I am guessing it’s easier to have discourse with individuals who hate other races when the person discoursing with you isn’t of the hated race. He isn’t really known for asking difficult questions, but yeah to get access to 4 million plus ears, I am sure it’s not hard to find people to go on his show and talk knowing you’ll mostly get softball questions if even that.
Since he’s not a journalist, I think the cost for him or the consequence of hosting whomever he likes for giggles and clicks is pretty much zero.
You’re looking for someone who listens to a person say racist things and then puts them in their place for how wrong they are. I’m OK with hearing a racist say racist things and then listening to a conversation with them about who they are and why they have these opinions. Then I can reflect on how I feel about that. I think people should be able to have the ability to think for themselves.
A good example of this I saw recently is the premiere episode of Shades of America with W Kamau Bell. Bell, a black comedian, engages in conversation with literal KKK members. He says his piece, they say theirs, and there is an attempt to establish some degree of humanity. Obviously, this must be very difficult for Bell, but he doesn’t yell at them and tell them that they are assholes even though he must be thinking it. He lets them have their say on his own show and allows the viewers to make their own judgments about how they should feel about it.
He’s an activist and comedian. He might let people talk on his podcast, but he is not sitting around passively letting people make up their minds. He’s actually part of ant-harassment efforts, an active member of the ACLU. He’s actually spoken out about racism that affected him.
And that’s a good thing. I’m glad that he has a platform to speak his mind about his personal experience with racism and how they have shaped his world view. And if he can have an open and honest conversation with people who see things differently without shouting them down or telling them their opinion is garbage, that’s even better. I like to see people communicate their experiences from all points of view. They help me form my own ideas and opinions.
There is nothing passive about or I hope people make up their mind with no guidance coming from W Kamau Bell. The same cannot be said for Joe Rogan. There is no proof whatsoever that Joe Rogan intends for anything good to come out of his show or that he cares one way or another. He is not an activist against racism; Bell is.
I didn’t miss your point. I am talking about the purpose of communication. There is usually a purpose. Rogan doesn’t appear to have one outside of commercial interests. You think it’s some some of genuine exchange, but you don’t know that. His motivation is just as likely to listen to someone ramble… communication is two way.
I don’t agree with that assessment of Rogan. I agree with you that he’s not necessarily going to go out of his way to give somebody’s questionable beliefs the third degree. I do think he’s going to have a conversation with them, or as you see it, throw them some softballs. I don’t know how genuine his thoughts are, but it’s not really that important to me. If I want to (which I normally don’t), I value my ability to go and listen to him have a conversation with somebody, even if I find it repugnant what that person stands for. I don’t need Joe Rogan to take a point of view and tell me if that person is right or wrong.
You can already see people in this thread trying to align Rogan with Nazi beliefs because he had Alex Jones on the show. I’m sick of this guilt by association bullshit just because somebody values the freedom to explore ideas.
It’s not just having Alex on his show. He and Alex Jones are friends, or at least they were, for decades.I suspect that has more to do with it than having Alex on his show. You are right though, we don’t agree on Rogan’s motivations. Bell’s though are very clear, so I don’t think you should lump the two together. one is an activist, puts himself out there, his views, motivates and advocates. The other has controversial guests on his show with no real commitment to truth or facts or even refuting actual Nazis at all.
You’re trying to draw all these lines about who is right and who is wrong, but it’s not what I’m talking about. I want people to have interesting conversations and public exchanges of ideas, and I want people to not be afraid about who they are having a conversation with. I understand how scary it is to let Nazis speak and how easily that can be packaged and marketed into something that appeals to a broader culture. But I value free speech and I’m willing to take my chances that people can make up their minds about what is right and wrong.
Yeah. I think I saw this posted before. I’m all for it. I’ve seen no proof, no data, that says giving people who advocate genocide and that portions of the human populace as subhuman does anything but spread their vile messages. If advocates are talking to them, they’re still advocating, not faux listening… there’s a purpose.
You’re making their violent and vile acts passive by focusing on the response of others instead of the act of the doer. The extreme ends, are killers, and those who call themselves Nazis, are advocating for death.
I’m just saying I understand what is at stake when we lean in favor of free speech. I understand there is a reason why we don’t let people go on television and talk about committing literal genocide. I’m just willing to give a wider berth of ideas (in much less extreme cases) for the sake of open conversation. I want people to engage in real life conversations with people they don’t agree with without lecturing them about why they are wrong.
You keep takitng about free speech and disagreement like there wasn’t a war that cost millions of lives. When you’re dead, there’s no speech. Nazis lead to death. There is no doubt about that. We had a war as proof.
I think I should remind you that you’re the one that brought up Nazis. They have no place in civilized society and deserve no platform. Millions died to stop them. It’s our job as the generations after those who fought that evil not to forget.
