Joe Rogan Experience #1857 - Seth Dillon

1. 0:00 – 15:00

   (drumbeats) Joe Rogan podcast,…

   1. JRJoe Rogan0:00

      (drumbeats) Joe Rogan podcast, check it out.

   2. SDSeth Dillon0:04

      The Joe Rogan Experience.

   3. JRJoe Rogan0:06

      Train by day, Joe Rogan podcast by night. All day. (instrumental music plays) Oh, hello, Seth.

   4. SDSeth Dillon0:14

      Hey, Joe.

   5. JRJoe Rogan0:14

      Nice to meet you. Officially. (laughs)

   6. SDSeth Dillon0:15

      Nice to meet you in person finally.

   7. JRJoe Rogan0:17

      Yeah, man. It's, uh, what has this been like for you? The Babylon Bee rise and attack, and all the chaos. Wh- when did you guys start?

   8. SDSeth Dillon0:28

      2016.

   9. JRJoe Rogan0:29

      What was the impetus?

   10. SDSeth Dillon0:32

       The impetus was, uh, nobody was doing it. You know? There's nobody that's, like, doing satirical comedy from, like, a conservative perspective, I guess. Um, Adam Forge is the guy that founded it, and, uh, and it just ... I mean, I don't know. There was a void there. Nobody was filling that void, so he's like ... He, he publishes this site using, like, a WordPress template and, like, puts out some articles, and they go viral so quick. Like, within two months, he's getting millions of visits, so. I don't know. He just had a sense that, like, somebody ... You know, there was so much comedy. Like, the left dominated comedy. They were just dominating it. Nobody-

   11. JRJoe Rogan1:09

       Why do you think that is?

   12. SDSeth Dillon1:09

       There was no answer to that. Um, that's a good question. I mean ... So ev- everything ... Like, all of these institutions, the insti- like, you know, the media, education institutions, corporations, all of these things, they're all dominated by the left. So, comedians, though ... I mean, as you know, there's been this, like, there's been this opportunity, this big opportunity to kind of, like, step in and provide comedy that makes jokes that the left isn't willing to make. And so they were dominating for a while, but now I think things have shifted, because you've got all these rules about what you can and can't joke about, and the people who are willing to make jokes that kind of, like, sidestep those rules, uh, they're, you know, they're meeting a demand.

   13. JRJoe Rogan1:53

       Yeah, the meme space, though, has always been very right wing in a lot of ways, because it's like the thing to make fun of. Because since the media has been so dominated by the left, whenever there's, like, a narrative that just gets pushed w- like, that sort of ignores logic and ignores reality, there's like a thing that happens where someone goes, "Yeah, but what about this?" And, like, that has been, like, the meme space. Like, memes have always been, like, very funny.

   14. SDSeth Dillon2:23

       Right.

   15. JRJoe Rogan2:23

       Like some of the really funny Trump memes and some of the very funny anti-Bi- Biden memes and COVID memes, they, they were kind of like on, on that vein.

   16. SDSeth Dillon2:32

       Yeah. Well, you know, yeah. When you've got a, when you've got a narrative that's being advanced and it's being pushed on everybody, you know, like, I don't know. I, I fe- ... My personal take on it is that comedian's job is to, like, poke holes in it, you know?

   17. JRJoe Rogan2:46

       Yeah.

   18. SDSeth Dillon2:47

       Try to, like, find its weak spots. Try to find, like, the hypocrisy. Try to expose whatever absurdity is there. Like, the narrative, you, you can't just buy the narrative as it is. You got to challenge it in some way. Comedy has a great way to do that. So, I don't know. I think comedy that challenges the narrative is, is key. And it's like that's what people are gonna find funny, because it's like you're trying to hold people in positions of power accountable. That's, like ... That is punching up, right? That's what comedy is supposed to do.

   19. JRJoe Rogan3:10

       (laughs)

   20. SDSeth Dillon3:10

       We're told, allegedly.

   21. JRJoe Rogan3:11

       Comedy is supposed to be funny. This whole punching up ... You know, when people... Cheers, by the way.

