With nearly 100 million listeners, regardless of your opinion of Joe Rogan, he is a political force. I wrote a paper a few months back about how the interview between Joe Rogan and Elon Musk could have become the most important conversation in human history. Not because of how much I value these two iconic figures for their individual contributions to my life, but because Elon Musk might be one of the smartest humans on the planet talking to one of the most listened to humans on the planet. Unfortunately, I lost the document, it is stored away in some Google database where I cannot access, and only 1 other person has read it.
Today, I was awarded this:
Denver! Today is the day you have a real chance at decriminalizing mushrooms. If you think this isn’t a big deal, it’s probably because you haven’t experienced what these amazing things… https://t.co/MOd8pIkt64
— Joe Rogan (@joerogan) May 7, 2019
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Once again, regardless of your opinion on Joe Rogan, or psychedelics, or even the war on drugs, this is going to make an impact. How? A little inside baseball that I know of from listening to so many podcasts, is that there is a thing called “The Joe Rogan Bump” – Appearing on the Joe Rogan Experience Podcast gives the guest a bump in ratings, publicity, and subscribers to whatever media that guest happens to be involved.
My favorite podcast, a raunchy weekly comedy podcast, The Legion of Skanks https://gasdigitalnetwork.com/gdn-show-channels/legion-of-skanks/ was fortunate enough to guest on the Joe Rogan Experience, and bragged about the bump, on the podcast!
The 3 characters on the show were giddy about their ceremonious achievement. It was their chance to sit at the adult table. They were great on the Joe Rogan Experience, and I can only assume they received quite a large bump from the exposure given from the multimedia monster that the Joe Rogan Experience delivers. The podcast is watched by millions, downloaded by 95+ million, and Joe Rogan is known internationally from many of his careers.
If Johnny Carson went on the television and gave 10 seconds of his time to advocate for the decriminalization of Cocaine, he would have had less exposure than Joe Rogan advocating the decriminalization of Psilocybin in Colorado. In the annals of history, I want to stamp this as the moment where Joe Rogan threw his hat into the political ring. Big businesses have teams of lobbyists, and lobbyists for lobbyists, with secretaries for the lobbyists lobbyist. Large corporations create laws all the time. My new favorite is this:
The revenue stream that The Joe Rogan Experience generates monthly rivals the country of Tuvalu’s GDP. Does this mean more people know who Joe Rogan is than where the country Tuvalu is? Or even that it is a country in the South Pacific? So why shouldn’t he focus on issues that are important to him, and advocate them to the world? After-all, that is what his podcast is about – getting the message out about different ways of life, different perspectives, and enjoying the diversity of humanity and life.
I simply want to play Nickstradamous, and say that whatever bill that Joe Rogan is fighting against is going to be a loser. The man was a winner as a child, he has succeeded in all of the different careers he has been involved with, and if he becomes a political advocate, he has enough ears hearing his words that it is an inevitable impact.
If I am right, it’s just another example of how insightful I may be. If I am wrong, there may be more than just democracy at play. Populism isn’t always the best way to govern. In fact, it can be argued that populism is toxic for a country and it often leads to conflict, international or internal. When the majority takes control, it will depose the minority. In the United States, we have Amendments to our Constitution that we hold sacred, and protecting minority classes has been tantamount to the country’s social fabric. The 15th Amendment gave the right to vote regardless of race, the 19th Amendment gave the right to vote regardless of sex, and the 26th Amendment protected the voting age. From a populist perspective, their right to vote could never have been granted. If it were a matter of direct democracy, none of the 3 minority groups would have been able to carry a large enough swing to get a representative of their ilk. Their complaints were heard, as we know from the result of these Amendments being passed.
Real democracy is being able to represent yourself and your ideals to the ruling representatives. I have always maintained that voting is important at the local levels, and useless at the national level. If we think of the American political structure as a pyramid, each individual is on the bottom, and if that individual wants to be heard, there are representatives at every level of thy pyramid. Sure, you can climb all the way up to the pyramid yourself, like that crazy guy who snuck on to the White house lawn.
But, you’ll only have about 15 minutes. Wouldn’t it behoove you to nag your city council? Your state Senator? Or even your Governor before you try to waltz into the White House? What Joe Rogan is doing is real democracy. Just as a Corporation is a person (Which is something we really need to work on in the popular ethos), and can spend as much money as they want on campaigns to sway political opinions, Joe Rogan is about to make his mark on Colorado. A place where he once lived, and is slowly turning it into the utopia of his creation. It is very likely that Colorado’s historic decision to recreationally legalize cannabis was influenced by the Joe Rogan Experience.
