Dave Smith and Robbie the Fire Bernstein dismantle Sam Harris's recent attacks, exposing his baseless accusations that Smith is an Israel-Palestine expert solely due to Joe Rogan's platform. They refute claims of Holocaust misinformation and Churchillian villainy, arguing Harris relies on dishonest appeals to authority rather than evidence. While analyzing Elon Musk's defense of free speech against Gad Sad, the hosts contrast Harris's desire for a truth-telling cabal with their own commitment to open debate. Ultimately, the episode concludes that Harris's rhetoric stems from insecurity, proving that creating counter-content remains superior to silencing dissenting voices. [Automatically generated summary]
Transcriber: nvidia/parakeet-tdt-0.6b-v2, sat-12l-sm, and large-v3-turbo
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Daryl Cooper's Dishonest Church00:14:56
What's up, what's up?
How's everybody doing?
Welcome to a brand new episode of Part of the Problem.
I am Dave Smith.
He is Robbie the Fire Bernstein.
How are you feeling, buddy?
I'm doing well.
Back from Colorado and podcasting with you.
All is well in the world.
How were the shows out there?
Oh, it was a blast.
It was really fun.
A bunch of fans showed up for the first night, which is shocking because it's out in the middle of nowhere and it's nice to have their support when you're in liberal cities and spewing my nonsense.
So it was a lot of fun.
I think it's the first headlining gig I've done all year and new materials cooking along.
So I enjoyed it.
Hell yeah, dude.
Well, glad to hear that.
Yeah, I'm out here at the Nashville Comedy Festival having a good time.
I got the Kid Rock show tonight.
So I'm just thinking he brought Bill Maher to meet Trump.
Maybe that's maybe I could stop this whole thing.
Maybe we don't need to go to war with Iran.
Come on now.
Is Kid Rock going to be there?
I believe so.
I think he's hosting the show.
It's so funny to be in a room with Kid Rock and think, I have to talk politics to this guy.
You're like, this is my inn.
I better get this guy's ear because he might have some influence.
There is nothing better describes the state of America than that.
It was just perfect that you just go like, you go, okay, this is serious.
I'm meeting Kid Rock tonight.
This is a real opportunity to fucking move the needle here.
Yeah.
Yeah, it is so, so bizarre.
It's also bizarre.
Anyway, it's been, it's been a fun week.
I got, you know, coming off the week after a Rogan appearance is always just, you know, like a nutty thing.
It's really unbelievable.
There's just no, and I do so many shows, but there's just nothing like Rogan's show.
The reaction to it, how, how like, and it's like, it doesn't even make sense.
Like the numbers don't even quite justify it.
Like it's the biggest show, but it's not like you'd think doing Piers Morgan or doing Tucker should, okay, maybe it's only a third of the reaction, but it's not anything like that.
It's like Rogan is just like a thousand times more than any other show.
You just, every little thing you've said gets put under a microscope.
And, you know, it's weird.
For me, it took like this time, it was almost like I was like, oh, wow, this is actually the response was pretty tame.
It was just all positive things until around the 48-hour mark.
And then everybody jumped on the thing that I said that I tend to agree with Daryl Cooper on his assessment of World War II.
Which is, I will say this.
And I mean this, it's like in a friendly competition type way that it bothers me so much that Daryl generated so much more controversy than I've ever generated in any of my appearances.
Like, oh man, it eats at me.
It's like, come on, dude.
I was on fuck.
I think I did two Tuckers and like 15 Joe Rogans before he did one of each.
And he just buried me, buried me with how controversy was.
And then to throw salt in the wound, my controversy from my latest Joe Rogan appearance is that I said I kind of agree with Daryl Cooper.
It's just like, oh, they're just mocking me with this.
Come on.
I've said lots of crazy shit.
I must have said crazier shit than any of that.
Well, I've said it before.
I don't think that you say crazy or take irresponsible enough opinions.
And it's time to ramp up on your anti-Semitism so that the market, you know, gets really excited about you.
I got to go further than Daryl.
Whatever he says, I got to just take the crazier position.
I'd be like, Darryl, he's soft.
That guy, oh, please.
He says both sides were bad.
No, excuse me.
One side was good.
Anyway, it's so then today I woke up to see that once again, much like the last time I was on, I got a response from Sam Harris, which I do just, you know, I guess it's my guilty pleasure or whatever, but it's like, I know on some level that Sam Harris is like just totally humiliated himself and is kind of irrelevant.
But at the same time. the thing on Twitter like blew the fuck up and it was trending and it was a whole thing.
So it's kind of like, well, I can't not respond.
He also talks like he's the world authority.
He lays it out as if you need to respond to him.
Yeah, it really, well, that is true.
So maybe I'm falling into his trap, but I do just, you know, I responded with just one like little jab on Twitter.
And then, you know, then I get people going like, oh, we'll actually respond to what he's saying or something like that.
So like, okay, here we go.
Even though he's not saying much, it's just, it's, it's like, there's something guilty about, it just feels like every time he says something about me, I just find myself in the position of feeling like I'm, I'm dunking on a retarded third grader.
