AS HEADS IS TAILS: The hippies have become the cops.
You either die a rebel or live long enough to see yourself turn into a snowflake. The generation of free love and free expression have gradually transformed into the baton-wielders.
I’m referring to Neil Young’s demand that Spotify either pull his entire catalog or do away with Joe Rogan’s podcast. Spotify reportedly paid $100 million to acquire Rogan’s podcast in 2020. You’d imagine their contract includes legal bulwarks against such demands. Young is reportedly upset with Covid “misinformation” (the media’s new favorite vague term) and is no longer willing to abide by a streaming service that plays host to Rogan.
It took Spotify about three seconds to make their decision: Neil Young is no longer on their platform. Soon after, Joni Mitchell issued the same demand, as did some fella who played in a Bruce Springsteen cover band or something. Thus far, no artist on Spotify under the age of seventy has rallied against the streaming service.
Take a bow, flower children: you’ve officially become the authoritarians you always warned us about. Just as in politics, the hippies have decided they are not leaving our culture without a feeble hypocritical fight.
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These older musicians are demanding censorship and fealty to the Man. That should be Neil Young, Joni Mitchell and Howard Stern’s legacy from here on out.
Speaking of fealty to The Man: White House Advocates for Big Tech to Censor Health Experts They Disagree With.
Related: These Two Tech Platforms Are Standing Up to Twitter Mobs and Defending Free Expression.