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Updated: September 22, 2023 @ 4:47 am
Joe Rogan, the biggest podcaster in the world, decided to apologize twice recently. I’m glad he did, once. The other is quite complicated.
He apologized first for the way his show had spread misinformation about the coronavirus, particularly related to vaccines. Mr. Rogan chose to bring onto his show guests who sowed doubt about the vaccines, and promoted unproven treatments.
His defense has long been basically this: Hey, I’m not a journalist, and I’m not an epidemiologist, and I’m not really anything. I’m just asking questions and having conversations.
True enough, and as a journalist, I am generally in favor of a free exchange of information. The premise of the opinion page of this newspaper, for instance, is to provide a forum for an exchange of views.
But “both-sidesism” does not mean anything goes. I am not interested in providing a platform on the opinion page for people who think the earth is flat. And, more relevantly, I think it is irresponsible to provide a platform for the promotion of views that undermine the use of a vaccine in the midst of a viral pandemic. All the evidence we have is that the vaccines work, and that they are safe.
We do not know their long-term consequence, but likewise we don’t know the long-term consequence of COVID. And we know that its short-term consequence can be death.
Mr. Rogan eventually realized this, and said he will do a better job of researching issues before just flinging them out into the public. That’s good. He is to be commended for saying that.
The second apology is such a giant, explosive topic that I hesitate to get into it. The apology was for his use over the years of the N-word, which somebody compiled into a video clip that circulated all over the Internet.
It’s a despicable term. If he ever used it in a straightforward manner to describe a Black person, then he needs to apologize for that.
But without parsing every single instance, I want to assert a principle: There’s nothing inherently evil or wrong about a word. Let’s say he — or I, or you — is quoting somebody else saying it. Let’s say we’re reading Twain, and we come across that word. It’s just a word. We should be able to utter it without somehow opening a portal to hell.
It’s as if we’re living at Hogwarts, talking about He Who Must Not Be Named. As if saying the name conjures Voldemort himself.
A person’s intent in using a word is relevant. The word itself is not the issue. Nor is the color of the skin of the person using the word. Otherwise, what principle are you standing on? It’s OK for Kanye West to use the word, but it’s not OK for Joe Rogan to quote Kanye West using the word? Because the only thing that matters is skin color?
That’s not a principle to stand on.
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