And then you dunk on a retarded third grader once and it's like, I don't know, it's like being a cannibal.
Like you get a taste for it and you're like, that's the most fun thing I've ever done in my life.
But it does feel like probably I should, you know, be trying against someone a little bigger.
But like, I don't know, it's Sam Harris.
So like, fuck it.
I guess I got to respond to it.
Anyway, sometimes this is a third grader, doesn't even know that you dunked on him.
So it's no harm, no foul.
Everyone feels good about it.
Yeah.
I guess there you go.
So anyway, I should tell you, this is going to be a little bit of a shorter episode.
I do apologize for that, but I got to rush out.
I got to get something to eat and then get to these shows.
And then I got a early flight in the morning.
But so let's start with this.
Let's just play the Sam Harris clip and then we could tear it apart.
Joe is a genuinely good guy who wants good things for people, but he is honestly in over his head on so many topics of great consequence, right?
When he brings someone on to just shoot the shit about, you know, how the Holocaust is not what you think it was, right?
Or, you know, maybe Churchill's the bad guy in World War II.
Just pause it already.
Or he's got Dave Smith.
Here, pause it and bring it back a little bit so we could hear the part about me.
But like, it's just, there's just no other way to like describe this.
It is, it is intense dishonesty.
I mean, just like, again, it's, it's the thing that I always say, like I was really confronted with when I debated Chris Cuomo.
There's, I've been, you know, I've had this experience like on Twitter and stuff like that, but that kind of almost feels like it's a, it's a whole different beast.
But there is something about like that I think I think a lot of people who are decent people, who are regular people, almost have a tough time because there is like a naivete that comes along with innocence or something like that, where you're just like, oh, you're just a fucking liar.
You're just very comfortable just lying through your teeth.
Like, who are you talking about here?
He's alluding to Daryl Cooper, I guess, but like, has Daryl Cooper ever gone on a show and told you to rethink the Holocaust?
The Holocaust wasn't really what it was.
Like, nobody's done that.
You know, the point, which by the way, I made the point, just by the way, the craziest part of on Rogan.
So I say on the show, and I was like, yo, I'm like totally making this so clear that no one's going to be able to fuck with what I'm saying right now because I'm making such a narrow point.
But I went, I went, look, like when Daryl Cooper was on Tucker Carlson's show, the thing he said that generated all this, this outrage was he goes, he goes, you know, I say this to my buddy sometimes to kind of prod at him.
And, you know, he's an Anglo, so he takes this stuff, you know, personally.
And I'm being hyperbolic when I say it.
But I say to him, I go, you know, Churchill was the real villain of the war.
And then he caveats it again and goes, now I'm not saying he committed the most atrocities or killed the most people, but he was most responsible from this thing going from being a war in Poland to being the worst thing that ever happened in the history of the world that we now know is World War II.
And then everyone who responds to that goes, he said Churchill was the real villain of the war.
And you're like, this is just already so dishonest.
Like, you know, when someone says they're being hyperbolic, the point he's clearly making is like, Churchill mishandled the war.
Okay.
So take on that argument.
But then, so then anyway, people still just clipped that and went, Dave's saying Churchill was the real villain.
Like, you're like, Jesus Christ, dude.
The levels of dishonesty are just crazy.
But Sam will just go a step further and go, he's telling people to question the Holocaust.
Just made it up.
He knows that's not true.
He knows nobody said that.
Ian Carroll didn't say that.
Daryl Cooper didn't say that.
Has anyone ever gone on Joe Rogan's show and said, hey, listen, man, let's really look into this.
Like the numbers don't add up to 6 million or something like that.
Has that ever happened?
No, it's never happened.
But they'll just say that intentionally to just poison the well so that you already think of this as just like, oh, these are really bad people who are clearly sympathetic to Adolf Hitler and clearly don't believe like either they don't believe he committed these crimes or they're all for that he committed these crimes.
You know, it's just, I don't know what else to say about just intensely dishonest because he's a liar.
I don't know.
Let's keep on two.
Or he's got Dave Smith, you know, being treated as an expert on Israel and Palestine and the history of that conflict and the moral emergency that came to the world's attention on October 7th and what is appropriate to think in the aftermath of all of that, right?
Dave Smith is the only reason why anyone knows what Dave Smith thinks about any of this is very likely because Joe had him on multiple times to talk about it, right?
You know, he's a pure misinformation artist and, you know, on top of many others.
And then when Joe talks to someone like okay, okay.
I'm a pure misinformation artist.
I mean, Sam just started this with a fucking blatant lie.
I mean, why is that not misinformation?
Like, goddamn, like, hasn't that term just been discredited enough along with Sam Harris and his fucking reputation?
But like, I'm the disinformation.
I'm a misinformation.
What did he say?
Specialist?
Okay.
I mean, artist.
Okay.
You just started this by saying that who is questioning the Holocaust?
So how am I pushing misinformation?
And then, you know, look, like I said about this last time when he does the exact same thing.
