Joe Rogan Experience #1064 - Eddie Huang & Jessica Rosenworcel

1. 0:00 – 15:00

   Five, four, three, two,…

   1. JRJoe Rogan0:01

      Five, four, three, two, one. And we're live. Uh, welcome aboard, Jessica Rosenworcel. Did I do it?

   2. JRJessica Rosenworcel0:11

      You did.

   3. JRJoe Rogan0:13

      (sighs) I was so nervous about that.

   4. EHEddie Huang0:14

      Don't worry (laughs) .

   5. JRJoe Rogan0:14

      And Eddie Huang, of course. He's been on the podcast many times.

   6. EHEddie Huang0:18

      Number one podcast in the world.

   7. JRJoe Rogan0:20

      Oh, thank you.

   8. EHEddie Huang0:20

      JRE.

   9. JRJoe Rogan0:21

      What's up, brother? How are you?

   10. EHEddie Huang0:22

       I'm chilling, man. I'm, I'm good. I just, uh, you know, I wanted to introduce you to the homie-

   11. JRJoe Rogan0:27

       (laughs)

   12. EHEddie Huang0:27

       ... the commissioner from the FCC, Jessica Rosenworcel, 'cause thing- things are, things are bad for the internet right now.

   13. JRJoe Rogan0:34

       Well, you are very concerned, and a lot of people are, about net neutrality. And, uh, we all have some questions about it and we're excited to talk to you about it, so maybe we could, uh, illuminate some of the issues and, and give us a, an understanding or try to l- uh, help us understand what's at stake here and why are people so concerned?

   14. JRJessica Rosenworcel0:54

       Well, I think people are concerned 'cause the future of the internet's the future of everything.

   15. JRJoe Rogan0:59

       Right.

   16. JRJessica Rosenworcel0:59

       I mean, every aspect of our lives is now touched by that connectivity. And it's a funny thing, but the agency where I work in Washington, the Federal Communications Commission, has enormous power and control over our internet experience. And for decades, we've had these policies that have been all about internet openness, and what that means is you can go where you want-

   17. JRJoe Rogan1:20

       Mm-hmm.

   18. JRJessica Rosenworcel1:20

       ... do what you want online, and your broadband provider can't get in the way or prevent you from looking at some websites or looking at some videos or setting up some businesses. But that changed last month in Washington when the FCC, over my objections, voted to end net neutrality. And as a result, all of our broadband providers now have the legal right to block websites, to throttle content, and to set up sweetheart paid-for prioritization deals. And over the long haul, that could really change the internet and the web as we know it.

   19. JRJoe Rogan2:03

       Now, one of the arguments f- pro-net neutrality, um, one of the arguments for people that were excited about this being signed, what they were saying that net neutrality was really, uh, only over the last couple years. And before the last couple years, net neutrality as we know it, the last couple years everything was fine and that it'll continue to be fine and that people are just panicked. And there was that really bizarre video that that one dude made where he was saying that, "These are all the things you're gonna be able to do." You work with that cat?

   20. JRJessica Rosenworcel2:33

       (smacks lips) I do.

   21. EHEddie Huang2:34

       (laughs) Ajit.

   22. JRJoe Rogan2:34

       What is it?

   23. EHEddie Huang2:35

       Ajit Pai.

   24. JRJoe Rogan2:36

       Yeah.

   25. EHEddie Huang2:36

       (laughs)

   26. JRJoe Rogan2:36

       He seems like an odd-

   27. EHEddie Huang2:38

       Oof.

   28. JRJoe Rogan2:38

       ... odd fellow.

   29. EHEddie Huang2:39

       Yeah.

   30. JRJessica Rosenworcel2:40

       Yeah, well, uh-
2. 15:00 – 30:00

   Yeah. …

   1. JRJoe Rogan15:00

      an unusual thing for them.

   2. EHEddie Huang15:01

      Yeah.

   3. JRJessica Rosenworcel15:01

      Yeah. I had the privilege of working for Senator Inouye from Hawaii years ago, and I think Hawaiians are, you know, they're graceful, they're resilient, but they live with the knowledge that they are susceptible to some attack.

   4. EHEddie Huang15:13

      Yeah.

   5. JRJessica Rosenworcel15:13

      So this gave them 40 minutes, the worst 40 minutes of their life. And the amazing thing to me is it took like 10 minutes or so for this to be corrected on Twitter.

   6. EHEddie Huang15:23

      (laughs)

   7. JRJessica Rosenworcel15:23

      It took, took another half hour for our official systems to update and say, "In fact, this was a mistake."

