Karl Marx’s books have contributed to more deaths than Joe Rogan’s podcast — should writers boycott stores that sell his works?

I know who Neil Young is, but I had to Google Joe Rogan this last week or so to find out who he is. The BBC reports:

Neil Young’s music is being removed from Spotify after the rock star called for the streaming platform to choose between him and podcaster Joe Rogan.

Accusing him of Covid misinformation, Young told Spotify this week: “They can have Rogan or Young. Not both.”

Spotify said “OK, Neil” and chose Rogan:

Spotify reportedly paid $100m (£75m) for rights to The Joe Rogan Experience podcast in 2020. The programme is the top podcast on Spotify, and is reportedly downloaded almost 200 million times a month.

I have generally been a supporter of private businesses doing business — or not — with who they want, even when I haven’t necessarily approved of what they’re doing. Many on the left have cheered as Big Tech companies have discriminated, acting on an undeniable bias in their direction. I trust they will accept Spotify’s decision in the case of Young vs. Rogan just as they accepted Apple and Google’s decision to cut off Parler.

But what of Neil Young? Shouldn’t we be surprised by a one-time rebel demanding a major corporation shut down speech he doesn’t agree with? Only a few years ago he was peddling his own scientific misinformation, dedicating an entire — bad — album to criticizing Monsanto and biotechnology.

And what of the principle? Even if we assume that the number of people killed by Joe Rogan’s alleged misinformation is greater than 0, it is still someway south of 100 million. That is the number of people estimated to have been killed by communism since 1917. Should writers demand that the works of Karl Marx be pulled from bookstore’s shelves?

For me, the answer is a clear ‘no’. Marx’s works are wrong and should be exposed as such. And, if you think Rogan is wrong, expose him. That is how a free society works.

H/T to the Libertarian Party of Tennessee.