Rights, Duties and Joe
Just Random Stuff
People who fight for Rights are often seen as entitled brats who do not ‘value the freedom’ they already have. They are questioned on what duty they have performed for the country- like rights are some kind of quid pro quo arrangement. No, rights in a republic precede even the constitution.
One of my favourite newsletters, Anticipating The Unintended has a great piece on rights and duties. You can read it here.
A sample:
There’s a reason why there have been no recorded instance in history when people have agitated for their duties. All uprisings and rebellions are about the fights for rights. People understand their duties both intuitively and as part of the social compact. It is part of traditions in communities. Rights are often trampled in the name of duty by establishment and authoritarian figures to perpetuate power. There are temporary occasions when an overemphasis on duties is valid. During a war (like that Kennedy line on country during the peak of the cold war) or during an internal crisis (Gandhi often invoked it). But those exceptions aside, it is otherwise brought in by establishment to explain underperformance or to shift the blame on to citizens from the shoulders of the state.
It is equivalent to gaslighting the citizens in a democracy.
I watched an animated series called Inside Job on Netflix a few months back. It is about a fictional corporation that helps the world conspirators to hide all of the world’s conspiracies from the common people. it is a quirky funny show.
One thing I couldn’t wrap my head around was the way they needlessly joke about Joe Rogan. Sure, some of them were funny- but some of them were just… meh. I then got to know that Joe hate is a real thing in the West nowadays.
Hate is quite a common thing that comes with fame but the levels at which Joe is hated and accused of the most random things are only on par with the levels of Trump.
I personally love Joe Rogan. He was my gateway drug to long-form podcasts. He is his own guy with his own opinions which keep changing ( as it should be for anyone who thinks straight and puts themselves out for 3-4 hours every week).
Recently a musician Neil demanded his songs be retracted from Spotify if Joe’s podcast continues to be on the platform. Spotify paid huge money for Joe’s podcast to be shifted to Spotify. Surely, they wouldn’t remove him for some random old musician.
But what will happen if many other people of real consequence to Spotify demand the same thing? Joe is not what today’s world calls progressive. It is natural for any kind of group to call out anyone not conforming to the group’s ideals- in this case, it is being ‘progressive’ which most of Hollywood is. Is the clock ticking for Joe?
It is so funny to see people like Hasan Piker try to make comedy out of Joe Rogan, Jordan Peterson and the gang. It is funny because Hasan Piker and people like him get riled up for literally nothing.
I hope these catfights continue. It is one of my guilty pleasures to watch people get all riled up for things that are not even of remote consequence to me.
(Back home, the catfights between Ahmed Meeran, JK, Biriyani Man, Meera Mithun, Jason Samuel, the Tech Youtubers were all so satisfying to watch)
Even if Joe’s podcast is kicked out of Spotify, his followers will be even happier to see him back on YouTube where this behemoth actually started. Good, funny times ahead.