Thursday, February 10, 2022

Joe Rogan Will Be Fine, but Cancel Culture Is a Bigger Threat to Ordinary Americans

By Philip Klein

Thursday, February 10, 2022

 

Joe Rogan, the most popular podcast host in America, is facing the prospect of being deplatformed from Spotify — initially over giving voice to vaccine skepticism, and then over past use of racial slurs.

 

Should Spotify and Rogan sever ties, it would be a seminal moment in the debate over cancel culture. It would amplify concerns about the principle of open speech. But ultimately, it’s obvious that the radio personality will wind up okay no matter what.

 

To be sure, there is no doubt that the campaign to remove Rogan from the massive streaming platform is an effort by his critics to try to marginalize him by denying him access to Spotify’s customers. It is also an effort to make him persona non grata for many guests that he relies on to conduct his program.

 

But at the end of the day, Rogan’s ability to earn a handsome living will not be compromised by whatever happens in the coming days and weeks. Anybody who has 11 million people willing to listen to his podcast could easily find another platform to host him. He also has the resources to launch his own platform.

 

The fact that he will land on his feet, no matter how this shakes out, will no doubt be used by the Left to perpetuate the fiction that cancel culture is a myth. But this discussion is missing an important point: There is only one Rogan, and most people facing the threat of losing their jobs don’t have the ability to simply take their 11 million listeners elsewhere.

 

The cancel-culture debate has primarily played out in the public view with famous celebrities or those attached to large institutions.

 

J. K. Rowling and Dave Chappelle are examples of prominent figures who were once broadly admired but have come under fire for standing up to transgender activists and acknowledging that biological sex is actually a real thing.

 

Despite the vicious campaigns against them, however, both are fine. Chappelle is still a wildly successful comedian, and Rowling is still one of the best-selling authors who have ever lived and the beneficiary of proceeds from one of the most successful film franchises ever.

 

The fact that the likes of Rogan, Chappelle, and Rowling are able to withstand the wrath of online mobs, however, should not be particularly comforting. All it conveys is that if you are highly successful and have a massive fan base, you can essentially become cancel-proof.

 

The bigger threat from cancel culture is not to famous people with massive audiences. It is to those whose lives can be turned upside down thanks to online mobs, who don’t have the resources or supporters to survive such an assault.

 

There was the example, for instance, of the high schooler who had her offer to join a cheer team revoked and was forced to withdraw from her chosen university after a three-second video clip surfaced of her using the “N-word” in a private Snapchat to a friend when she was 15 years old. Or the woman who was fired after the Washington Post reported on her Halloween costume.

 

The way the new rules work, apologies are never accepted, no matter how genuine. A social-media posting somebody made as a teenager can stick with them for the rest of their life, allowing no room for them to have grown.

 

So while it is understandable for people to focus on the Rogan controversy for all of its symbolic importance, in reality, what’s more worrisome is that for every Rogan, there are many others living in obscurity, who face the risk of losing their livelihoods. And others who are afraid to speak freely on issues they care about for fear that they will be torn down without the resources to fall back on.

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