Please Enjoy This Australian Journalist Annihilating Joe Rogan On His Own Show

There is no use denying the influence of Joe Rogan.

The man has had an odd career, going from a stand-up comedian to a television personality, to a highly successful podcast host. For an entire generation, he controls the discourse, introducing his own spin on current news and events to his fans. What Joe Rogan says goes in certain circles of the internet.

That’s a problem, and notably one that is not specific to Rogan. We live in a society where people are becoming more reliant on very specific sources of media narrative; where people are retreating into epistemic bubbles, and experiencing only one viewpoint, rather than the diverse array of opinions required to develop a healthy attitude towards the world.

Which is why it should be heralded that, on last week’s podcast, Rogan had his own views on vaccines directly challenged by his guest, the Australian journalist Josh Szeps.

See, Rogan has long been a vaccine (and mask) sceptic, challenging the accepted scientific consensus on the best way to defeat the coronavirus pandemic. Talking to Szeps, Rogan repeated spurious science about the risk of Myocarditis from getting the coronavirus vaccine.

Myocarditis, a serious condition, is a potential side effect of the vaccine. But as Szeps pointed out to Rogan, you are much more at risk from developing the condition as a result of getting coronavirus. Watching Rogan wrangle with that information, desperately seeking a source for his shaky science, is an astonishingly compelling watch, and a timely reminder that we need to encounter opposing viewpoints now more than ever.

Watch the clip in full right here:

We probably won't see Josh Zepps on Rogan's podcast for a while 😂 pic.twitter.com/Eyff4FJn6p

— Borrachinha Depot (@FullContactMTWF) January 13, 2022