   8. EHEddie Huang15:30

      Yeah, once we found out-

   9. JRJessica Rosenworcel15:31

      "We gotta figure that out."

   10. EHEddie Huang15:32

       It was-

   11. JRJessica Rosenworcel15:32

       "You can't let that happen."

   12. EHEddie Huang15:34

       Yeah, but then once I figured out it was a mistake, I was like, "Whoa, maybe I should ask Jessica if we could send like a-"

   13. JRJoe Rogan15:40

       (laughs)

   14. EHEddie Huang15:40

       "... national message on my birthday, 12:00 AM March 1st, and be like, 'You up?'"

   15. JRJoe Rogan15:44

       (laughs)

   16. JRJessica Rosenworcel15:45

       Uh-huh.

   17. EHEddie Huang15:45

       Just a nationwide booty call.

   18. JRJoe Rogan15:47

       (laughs)

   19. JRJessica Rosenworcel15:47

       I'm gonna officially say the FCC will not be helping-

   20. EHEddie Huang15:51

       All right.

   21. JRJessica Rosenworcel15:51

       ... in that regard.

   22. EHEddie Huang15:51

       I had to ask.

   23. JRJessica Rosenworcel15:52

       Yeah.

   24. JRJoe Rogan15:52

       That's a big question.

   25. JRJessica Rosenworcel15:54

       Yeah.

   26. EHEddie Huang15:55

       Yeah. No, but what Jo was saying about the internet and how it opened things up, like personally for me, like today's Martin Luther King Jr. Day, right? And, uh, I remember reading Letter from Birmingham Jail as a kid, Jonathan Swift, Modest Proposal as a kid, and Tupac, uh, Me Against the World. Those were like the three works that made me want to write. And I started writing since I was 15 years old, never gave up, but no one would buy my writing, right? The only place that would buy my writing was RotoWire and I would write fantasy sports updates for them. I covered the Magic and I covered the Knicks. But all the way until I was like 28 years old, no one wanted to buy my writing. It was Blogspot that had allowed me to write in my own voice and find my own audience, and then people started to see, "Whoa, there are like weird children on the internet that like Eddie's writing." Like, he's creating a lane. And I talked to my publisher at Random House and they're like, "Yeah, you created a lane selling books to people who don't buy books, non-traditional readers." And so without the internet, without Blogspot, without that ability to just project my voice and hope someone connects, like I never would've happened.

   27. JRJessica Rosenworcel17:02

       I know, we're living through it in real time, but it is totally radical as a matter of human history that you can reach out, reach around the world and build community with total disregard for geography, and find people who like fantasy sports or something like that, and, and build community around it. That's an extraordinary thing, and it has no precedent in human culture.

   28. JRJoe Rogan17:27

       And with translation software, now language is no longer even a barrier.

   29. JRJessica Rosenworcel17:31

       Yeah.

   30. JRJoe Rogan17:31

       I mean, it's changing and shifting as, as we speak. New technologies are being developed. I mean, Samsung has a phone now that, uh, that Note8, where you can just highlight something, it'll instantly translate it. I mean, they have earbuds where you could put that on the Pixel where if you talk to me in Spanish, I'll hear it in English. And this is crazy stuff.
3. 30:00 – 45:00

   Yeah. …

   1. JRJoe Rogan30:00

      the, and three people, by the way, who were not voted in. So they're unelected. Which, this is ba- bananas. I mean, there's no question about it. That's a terrible idea. Like, if you (laughs) gave people the option, you said, "Hey, do you think that five people should be able to decide whether or not the 320 million plus," plus the rest of the world, really-

   2. EHEddie Huang30:18

      Yeah.

   3. JRJoe Rogan30:18

      ... because it's, if your-

   4. EHEddie Huang30:19

      Superpower.

   5. JRJoe Rogan30:19

      ... podcast gets cut off, you know, you're not gonna be able to reach Canada either. W- do you think that they should be able to, uh, stop access to information? I mean, 99%-

   6. EHEddie Huang30:27

      I mean three people def- defied 83%-

   7. JRJoe Rogan30:30

      No.

   8. EHEddie Huang30:30

      ... of the American public. It's, it's insane. And that's the type of shit that makes me feel trapped in this country sometimes because we didn't elect these people.

   9. JRJoe Rogan30:38

      Right.

   10. EHEddie Huang30:39

       You know?

   11. JRJessica Rosenworcel30:40

       Yeah, I think, I think you gotta make a choice, which is you gotta choose to be optimistic, 'cause it's the only force multiplier we have. Which is, you're gonna decide that if something's not right, you're gonna call, you're gonna write letters, you're gonna write editorials, you're gonna build campaigns around things, because in the end, that's the only way to change things. And if all of us felt a little of that spirit, gosh, today, if not every day, I think that that would make extraordinary difference. And we're already seeing its impact in Washington. There are more people showing up in the capital city for votes, for marches. There are more people reaching out to their members of Congress than ever before, and I just think we're gonna have to sustain that energy if we wanna create some real change.