It's like, I mean, look, I'm not, I'm not the expert.
I'm not.
And if people have a perception about me that I'm like the expert on the history of Israel-Palestine, where like, I mean, I don't know, I'm explicitly telling you that I'm not.
And so if you have that impression, then I don't know what to say.
But, you know, the thing about it is, is that really, I don't have to be the expert because it's really easy to poke holes in Sam Harris and other liars bullshit.
I just know enough to poke holes in all your bullshit.
That's essentially it.
You don't need to be an expert to do that.
In the same way as I'm not, I wasn't a fucking, you know, a virologist, but I could tell you that Sam Harris was full of shit the whole time about COVID.
You know, I wasn't, I could tell you that lockdowns were going to have way bigger costs than benefits because you don't really need to be an expert to do that.
And what he means when he says that, you know, I'm presented as an expert is me and Joe have conversations.
That's really what's happening here.
He's furious about it because the shit I'm saying is resonating with people.
I do have really good arguments.
You don't have to be an expert to have really great arguments, as it turns out.
I'm proof of that.
And so, you know, then for him to go on and say, so this was the only thing I said on Twitter that I was like, Sam is correct, that the only reason people know who I am is because of Joe Rogan.
And I said, I really should have earned it the good old fashioned way by having my mother create the Golden Girls.
I just do think there's something, there's something funny about, you know, someone born with a silver spoon telling somebody else who's like a self-made guy that they really aren't.
The only reason anyone knows who you are is because of Joe Rogan.
It's like, first of all, that's a huge reason why people know who you are, Sam Harris.
That's also like, so what?
Yeah, that's right.
That's right.
Joe Rogan blew me up.
That is true.
Okay.
The only reason why people know who Jerry Seinfeld is is because of Johnny Carson.
You know, the only reason why people know who almost everybody is is because they got some type of break.
But the point is, then you got to do something with it.
And so if I hadn't done, there's lots of people who have been on Rogan who didn't, you know, like get a big audience afterward because they didn't do anything with the opportunity.
So anyway, this is all, it's all just so pathetic and stupid.
But you're like, hey, if I'm such a misinformation artist, Sam, so take on one thing I said.
Like it's unbelievable these people don't feel the need.
Like they think they could still play in this dumb old game where you just smear someone, but you have nothing.
So fucking take on one thing I said.
It should be easy since I'm, you know, maybe I'm just such a talented artist that you can't figure it, but like, what's the misinformation?
What have I gotten wrong?
And then immediately, you know, the way he, it's so funny because so many of the people who would kind of like position themselves as being critics of like the woke progressive regime, but then they have the exact same attitudes that like were what the way he said it, the what, what would be appropriate to think after the moral crisis of October 7th or whatever.
It's like, yeah, I know, Sam, it sucks that you don't get to be the dictator of what the rest of us are allowed to think and talk about.
But this is a new day.
This is a new world.
And if you want to come, if you want to come take me down, then you got to make an argument, dude.
Why We Must Take Them Down00:14:30
Something, what did I get wrong?
Point to something I got wrong.
You want me to point to something you got wrong, Sam?
With your dumb fucking, oh, if you change all the variables about COVID and the vaccine, then I would have been right.
It's like, yeah, but when you don't change the variables, you were fucking wrong, dude.
It's like, I don't know.
You said you wouldn't have, you said you didn't care if Joe Biden had children's corpses in his basement.
But I'm, I'm the, the misinformation artist.
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All right, let's get back into the show.
I mean, what I don't know, Rob, what else can I say to this here?
He's not making an argument.
People are like, oh, you just insulted him back.
I'm like, excuse me, what am I supposed to grapple with here?
What argument am I supposed to contend with?
He asserts that I'm a misinformation artist.
I would say, I don't think I am.
I don't know.
Any thoughts on this, Rob?
Yeah, that's what stood out to me the most.
We've done a number of episodes on this show where someone says something and then we take on what they said and tell you why it's wrong.
We haven't done all that many episodes where we just go, hey, this guy's an idiot.
And look, he doesn't have their credentials to discuss this.
And so don't listen to him.
Just take it for just believe me that I'm right and that that more popular person is wrong.
We've never done that.
And so that's what really stood out to me is that if you wanted to take on what you said on the show, as opposed to just going, hey, it's reprehensible and why is this person looked to as an authority?
And particularly if you want to defend Israel and Israel's current actions and you think that you're such a dummy about what you had to say about it, why not give us the breakdown?
I mean, if you're so smart and so right, why not contend with what was said on the show?
You got three hours of Dave Smith talking about Israel, not quite, maybe an hour and a half on Joe Rogan.
And then you've got 72 other hours from debates.
I mean, you could, I could summarize the top five points for you, and then you could take them on.
Do an episode.
That's an interesting episode.
Do one.
Take on one point.
One thing I said.
And there's something real strange about this whole appeal to authority that is all Sam Harris says.
I'm the authority.
And based off of what?
Who credentialed you as the authority?
Well, that's the thing, right?