It doesn’t take much to sway political opinion in America. Mostly because so few people vote. The more localized the election, the smaller the voting percentages. We all say we hate lobbyist, but we value their contribution to democracy. People are going to hate that soon all drugs will be legal in Colorado, but that is what the silent majority wants. The vocal minority – the police officers who have to arrest 70% less criminals have already maintained their stance on the war on drugs. The prison industrial complex is pro-war. Once the war on drugs is over, they will find another war to fill the prison cells. Nickstradamous can’t think that far ahead.
Here is where populism gets squirrely. Yes, all of the adults want the ability to do whatever they want to their body. American laws have preserved this right, but American culture has infinitely lobbied against it. In a time where any child can pull up hardcore snuff porn in seconds, we still have dress codes and sexual intercourse laws. Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma and South Carolina. If you like it in the butt, don’t live in any of these states! It’s illegal!
Although we are shifting away from religious zealotry, we are moving towards populism. Religious zealotry tells people to not wear condoms and only have sex with your wife, missionary, only on Thursdays, with a Moyle watching over. Those zealots are anti-drugs for no discernible reason, aside from the possibility that a hallucinogenic experience allows a person to see through the bullshit of the church.
Should the Church have influence on American life? It is relatively safe to believe that is a good idea, historically. What if data suggests that 65% of Americans are Agnostic or Atheist? In populism, the potential for a ban on religious activities comes up for debate. When the Church had the benefit of 70% of Americans considering themselves religious, the Church wasn’t at risk of losing power by granting secularism in many aspects of American life. We will watch as the Church fights against populism, and the hypocrisy will reign, because the politics changed.
I know that it is fun to take a stand on one side, and argue about how the other side is stupid. And then the side that ran out of ideas calls the other side stupid, mocks their physical appearance or insults some feature unrelated to the argument at hand. That’s the internet. This is my corner of the internet where I am sharing with you ideas, and I celebrate all ideas. So, the idea that once Colorado decriminalizes Psilocybin, we will get to watch a politician think while on Mushrooms!
The kinds of drugs many of these politicians are on don’t do what hallucinogens do, they actually have a medical benefit. Alcohol has very little medical benefit. Alcohol’s benefit is its social magnetism. So what drugs to politicians do? They drink a concoction of depressants, and when they get too depressed, they do cocaine. You know, because they can! They aren’t above the law, they make the law.
I just want to print this joke, “What will a Southern Baptist never see in a liquor store?”
“Another Southern Baptist”
Cannabis isn’t a hallucinogenic per se. It is an audible hallucinogenic, and it does change the demeanor of thoughts in the brain, but it doesn’t have the same life altering effect as Psilocybin. All of the research has been done to prove its benefit to patients, so the religious zealotry that has prevented research in both cannabis and Psilocybin will hopefully stop with the help from Joe Rogan and his love of hallucinogens.
All of the benefit from the war on drugs has been overshadowed by the millions imprisoned over the last 30 years. People continue to die in many parts of the world because gangs are created around the immensely profitable commerce from the dope game. The CIA has been in the dope game, they started it. Now that the war on drugs is being chipped away, all of those agencies are either going to have to close up shop, or start chasing a different set of bad guys. Can it please be the corrupt bankers and politicians? Please? Please? Please? It won’t, the bankers pay the politicians to pay the policeman because all of the tax dollars were spent by previous generations.
It’s a good thing we have drugs for sale! Colorado has produced nearly $1 billion in revenue, just from taxes related to cannabis dispensaries. Colorado is a relatively unpopular state, with only 5 million residents. Imagine the tax revenue of a state like New York which has 5x more commerce. If we just explore why New York will have trouble passing a decriminalization law. https://nypost.com/2019/02/06/state-police-unions-unanimously-oppose-legalizing-marijuana/
This isn’t populism, this is democracy. Populism will give us freedom for overarchingly popular ideas to be available. The 2 are not mutually exclusive, and when the country is at its best, we are exercising democracy through populism. Democracy gives us the freedom to utilize official and unofficial channels to protect ourselves as citizens. If that includes a psychedelic experience, I am all for it. All adults should have the right to do whatever they want with their body and mind. Of all the ideas that Joe Rogan espouses on his show, that is one that I firmly believe. Joe didn’t teach me that, my father did, as it is a core tenet of being free.
piicontractors.com 