To be Joe Rogan is to be someone who is a talented ringside commentator for the UFC, a gifted comedian, an incredibly popular podcaster, and someone lacking in basic thinking skills. And it’s scandalous how he’s caused a huge amount of pain and suffering by using his platform irresponsibly.
Joe Rogan and ivermectin
During the dark days and nights of the Covid-19 pandemic, Joe Rogan endorsed the horse dewormer drug ivermectin as a way to fight the virus. He stated that young people don’t need to get the vaccine, “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.”
Rogan himself contracted Covid and told his legion of fans that he took the drug. The FDA did not approve the dewormer to treat the virus. The only benefit anyone got who took the drug was probably from the placebo effect.
Rolling Stone’s story How Joe Rogan Became a Cheerleader for Ivermectin delved deeper into the story.
Arguably and no one has been more successful at promoting ivermectin than Rogan himself. In an April 23rd episode of his podcast, the earliest example that could be found by Rolling Stone, he accused Twitter of preventing him from sending a private direct message containing a link to a video about the drug, echoing a common narrative on the right that the media is censoring discussion of any vaccine alternatives. “This doctor was saying ivermectin is 99 percent effective intreating Covid, but you don’t hear about it because you can’t fund vaccines when it’s an effective treatment,” he says on his podcast. “I don’t know if this guy is right or wrong. I’m just asking questions.” When asked about these comments, Angelo Carusone, the head of media watchdog group Media Matters, saw it as another example of his seeding distrust in the vaccine. “It’s sort of an offhanded way of hitting the vaccines and the broader narrative about vaccines,” he says.
What did Joe Rogan do this time?
My old psychology professor Drake Chisolm once said, “The best predictor of future behavior is past behavior.” Is it any surprise that Joe Rogan’s irresponsible behavior on his podcast once again put someone’s life at risk?
On a recent episode of his show, Rogan and one of his guests discussed a tweet that was from Florida intensive care specialist Dr. Natalia Solenkov. It read, “I will never regret the vaccine. Even if it turns out I injected actual poison and have only days to live. My heart and is was in the right place. I got vaccinated out of love, while antivaxxers did everything out of hate. If I have to die because of my love for the world, then so be it. But I will never regret or apologize for it.”
As you would expect, Rogan’s legions of flying monkeys upon hearing the dastardly deed proceeded to rain hate on the doctor.
And it turned out to be a fake tweet.
Not only was it a fake tweet, but it was an obvious fake.
There were obvious tells that the tweet attributed to Solenkova was a fake, likely fabricated with what’s known as a tweet generator. The absurdity of the message notwithstanding, the font was off, and it was 53 characters over Twitter’s 280-character limit.
NBC News
Joe Rogan apologizes — so what?
First the good news, Joe Rogan did apologize via tweet.
I was informed last night that this tweet is fake. The show was already out, so we initially decided to post a notice saying we got tricked, then later thought it best to just delete it from the episode. My sincere apologies to everyone, especially the person who got hoaxed
I don’t know what’s in Joe Rogan’s heart. I don’t know if his Spotify overlords put any pressure on him to do something close to the right thing. Hopefully, he did it out of a sense of guilt. What’s the saying? Everyone does bad things, but it’s the good person who feels bad about it. It’s possible Rogan genuinely feels remorse.
What I am willing to say is that the smart money is on the fact that Joe Rogan’s behavior isn’t going to change. He’s going to continue to be a poor thinker and spread misinformation on his platform. The man has a history of being a poor skeptic and simply not caring about it. And to make matters worse he has a legion of fans telling him he’s a genius, and that’s always detrimental to clear thinking.
As a dad, I tried to teach my kids that apologizing after you do something wrong is important, but what is just as necessary is making restitutions to the person you hurt. Words without actions are hollow. Ask yourself, “How am I going to make this right?” and then do it.
Joe Rogan isn’t going to put anything right.
Laughing in Disbelief’s history with Joe Rogan
In the spirit of full disclosure, I have a history with Rogan. If you followed my satirical antics on the olde blog, Laughing in Disbelief, at Patheos you may know that Mr. Rogan was a regular target of ridicule. And I’m not unhappy with the work.
My post, Joe Rogan Loses Spotify Deal And Millions Due To Ivermectin had a bit of success. In it, I took him to task.
“Like most highly paid performers for Spotify, Joe Rogan had a morality clause in the agreement,” Spotify CEO Andrew Canard said. “It’s clear he broke it when he engaged in such irresponsible and dangerous behavior. It’s one thing to ignore the science and take a drug for livestock. It’s another to publicly endorse it.”
Another post, Sam Harris Slams Joe Rogan Over Ivermectin, also had our fictitious friend Andrew Canard making another appearance.
Andrew Canard is a close friend of Harris and Rogan. He believes the two will mend fences over time. “I don’t argue about the ivermectin or the vaccine with friends or family,” he said. “I guess that makes me a coward. In a way, I respect the tough choice Sam made.”
Will there be other satirical posts about Rogan? Sure. But this is not one of them.
Thanks for stopping by. In case you want a quick chuckle check out God admits He is quiet quitting in goblin mode.
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