"RFK, Joe Rogan & Vaccines" with Michael Shermer

Uncomfortable Conversations with Josh Szeps

Josh Szeps

Comedy Interviews, Self-improvement, Society & Culture, Education, Comedy

4.6 • 863 Ratings

🗓️ 21 June 2023

⏱️ 67 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Presidential candidate Robert F Kennedy Jr blew up the internet when he pushed anti-vaccine claims on Joe Rogan’s show. It’s déjà vu all over again for Josh, who had his own little vax run-in with Rogan last year. Should scientists and medical researchers do a better job of engaging with alternative media? America’s leading skeptic, Michael Shermer, thinks so. He and Josh hash it out.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Gooday, humans, welcome to safe space for dangerous ideas and, uh, whoo, who nelly.
0:09.0	This is deja vu all over again for yours truly. Uh, the visage of Joe Rogan in mind arguing about vaccines.
0:19.0	Uh, feels a little close to the bone for me.
0:21.8	Last year, I was on Joe's show for the seventh time, and we got into a little debate
0:26.8	about the safety of COVID vaccines, and now we see that tiny, tiny, tiny little tidbit
0:34.1	of an inkling of a hint of a sliver of a thing turn into its fully fledged
0:39.8	and most gigantic Godzilla v. King Kong style battle.
0:47.6	What's going on is that RFK Jr., the nephew of President JFK, son of of Bobby Kennedy has always been an anti-vaxxer. I think you can use that term with him. This is not someone who has a reasonable and measured level of hesitation towards a very new vaccine in the throes of a pandemic. This is a man who has been consistent for decades about in his belief,
1:14.1	his unfounded belief that all vaccines do all kinds of horrendous things. Not just vaccines.
1:20.7	You know, 5G waves, mobile phones, frying your brain, all of that kind of kooky, granola, sort of northern California,
1:29.7	northern New South Wales, depending on what country you're in, hippie-dippy, liby-divy,
1:33.9	bullshit crystal dangling astrology stuff. He's a, you know, he loves it. He loves it. I've
1:39.5	interviewed the guy on Huff Post Live, lovely guy, delightful gentleman. And of course, a titan of American
1:46.2	politics just in terms of the dynasty that he comes from. You kind of have to take this guy seriously,
1:50.7	which I think is why some of the brouhaha has erupted over whether or not we should, quote
1:56.4	unquote, platform people with beliefs that we disagree with and beliefs that can really be shown
2:01.9	using the scientific method and reason to be largely wrong.
2:07.2	You kind of have to platform a guy when his uncle was the president of the United States
2:11.6	and he's polling 15%, which is not a bad number in Democratic primaries, against an incumbent Democratic
2:18.0	president. So RFK Jr. is running for president, and he goes on Joe Rogan's show. I'll give you
2:23.7	the background here, just in case you've either been living under a rock or like me, are just too
2:27.6	busy to keep track of all the ins and outs. Like, what the hell, Rogan and vaccines and RFK, what's
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Josh Szeps, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Josh Szeps and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.