It's like, first of all, it's like, so Sam Harris, Sam Harris, Mr. rational, logical thinker, Mr. against emotional thinking and for, you know, like grounded, sober, rational thought.
All he can cling to is a fucking logical fallacy and the appeal to authority as if that means you're allowed.
But then you realize like how much this argument falls apart.
Like, first of all, Sam Harris, from what I understand, is a neurologist.
I mean, I think Brett Weinstein's like made a whole argument about how he's not even that.
Like he got, I don't really know.
I don't remember.
He explained it to me once, but I don't really remember.
But whatever.
Let's just say it's like, okay, so fucking, so you're a neurologist.
Well, we're not, we're not talking about fucking anything in your field of expertise here, right?
So are you allowed?
Are you allowed to have an opinion on Israel Palestine?
Oh, that's convenient.
You are allowed.
Well, you're not a fucking Israeli historian or a Palestinian historian.
You're not the expert in this field.
You know, like it'd be one thing.
It'd still be a logical fallacy, but it would at least be a more digestible one if like Benny Morris was like, I'm only talking to other historians who have written volumes of books and have, you know what I mean, like have dug through the primary sources and the firsthand accounts themselves.
That's all.
You go, okay, well, at least like the guy has expertise in this area and he's only going to talk to other people with expertise in the area.
By the way, he doesn't take that position, but I'm just saying like that would at least be more reasonable than you.
Who the fuck are you?
Some shit.
Like I fucking, you know, if you're, if you're writing a book about how the human brain works, then okay, fine, you know, which I read his book years ago on that topic.
I actually kind of liked it.
But like, okay, that's one thing, but you're not.
You're not in your realm of expertise at all.
So who do you, who are you to dictate who the fuck everybody else gets to have a conversation with?
And that is, to be clear, that is what Sam Harris is complaining about.
That other people are having conversations and they're recording them and putting them out for people to watch them.
That's his beef.
Okay.
So take it apart then.
You know, like, I don't know.
You know, I, my, my mom, a little bit about my family history, did not create the Golden Girls.
I was not born into millions of dollars.
I did not have all of the advantages in life that Sam Harris does.
And I built, you know, my following and we built our show during what I would argue was an age of pervasive misinformation.
We are up, we're up against, we're basically taking on the corporate media, which is a multi-billion dollar industry that is permeated by what I would call misinformation artists.
Okay.
And, you know, like, if I'm correct about this, then man, this isn't just like one guy who went on a podcast a few times.
This is like this entire apparatus.
And you know what we had to do was we had to tear apart their arguments over and over and over again.
That's what we had to do and make like compelling, tight arguments for why the claims that they're making are bullshit.
I didn't just get to say, oh, they're all misinformation artists.
So shut them down or whatever the end goal here is.
It's like, no, you have to actually take them on.
You have to, you know, take on what they said.
How many hours have we spent doing this, playing the clips, responding to the claim, doing research on the like, all it's like?
Sam Harris just feels like he can do none of that and then just say, I'm above all of it.
That's lame and there's a reason why this shit doesn't resonate with people.
Um okay, let's keep playing uh, the rest of the clip, because there's a few little bits in here that were Great.
Trump or Tucker, Carlson or uh, you know, any of these other guys who, who lie as freely as they breathe and doesn't push back against any of their lies, in fact, and you know, in Trump's case, really fairly energetically, helped put his lives into, into the the most plausible possible shape.
Um, it is irresponsible.
I mean, it is directly harmful.
Our our, our society is as politically shattered as it is, in part because of how Joe has interacted with information.
Uh again, I don't think this is.
I think a lot of this is inadvertent, or maybe, all you know, all of it's inadvertently.
Pause again for a second.
Um, but it's.
It's just.
His constant theme is that there needs to be a class of people that are lording above you, and I should be that class of person.
Very convenient.
Yeah, that's truly his narrative.
It's just an appeal to society can't just have freedom.
There needs to be someone who can actually orchestrate, make decisions, disseminate the information.
And then conveniently, I guess the process should just be Sam or whoever Sam anoints for that role.
Yeah, again, which I think we've made this point before, and I don't say this as like a blind lover of democracy, but there does seem to be something so inherently anti-democratic in this world that, like, what?
Everybody's just too stupid to figure it out except for you and a small cabal of people.
The rest of us are all just too dumb that, like, man, if Joe Rogan's allowing lies to be told on his podcast, then, you know, I guess we'll all be fooled into believing them.
And then so I think how can you trust people to have the right to vote?
This is like a total argument for aristocracy, right?
Like that, that, okay, like the common person just isn't smart enough to figure all this shit out.
And however you feel about that argument, I don't think Sam Harris would be comfortable making it.
But again, these are all just there's nothing here.
There's nothing.
There's not even an attempt to even pretend to be making an argument.
It's just assertion after assertion after assertion.
So, you know, there's a little bit of psychoanalyzing, like maybe Rogan's not doing this intentionally, but he's allowing all these lies.
He's taking Donald Trump's lies and putting them in the most plausible shape or whatever.
