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Joe and I Don’t Understand
I don’t understand. I’ve never had patients send me links to podcasts about high blood pressure or gastroparesis, but with COVID, it’s every day. I’ve never been threatened by insurance companies that if I use a certain drug to treat a certain disease, they will remove me from their plans. I’ve never been threatened by the CDC that I could lose my medical license if I don’t repeat whatever it is they’re saying today. This is so odd. I really don’t get it.
Joe Rogan must be thinking the same thing. Some group has demanded that Spotify no longer carry Mr. Rogan’s podcasts (which average 11 million listeners EACH), with a letter which includes the following passage:
The episode has been criticized for promoting baseless conspiracy theories and the JRE has a concerning history of broadcasting misinformation, particularly regarding the COVID-19 pandemic. By allowing the propagation of false and societally harmful assertions, Spotify is enabling its hosted media to damage public trust in scientific research and sow doubt in the credibility of data-driven guidance offered by medical professionals.
So they’re worried about an entertainment streaming service hosting a podcast by a stand-up comedian because they disagree with one of his guests. Strange that they chose this particular guest. Think of some of the other guests that Mr. Rogan has spent three hours with:
Bob Lazar is a physicist who claims to have worked on covert operations within Area 51 that were focused on reverse engineering alien technology taken from alien spaceships in the possession of the United States government. Who knows, right?
He discussed with Graham Hancock his belief that human civilizations extend back much further than what is accepted in academia. Graham also theorizes that these civilizations excelled in arts, science, and technology at levels we can not even comprehend. These civilizations and their progress have since been wiped clean entirely due to dramatic shifts in the earth’s composition.
He’s had Sam Harris on, who proposes that science can be used to identify values, which he defines as “facts that can be scientifically understood: regarding positive and negative social emotions, retributive impulses, the effects of specific laws and social institutions on human relationships, the neurophysiology of happiness and suffering, etc.”
I could go on and on. He’s had a lot of guests (around 1,800) with a lot of controversial beliefs. That’s why he has them on — their outside-the-box thinking makes them interesting, and makes for entertaining podcasts. I’m not criticizing these guests or anyone else. They may be right about some of these things, even though their beliefs are considered to be outside mainstream thought. I admire Mr. Rogan for at least listening respectfully to them, even though I suspect he doesn’t buy all of what they say, either. At least he listens.
And he is allowed to listen. Until the guest discusses COVID and says something that is not in step with whatever the CDC says this week. Then, Mr. Rogan is not allowed to listen. And neither are you. And neither is anybody else.
Once a guest says something provocative about COVID, then Mr. Rogan changes from a stand-up comedian to a threat to humankind.
I find it fascinating that liberals hate Mr. Rogan. He voted for Bernie Sanders, but he’s hated by leftists.
Why? Because he listens.
He has people on his show that he doesn’t necessarily agree with, but he politely asks questions, and respectfully listens to their answers. Leftists hate that.
And conservatives love it.
And leftists are open-minded, and conservatives are closed-minded.
I think that leftists really believe that. I think they honestly believe that they are open-minded, and at the same time believe that people shouldn’t be allowed to discuss opinions that those open-minded leftists disagree with. Maintaining both of those thoughts in your head at the same time should be impossible, but I think it’s common.
I don’t understand. Neither does Joe.
I should be allowed to say what I want. So should Joe Rogan. You disagree? Fine — let’s talk about it. We’ll probably both learn something. Maybe we’ll learn a lot. Maybe we’ll learn less.
But we can’t learn anything when we can’t talk freely.
I had a patient tell me that she was glad that the “COVID fake science” theories were being taken off of Twitter and YouTube. I asked her when, in history, has censoring ideas, and destroying those you disagree with — when has that, in retrospect, been a good idea? When have the book-burners ended up being the good guys? Has that ever happened? Ever? Perhaps — but I can’t think of an example. She couldn’t either, but she was peeved for my temerity.
Tough. It’s ok to be peeved. That’s what happens when you disagree. We argue our point. Sometimes we get peeved.
But when we’re not allowed to disagree, then things tend to escalate beyond “peeved”.
Disagreeing is better than stifling. Let the pot boil sometimes. If you try to contain it, it will blow up. Eventually. Every single time.
This is scary stuff.
Published in General
Could you list some of them? I’m not hearing about any therapeutic treatments unless you get so sick you must be hospitalized.
Granted, virus caused diseases have very few treatments overall, and even the AIDS “cure” involves not just a single drug, but a carefully controlled mix of different drugs administered at different times. Monoclonal antibodies is supposed to be one of the most effective treatments for Covid, but it is an expensive one. Dexamethasone is a cheap steroidal drug that is used to treat Covid. My wife says that a number of steroidal or anti-inflammatory drugs have shown to have positive effects, including Fluvoxamine, Ibuprofen, and simple Aspirin. They are not absolute cures but have shown significant enough results.
Last month the FDA approved two new drugs for use in Covid patients. The one made by Pfizer is called Paxlovid.
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/12/22/fda-authorizes-pfizers-covid-treatment-pill-the-first-oral-antiviral-drug-cleared-during-the-pandemic.html
The drug Molnupiravir, made by Merck, is supposedly 30% effective in reducing hospitalization or death.
https://nypost.com/2021/12/23/fda-authorizes-mercks-covid-19-antiviral-pill/
Those are my go-to when I am too tired to maintain peak narcissism.
These are for once you’re in ICU, basically.
No, they are not. In fact I think they are meant more for the beginning stages of the disease than for later stages. My wife had Covid and took Ibuprofen in the first couple of days. Hers became the equivalent of a minor cold and lasted for about three or four days. The Israeli study on Aspirin even concluded that it was effective as a preventative medicine, taken even before you get infected with Covid.
https://unitedwithisrael.org/israeli-research-finds-aspirin-reduces-likelihood-of-covid-19-infection/
I think that you are overestimating the effects of these medicines. Except for dexamethasone. It’s funny that one of the first things Biden’s administration did was remove the Right to Try.
He didn’t estimate them at all, so how could he overestimate them?
I said they were not absolute cures, but neither is hydroxychloroquine or ivermectin. I also mentioned that there are comparatively few treatments for diseases caused by viruses. Vaccinations in general have been the most effective weapons against viruses.
I know you said there were no absolute cures. But I don’t believe anyone knows if ivermectin or HCQ can cure or not. Some say it does, the government says it’s illegal to use them. I believe those who have tried them and say they work.
And the covid vaccine is a new type of vaccine that cannot be rightly compared to any previous vaccines. Not as far as I’ve read.
“Funny” is not the word I’d choose.
I meant funny strange, not funny haha.
That’s silly.
So the dexamwthasone is interesting, but I’m not sure your other two examples classify as “cheap that the patent holders don’t benefit from.”