   12. EHEddie Huang31:26

       I think it's about more people who have an opinion, values that are trustworthy in the community running. I think more people need to run, because for a while, we've, I've actually looked at government as something like I maybe could never be part of, this is a totally different thing. Like, I just, I, I research the candidates and I go vote and that's, that's my interaction with it. But I'm starting to realize that even if you don't wanna run or even if you wanna run, it, it's a possibility. And, and you, number one, you can, like, encourage your other friends to go run, and you can look at who is trying to start campaigns. Like, I'm 35 now and, and there are friends from law school that they're like, "Hey, I'm thinking about running," you know, like, "I wanna throw a fundraiser. Who should I speak to?" And then, you know, there's a guy that I played basketball with in a basketball league. He's like, "I'm gonna try to run for governor of California." I'm like, "Good luck, but, like, I'm gonna follow what you're doing." And I think more people need to run, but if you're not running, hold the people that are running responsible. Ask the difficult questions, like, be a part of the, the kind of vetting of that candidate and be hands-on in the process of that person's candidacy.

   13. JRJoe Rogan32:33

       Are you running for president with Oprah?

   14. EHEddie Huang32:35

       No, no, no, no.

   15. JRJoe Rogan32:35

       That's what I'm hearing here.

   16. JRJessica Rosenworcel32:37

       That would be interesting.

   17. EHEddie Huang32:37

       No, I'm, I'm not running-

   18. JRJoe Rogan32:38

       That's what I'm hearing here.

   19. EHEddie Huang32:38

       ... but my thing is, is that, you know, I think we all need to have a stake in the cats that are running and, and ask the questions that need to be asked because, you know, I've been one of the people that just shows up maybe two weeks before the election, two weeks before the deadline of, like, the, the absentee ballot, and I go research for two weeks and I go check out all the, like, pros and cons of each candidate, and after two weeks I decide. But, you know, I should be involved more than that-

   20. JRJessica Rosenworcel33:04

       Well, you can-

   21. EHEddie Huang33:05

       ... as citizens.

   22. JRJessica Rosenworcel33:05

       ... announce your congressional run right here, right now if you're interested (laughs) .

   23. EHEddie Huang33:08

       (laughs) No, I'm too busy.

   24. JRJessica Rosenworcel33:10

       (laughs)

   25. EHEddie Huang33:10

       I'm too busy.

   26. JRJoe Rogan33:11

       Isn't that the problem though? The people that we'd want to run for president or whatever elected official oftentimes are too busy.

   27. EHEddie Huang33:17

       I mean, I think if you ran, I mean-

   28. JRJoe Rogan33:19

       I'm not running.

   29. EHEddie Huang33:19

       ... you could really clean up. You could really do it.

   30. JRJoe Rogan33:22

       I'm not running. I'm not running.
4. 45:00 – 1:00:00

   Right. …

   1. EHEddie Huang45:00

      It's like, you may be bad in the structural definition of a human being that goes to school and gets a nine-to-five job.

   2. JRJoe Rogan45:06

      Right.

   3. EHEddie Huang45:06

      Maybe I was terrible at that.

   4. JRJoe Rogan45:08

      I was terrible at it.

   5. EHEddie Huang45:08

      Yeah. I got fired from a Boston market. I got fired from a waterworks. Like, I couldn't work anywhere.

   6. JRJoe Rogan45:14

      I got fired as a landscaper.

   7. EHEddie Huang45:16

      (laughs) Yeah.

   8. JRJoe Rogan45:16

      Fucked up people's lawns.

   9. EHEddie Huang45:17

      I couldn't do anything, but then it's like-

   10. JRJessica Rosenworcel45:19

       (laughs)

   11. EHEddie Huang45:19

       ... when you become in control of your own shit and you go do what you're passionate about, it's like, well, then I became successful. And I try to tell people all the time, like, "If this doesn't work for you, the straight and narrow doesn't work for you, like, think of a way... Thi- think about what you think your strengths are and play to that. Don't let anyone tell you you're a failure, you're unsuccessful 'cause you don't fit the stereotype."

   12. JRJessica Rosenworcel45:40

       You know, I think it's really important though for successful people like yourself to tell their failure stories. We don't do that enough.

   13. JRJoe Rogan45:47

       I think you're right.

