Joe Rogan (Photo by Michael S. Schwartz/Getty Images)Joe Rogan is a liar. He said that free speech in the UK is under attack and people there “are being arrested for liking posts”. That is not true. Rogan appears to be referring to the case of Tyler Kay, who retweeted (not “liked”) a post by Lucy Connolly in the middle of explosive racial tensions last year in the UK, calling for immigrants to be murdered in their hotels by lighting them on fire. Personally, I think there should be consequences to yelling “Set them on fire!” during a crowded race riot. Elon Musk, hearing about the controversy via Mario Nawfal, complained to his millions of followers (who, like Musk, know nothing about British politics) that Tyler’s treatment was “messed up”, leaving out the fact that Tyler called for innocent people to be burned alive. “Retweeting” a post is different from “liking” a post. It does imply you endorse the point of view from someone else you are retweeting. Rogan also said “Some people were investigated for viewing posts” which is not true. You’ll note he said “investigated” not “arrested”. As far as we know, no one has been ever investigated or arrested for simply “viewing” an online post.
In the US, the UK and several other countries right now, immigration is a red hot button issue. Many countries are in political, economic, and climate chaos, forcing millions to become immigrants, refugees, and asylum seekers. Many immigrants perform valuable roles, but in times of economic uncertainty, they are easy targets for racists and political snake oil salesmen. The immigration process in the US and UK call out for significant reform. Sledgehammer tactics maybe popular but their efficiency is, as of yet, unverified. People who consul compassion to immigrants are sadly mocked as naive fools. There has got to be a solution to the immigration crisis that is both fair and compassionate to all parties. People like Musk and Rogan are not helping, they are hurting.
On a recent podcast, Rogan criticized Americans who, upset about the Trump administration’s strong arm tactics used to try to cancel/censor Jimmy Kimmel, made their voices heard, forcing ABC/Disney to bring Kimmel back. This was a facade, Rogan posited, to make Americans think they had free speech and a voice, but merely acted as a “distraction”, causing these people to completely ignore the serious threats to free speech today, specifically in the UK.
Rogan stated that 12,000 people were arrested in the UK for social media posts:
“The fact that our mainstream media is relatively silent on this is insane. You’re seeing a complete total attack on one of the most fundamental principles of the Western world, which is your ability to express yourself… These people are not calling for violence. They’re being arrested for wild things. People are being arrested for liking posts. Some people were investigated for viewing posts. Twelve thousand people arrested by the police in the U.K., the same place that just implemented digital ID. I mean, this is an Orwell nightmare coming to life right in front of our face, and no one’s flinching.”
“No one in America is freaking out about what’s happening in the UK at all. I mean, you get people online that are kind of freaked out by it, but they’re way more freaked out by nonsensical things like whether or not what Jimmy Kimmel said in his monologue was offensive.”
First of all, Rogan is allegedly a comedian and free speech advocate. On that basis alone, he should obviously support Kimmel’s right to speak out.
Secondly, Rogan, and some of his fans, like to promote the fiction that Rogan is somehow “liberal” or “leftist”, a “Bernie Sanders supporter”. His occasion disagreements with Trump and occasional support for things like LGBTQ rights fool some people into thinking that Rogan is “progressive”. Let’s be clear - Rogan represents the worst in Jocko Dumbo America. He is reactionary and right-wing-adjacent often enough to neutralize any “progressive” notions he might have once had.
Third of all, Rogan is full of poop. He promotes the conspiracy theory that the UK’s new digital ID’s are nefarious, even though it is being implemented, ironically, in part to counter accusations the government’s not doing enough to combat illegal immigration. The digital ID’s will ensure prospective workers have the right to live and work in the UK, theoretically denying employment to undocumented immigrants. Conspiracy theorists in the US and beyond have stoked fears about digital ID and digital currency as steps towards authoritarianism and tyranny.
Much of this conspiratorial thinking stems from the COVID era. With mask mandates, vaccine mandates, and shut-downs being taken as signs of tyranny instead of a government trying to prevent widespread death due to a pandemic unlike any we had seen before.
Like COVID, the digital IDs and digital currency can be seen as “tyranny” or a government trying to deal with the challenges of the 21st century.
As far as the issue of “free speech in the UK” goes, Rogan and the rest are conflating two different things: the arrests of right-wing people for inciting racial violence and the arrests of (mostly left-wing) people in the UK for publicly supporting Palestine Action. Palestine Action, a non-violent direct action group, was named to the UK’s proscribed list of terror groups, along side actual terror groups like Hamas and Hezbollah. Over 1600 people have been arrested for protesting the unprecedented inclusion of a non-violent group on the terror list. The law is clearly unjust and needs to be changed. The right-wingers accused of inciting violence are not a free speech issue, they are a criminal issue. Inciting violence is a crime. Free speech is legally limited by laws on libel and slander, on porn and copyrights, on direct threats and the incitement of violence.
At the time of the tweets calling for immigrants to be burned alive, the UK was going through a horrible wave of racial tension. Three young girls had been stabbed to death by a crazed attacker. There were rumors that he was a recently arrived immigrant who had breached Britain’ shores in a flimsy dinghy, one of thousands arriving to seek opportunities in the UK. Before the attacker was identified as a British-born teen, the online rumors fueled racial hatred and violence. Literally the last thing the UK needed at that moment was people speculating wildly about the attack. They needed people to calm tensions, not enflame them. People like Tyler Kay and Lucy Connolly could have caused so many people to be injured or killed. For people like Mario Nawfal, Elon Musk, and Joe Rogan to spread this crap is beyond reprehensible, it is evil.
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P.S. Here’s Mario Mawfal’s misleading post that inspired Elon Musk’s misleading post:
TYLER KAY WENT TO PRISON AND LOST HIS HOUSE FOR COPYING A POST ON X Tyler was sentenced to 38 months in prison for copying a post made on X by Lucy Connolly, the wife of a Conservative councilor. The post read: “Mass deportation now, set fire to all the f*king hotels full of the ba*ards for all I care…If that makes me a racist, so be it.” Lucy had been arrested for the post, and Tyler was trying to prove that he wouldn’t be arrested. He made this clear in a reply to his post, stating: “My point is more, it’s one rule for some and another rule for others.” Despite his barrister explaining he was immature, had grown up in care, and would lose his council house as a result of a prison sentence, the judge said he “clearly intended to incite serious violence.” He then sent Tyler, a father of 3, to prison for 3 years and 2 months. Sources: Northampton Chronicle, Independent
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