Today I wanted to sit down and talk about how incredible the writing is in Squid Game, but I have not managed to finish it yet. I want to make sure I digest the production in its entirety before I really go in to detail about how scary accurate Squid Game is with our current reality. Instead, I want to focus on another gigantic cultural phenomenon. The epic verbal clash between Dr. Sanjay Gupta, and everyone’s favorite meathead, Joe Rogan.
For the few of you who are completely in the dark, Joe Rogan is a rough around the edges comedian who happens to be an absolute beast of a human. Joe spent a majority of his life wrapped in mixed martial arts. Whether he was training to be a competitor himself, or performing professional commentary on the art form that is hand to hand combat, Joe is an expert in his craft. With a minor background in acting, Joe has become a rather recognizable figure in today’s culture. His success was elevated to its fullest when he began his world-famous podcast, The Joe Rogan Experience.
The JRE has been touted by many as “The Gateway Podcast.” There is something incredibly rewarding about Joe’s two-to-three-hour sessions where he sits down with his guests and gets to know them. There are no “gotcha” moments or scripts. It is just Joe, a guest, and an uncensored long-form conversation that allows ideas to be portrayed in a nuanced manner. This is most likely why the JRE has become the number one Podcast on Spotify. Joe has created a whole new form of intellectual dialogue. This has led to some word famous moments such as Bob Lazar recalling some rather haunting experiences from his time with the US Government or Elon Musk doing his best Willie Nelson impression. Rogan has created an intellectual fountain that many people have been starving for.
However, none of this even begins to compare to the monumental moment of Joe Rogan accusing Dr. Sanjay Gupta, the Chief Medical Correspondent at CNN of misleading the public. I have to admit, since watching this three-hour interrogation in its entirety, I have been incredibly optimistic about our future.
To provide some much-needed context, I need to first break down why this moment is so pivotal. CNN is a well-established News Network that has been under speculation for reporting world events under a carefully curated and rather biased lens. With the words “Fake News” being the zeitgeist of our time, making such a simple mistake such as violating journalist ethics is incredibly poisonous to their cause. While it is no secret that CNN is a product for entertainment, there is something almost sinister about their “We only report facts” message they attempt to portray to the general public at large. Especially when they are so talented in the language manipulation they use to appear reliable. In my opinion they operate more as a political apparatchik than a portrayer of unfiltered news, but that is a topic for another time.
The story gets interesting when Joe Rogan managed to become infected with the plague of our time. I have to admit, I have listened to Joe quite a bit in these past few years. When the world first went into lockdown, I was glued to see how someone of his fortitude handled such a confusing time. Needless to say, Joe was quite worried at first, and rightfully so. Joe may not be a genius, but he is certainly gifted with a bit more than common sense. Listening to his stories about the real-life experience of his “healthier” friend’s struggles with Covid, has been a decent marker for myself to gauge my own confidence on the matter. I would strongly suggest he has been more than fair about taking this all quite seriously.
After Joe revealed his infectious situation to the public, he also revealed his methods of “Throwing the Kitchen Sink” at the problem. Joe admitted on video that he was administered a small handful of medications to help combat the disease. Monoclonal Antibodies, Z-Pack, Prednisone, and Ivermectin. The last of which being today’s subject of debate. Ivermectin is not recommended by the FDA as effective method of fighting Covid 19 at this time. However, Joe was prescribed Ivermectin for treatment as it has proven effectiveness as an anti-viral drug administered to millions around the world. Let me repeat that because it truly bears repeating. Medical professionals around the world, have made the educated decision to administer this drug to their patients to help combat the disease. This is not a political statement; this is a standard medical practice.
Following his announcement CNN was quick to portray Joe Rogan as a fool. Instead of wishing Joe well in his recovery they decided to take “the morale high-ground” and portray Joe’s medical decision in an incredibly unflattering way.
“Joe Rogan is taking horse-dewormer to combat Covid.”
There is something pernicious in the way such a simple decision is framed as uneducated to the masses. This would be like framing the word “water” as “Dog beverage.” Granted, they believe they are fighting vaccine hesitancy, which is a noble effort. This is not the way to do it. If the end goal is unity and a decrease in medical hesitancy, then villainizing those you don’t agree with is counter-productive. We’re all in this together, right?
While Joe has been on the receiving end of negative press before, something about this hit different. He is no stranger to battling nuanced cultural issues, such as transgender people competing in hand-to-hand combat; an issue which is taboo to even bring about in this day and age. But when the “News” is portraying you as complete buffoon to the world, how are you supposed to correct them? This is the magic of his podcast. Joe invited Sanjay Gupta, the Chief Medical Correspondent for CNN, on his show to correct the record for everyone to hear. However, I don’t think Gupta had any idea of what was in store.
The conversation began light. Gentle greetings and getting to know each other. Joe handles adversaries in conversation the way one would with a boxing match. A bit of dancing around with the niceties before sending a hard jab question as a wakeup call.
“Do you think it is a problem that your news network lies?
Gupta was not in any way prepared for this question. You could practically feel the sweat dripping as he desperately tried to frame the question differently. This question was not what he came for, he was there to promote his new book, after all. A complete afterthought as the questions kept baring down.
“But my point is, you’re working for a news organization. If they’re lying about a comedian, taking horse medication, what are they telling us about Russia? What are they telling us about Syria? Do you understand that that’s why people get concerned about the veracity of the news?”
The conversation from there on basically transformed into a debate about the usefulness of the vaccination versus natural antibodies, with Gupta practically begging Rogan to get vaccinated, and Joe countering with the fact that his natural antibodies were more than enough to protect him. Joe had got exactly what he needed. Gupta admitted defeat and stated that CNN should not have framed it so snarky.
I wish I could say that Rogan and Gupta became friends and came to a mutual understanding. While the podcast ended on a rather polite note, Gupta instead doubled down on CNN later than evening about how Joe could not be reasoned with. Instead Gupta chose to say he was afraid of Rogan and that caused the interview to go south. Like a snake oil salesman, Gupta quickly revealed it was never about mutual connection.
“The battle is won when the average American regards a corporate journalist exactly as they regard a tobacco executive.”
-Michael Malice
I highly recommend to any of you: watch this podcast yourself, because these are the kind of conversations we should be having. Maybe it is just me, but this conversation highlighted a very important detail about the way we receive, or even distribute information. It also demonstrated CNN is not a news network that prides themselves on journalistic integrity, but rather making sure their political opponents are framed as unflattering as possible. Their end goal is that nobody who dissents from their opinions is allowed to be treated as an intellectual equal. Only they are allowed to tell you what to think.
That is not news, that is propaganda
Thank you for reading
-The Young Fool
