F**king Mondays: Rogan The Bro Scientist, Gabbard Goes QAnon, And Bodysnatchers Masterpiece
It's that time of the week again!
Welcome to another edition of F**king Mondays! In this column, we give you a roundup of the best on the web, the most important news, books/movies/TV shows you should be watching, and much more to get you through the week!
King Of The Bros
Twitter blew up over the weekend after Joe Rogan challenged a prominent vaccine scientist to come on his show and debate Robert F Kennedy Jr about the misinformation he spread on his show:
I’ve been talking about this on Substack Notes (and on Twitter) so I won’t rehash all my thoughts here, but I will say that I found this confrontation deeply troubling.
Given their extraordinary social media reach, Joe Rogan, Elon Musk, and Robert F. Kennedy play a huge role in shaping conversation around public health. Rogan was one of the biggest purveyors of vaccine misinformation and disinformation during the peak of the Covid pandemic, so much so that he was forced to apologize and change his guest lineup by Spotify. Elon Musk is a noted conspiracy theorist who now owns a vast social media network, giving him almost unlimited power to spread and amplify misinformation. RFK Jr. is perhaps the most prominent vaccine conspiracy theorist in the world, and he is now running for President.
When this uniquely deadly combination of social media power, grift, and conspiracy theory comes together, the results are entirely predictable. Hotez is facing extreme social media bullying has already been harassed at his home by Rogan fanboys. He’ll no doubt face more in the coming months, especially given he has refused to debate RFK Jr. on Rogan’s show.
To put this in perspective:
Professor Hotez is the Dean for the National School of Tropical Medicine, a professor at the Departments of Pediatrics and Molecular Virology & Microbiology at the Baylor College of Medicine, the Co-Director at the Texas Children's Hospital Center for Vaccine Development in Houston, Texas, has helped develop of coronavirus vaccines in India and Indonesia, and is researching a “multivalent pan-coronavirus vaccine” to help protect against multiple coronavirus variants.
Joe Rogan is a comedian, Elon Musk runs a car company, and RFK Jr. is a former lawyer.
There aren’t “two sides” to this debate, and despite Elon Musk’s assertion that Hotez doesn’t want to debate RFK because he “knows he’s wrong” and “hates charity”, Hotez absolutely shouldn’t go anywhere near Rogan’s show, or RFK Jr.
Firstly, Joe Rogan isn’t remotely qualified to host such a debate. He’s not a journalist and is obviously scientifically illiterate. Furthermore, he would be profiting financially from a viewing bonanza that would only promote vaccine disinformation and boost Kennedy Jr.’s campaign. Secondly, no one needs to debate RFK Jr. on vaccines, because he has already been proven wrong on almost everything he has said and written about them. We know that 5g doesn’t “microwave” people’s brains, that ivermectin doesn’t work against Covid, that tetanus shots aren’t part of “a covert plot to control population growth by rendering women of childbearing age infertile”. By taking part in a debate with him, Hotez would imply that RFK Jr. is worth debating. He isn’t.
Kennedy is a skilled, charismatic media operator, and he is looking for attention, not serious debate. Elon Musk and Joe Rogan are giving it to him under the guise of free speech, but their motivation is just as self serving. They are in the business of internet clicks, and a “debate” on Rogan’s Spotify show propagated by Twitter is a bonanza for both men.
I still don’t think RFK Jr. presents a serious threat to President Biden, but I’m starting to worry a little. With friends like Rogan and Musk, RFK Jr. has leverage other candidates don’t. And that is bad news heading into 2024.
Invasion of the Body Snatchers!
On a whim, I decided to watch the 1978 remake of the 1956 movie ‘Invasion of the Body Snatchers’. Based on the classic Jack Finney novel from 1955, the Invasion of the Body Snatchers is a truly eery tale of humans being replaced by alien duplicates. Directed by Philip Kaufman and set in San Francisco, the 1978 version stars Donald Sutherland, Brooke Adams, Veronica Cartwright, Jeff Goldblum, and Leonard Nimoy. And boy is it good! I won’t give any plot details away, but the film is spectacularly well shot and acted. The cinematography is so good that it feels like watching a modern film set in the late 70’s.
The special effects hold up incredibly well, but the film’s true superpower is Kaufman’s amazing use of suspense and clever film work that gives you a real, and very, very creepy sense of being watched. There’s something about movies made in the mid to late 70’s, from Jaws, to Star Wars, Taxi Driver, Rocky, and Alien that I find absolutely mesmerizing. It’s like a sweet spot in history where true craft, brilliant writing, and high end cinematography met to create real masterpieces. The 1978 version ‘Invasion of the Body Snatchers’ is most definitely one of them.
Tulsi Gabbard goes QAnon
We did a deep dive on the danger Tulsi Gabbard poses to America in The Emergency Meeting podcast over the weekend — before she posted this on Twitter:
We are now firmly in QAnon territory with this kind of rhetoric. Not content to smear the Biden administration for supposedly weaponizing the DoJ, Democrats are now “normalizing pedophilia and infanticide”. What’s next? A secret cabal of Hollywood liberals (Jews) killing children to harvest adrenochrome? Does Gabbard think John F Kennedy Jr. is coming back from the dead to help Trump retake the White House?
Gabbard’s extremism is a sign that she has given up on mainstream politics and wants to make her living mining Alt political circles for cash and influence. Unfortunately, this makes her far, far more dangerous given the aforementioned social media dynamics of the day. She’ll do the rounds on Joe Rogan, get boosted by Elon Musk, have fireside chats with Jordan Peterson and log cabin sessions with Tucker Carlson — all in aide of destroying the “neoliberals” and “Democratic elites” (but don’t forget to subscribe to her new podcast!). You have been warned.
See you next week!
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The best idea I have heard is for RFK Jr to be interviewed by John Stewart.
Yeah, and Donald Sutherland is amazing. I'm going to rewatch that version as it's been a long time, like the 80s long time. That guy has so many iconic roles, even when they are just cameos. The professor in Animal House.
If you have never seen Ordinary People, watch it. That is one Best Picture that the Academy got right. I think it was 1980. It deals with teen suicide so it is still timely and relevant. But Sutherland - his work in that... Let me just say it's a movie that can make dudes cry and is also not Saving Private Ryan. Or Glory.
It's also a special kind of movie that is almost better than the book due to the acting. Amazing. If you have never seen it and like Donald Sutherland, yeah, it's a must-see.