   22. SDSeth Dillon3:15

       Mm-hmm.

   23. JRJoe Rogan3:15

       Cheers. Salute.

   24. SDSeth Dillon3:16

       Cheers. Dude. My favorite far right extremist.

   25. JRJoe Rogan3:19

       (laughs)

   26. SDSeth Dillon3:21

       (laughs)

   27. JRJoe Rogan3:21

       Who's never voted Republican. (slurps) This, um ... The, that ... It's like this whole idea of, like, punching up or punching down. Things are just supposed to be funny. One of the best bits of all time is Sam Kinison's bit about starving people in Africa, and it's the most punching down bit in the history of comedy.

   28. SDSeth Dillon3:41

       (laughs)

   29. JRJoe Rogan3:41

       I mean, he's literally talking about starving children-

   30. SDSeth Dillon3:44

       Right.
2. 15:00 – 30:00

   Oh. …

   1. SDSeth Dillon15:00

      about how she was being compared to a duck to determine whether or not she was a witch. And then the... and the caption said, like, "We must burn her."

   2. JRJoe Rogan15:06

      Oh.

   3. SDSeth Dillon15:06

      And that was, and that was like, we said, "We must burn her." So, like, the, the, the automated system flagged that as, like, a threat.

   4. JRJoe Rogan15:13

      Mm.

   5. SDSeth Dillon15:13

      And then we appealed it, and somebody manually reviewed it and upheld the ruling that it was incitement to violence. We're like, "This is a Monty Python joke. This is crazy."

   6. JRJoe Rogan15:22

      Wow.

   7. SDSeth Dillon15:22

      But we've had that stuff happen on all those o-... It's ha-... It happens everywhere. It's just, Twitter is the one that's, like, going a step beyond and saying, "You have to acknowledge you did something wrong and delete this," and that's where it's, like, a little bit different.

   8. JRJoe Rogan15:31

      I think you guys getting banned from Twitter was one of, uh, the influences that led Elon to wanna purchase Twitter.

   9. SDSeth Dillon15:40

      Um-

   10. JRJoe Rogan15:40

       I mean, he hasn't talked about it publicly, but I know he had a real issue with it.

   11. SDSeth Dillon15:43

       I mean, I think, uh, I think it's one of them, yeah. I mean, I wouldn't say... And I'm never taking credit for it. Like, "Oh, we are the reason that Musk..." Because some people have said that, you know? Like, "Oh, he did this to save the Babylon Bee." I don't think Elon Musk is putting tens of billions of dollars on the line to try to save the Babylon Bee.

   12. JRJoe Rogan15:57

       No.

   13. SDSeth Dillon15:58

       But, but I think, I think he's, he's genuinely concerned about speech. You know, he's called Twitter the de facto town square. I think he's right. I mean, I think these platforms-

   14. JRJoe Rogan16:05

       Yeah.

   15. SDSeth Dillon16:05

       ... are the town square, and if free speech doesn't exist in the town square, then something's gotta be done about that. So, um, I don't know. I, I think that it factored in... It's one of those things. It's like, okay, the Babylon Bee can't even make jokes on this platform? Like, this is not a free speech platform.

   16. JRJoe Rogan16:21

       Well, it's not as simple as a private company anymore. It used to be, "It's a private company. They have their own rules." But when it's the number one platform for distributing information by average citizens, which is what it is-

   17. SDSeth Dillon16:34

       Right.

   18. JRJoe Rogan16:34

       ... it's a little bigger than that. And I don't know what the response to that... I don't think the response to that is, "Let's get the government involved and regulate it." But I think there, there's a responsibility that they have, and this is what Elon believes, that they have a responsibility to... L- you know, he's a free speech absolutist. He said, th- if this is what you guys are, 'cause it is what they are. They are the town square.

   19. SDSeth Dillon16:58

       Right.

