Neil Young Comes Crawling Back to Spotify
Streamin' man don't need him around anyhow
Long, long ago, deep within the murky mists of time, I wrote this:
Welcome to the PMRC, Neil Young
If you’re Generation X or older, you might be getting flashbacks over this whole “Neil Young vs. Joe Rogan & Spotify” contretemps. On one side, we’ve got a popular public figure who’s expressing his thoughts and opinions, just as America’s Founding Fathers told us we get to do. On the other side, we’ve got a bunch of miserable old fuddy-duddies who want to shut down free speech because they believe it hurts people.
You can read that whole long thing if you want, but in summary: Neil Young obviously learned nothing from the Parents Music Resource Center in the ‘80s, because he tried to do the exact same thing and it had the exact same result.
Trying to suppress free speech only makes people more curious about the things you don’t want them to hear, whether it’s risque song lyrics or dissenting opinions about vaccines. People need to decide for themselves. And if they get it wrong, that’s just the way it goes.
If they’re making a bad argument, make a better one. Trying to silence them only makes them resent you.
I’m just surprised nobody slapped a sticker on Rogan’s podcast: “PARENTAL ADVISORY: VACCINE MISINFORMATION.”
Well, it’s been a couple of years since Mr. Young’s principled stand, and Joe Rogan is still on Spotify. Along with… guess who?