Neil Young, Spotify, Rogan, Blackstone...
I’m sure by now you’ve all heard about the Joe Rogan/Neil Young, et al controversy. Initially, it was Rogan vs Young, with Young demanding that either The Joe Rogan Experience, Rogan’s podcast, be removed from Spotify or Young’s music be removed. The reason: COVID misinformation. According to Young, Rogan’s open forum, wide-ranging guest list, and free-form conversations, in particular episodes featuring Drs. Robert Malone and Peter McCullough, were getting people killed. Within a few days, other artists joined the protest and a video mash-up with clips of Rogan using the N-word and telling a really offensive story was released.
(Note from Mary: among our betters, using the N-word (sometimes work related and sometimes just because) is a thing, so is blackface. Here are some examples: Biden, Justin Trudeau, Paul McCartney saying it’s okay for Kanye to say it, Eminem, Ralph Northam, and here’s a CNN (they did the work so I don't have to) report of a “growing list” of celebs in blackface, and ABCs (old) list of white celebs using the N-word. Here’s Cafemom, whoever the hell she is, language policing the internet, and on and on.)
Let’s give Maya Angelou the last word on the N-word.
For the record, I do not think Rogan (or anyone else) should be cancelled; I’m shocked (but sort of not shocked) that Neil Young did this; I believe that muzzling dissenters from the government/pharmaceutical/healthcare-industrial (MSM?) complex’s COVID party-line is wrong, stupid, short-sighted, counter-productive, and a bunch of other things. It reeks of totalitarianism and makes me think that those with power are hiding something. I do not trust the pharmaceutical industry or the government. I think our healthcare industry is broken, partly because of the government and the pharmaceutical industry. The health insurance industry isn’t helping. And the MSM appears to be bought/owned by the pharmaceutical industry.
I’ve listened to several episodes of The Joe Rogan (TRE) since I started working from home (before working from home, I’d never listened to any episode of any podcast), including the two this controversy are ostensibly about. I found both men to be interesting and enlightening. Did I think some of what Malone and McCullough said was wrong or, even, a little out there? Sure, but I learned a lot, too. They both came across as sincere and knowledgeable. They both have the credentials and experience to be considered experts. McCullough’s actually taken care of actual COVID patients, unlike some of those who are directing policy regarding COVID. That counts for a lot, in my book.
(BTW, in between listening to the two episodes, I listened to this one, with Dr. John Abramson on his new book, Overdosed America: The Broken Promise of American Medicine. Check this book out and/or listen to the podcast and tell me if you still think that doctors and scientists asking questions and thinking for themselves and speaking out about their findings is a bad thing. Tell me if you think that we should accept what the pharmaceutical companies say and promote without asking serious questions.)
The only crime Malone and McCullough seem to be guilty of is questioning the party line on COVID, which, as doctors is their job! Why disparage them from doing it? To claim that the science is settled on COVID is nonsense. Throughout this pandemic, there have been disputes and reversals about almost every single claim.
Here are just some examples: lockdowns, masking children, vaccines preventing transmission of Omicron or not. The list is long and keeps growing.
I’ve been a nurse for almost 30 years and whenever I see administrators, executives, “the powers that be” trying to shut people up, I start to think that something is fishy. When people aren’t allowed to speak their minds or ask questions, I start to wonder if maybe I’m being railroaded, lied to “for my own good” (or more likely someone else’s), deceived, hoodwinked. There’s nothing noble about the noble lie (or lies or lie or lie or lie…) Whatever you ultimately believe, you have to admit that the story has changed a lot since March of 2020.
In his book, Better: a Surgeon’s Notes on Performance, Atul Gawande explores the many ways in which physicians and scientists learned from past mistakes, how risk-takers in the professions were thwarted and black-balled by the establishment and, through perseverance, courage, and grit, were able to forge ahead and discover new and better treatments. Throughout the book, Gawande shows that innovators often face pushback from the establishment, even when the evidence is clear that the status quo is not helping and, possibly, even hurting patients and society.
Another thing I’ve learned as a nurse: doctors don’t know everything and a lot of them simply do what they are told. Some of them are even bad, selfish, in it only for the prestige or the money or because their fathers made them, and it would have been better for them and their patients if they’d gone into a different profession. This is the reality and we’d do well to face it.
Back to Rogan. I think part of his success as a podcaster is that he invites people who interest him onto his show. He wants to talk to his guests. They aren’t on because they are controversial or in the news. The conversations are generally long—3-4 hours—and always unscripted. Rogan might have some questions he wants to ask, but generally, he lets the conversation go wherever. He’s an inquisitive guy, self-taught for the most part, down the earth, and it seems to me, humble. During the episodes, if there are any questions or disputes about the truthfulness of a claim, Rogan’s producer, Jamie Vernon, looks them up, live, and Rogan, the guest, and Jamie all discuss the information they’ve found. If Rogan finds that he was wrong, he admits it.
Listen for yourself.
This is not a man who’s interested in spreading “misinformation,” but rather one who’s interested in learning and exploring. He’s got the largest audience in the world for a reason. He doesn’t insult or scream at his guests. He asks good questions and listens.
His constant use of the F-word and his occasional “guys-just-shooting-the-shit” banter can get annoying, his views on psychedelics and marijuana and porn and many other things seem deeply misguided, if not flat-out wrong/immoral/bat-shit crazy, but I appreciate his show and the fascinating conversations he hosts. There are lots of episodes I couldn’t be bothered listening to and some I can’t turn off. His podcast reminds me of conversations I’ve had with family and (some) friends—long, digressive, invigorating, and fun free-for-alls.