   20. JRJoe Rogan16:58

       You have a responsibility to allow everyone to communicate. Otherwise, you create this divisive environment where it just divides the country even further, without the ability to discuss things. Like, without the ability for people to criticize that post that you guys made about Rachel Levine or laugh about it or make other memes or all these different things. With- without that ability-

   21. SDSeth Dillon17:25

       Right.

   22. JRJoe Rogan17:25

       ... then you're gonna get more people angry, more people that feel isolated, disenfranchised, and it creates a problem that we already have. It accelerates. It throws gasoline on a f-... a problem we already have, and that problem is this country's divided in a lot of ways. And it's divided in a lot of ways because of the narratives the, the media pushes, the fact that the vast majority of mainstream news and media is leaning to the left.

   23. SDSeth Dillon17:48

       Mm-hmm.

   24. JRJoe Rogan17:49

       And the, the ones that are on the right, you know, it's like, what do they have? They had OAN News and Newsmax, and they're just not that effective. They're not that... They're just too goofy.

   25. SDSeth Dillon17:59

       Right.

   26. JRJoe Rogan17:59

       And so, they, they were too easily criticis- criticized. They're goofy.

   27. SDSeth Dillon18:03

       Yeah.

   28. JRJoe Rogan18:03

       Like, the people that were on there were not, like, the best representations.

   29. SDSeth Dillon18:07

       Right, right.

   30. JRJoe Rogan18:07

       We're not talking about Ben Shapiro. We're not talking about, you know, intelligent, right-wing punt-... Matt Walsh. These guys who are intelligent, right-wing pundits and-
3. 30:00 – 45:00

   Well, let me push…

   1. SDSeth Dillon30:00

      better for people? There was an interesting, um, study-

   2. JRJoe Rogan30:03

      Well, let me push back on that-

   3. SDSeth Dillon30:04

      ... that was done.

   4. JRJoe Rogan30:04

      ... because here's the-

   5. SDSeth Dillon30:04

      Sure.

   6. JRJoe Rogan30:04

      ... the problem with the transgender thing is, this is the elephant in the room, is that it's easy to make fun of a very obvious male that wants to be a woman.

   7. SDSeth Dillon30:16

      Yeah.

   8. JRJoe Rogan30:17

      They, they, you know, if you attack them or you m- I shouldn't say attack. If you mock them and belittle them, like, there's nothing they can do that turns them into the physical form of a female. Like, if Rachel Levine was attacked in jokes or was, someone criticized her or mocked her in jokes-... it's not like fat-shaming, right? Like, there's an argument, like, fat-shaming, like, this is- the reason why you're upset is because you've eaten yourself into this position.

   9. SDSeth Dillon30:47

      Mm-hmm.

   10. JRJoe Rogan30:48

       You know, this is your own doing. And you can actually not eat yourself out of it. You can exercise your way out of it. And many, many, many people have done that-

   11. SDSeth Dillon30:55

       Right.

   12. JRJoe Rogan30:56

       ... where they've actually become smaller again.

   13. SDSeth Dillon30:57

       Right.

   14. JRJoe Rogan30:57

       It's almost the same argument you would say about people who are handicapped. Like, if you mock a handicap person, they're not gonna go, "You know what? I sh- shouldn't be handicapped anymore."

   15. SDSeth Dillon31:06

       Right.

   16. JRJoe Rogan31:06

       "This, this criticism is really getting me to the point where I'm gonna be mobile."

   17. SDSeth Dillon31:09

       Right.

   18. JRJoe Rogan31:09

       Like, they can't do anything about it, right?

   19. SDSeth Dillon31:11

       Right. Yeah, th- Right.

   20. JRJoe Rogan31:11

       So, she can't necessarily do anything about her physical appearance. And, y- you know, that, that is the, that's the argument. It's... But it's a slippery slope.

   21. SDSeth Dillon31:23

       I'm just speaking in general terms about this idea that, like, doing everything that you can in your power to moderate speech to keep people safe from i- ideas or jokes that might hurt them is not necessarily helping them.

   22. JRJoe Rogan31:36

       Right.

