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Comment by giarc | Hacker News Reader

The problem is Rogan does legitimize many things for a lot of his listeners. I listened to that one COVID episode making news and it's hard not to think "this guy knows what he's talking about" and I have graduate degrees in epidemiology and microbiology. How is a lay person supposed to critically think about his guests and their views?

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You gotta remember the average 'layperson' is just as smart as you. Do you need people worrying about what information you see or hear? It's like worrying people will be corrupted by South Park, gangster rap, etc., etc. There's plenty of crackpot doctors that make all sorts of claims- is it blasphemous to doubt that the Food Pyramid, and three meals a day, are the correct way to eat? People can handle their own shit.

> People can handle their own shit.

I’m not for censorship; just pointing out this is clearly not true.

Thousands of died (and continue too) when they could have just been vaccinated.

Everyone dies, and nearly every death could have been temporarily postponed had the person done something differently. Choosing how to live and how desperately to fight for those extra minutes is part of handling your own shit. Helping and caring for people makes life worth living, but if people don't want what's being offered that's their choice.

I agree it’s their choice; however, there are clearly better/worse choices and that’s what i mean by not handling their own shit.

Basically, I don’t think people (including myself) sit around and carefully consider the evidence or think critically about their own beliefs. For the most part, we digest what we hear and that’s that.

There's a difference between not following the food pyramid and not getting vaccinated. It comes down to health of the public vs health of the individual. Someone's decision to intermittent fast doesn't affect anyone other than the individual. The decision not to vaccinate can affect many, many other people.

But, that's not a valid argument anymore since the vaccine is freely available and not so effective at stopping the spread. Anyway, people live in such different circumstances- some people may live in near isolation already, it's a jump to judgement to condemn someone without taking into account their situation. The largest spreaders are probably people with the most social connections, many of which are vaccinated- you could demonize people for all sorts of life choices that led to viral spread.

Sad but true. People seem to confuse celebrity with credibility.

I don't really care about JRE all that much, but I know there are people out there that resonate with his line of 'thinking'.

> People seem to confuse celebrity with credibility

It's a common pattern in America. Got a whole Presidency out of it.

... two, actually. Maybe even three, depending on who's writing the biography.

Three so far if you include both celebrities (Reagan, Trump).

Which episode are you referring to? What specifically did "this guy" say that was illegitimate? For someone who's not a regular listener these vague allegations are quite annoying because it's impossible to tell whether you have a valid point or are just trying to push something for political reasons.

It was the talk with Peter McCullough. Two that stand out to me.

1. He stated that Japan began using ivermectin as first line treatment for COVID and it stopped their wave. This is easily discredited by visiting the official site for approved treatments and seeing that ivermectin is not on there (https://www.pmda.go.jp/english/about-pmda/0002.html).

2. He also made a claim this was a planned pandemic and points to table-top exercises by NIH and CDC two years prior to the pandemic that spoke about a coronavirus emerging from China and resulting in lockdowns. Is it really evidence? SARS.... a coronavirus emerged from China in 2003 and resulted in lockdowns in China. So was the CDC "planning" the pandemic or just working through previous experience. Additionally, I'm sure they've run exercises on vector borne viruses spreading into the US given climate change and the spread of various mosquito species into the Southern US (think Zika). I'm sure they run a ton of exercises, 99% of which don't come true... but one ends up happening and all of sudden that's proof this was all planned?

Two things that are easily explainable or discredited, but the average Joe isn't going to realize this. This whole "just asking questions" argument isn't great because it's not a debate, no one is fact checking these guests. Joe doesn't put up any creditable responses or rebuttals.

Excuse me, does not all communication carry with it the 'problem' of legitimizing or delegitimizing something?

That's like, a big part of why all primates, fucking, communicate?

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