It's like, again, to say that, like, if you're looking at how fractured our system is, looking at how fractured our politics are, to even put some of that blame on Joe Rogan, and then it's not to not even look at like, okay, but why is it?
Why is it that we're even talking about Joe Rogan in this conversation at all?
You know, like, what, what is happening?
Show me in some way.
Like, I'm not saying you could scientifically prove this, but if you're going to make the point that Joe Rogan allows lies on his podcast, it's like, compared to what?
Compared to the corporate media?
I mean, like, you just look, I said this when I was on the show with Joe just the other day, but it is wild to think.
And I'm a little bit like, you know, just happened to be the guy in the room for this.
It's not a little bit.
I just happened to be the guy in the room for this.
But I did remind Joe and I go, dude, how crazy is it?
Four years ago, as long ago as that sounds, or less than four years ago, I guess it was three years and change ago, right?
The fucking huge controversy from our podcast was Joe Rogan telling young people to be healthy.
Like, I'm not exaggerating.
When I say this, I mean, this made it all the way to the president of the United States of America had to condemn the podcast that I was on because Joe Rogan advised young people to be healthy.
Now, like, the point I'm making here is that if you, I would any day, I would do any debate, any trial, whatever for against any person with any judge, with any moderator, like whatever you want.
And I will take, we will take the corporate media's track record on COVID versus Joe Rogan's track record on COVID.
And I will defend Joe Rogan.
I mean, there is just no, like, like, again, these things that were seen as wildly controversial today, nobody, including Fauci or Biden, if either of them can still, you know, have functioning brains, nobody would argue that it's controversial to tell young people to be healthy.
They wouldn't even try, you know?
So to sit here and just be like, oh, the Joe Rogan is interviewing this misinformation artist and he's not pushing back or whatever.
It's like, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Compared to what, dude, in the grand scheme of things, in the issue, which I think there's really no, no matter what side of it you're on, I don't think you can argue that COVID wasn't the most consequential set of policies in Western civilization over the last few years.
So on the most important issue, just objectively speaking, he got it so much more correct than the entire corporate media apparatus, than any of them.
You were so much better off listening to Joe Rogan through all of COVID than you were listening to any show on NBC, ABC, CBS, MSNBC, CNN, Fox News, than reading anything about it in the New York Times or the Washington Post or the Wall Street Journal.
You were way better off listening to Joe Rogan's podcast.
Now, the aspect that Sam Harris is correct about in all of this is that, and I think Joe would be the first one to admit this, that that is fucking ridiculous.
Yes, it is fucking ridiculous that you'd be better off listening to Joe Rogan than listening to the CDC.
That's insane.
We're all on the same page here, Sam.
We think it's crazy too.
We think it's crazy that you'd be better off listening to our show than listening to anybody in the corporate media.
But that's the reality.
Don't blame us for that.
We're as unhappy with it as all of you are.
We would also like there to be experts who got a thing right every now and then, but there aren't.
You know, I mean, there are, but they're few and far between and they get drummed out of the establishment pretty quickly.
So, you know, like, again, it's like this weird thing where, look, we all think it's ridiculous that this conversation is left to us, but it is left to us.
ProtonMail for Important Stuff00:02:29
And you're not looking at the reason why that is.
This is like, this is what Jimmy Doerr always says all the time.
That he's like, yeah, it's insane.
It's insane.
I'm an idiot comedian and I'm better than all these guys.
So anyway, let's keep.
I thought there was also something telling about what he said here, which is this is the first argument I've heard is that Joe, the reason why Joe Rogan is dangerous is because he doesn't have the tools to challenge people.
And so when he platformed Donald Trump, he actually gave him the best vehicle for shaping and forming his ideas.
What you're overlooking is that Kamala Harris could have gone on the show, but was such a moron, she didn't feel comfortable talking honestly because actually the Democratic propaganda probably wouldn't hold up in the Joe Rogan environment of just a guy sitting there and wanting to ask some clarifying questions and not just giving you a fluff piece 45 minute interview.
So yeah, I'm just saying the one argument that he's putting forward here, which is, hey, this platform's no good.
It's actually a better vehicle for honest conversations.
And that doesn't serve the Democrats well because they're working with more bullshit and propaganda.
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Well, yeah, that's a great point.
And, you know, and this is really where the term Trump derangement syndrome really does make sense is also just imagine the pretzels that one would have to contort themselves into in order to just have the mentality that you're like, well, look, dude, if Donald Trump got pushback, then that might have like exposed him.
Rogan vs The Corporate Media00:07:09
He is, there is just, I'm sorry, again, this is just like, you know, we can all have our own opinions, but we can't have our own facts.
Objectively speaking, he is the most scrutinized, the most detested, the most like the target of the corporate media since he came down the escalator.
Before that, they were cool with him, but since he started running for president, he has just been the most like scrutinized isn't even the word, opposed, the most opposed in every single step along this life.
So the idea that like what like someone in America just hasn't heard anyone pushing back against Donald Trump yet.
And if they had, that would have what?
