Spitting at Spotify

I need some help with this one. Here’s the deal (as our  President would say): I started this podcast a number of years ago on the grounds that I just needed someplace to put my thoughts, so I didn’t have to bother others at the dinner table, and I didn’t care how many people listened to it. Of course, neither of those things is true. I do care about how many people listen; I was in radio, after all, and I still bombard others I meet with my opinions at every opportunity.

So I decided to put my SoundCloud podcast (called Coughswitch like this blog) on Apple Podcasts and most recently, on Spotify, to expand its reach a bit. But I joined Spotify exactly one day before Neil Young and later, fellow musician Joni Mitchell announced they were pulling their music off that platform because of misinformation that major podcaster Joe Rogan was spreading via his interviews on COVID vaccines, and the two claimed Spotify wasn’t doing anything about it. Other content providers are upset over Rogan’s handling of topics like race.

So now what? Did I hitch my tiny wagon to the wrong horse here? Am I a scab if I stay on Spotify?

I read that Mr. Rogan has 11 million listeners per show. I have about 10 – no, I mean the NUMBER 10, with one zero. To its credit, Spotify says it will attach links from reputable sources when it encounters harmful misinformation, and Rogan says he will strive for more balance in his interviews.

There are, of course, bigger questions here. Spotify may fall under the broad umbrella of social media, but it paid $100 million to exclusively distribute Rogan’s show and they promote him accordingly as their top act. That sounds like a conventional radio station to me.

Another question, of course, is when and if Congress might change the law to open the Wild West media players to the legal liability that conventional media face, perhaps by repeal of the famed Section 230. That would no doubt make lawyers happy and give those platforms an idea of what most of the old lame-streamers have to deal with. It’s hard to hang on to free speech while also navigating which content simply offends and which causes actual damage. That process is known as editing.

But, to return to the point, if I stay on Spotify, not many will notice that I’m there. But if I leave, not many will miss me when I’m gone. Looks like I will never know the fabled life of an influencer, but for the moment, I guess I’ll stay, until somebody talks me out of it.

 

 

 

 

Odious Comparisons

 

President Biden declared that the possible invasion of Ukraine by Russia would be the largest since World War II. For his part, Vladimir Putin has denounced the West’s inflammatory rhetoric. In my view, he has something of a point. And even Ukraine’s president has called for a tone-down.

I can understand why Mr. Biden went where he did. He has spent most of his life in the 20^th century, and World War II is still a significant reference point. Plus, it’s the last war we actually won – as it happened, with the Russians’ help.

To be clear, I support the steps NATO is taking to prepare for any Russian aggression, but tough action doesn’t always require tough talk, which can often lock the talker into implied action. Why bring up World War II unless you’re ready for World War III?

Comparisons have their flaws. The worst are the unbalanced ones. Those who compare vaccine mandates to an example of life in Nazi Germany just make themselves sound a little silly, or even cause offense, as when speakers throw in references to the Holocaust or Anne Frank. I have often said that if you’re involved in a modern political argument, any reference to Hitler blows it up. Nobody will listen to the point you’re trying to make after that.

Comparisons, of course, are usually intended to provide an idea of the size or severity of something, and the media use them a lot. Like comparing the number of COVID deaths in a day to the number lost in 9/11. Oher than the number, the apples are clearly far away from the oranges.

By the way, when it comes to invasions, the US has been just as aggressive as some of our adversaries, sending thousands of troops into countries to depose leaders we don’t like or prop up those we do. We don’t generally do these things to make our own country larger, but we have tried to expand our sphere of influence and impose our political values on others on the grounds of our own national security. That’s not too different from what Putin is doing.

Mr. Putin is not a nice fellow, and I’m sure many of us in the West will be thrilled when he’s replaced. In the meantime, I hope there is a way of convincing him that if he backs away from military action in Ukraine, he will not lose face – in fact, it could enhance his stature on the world stage, and we might stop comparing him to dictators present and past. We all should live so long.

Pandemic Lenses

 

I recently re-watched a movie I hadn’t seen in a while called “In the Land of Women.” I won’t bore you with the plot, but in one sequence in the film, the male protagonist accompanies a teenage girl to a high school party at her friend’s house. The kids were packed into a small space like sardines; most couldn’t even sit down. SUPERSPREADER was the first thought that came to mind.

Now, that word just didn’t exist, at least in common use, when this movie was released in 2007, and when I first saw it, I wasn’t thinking of cootie transmission. Now, of course, it’s a thing. The movie isn’t bad, by the way, and I recommend it, even though most critics panned it.

This is a clear example, though, of how COVID has changed the way we look at things – and other people. I personally hate the blame game. If someone tests positive for the Omicron variant, they will probably blame it on their Aunt Minnie, who had the sniffles during a recent visit. Because we don’t have much of a testing and tracing system, folks do their own amateur tracing.

The fact is, vaccines do a great job of keeping many of us out of hospitals. But they don’t keep us from getting the disease. Omicron blew down those doors long ago, and in some places, one in three people has it. If you look at the New York Times color chart of US disease hot spots, there are no colors anymore. The entire map of the United States is black. So, unless you live in a 1960s bomb shelter, you could get  it from almost anyone.

It seems a little silly to me that they do constant news stories about which athlete or movie star or member of Congress has tested positive. There is no reason to gasp anymore when we hear these accounts.

Nobody “deserves” to get COVID. Certainly, small children don’t, and there is yet no vaccine for the youngest. As for adult anti-vaxxers, many will survive, but could face big medical bills, for those of you into karma.

Is there any good news here? According to Mike’s Unscientific Virology Institute, or MUVI, Omicron is going to run out of gas in the US, as we will reach herd immunity whether we recognize it or not. We will likely have the first true breather in two years. What happens after that? I don’t know – but I’ve never been very comfortable in crowds anyway. it will be nice, though,  when the sniffles are just the sniffles again.