NJ native is currently the world’s most famous — and infamous — guy (Opinion)

You can't turn on a news program, talk show, or check out a news feed on your favorite internet source without seeing his name for the last week. Joe Rogan was born in Newark, NJ, the son of a Newark cop.

His parents divorced when he was 5 years old, and he moved to California. But you can tell he has Jersey roots from his attitude and his down-to-earth nature. He is an actor, stand-up comedian, mixed martial arts master and currently the host of one of the most downloaded podcasts in the world.

In May 2020 he signed with the platform Spotify for $100 million over five years. The reason he is so popular is simple. He is a regular guy. Rogan asks the kind of questions any curious, skeptical person would like a journalist, but he's not.

Most journalists today just repeat the narrative that is given to them or allowed to be told by their corporate masters. Joe Rogan is just a guy with a microphone who says interesting things and asks the kind of questions journalists should be asking.

He is being attacked for being curious about things that don't make sense to people with the great credentials to answer them.

This threatens the people in power and the mainstream corporate media who either don't have the independence or the balls to simply try to get to the truth. The media has never been weaker, more corrupt and out of touch in our lifetime. Our First Amendment rights to free speech are being threatened by the powerful, the cowardly and the ignorant.

Most people who are critical of Rogan or want him censored haven't even heard his podcast. He's not a Trump-supporting far-right-wing conservative. He supported Bernie Sanders a few years ago. He just talks to the people the media shuns and has cast aside. So, a Jersey guy like Joe Rogan has risen to the occasion and done what the media should be doing. And he's being crucified for it.

We live in strange and dangerous times.

Opinions expressed in the post above are those of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Dennis Malloy only.

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