Like the wheels would have come off of this thing.
It is, it's delusional.
I mean, it's, it's like that, that's why I think people call it like a derangement syndrome because it is literally like you are, you're, you hate Donald Trump so much that you want to like like the cognitive dissidence that that it generates to see him like doing well and actually improving on his his, you know, broad support is so difficult that you have to come up with these justifications for why it is.
And of course you have to blame everybody else yourself.
You're, you can't be the person who you scrutinize to see like, oh, maybe I played a role in this.
Maybe the establishment that I'm champion, maybe they played a role in this.
So instead, it's got to be everybody else's fault.
But like imagine that like, does anybody think like, what, if, if Rogan had just handled it like CNN, then what?
It would have been the same waste of time that every single show on CNN is.
It's just, it's all so absurd.
And here, let's play the last little bit of this because this was actually maybe the best part of the whole thing.
It is also avoidable, right?
He could actually take the responsibility that really is his to take at this point to get his facts straight and have someone other than Jamie there riding shotgun with him.
Where he could have two brilliant journalists whose full-time job, he could pay each of them a million dollars a year just to sit there and do and make sure he doesn't put his foot in his mouth in a, in a colossally irresponsible way, right?
I mean, it's like he, it's, it would be very simple to do a better job.
Yeah.
So just, I mean, imagine, just imagine those words coming out of your mouth.
I mean, talk about being just removed from reality is an understatement, like catapulted into another stratosphere from reality.
I mean, it is, you know, yeah, imagine if only that.
If only we had a couple of journalists fact checking and calling out misinformation.
That would change.
That would really change the landscape, right, Rob?
We haven't, we haven't had that.
Which brilliant journalists are you talking about here?
You know, like, and by the way, like, I guess I'm not like in theory, if Rogan wanted to do that, like have two brilliant people who were fact checking, maybe that's a good idea.
But like, who are you talking about, Sam?
What?
The same, the same corporate journalist fact-checkers who are at CNN and MSNBC, they should be of the Joe Rogan experience too.
That sounds like a great recipe to make people not want to listen to the show anymore.
The whole point is that we've all rejected you.
This is the thing, Sam.
Like the same way you started this video when you said Joe Rogan is having people denying the Holocaust on the show, remember, remember that?
Remember how you're a fucking liar?
Okay, we've all assessed this shit and we've come to the conclusion that you're a fucking liar.
We don't trust you.
That's why people trust Joe Rogan more.
Like, this is the whole thing.
And you can't, it's just like, you got to pretend that none of that exists.
You go, oh yeah, we could hire a couple of journalists to be fact checkers.
Again, the distrust in the corporate media was not always like this.
They had the biggest head start that you could imagine.
Joe Rogan put a couple of microphones up in like an old office, like, you know, like area in California and started just talking to it and posting grainy video footage online.
That's how the show started.
Okay.
All of these big companies that we're talking about had skyscrapers in American cities all around the country and budgets in the tens of billions of dollars.
You had all the advantages in the world with all your journalists and all your fact checkers and all trying to control misinformation.
And when you had that, you lied through your teeth, just like Sam Harris started his video here, lying through his fucking teeth so much and so to such an absurd extent that everybody figured it out.
Everybody figured out that you're not to be trusted.
And so now they don't trust you.
And it is true, like, you know, it is true that Joe is kind of, you know, I was going to say he's a regular guy.
I mean, okay, he's not a regular guy.
He's a fucking phenomenon and like a, you know, a real, like, you know, again, however you feel about Joe Rogan, I am a little biased.
I love the guy, but he's, you know, he's a dude who's like a, you know, is a black belt across multiple martial arts and is the number one, you know, MMA commentator of all time.
And he's a huge, very, one of the most successful comedians of all time.
He's got the number one podcast, you know, ever.
Like he's, you know, not a regular guy, but he is a regular guy in the way that he approaches conversations.
And he is like, you know what I mean?
Like that is just like, hey, let's just talk.
Let's be just be a couple.
And so like there is, there is some truth to that, that like he'll dive into areas and have conversations about things and not be claiming to be the expert or the authority in them.
But again, it's like, do you not get that?
That's what people found refreshing about it is that he's not fucking lying.
He's authentic.
He is who he is.
And that's why he's the number one show.
It's funny that like a lot of these people, when they're trying to go after Joe, they'll, they talk about it almost in a way that leftists talk about economics.
Like they talk about it almost like it's a given that he's the number one show.
And so it's like, well, now being the number one show, you got to do it this way, this way, and this way.
But it's like, no, he's the number one show because he doesn't take advice from people like Sam Harris.
Stop Your IRS Troubles Now00:02:33
That's why.
And that's it.
And again, you know, throughout all of this, and please, if he's done it in some area, please, somebody point me to it.
And I'll be happy to actually take on something that has a little bit of substance.
He hasn't offered anything so far.
But, you know, for calling Joe Rogan, you know, somebody who platforms misinformation artists or somebody who like allows people to lie, is there ever an onus on you to ever explain one of them?