   23. SDSeth Dillon31:36

       In fact, I think it can be harmful. And what I w- was, I was gonna mention this study that was done at the, by this nonprofit group in New York. And they were taking a look at the playgrounds in New York, and they were studying, like, whether or not... They were trying to answer the question whether or not the playgrounds had been made too safe. And they actually determined that they had. It was this weird thing. Like, all these make... All these playgrounds had been, like, redone so that they had really cushy, soft flooring, and you couldn't really fall from any heights or get hurt on these playgrounds. And what they found was that it was actually teaching kids that, like, falling on the ground doesn't hurt you. And, like, that doesn't help kids, you know? They learn on the playground that they don't get hurt when they fall, and then they go climb a tree over a sidewalk and, and fall, and it does hurt, and it shocks them, and they, and they're learning the hard way, you know. Now, they got a broken arm. I think that some of the efforts, it's one of these things that's just, like, a self-defeating thing, you know. You try to create a safe space, a safe environment. In some cases, I think you actually do more harm because you're, you're protecting people from what, you know? Like, uh, l- like I said before, I mean, like, being the target of a joke, like, I don't know. I don't want anybody telling me that, like, "Oh, you can't joke about me because you, you might hurt me." Like, I think that's offensive. That's more offensive than any joke you could tell to my face. 'Cause-

   24. JRJoe Rogan32:45

       Well, the other p- uh, argument in your, your case, uh, with the Rachel Levine thing, is that we're being forced to say something that some people don't agree with.

   25. SDSeth Dillon32:56

       Right, right.

   26. JRJoe Rogan32:56

       This is not... Like, they're forcing this opinion as fact, and there's a narrative-

   27. SDSeth Dillon33:03

       Yeah.

   28. JRJoe Rogan33:04

       ... that a transgender person is a woman. And some- a lot of people support that, but a lot of people don't support that.

   29. SDSeth Dillon33:10

       Right.

   30. JRJoe Rogan33:10

       So, there's a debate, right?
4. 45:00 – 1:00:00

   I don't ... I…

   1. JRJoe Rogan45:00

      when the fetus i- uh, like liter- literally it's like six weeks, four weeks, three days. What if she just turned positive, just now, positive for pregnancy?

   2. SDSeth Dillon45:09

      I don't ... I ... Well, I just disagree that you can-

   3. JRJoe Rogan45:10

      What if it just happened today?

   4. SDSeth Dillon45:11

      ... that you can, like, draw a line on when-

   5. JRJoe Rogan45:12

      Right.

   6. SDSeth Dillon45:13

      You can't-

   7. JRJoe Rogan45:13

      Like once life has begun-

   8. SDSeth Dillon45:13

      So you can't do ... At the very moment-

   9. JRJoe Rogan45:15

      ... I don't think you can draw lines.

   10. SDSeth Dillon45:15

       Like, if you can ... If someone came inside of someone-

   11. JRJoe Rogan45:18

       (laughs)

   12. SDSeth Dillon45:18

       ... and they crack the egg, and then bam, they took a plan B. You shouldn't do that? Uh, well, that ... I mean, that's ... If it's preventing the pregnancy from occurring-

   13. JRJoe Rogan45:26

       No, no.

   14. SDSeth Dillon45:27

       ... that's different.

   15. JRJoe Rogan45:27

       It's a ... It's an abortion.

   16. SDSeth Dillon45:28

       Yeah.

   17. JRJoe Rogan45:28

       That's what plan B is. It makes your body abort the conceived pregnancy. That's what it does.

   18. SDSeth Dillon45:34

       Is it?

   19. JRJoe Rogan45:35

       I mean, I'm pretty sure.

   20. SDSeth Dillon45:37

       Well-

   21. JRJoe Rogan45:37

       Let's, let's Google it. I know that women used to do something similar. They would take, like, a shit ton of birth control pills.

   22. SDSeth Dillon45:42

       If it prevents the conception, it's different than if it's terminating.

   23. JRJoe Rogan45:45

       No, no. It's terminating.