This is what conversation should be. Does someone sometimes say something stupid, wrong, insulting, offensive—yes, so what? Call them out on it. Argue. Dispute their claims. Ask them to apologize for the offensive statement. Talk about why it’s offensive or stupid. Agree to disagree. Honestly, I’d rather that than the puritanical, self-censoring, ass kissing that passes for conversation in today’s society. Those conversations aren’t fun and they aren’t interesting and they teach us nothing.
Regurgitating the party line, that is what passes for conversation in most forums today. Why do we even bother? Because nobody wants to get cancelled, nobody wants to be on the bottom of the dog-pile. If they can get to Rogan, they can get to you. The attack on Rogan, and that is exactly what it is, is not about COVID or Rogan or racism, it’s about teaching the rest of us a lesson—keep quiet, except to rat out the other guy. This is a horrible way to live. No society can flourish if this is how things are. Look at China, the USSR, Nazi era Germany. Do you really want to live like that?
When Joni Mitchell and other artists and podcasters, including Nils Lofgren (Bruce Springsteen’s guitarist) and Brene Brown, joined the protest, it started to look like Rogan vs the World, or at least a very powerful segment of the world. When it became obvious that the dreaded “COVID-misinformation-spreader” accusation wasn’t going to destroy Rogan and his career, despite the pile-on from Mitchell and others, that video of Rogan using the N-word was released. The clip shows Rogan using the N-word on his show and also telling a really horrible story…but all the clips are from nearly 10 years ago. There’s nothing remotely recent. He apologized. Still, he must be destroyed. Again, do you really want to live in a world that does that? DO you want to live in a world that demands destruction even when a person has apologized? Changed? Do you want to live in a world without mercy or forgiveness? Do you want to live in a world where everything you’ve ever done or said can be pulled out at a moment’s notice and used to destroy you or shut you up?
Isn’t it weird that that video of Rogan, all set and ready to go, showed up so quickly? Am I really supposed to believe that in the span on three or four days, someone had time to review 1,000s of hours of Rogan podcasts and then compile that video? Personally, I find that hard to believe. It seems more likely that someone knew that destroying Rogan was going to be on the agenda and he/she wanted to be ready for the big day. Call me a conspiracy theorist, but I think it’s a planned attack.
Let’s look at some of what went down:
December 21, 2021: A group of “scientists, medical professionals, professors, and science communicators” sent an open letter to Spotify demanding that Rogan’s podcast be removed because he had Dr. Robert Malone on his show. Malone, they claimed, was spreading misinformation and that “by allowing the propagation of false and societally harmful assertions, Spotify is enabling its hosted media to damage public trust in scientific research and sow doubt in the credibility of data-driven guidance offered by medical professionals.” (Trust me, it is not Spotify who’s damaging trust.)
January 25, 2022: Young threatens to remove his music catalogue from Spotify unless Spotify cancels Rogan’s podcast.
January 2?: Spotify responds to Young’s demands by removing his music and issuing a statement.
January 28, 2022: Joni Mitchell announces on her website that she is removing her music from Spotify because she stands with Neil Young and the “global scientific community” against the “irresponsible people...spreading lies.” She links to the open letter from the group of concerned “scientists, medical professionals, professors, and science communicators,” who, it turns out, are 50 PhD academics, around 60 college professors, 29 nurses, 10 students, 4 medical residents, and even a handful of… science podcasters, very few of whom have ever taken care of a patient.
January 31, 2022: Rogan responds to the COVID misinformation controversy.
February 2, 2022: Daniel Elk, Spotify’s CEO, gives a speech to employees explaining why they are not getting rid of Rogan.
Let’s fill in some blanks on the above timelines:
Neil Young
January 2021: Young sells 50% of his music catalogue to Merck Mercuriadis, founder of Hipgnosis Songs Fund, which partnered with The Blackstone Group in October of 2021.
February 2022: Neil Young’s music can still be streamed on Apple—those pesky Uyghurs, notwithstanding—and on Amazon, known for its own (or is that China’s) brand of censorship (5 star reviews only), questionable working conditions, unsafe response to natural disaster during working hours, general shittiness, and destruction of books and our communities.
There’s more to add here, but I do not have time to do the research right now. Maybe I’ll come back to it later. If something else doesn’t blow up in the meantime.
Joni Mitchell
September 13, 2021: Joni announces on her website that Reservoir Media is now the “administrator” of her music catalogue.
January 22, 2022: Peloton launches a series of workouts called "The Artists' Series." According to the announcement on Mitchell’s website, “these are direct collaborations & partnerships with artists, where the workouts will see the entire soundtrack featuring the tunes of the artist.”
Ross Brayburn leads some of the workouts that utilize Mitchell’s music. You can check out his workout soundtrack on, whoops, Spotify. According to Ray, “the human spirit is so much stronger than we know. Trust it.” Not strong enough, apparently, to withstand the onslaught of “misinformation,” “disinformation,” and “lies” spread by TRE. Not strong enough to think for ourselves, make assessments, and decisions regarding our own health.
As of today, no update on Joni’s website regarding this collaboration with Peloton. I didn’t know much about Peloton, but it seems that you buy a bike and a workout subscription. These bikes ain’t your standard banana bike. They range in price from $1,495-3,035. They also sell treadmills. The All-Access membership for the workouts has a range of prices, starting, it seems, around $39/month. You can, fortunately, finance all of it.
Reservoir Media, by the way, is an independent media company. According to CNN, the Top 10 Holders of Reservoir, Inc includes Richmond Hill Investments, LLC, The Vanguard Group Inc, Oaktree Capital Management LP. Totally independent!
February 2022: Photos of Joni Mitchell in blackface resurface.
Okay, I seriously need to get some work done! There’s so much more out there on all of these subjects. Dig a little deeper and see for yourself. Follow the money is always a good place to start.
Instead of shutting down dissent, let’s talk it out!