One example?
Like, it's just even when he says, get some brilliant journalists, like who?
Like, give me an example of one.
Give me an example of the misinformation.
Give me an example of the lie that Joe allowed someone to get away with.
It's so bizarre to me to be able to make a video like this and not feel any pressure to do that.
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All right, let's get back into the show.
I don't know.
Any other, any other thoughts on old Sam here?
That's well said at the end.
Just he's reinserting himself as the authority.
What would make for a better show?
And it's like Rogan's doing the show he wants to do.
People seem to like it.
So I guess he doesn't really need your input on what would be better.
And also, Sam Harris had like a humongous podcast.
And he had a, he had a huge podcast many years before we had any audience.
Sam Harris Disappointment Clips00:11:27
You know, it's like, so you could have done this, dude.
Oh, wait, you did do it.
And no one wanted to listen to it.
Okay.
All right.
That's right.
So you had your opportunity to do all.
By the way, when he goes, when he goes, you know, Joe Rogan could pay them a million dollars a year.
Yeah.
So could you, Golden Girls kid?
Sure, you could pay them both a million dollars a year too, Sam, right?
So go do it.
So go do this wonderful podcast.
And then again, it's like, it's like every, you know, intellectual, it's the their kryptonite is always the market.
It's always the market is always what fucking good.
It's like, why don't you just go do that, man?
You got the resources to go do that.
Go spend some of your mom's money that she left you and pay two brilliant journalists a million dollars a year and go do your podcast.
Oh, that's right.
There's no market for that because no one believes your bullshit.
And now we see the problem.
So here I'll just say this and we'll wrap up fairly soon here.
But so that the other, the other one is the Gad video.
Gad sad.
I forget.
What's his last name?
So I will.
Sounds right.
No, that's the way I think it's pronounced Got Gad Sad.
Sod, maybe Sod.
So I, you know, and by the way, I don't know that much about him, but I will say I just thought this was pretty funny.
So I saw, you know, because I just get, you know, when someone like Sam Harris or one of these guys does a video about me, obviously I get flooded with people tagging me in it and stuff.
But so I did after the Sam Harris thing, you know, I laughed about that.
I texted some people.
We all had a good laugh at Sam Harris's expense.
And then I just saw that Elon. posted this thing again.
Now, I happen to know, I don't know that much about him, but I know he's like a crazy pro-Israel guy.
And so I just assumed, incorrectly so, that when that he was jumping piling on me too.
And when I just saw it, literally just the first, you know, second I saw that, I just assumed he was making another video pilot on me.
And then I saw that Elon tweeted it and I was like, all right, here we go.
We got a big one here.
But then to my pleasant surprise, and I suppose in some perverse way, a little bit to my disappointment, because that was just like, oh, this is an exciting day.
But then I saw he made this video.
So I should, I do think I should play it.
Let's play this real quick and then respond and then we'll wrap up.
Hi, everybody.
This is Scott Sad.
I just saw a clip on X where Sam Harris is sharing his profound disappointment that Joe Rogan would allow all sorts of people on his platform that, quote, you know, spread disinformation and misinformation.
He mentions a guy by the name of Dave Smith.
I'm not exactly sure who he is.
I know he's some kind of anti-Israel guy.
And then he mentions the fact that he speaks to guys like Tucker Carlson and Donald Trump and so on.
And these guys are way too dangerous to be given this platform.
Again, this demonstrates the consequentialist bent that Sam has when it comes to freedom of speech, freedom of inquiry, open debate in a free society.
I may not like what Dave Smith says about Israel.
And I may think that it's completely wrong.
The few snippets I've seen, I, you know, don't think very highly of his analyses.
But I certainly have never had the reflex to go in public and say, hey, Joe, why are you letting these guys on your show?
Because I completely internalized the deontological principle that in a free society, you speak to people.
Now, you may choose not to want to speak to them because you don't want to give them your time.
I don't necessarily debate creationists, not because I'm trying to shut their voice, but because I don't think it'll be a worthwhile exchange.
All right, we could stop the video.
I mean, I honestly think that pretty much kind of covers the point.
You can kind of see where he's going with that.
Now, I will say, so I appreciated that Ged said that.
And I think like, that's basically, I think he's essentially right, you know, like, and I, I, I would just, you know, I said something, by the way, says, I said something on Twitter, like just saying, hey, I appreciate him being principled.
And then a bunch of people were like, uh, jumping on me, like, he's a mossad agent and he's pro-Israel.
He supports genocide and all this.
And you're like, okay, guys, like, I'm, I'm not speaking to the broadest scope of everything he's ever said or believed.
I don't know that much about the guy.
Just like he doesn't know that much about me.
I don't know that much about him.
I'm speaking to this.
And I thought that this was a like a noble gesture.
And I appreciated it.
And I also like totally share this thought.
And I do think that this is something that is like, and even if you want to argue, I understand people will have this kind of knee-jerk reaction to go, well, Sam Harris isn't advocating for laws against you going on Rogan's podcast.
