Why are Legacy Media and Political Actors trying to cancel Joe Rogan

Comedians have become the latest group under the radar of the cancel woke mobs. A couple of months back it was Dave Chappelle, about his LGBTQIA+ jokes, now it is Joe Rogan. It looks like the PC mobs will even cancel comedy if they can't sanitize it to their standards.

Though, with Rogan things get a bit more complicated. It is not just woke mobs, but also political actors, legacy media, and various interest groups who want to see him gone for good. The reasons behind it many: Rogan doesn't bow down to them, he doesn't play by their rules, he has the most viewers than any other podcast or TV programme, and through that he deprives legacy media from a large chunk of potential audience and revenue.

His $ 100 million deal to move the Joe Rogan Experience podcast from Youtube to Spotify exclusively showed how big and important he had become. It was also a smart move as it gave him an creative freedom to run his show as he wanted, talk about the topics be wanted, and bring the guests he thought would be interesting conversationists for different topics. That freedom he couldn't find anymore on YouTube, that has become a cancel culture paragon, removing content and banning creators for small infringement or because they touched upon nuanced topics that the elites don't want to be brought into the spotlight.

The latest attacks on Joe Rogan, and the attempt to cancel him looks well coordinated. Yes, Rogan has said some stupid things or even some stuff that could be considered racist like using the n** word. But we already knew that. He didn't try to hide it, he owned it, and his podcast episodes podcasts from all these years were always up there for people to check them out.

The issue now is broader. It is were we draw the line.

Until how far back we can go to hold someone responsible for something they said or did and does context matter anymore?

Do we cancel everyone or only those who don't have the same political affiliations, beliefs, or values with us?

Are we genuinely trying to set a higher norm of morality or have we become some creatures that are enraged with everything and anything all the time?

Who leads these de-platforming campaigns? Are they grassroot or is there political actors, groups, media, and others who seek to capitalize on their opponents being cancelled?

For what is worth, Rogan is someone who is too big to be cancelled, that's why it looks like there are waves of attacks to get him de-platformed. There is a pattern behind this. After one campaign against him wanes down and the public loses interest, another one pops up. This time even the US Press Secretary Jen Psaki was among those calling to get him cancelled. It sounds surreal, a Press Secretary asking for a podcaster to be cancelled.

Until now, Spotify CEO Daniel Ek has stood his ground and backed him. But you don't know for how long he can afford to continue to do it. When it will become too costly for their business, even Spotify will drop him.

While cancel mobs will continue doing their thing. Give them one inch, they'll take a field. Every important personality that they manage to cancel (many times for trivial reasons) emboldens them even more.

One of the reasons Plato was against the Athenian democracy was mob anarchy. It looks like we have reached a point where mobocracy has become the normal in legacy and social media with digital lynching, witch hunts, and purges being celebrated as a form of higher societal good.