CNN Columnist Says Joe Rogan N-Word Controversy is ‘Just as Dangerous’ as Mob Storming the Capitol on Jan. 6
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A writer for CNN argued that the controversy over Joe Rogan’s history of using the N-word is comparable to the storming of the U.S. Capitol.
Yes, really.
John Blake, a senior writer and producer for CNN, published a column on Sunday that begins thusly:
“The podcaster Joe Rogan did not join a mob that forced lawmakers to flee for their lives. He never carried a Confederate flag inside the US Capitol rotunda. No one died trying to stop him from using the n-word. But what Rogan and those that defend him have done since video clips of him using the n-word surfaced on social media is arguably just as dangerous as what a mob did when they stormed the US Capitol on January 6 last year.”
Blake, of course, is referring to the public fallout surrounding the resurfaced tapes of Rogan using the N-word multiple times over the years. The embattled podcaster has apologized for using the term, but as Blake noted in his piece, Rogan has derided the outrage as a “political hit job.”
Blake’s piece argues that America has become desensitized to racism, given that Rogan has yet to face any major repercussions for his repeated N-word usage. Blake acknowledges “some might say that comparing a podcaster’s moronic musings about race to January 6 is hyperbole,” but he claims that allowing Rogan to get away with his racial epithets breaks American sociopolitical norms just like the storming of the Capitol did.
The column points out that Spotify’s Daniel Ek has decided not to drop Rogan’s podcast off their platform, plus Rumble is offering Rogan $100 million to join their platform instead now that the podcaster has become become a subject of cancel culture. This is different from past instances when people were publicly condemned and often professionally ruined for using racial slurs.
“The price that White people paid for crossing this line wasn’t legal. No one called for them to be jailed or fined. But many were shamed and exiled from their professional communities,” the piece asserts. “The prohibition against White people using racist language in public was so severe that a person could see their career destroyed even if they used a racial slur that most people didn’t comprehend.”
According to Blake, the relevance between this and Donald Trump’s supporters attempting to overthrow the 2020 election after buying into his election lies is that people are no longer being forced to suffer the consequences of breaking common societal standards. Whereas Blake says Rogan’s N-word use is “destroying any plausible shot at building a genuine multiracial democracy…The citizens in a healthy democracy are supposed to accept the peaceful transfer of power, not to use violence as a tool of political protest. That’s what most Americans agreed to leave behind after we fought a bloody Civil War over a political and moral issue: slavery.”
From Blake’s conclusion:
We are poised to enter an era where a White person can use the n-word publicly and not only survive but thrive if they portray themselves as a victim of cancel culture. It’s a world where hate speech and violence are rebranded as “legitimate political discourse,” and “public racism” returns to ordinary life.
Don’t let the Rogan n-word controversy devolve into another tired discussion about cancel culture. This moment is bigger. If Rogan goes on with business as usual, all of us — not just Black people — will pay a price. Our country won’t be the same.
This is another January 6 moment.