   14. EHEddie Huang45:47

       Well, I mean, I lost a restaurant 'cause I sold all-you-can-drink Four Loko. Like, that was like... I went out in flames.

   15. JRJoe Rogan45:52

       Ah!

   16. EHEddie Huang45:53

       (laughs)

   17. JRJessica Rosenworcel45:53

       (laughs)

   18. EHEddie Huang45:53

       All-you-can-drink Four Loko-

   19. JRJoe Rogan45:54

       It sounds like a liability when that happens.

   20. EHEddie Huang45:56

       Yeah.

   21. JRJessica Rosenworcel45:56

       Okay, so you're, you're good at telling failure stories, but I think that that's true generally. I feel like I wish I could ask every member of Congress to tell a failure story.

   22. JRJoe Rogan46:05

       They would never do that. Those people are trying to pretend they're something different.

   23. JRJessica Rosenworcel46:08

       No, but it's, it's so important.

   24. EHEddie Huang46:10

       Yeah, what's your failure story?

   25. JRJessica Rosenworcel46:10

       Oh, I was a terrible law student.

   26. JRJoe Rogan46:12

       (laughs)

   27. EHEddie Huang46:12

       Okay. Anything more explosive, like, Four... Did you ever sell Four Loko at a lemonade stand?

   28. JRJessica Rosenworcel46:18

       (laughs) I c- I can tell you, I absolutely never did that and probably never will.

   29. EHEddie Huang46:24

       Any other failures?

   30. JRJessica Rosenworcel46:26

       Uh, yeah, I got some parenting failures that I'm gonna save my children from announcing in public, how about that?
5. 1:00:00 – 1:13:03

   But don't be toxic…

   1. EHEddie Huang1:00:00

   2. JRJoe Rogan1:00:00

      But don't be toxic about it.

   3. EHEddie Huang1:00:01

      Yeah.

   4. JRJoe Rogan1:00:02

      You could be, you could be, you could be peaceful about it.

   5. EHEddie Huang1:00:05

      Yeah. Joe, I love competition 'cause it... Number one, it's amazing to watch. Like, you know, lo- uh, uh, uh, Klitschko, Anthony Joshua-

   6. JRJoe Rogan1:00:14

      (laughs)

   7. EHEddie Huang1:00:14

      ... I think greatest fight of like the last 20 years.

   8. JRJoe Rogan1:00:16

      Amazing boxing match.

   9. EHEddie Huang1:00:17

      L- lived for that boxing match.

   10. JRJoe Rogan1:00:19

       Yeah.

   11. EHEddie Huang1:00:19

       Lomachenko-Rigondeaux, that's not competition, you know? Like that, that was-

   12. JRJoe Rogan1:00:23

       Well, that's an experience though. That's, that's an experience.

   13. EHEddie Huang1:00:26

       It's total just snatching of a soul. (laughs)

   14. JRJoe Rogan1:00:28

       Well, he's a different animal. Lomachenko is a different thing.

   15. EHEddie Huang1:00:31

       Yeah, The Matrix is crazy.

   16. JRJoe Rogan1:00:31

       Do you know the story about his dad, what his dad made him do?

   17. EHEddie Huang1:00:34

       No.

   18. JRJoe Rogan1:00:35

       Made him stop boxing and do a Ukrainian dance for four years. That's why he's got that ridiculous footwork.

   19. EHEddie Huang1:00:42

       Footwork.

   20. JRJessica Rosenworcel1:00:42

       Wow.

   21. JRJoe Rogan1:00:42

       Yeah. 'Cause his footwork is everything.

   22. EHEddie Huang1:00:44

       And I know he does a number association too-

   23. JRJoe Rogan1:00:46

       Yeah.

   24. EHEddie Huang1:00:46

       ... which is crazy, but what I was saying about competition is like, you know, peo- politicians are always, "We need competition. We need competition." I'm like, "But who is competing with service providers?" There is no competition. That's just-

   25. JRJoe Rogan1:00:58

       Yeah.

   26. EHEddie Huang1:00:58

       ... beating up on a bum, you know? It's like we, we all live to watch great competition, but you have to foster competitors. You need actual competitors for there to be competition.

   27. JRJoe Rogan1:01:08

       Imagine if what we're experiencing with internet was also with food. Imagine if like only a certain people could bring you your food.

   28. EHEddie Huang1:01:16

       Yeah.

   29. JRJoe Rogan1:01:16

       You know? Like, oh, you live in, uh, Charleston. Yeah, you gotta get your food from Mike.

   30. EHEddie Huang1:01:21

       Yeah, it's basically like growing up eating food in Orlando. There's like one in a category.

Episode duration: 1:25:08