So I understand where it's, I'm not saying that he's advocating for my speech to be suppressed exactly, although he does seem to be flirting with that idea.
You know, it's misinformation.
It's dangerous.
There should be fact checkers there.
Seem to imply that Rogan shouldn't have me on at all, where he's like, the only reason why people even know who this guy is is because Rogan has not.
But I do, what I do really appreciate about Gad's sentiment here is that, you know, I feel the same way.
I mean, Rogan has had Gad on many times.
He's had Sam Harris on many times, said Ben Shapiro on.
He's had he has Mike Baker on regularly.
He has Coleman Hughes on, has I'm sure there's many more that I'm just not thinking of, but he's got a ton of guys who have really explicitly argued the pro-Israel side.
And I've never even dreamed, and part of this is just the power imbalance.
You know what I mean?
Like we're just so up against the machine that we would never even think like, you should be silenced.
You know what I mean?
But I've never, there's never been part of me that's been like, oh, you should have shut that down.
You should have had an expert calling out misinformation.
Hey, Joe, you didn't push back at this point or this point or this point.
My mind never even goes there.
That's just like, if anything, I'd be like, oh, I hope I can get back on and respond to that.
You know, like, I don't, cause unlike, you know, there, there is like, I get Gad's point.
There is something consequentialist about it.
I get his point there.
But forget the like deontological versus consequentialist thing.
There's a deep-rooted insecurity in Sam Harris's position.
Because if you actually were confident that I'm spreading misinformation, then wouldn't you just be like, dude, I can take this apart in a second?
You know, when I like, again, like we said, there's been so many times, so many people who listen to this show, no, you can't even count how many times we've thought someone's getting it all wrong.
And we're like, well, let's just grab our scalpels and carve this shit the fuck up, you know, because like, that's what you do when you think you're right.
What you do when you're not confident, when you're insecure about your own position is you start ranting about how this conversation shouldn't happen.
Misinformation.
Journalists, fact checkers, come in here.
So anyway, you know, I don't obviously me and Gad don't agree on the issue.
You know, I did think, whatever.
I'm not going to give him any shit for this because he was ultimately making the correct point.
There is just a little thing like where he goes like, I don't know that much about Dave.
I've seen a few clips and let's just say I don't have a lot of respect for his analysis.
It's like, oh, okay.
So like, help me out here, dude.
Cause I will tell you the truth.
And I think this is something that our audience knows about us.
You know, it's one of the things that I'm most proud of.
And I really do think that like our audience knows this to be the case.
I'm trying to find the truth here.
So if I'm getting something wrong, please let me know.
So like, if you're going to, you know, like I, you get my point, Rob, like there's just like a little bit of a feeling where it's just like, hey, if you're going to say this, if you're going to just be like, listen, this guy gets everything wrong.
It's like, so okay, maybe, you know, like give an example.
What did I get wrong?
What do you not agree with?
I think in this case, although also I'm not familiar with Gad's work, I don't know any of his other stuff.
I think that just wasn't the point of this video.
I think he was both saying, hey, I'm not endorsing what Dave's saying.
I actually didn't agree with it, but everyone should be allowed.
Free speech is more important.
And so I guess it wasn't really, who knows?
Maybe I'll do another video delving into the weeds of what he thought you were getting wrong.
That's just not really what he was doing here.
Yeah.
No, you're right.
Yeah, you're right.
I shouldn't, I shouldn't beat him up for that because he is the point he's making here, he is correct on.
And I do, um, I do just I appreciate that.
And I should give him credit for that, no matter what else we may disagree on.
We can, we can agree on that.
Yeah, like it also is just like, look, free speech is, is a, um, a, a value in itself.
Um, and then on top of that, there is like kind of maybe this is the consequentialist uh argument for it or just the more practical argument, but it's like, well, what else are we going to do here, dude?
What are we going to, you know what I mean?
What are we going to all go to war with each other?
I mean, look, there's a huge split over many different issues.
And so what like I'm over here saying, like, I'll pretty much, you know, it's been pretty clearly demonstrated over the last few years.
Like, I'll go on all the biggest platforms and I'll do a ton of debates about these topics.
And you're Sam sitting over here screaming misinformation.
And it's like, you know, like, so then why don't wouldn't the thing be like, why wouldn't you then just want to debate?
Like, why wouldn't you want to tear these arguments apart or even not like a debate?
Then just make your own thing, make your own video and list out all the grievances.
Okay.
So anyway, you're right.
I should give Gad a pass for that.
But, but still, give me something.
Give me something here to work with.
All right.
Look, we got to, we got to wrap on that.
I do have to get moving.
I'm out in Des Moines this weekend.
I'm Friday night doing comedy.
Scott Horde and other speakers on Saturdays.
Go to their convention.
Hell yeah.
All right.
Sounds good.
And porch store dates coming out.
Rob's, whatever my podcast is, run your mouth.
I should know that.
Rob's newsroom, run your mouth, whatever.
And yeah, and of course, go to comicdavesmith.com for all me and Rob's dates for the rest of the year.