   24. SDSeth Dillon45:46

       Yeah.

   25. JRJoe Rogan45:46

       I'm 90% sure it's terminating. I think it's after conception. That's what the whole idea of it. That's why it's plan B. Plan A is don't get pregnant. Plan B-

   26. SDSeth Dillon45:54

       All I'm, all I'm saying is it's real. It, it, it's real. What you're saying is real, and those are tough situations. It's also real that sometimes these babies are born, and they do, and, and they grow up to be real people with feelings. They're alive, they're humans, and they're pro-life.

   27. JRJoe Rogan46:06

       Here's the-

   28. SDSeth Dillon46:07

       Most of them.

   29. JRJoe Rogan46:07

       Can we get, click on that so I get the full sentence? 'Cause it seems like it keeps going. All right. Here it is. Uh, "The morning-after pill is a type of emergency birth control contraception. Emergency contraception is used to prevent pregnancy for women who've had unprotected sex or whose birth control method has failed."

   30. SDSeth Dillon46:24

       All right. Prevent pregnancy, right?
5. 1:00:00 – 1:08:37

   Well, yeah. I mean,…

   1. JRJoe Rogan1:00:00

      at stake instantly.

   2. SDSeth Dillon1:00:02

      Well, yeah. I mean, yeah, there's another form or a developing one.

   3. JRJoe Rogan1:00:05

      Your, your perspective is.

   4. SDSeth Dillon1:00:05

      Yeah, a developing one. Yeah.

   5. JRJoe Rogan1:00:06

      Yeah.

   6. SDSeth Dillon1:00:06

      Its size and location and, and d- degree of development is different, obviously, but that's true of a two-year-old from a 30-year-old. I mean, it's, we, we go through development for a very long period of time.

   7. JRJoe Rogan1:00:15

      Richard Dawkins once, Richa- Richard Dawkins once tweeted something about how a human embryo at whatever stage isn't distinguishable from a pig embryo. And I'm like-

   8. SDSeth Dillon1:00:26

      Richard Dawkins said that?

   9. JRJoe Rogan1:00:27

      Yeah. Yeah. See if you can find that. And I was like, "That's crazy," because the human embryo will become a person.

   10. SDSeth Dillon1:00:32

       Yeah.

   11. JRJoe Rogan1:00:32

       Like, how can you even say that? That doesn't make any sense.

   12. SDSeth Dillon1:00:34

       Yeah.

   13. JRJoe Rogan1:00:34

       Like that-

   14. SDSeth Dillon1:00:35

       Yeah.

   15. JRJoe Rogan1:00:35

       Just 'cause it does look real similar-

   16. SDSeth Dillon1:00:37

       One is, one is a human... One's a human, a developing human, and the other is a developing pig. (laughs)

   17. JRJoe Rogan1:00:41

       Yeah, it's nonsense. It's nonsense. It's, it's like-

   18. SDSeth Dillon1:00:43

       It's not an alien. It's not an animal.

   19. JRJoe Rogan1:00:45

       He must've been drinking.

   20. SDSeth Dillon1:00:46

       Yeah.

   21. JRJoe Rogan1:00:48

       Yeah. With respect to those meanings of human that are relevant to the mortali- morality of abortion, any fetus is less human than an adult pig.

   22. SDSeth Dillon1:00:59

       That's silly.

   23. JRJoe Rogan1:01:00

       Wow.

   24. SDSeth Dillon1:01:01

       It's a human in development.

   25. JRJoe Rogan1:01:02

       That's even worse than I thought it was.

   26. SDSeth Dillon1:01:03

       (laughs)

   27. JRJoe Rogan1:01:03

       Let's even... That is, that's wor- I was more charitable with my description of that tweet.That's ridiculous. Oh, I tweeted right on you-

   28. SDSeth Dillon1:01:12

       And twe- Did you reply to it?

   29. JRJoe Rogan1:01:13

       Yeah.

   30. SDSeth Dillon1:01:13

       Yeah, le-

Episode duration: 2:56:17