We Know. You Think You've Already Read All There Is To Read About Joe Rogan, Neil Young, and Spotify. Read This Mega-Issue Explainer Op-Ed Rant Anyway.

This past weekend, like many of us, I did a whole lot more thinking and talking and commenting (and arguing!) on the whole Joe Rogan / Spotify / Neil Young situation than I would care to admit. I needed to process my thoughts so badly and get them uut of my head and onto the page, that I did my first ever real Twitter Thread on it. So…here are my thoughts on and learnings from these continued conversations, including ‘tribalism, de-platforming, free speech, boycotts and battling disinformation.

It’s been both frustrating and fascinating to watch this story and the discussions around it wind it’s way through our society. So many critically important and complex social, cultural, and legal issues are crammed up in there: COVID, vaccines and anti-vaxxers, what to do about disinformation, tensions between (lower case) free speech and public health or other concerns, how or whether we assess racist or sexist or homophobic speech on private platforms; the difference between First Amendment Freedom of Speech and the right of private companies to control their platforms, freedom of speech vs freedom from consequences; how much liability and culpability we should place on content platforms and social media companies like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Spotify for the content they host and how much we require their active monitoring of what’s said on their platform; the freedom of artists to express themselves through who their brand associates with, boycotts as freedom of expression and effective social tools, and – last but certainly not least – tribalism.

If I had to say what my most important takeaway so far is, it’s this:

In today’s (hopefully) post-Trump era, don’t underestimate the ability of humans to bend facts and principles to support their beliefs. The reaction we are seeing to this is intensely tribal. More than anything, Tribalism drives what people think about this issue. Anti-vaxxers and pro-Trumpers support Joe Rogan. Others -save perhaps social critics fiercely protective of their right to say whatever they want, like certain comedians – support Neil Young. It’s not about consistency or principles. Rather, people seek to twist principles – including “free speech” in service of how they feel, what they want to do, and who they want to side with.

For the rest of my thoughts on all these issues, check out the thread on Twitter here:

THREAD

My thoughts on and learnings from the continued conversations around the Joe Rogan, Spotify, Neil Young story including ‘tribalism, de-platforming, free speech, boycotts and battling disinformation.

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— Michael Kasdan (@michaelkasdan) February 7, 2022