most recently it's the removal of "controversial" books from school curricula and libraries. The issue has a great deal more to do with what is permitted to be taught in a classroom and what a teacher is not permitted to even say.
Removal of books attempts to guarantee that kids will not be exposed to some serious moments in history. I happen to think that is totally deranged thinking. The list of ideas this ideology embraces include really subversive topics like sex ed, civil rights, and the Holocaust, all topics we don't want young, fragile minds to know about...even though those same kids play a variety of Marvel and DC comic based games with superheroes vanquishing villains, but it's just a cartoon, right? It's not real, right?
Not as real as kids with guns in schools, right? Last week a kid was shot right outside his school by two older kids...who are now charged with murder. People want to ban books....but are not willing to ban guns. Forget I said that. That's another rant.
Meanwhile, back on the radio, Joe Rogan has been spouting off for a while. His rhetoric isn't news. Over a bunch of years, he's used "the N word" repeatedly. He admits he did. In fact, he pulled episodes in his catalogue where it was used. He's basically admitted he's an idiot shock jock, and he's doing his penance. Is it genuine? Who knows? But he's doing it. He pulled the offending episodes himself. I should think admitting you're an asshole is 3/4 of the battle. Spotify seems to be of the mind that canceling voices is a slippery slope. From the New York Times:
“I do not believe that silencing Joe is the answer,” Ek wrote in the memo, which Spotify provided to The New York Times. “We should have clear lines around content and take action when they are crossed, but canceling voices is a slippery slope.”
I have to agree with them on that. Yeah, the COVID statements were moronic, and the N-word nonsense should've been stopped long ago. Assuming his repentance is honest and complete, why fire him? Where do you draw the line?
Do we stop thinking something is funny or moving or transformational because the deliverer of said information is flawed or disgusting or a criminal? Does young Bill Cosby's take on fatherhood become any less funny because in his later years he was a sexual predator? Does someone get to say all his books, films, and specials are now verboten because 30 years later he did heinous stuff? Is ANNIE HALL any less of a masterpiece because Woody Allen was accused of who knows what sexual misconduct but was exonerated? Or do we dismiss/ban/censor his work even though the court found him innocent on all charges?
And not to leave out my favorite pedophile saint, Shlomo Carlebach, the question of what about the music must be asked. You can't deny he gave a rich, exuberant sound to Jewish voices of the 60s and 70s. Do we forbid his music in synagogues? Do we give him an asterisk in Wikipedia? Or do we acknowledge he is a sexual predator who was also a talented composer?
The Cancel Culture Club is really getting to me. I listened to Art Spiegelman (yes, that Art Spiegelman) on a zoom meeting hosted by the Jewish Federation of Greater Chattanooga. There appeared to be a really strong turnout from the community. The questions the school kids asked at the end were great. One of the things he said in response to a question about why MAUS was being targeted was exceptionally spot on. He explained it was, of course, about parents and other adults wanting to control the flow of information to students, that on some levels this could be viewed as parents wanting to protect children from being inundated by evil. However, it must also be seen as an attempt to control future outcomes with those kids. In other words, if you don't introduce them to seriously ugly topics, they will never learn how to respond. Instead of protecting the children, they are ultimately putting them at significant risk.
That's the biggest risk of all. When you deny kids the opportunity to learn what went horribly wrong, you doom them to repeat it. I would bet that if you asked the Capitol Hill rioters if they knew about the Reichstag Fire, they would think it was for toasting marshmallows. If kids are not exposed to world history in all its gory glory, they will never know what to look for in the demise of democracy. These are our future leaders.
Why would anyone want them to be naive and dumb?
As my dad would say: Perish the thought.
The Wifely Person's Tip o'the Week
Here on the tundra the temps have been sub zero a lot.
KEEP YOUR GAS AT MORE THAN HALF, IF NOT COMPLETELY FULL.
This will prevent condensation and gas line freeze,
neither of which is a pleasant experience for your car.
Why do you write about Joe Rogan and not Caryn Johnson? What do you think of her comments and the varied reaction to them>
ReplyDeleteI chose to write about Joe Rogan because he pulled the questionable episodes himself. He owned his behavior. Is it real? No clue, but if it's not, Spotify and the rest of the world will know soon enough.
DeleteI chose not to write about Caryn Johnson because her comment was made out of ignorance, not malice. Funny thing is if you asked a Jew if being a Jew was a race thing, mostly likely we would say no; Jews come in all colors. Race, however, was a Nazi thing and therein lies the problem with Whoopi's comment. Is she sincere? I hope so. If she wasn't, well, we'll know about that, too.
Great column! What are often forgotten in these arguments is “context” and “intent.” There are people out there who freak out about the use of the N*word in “Huckleberry Finn” and want the book banned or the language changed to “Slave Jim.” Mark Twain used the word because it was historically used at the time by uneducated (and some very educated) people. It wasn’t used maliciously by Huck, and Twain had a point in using it. Ironically, a very large majority of people who want the book banned are white. To remove the book or change the language is to deny history. Did you know that in the novel, “Mary Poppins,” Mary refers to people of color “picaninnies?” Spoken like a true colonialist. Are people screaming for that book’s removal in England? I don’t think so. Same with “Peter Pan” and Native Americans. Or “Alf” from “Til Death Do Us Part” (known in the US as “Archie” from “All in the Family”) and everyone? Words that offend or make us cringe can be used to open discussion as to why they are wrong to use anymore. However, if a word (or words) is used out of ignorance or malicious intent, then we have to seriously deal with it. And that means education, not cancellation.
ReplyDeleteWP. The real issue here, is that many people don't know the definition of free speech and don't understand the Constitutions role in protecting it.
ReplyDeleteIn fact, a recent Knight-Ipsos poll (Star Tribune -Feb 8).indicated that 60% of Americans support a government-mandated BAN on ideas and opinions they deemed racist or bigoted. This is truly frightening and puts us squarely in George Orwell territory. Who in government gets to decide what is racist or bigoted? Fragile left-wing snowflakes, who are offended by everyone and everything? Right-wing extremists who see no harm in vicious and offensive stereotypes?
There is a good reason that freedom of speech is in the 1st amendment and that Congress shall make no law prohibiting it. The founding fathers (despite their faults) knew that the day would come (and it is here)
when certain people would want to ban or censor opposing, or even abhorrent points of view. I've never listened to Joe Rogan, or Whoopi Goldberg for that matter, and they should be challenged on their views and remarks, when necessary. But canceled? Where do we stop? Just change the channel or don't listen to the podcast, if you don't like it. Ironically, even the founding fathers themselves are on shaky ground right now and are in danger of being canceled. We are already on the slippery slope of cancel culture, with colleges and universities leading the charge. Orwell wrote that "..History has stopped. Nothing Exists except an endless present in which the Party is always right".
Ed.
The Joe Rogan and Whoopi Goldberg examples have NOTHING to do with the First Amendment, which is about GOVERNMENT suppression of free speech. A private corporate entity like Spotify or ABC can pretty much do what it wants in terms of job requirements other than protected categories under the law. I had a ton of digital dirt of the liberal tilt at the time I interviewed for my last job at a major pharmaceutical company. And if the hiring manager had done a Google search on me, she would have found plenty. Turned out the hiring manager was a liberal Jew like I am and it wasn't an issue, though I set a blog policy of not writing about pharma. But if things had been different, refusing to hire me for not being "a good fit" would have been pretty much legal, if for political opinions. Now if it were based on age, that would be a different story.
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