A friend of the blog emails:
Neil Young’s Unknown Legend, one of my all time favorite songs, came up on my playlist.
It’s been, geez, two or three weeks now. I’m not sure if I’m not supposed to listen to Neil or not.
(Name Redacted)
One of the greatest aphorisms about music Dash art, really – Asia “ love the art, ignore the artist”. And I figure, once the song goes out into the world, it belongs to us (subject to copyright and intellectual property), not them.
But it is getting to the point where it’s hard to tell what you are, and are not, supposed to support if you want your dollar to stop working for the enemy.
For example, a certain brand of razor blades (which shall remain unnamed for purposes of this post) was a revelation to me when I first discovered it; I actually enjoyed shaving for the first time in my adult life.
Now, I happen to like this particular brand of razors every bit as much as I like Michael Knowles (who is an excellent writer, but kind of ok as a talkradio host) – so I was relieved to see that this particular brand of razor still sponsors other conservative talk radio, and I wasn’t going to have to go out into a razor market dominated by “woke “brands like Gillette to try and find a new brand of blades.
Listen to Neil and grow a beard. That’s my advice.
Get a straight razor. We are all gonna end up in stone age anyway.
Your values are only true if they actually cost you.
I have been using my grandfather’s safety razor since 2014 or so. Far cheaper than anything from the modern razor makers.
I’ve been using Harry’s blades since 2018. They have five blades, plus a straight blade on the edge of the cartridge. I get one month – six weeks out of one cartridge. Unless I have a reason to have to, I don’t shave on weekends, so the six weeks includes those two or three days of growth. That straight edge is great for sideburns and getting under my nose. Unfortunately, you have to be careful in that area, because it’s somewhat easy to nick or cut yourself.
I grew up on Neal Young thanks to an older brother who introduced me to his music and took me to his concerts with Crazy Horse in the early ’70’s.
I believe Neil Young’s opinions are informed by his bout with polio which left him partially paralyzed. He knows the very real dangers of spreading misinformation, and he acted accordingly. I give him an enormous amount of credit.
Joni Mitchell also has taken this stand and removed her recordings from Spotify. She also had polio as a child.
We need more people willing to lead with their values despite the temporary cost of going against the mob. When you can stand up for your beliefs, despite it affecting your income—that is when it counts.
Emery – the polio vaccine actually prevents you from getting polio. The COVID shots do very little in the way of prevention. I say this having lost my father to COVID in January. He had two doses and a booster, but still got infected.
Granted – he was 91 with co-morbidities, but he didn’t die of polio, measles, mumps, or rubella either. He was reasonably healthy, having sung in his church choir over Christmas and played 9 holes of golf every week in November and December before he passed.
Got to weigh in on this one. I didn’t know who Joe Rogan was, so I looked him up on that fountain of anti-disinformation, Wikipedia, which informed me that Joe was guilty of spreading disinformation about Covid without really being specific about the nature of the disinformation. Joe has had a variety of careers, including MMA color commentator and comedian. I don’t use comedians as sources of scientific information, even if I enjoy their comedy. Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert are a couple of comedians many progressives use as primary sources of information. I find them very misinformed on many things, particularly science. As it happens, I don’t find them funny, but that’s a matter of taste. I wouldn’t choose Rogan as a credible science professor, so if he invites controversial speakers on his show, caveat emptor.
The whole disinformation trope bothers me as a believer in the scientific method. Take Fauci. for example. A lot of what he said about Covid was simply not true. It’s OK for a scientist to express an opinion that’s proven false, provided he doesn’t use political leverage to suppress dissenting views. That’s what Fauci and Birx did for months on end. Look at our state. The models touted by Walz and Janet Malcolm concerning the extent of Covid infections and its mortality were way off. Dissenters were painted as anti-science for disputing their accuracy. Science does not suppress dissent.
Neil Young and Joni Mitchell may have contracted polio, but that doesn’t make them experts in infectious disease. Soldiers who served in wars are honorable but they aren’t necessarily experts in military strategy. I think Emery is committing the fallacy of appeal to authority without even using credible authorities. I agree that Covid vaccines (which I have received as part of a study) have not produced the results once hoped for. Mandating their use for everyone is a mistake and is wrong failing development of vaccines that are both safe and effective. Even then, the largely benign consequences of Covid infections in people under thirty argue against forcing them to get vaccinated. Natural immunity works as well if not better. But with the likelihood that Covid is becoming an endemic infection like influenza, one year’s vaccine will not work the following year.
@ MtkaMoose: My sympathies to you and your family on the loss of your father. The way you speak of him makes me think he was very fortunate to have you for a son.
@ golfdoc50: No group has suffered more in this crisis than seniors even though they remain by far the most vaccinated. They are also the most vulnerable.
Young and Mitchell were anti-war. Is Joe Rogan largely anti-science or “just asking questions” when it comes to Covid?
So I guess you could say that Young and Mitchell are consistent in their belief that people shouldn’t die unnecessarily. Whether by bullet, bomb, or what “they” consider anti-vax disinformation.
IMHO—Rogan may be wrong about vaccines (and many other things), but he is no Rush Limbaugh. He’s not an angry guy intent on inciting right-wing violence. He has no strong political agenda. He’s certainly not a Trump supporter. He has an incredibly wide range of guests on his show and most importantly — he listens. He curious. He has an open mind.
Those last few qualities are sorely lacking in the liberal media these days. Life-long Republicans are finding themselves attacked as “racist Trump supporters” just for asking hard questions about many of the extreme positions of the Far Left.