Joe Rogan Flip

One of the top podcasts in iTunes is the JRE experience podcast, with host, Joe Rogan. If you are a podcast aficionado, then for sure you have come across the show at least once.

Overall it is a great podcast and a great format. A three hour uncensored conversation with a guest. Exploring new ideas and concepts, and often it is just humorous enough to keep things light when they need to be, but not so trivial that serious concepts are neglected. In fact, that show is responsible for my exploration into many fringe topics and ideas, and to this day, I still consider it a resource.

However my personal admiration for the show has dropped a few pegs in recent past. I feel it’s more than justified, in light of the content he has put out recently.

Some background on Joe and his show to help understand this shift in opinion:

In the past Joe was an advocate for exposing NASA lies, specifically the moon landing hoax. In fact he was winning debates with just about anyone who wanted to confront him on the topic. 

He was die hard when it came to the issue of whether the moon missions were a hoax or not. To quote Joe from a few years ago: “There’s NO WAY we went to the moon, there's no way.”

He was adamant. He had conviction. And he had the information to back up his arguments in the debates he took on. It was admirable.

That was Joe from a few years ago. Then something happened. I don’t know exactly what it was but he did a complete flip on the topic. 

He now believes, (at least as he says in interviews and podcasts recently) that the missions all happened according to the NASA official story. We went to the moon, played golf, drove the rover around and took a phone call from president Nixon in the oval office to the lunar lander. 

What is the more unbelievable premise? I’m in the camp of the moon landings being 100 percent staged hoaxes. I can’t say what the reason was, but I can say with confidence that it was all faked. I don’t believe for a minute that it happened the way NASA said. I don’t believe it happened at all.

Some more background on Joe. He is an advocate of psychedelics and has stated that his perspective on the universe and what is real has expanded. He is definitely agnostic to concepts like intelligent design, and the nature of reality. He has quite an open mind when it comes to concepts of the unknown in most cases. He was even quite the conspiracy buff for quite a long time. 

Then two things took place in his career where a noticeable flip in his opinion took place.

One was his interview with Neil Degrasse Tyson. And one was his short lived show on the Syfy network.

The first instance he discussed the moon landings with Tyson. He let Tyson off easy with his explanations of what supposedly happened. Tyson offered up some pretty basic responses that any rookie moan hoax advocate could have torn apart if they really wanted. Joe chose not to hit those softballs out of the park. Instead he barely argued. It was almost as if he was starstruck by Tyson. Almost as if he thought Tyson was intellectually superior, because of his reputation. Even though to this day, I have yet to hear Tyson say anything profound that would make me think he is anything more than an actor and a mouthpiece for the science establishment. Nothing in his language or behavior makes me think he is smarter than me or the majority of the population. Only his supposed credentials say otherwise. 

The show that Joe did on SyFy was supposedly a conspiracy exploration show. “Joe Rogan Questions Everything” it was called. It was in essence a conspiracy debunking show. And it was just not very good. I was disappointed to say the least.

There was a third instance that comes to mind. I didn't lump it in with the two major turning points because it leans on the side of minor instances, however it was enough to make an impact on me. 

Joe interviewed a CIA agent on his podcast. The guy said he was sure that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone in the Kennedy assassination.  Even if you are not a conspiracy guy, the Kennedy assasination is such a murky event that even ordinary every day main stream media people have questions on the official story.  When the agent said this, Joe gave him a pass and didn't press for more. It was such an obvious awkward exchange that it was painful to listen to. Why would he back off so easily in these events when we all know from his past that he is more than capable to drive that conversation any way he chooses. In all three of those circumstances he let things slide instead of pressing for some real interaction. Disappointing to say the least.

What it shows me is that one of our forward thinkers chose to stifle his ability to press for real answers and call for truth in the face of deciet. Where one of the best advocates for intelligent thinking changed his position, and played dumb in the face of subject matter experts. It was obvious through the interactions that Joe was feigning modesty in the level of his intelligence and understanding. The Joe from a few years ago would have mopped the floor with those guests on his shows. He has the ability and the comprehension. He chose not to. And many people want to know why.

It may be the only time in conspiracy theory culture that someone has changed their position so dramatically in favor of the main stream explanation of questionable events. Once you start to unravel a conspiracy, it is impossible to change your mind in favor of the main steam explanations, if you are being honest with yourself. It just doesn't happen. Until it did, in Joe Rogan's case.

It is curious that this flip happened after/during the interview with Neil Degrasse Tyson. Tyson is such an obvious shill that it is sickening to watch him parade around on the show circuit. He's more of an actor who vomits main stream talking points in order to package “science” as a cool hip part of the establishment dogma. For an astrophysicist he certainly doesn't sound or act like a guy who has profound answers to some of the universes mysteries. Just like Bill Nye, who started his career in comedy but now is the face of “science”, I believe that Tyson is just an actor. Someone is parading him around as a spokesman for the cause. 

Did someone get to Joe before the interview with Tyson? If Tyson is backed by the establishment, it's not inconceivable that those same powers gave Joe the hard choice in order to be able to entertain Tyson on his podcast show. Play ball or you're out. 

The Syfy show followed the painful interview with Neil Degrasse Tyson. Where Joe explores the bread and butter of conspiracy topics. Basically the most basic of the conspiracy world. Bigfoot, UFOs and the like. 

It was silly and no real investigation took place. But I'm sure some checks were cashed and Rogans career is booming. His podcast is still top of the charts and he still seems to be making some good money and living well. Not bad for a mediocre comedian.

I don't mean to put the guy down. Honestly, I respect the guy and his work ethic. I admire his insights on many topics. I find motivation from his shows and I think there is still some value there. I am just dissapointed and frustrated that the conspiracy world has lost such a great advocate who had potential to bring some momentum at a high profile level to the truth movement.

Maybe it's just not possible to have that kind of celebrity in our corner. Maybe once it reaches that level, the controlling powers find a way to silence it. Maybe it is impossible to reach that level of fame and success and still move against the grain of the powers that be. 

And maybe deep down Joe still has a desire for the truth. Even if he is not able to advocate for it anymore. 

But it won't stop the rest of the truth seekers out there.

Open your eyes