German farmers recently made headlines for setting up tractor convoy blockades across the European nation, in protest of government tax hikes and subsidy cuts for agricultural diesel. This event caught the attention of comedian and podcaster Joe Rogan.
In a recent episode of the Joe Rogan Experience podcast, Rogan launched into an expletive-laden critique of the German government.
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“How about let them be f—— farmers, you f—— c—-,” he expressed vehemently.
Rogan questioned the rationale behind a country’s government antagonizing its farmers — the very people responsible for feeding the nation.
“They’re the people that grow your food, goddamn it,” he asserted. “Wake up, wake up to why anybody would do that … What government would make it harder on the farmers?”
For its part, the German government is in a tough spot fiscally. A constitutional court ruling in the fall has forced it to revise its budget, resulting in a shortfall of €30 billion ($32.6 billion) for 2024. And it’s left the government under immense pressure to balance its budget, while also trying to find ways to meet its carbon emission commitments.
Rogan, however, argued that the government should prioritize other, more pressing issues instead of targeting the agricultural sector. Rogan posed rhetorical questions to highlight the range of societal problems he believes should take precedence: “You’re telling me that that’s your number one problem is the farmers? How much crime do you have? How many murders? How many thieves? How many rapists?”
He then firmly concluded, “And you’re going after farmers? There’s no way that’s positive.”
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Rogan’s outburst underscored the significance of agriculture, a sector vital to any country for an obvious reason: we all need to eat. In the U.S., the federal government allocates over $30 billion annually to farm business subsidies and agricultural support, according to the Cato Institute.
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Cows and climate
In that same podcast episode, Rogan didn’t limit his criticism to Germany; he also scrutinized Ireland. He took issue with a proposal by Ireland’s Department of Agriculture to cull 200,000 cows in an effort to address climate change and meet the EU’s climate goals.
Rogan posited that the real problem lies in pollution from coal power plants, not methane emissions from cows. He proposes nuclear power as a solution.
“If you think you have a carbon problem, and you have thousands of coal power plants that are just pumping into the actual air that we all breathe — that’s way worse, kids, and that can be fixed with nuclear power,” Rogan stated.
“That’s what we should be concentrating on, not killing f—— 2,000 cows in Ireland or whatever the f— they’re doing,” he added.
Rogan acknowledged the inherent risks of nuclear power, referencing past disasters. However, he expressed optimism about our improved ability to manage such risks today.
“In our mind we connect nuclear power to destroying the environment, danger, Chernobyl, ruin forever, which is true in those areas. It is absolutely true. It’s also true that it doesn’t have to be that way. It’s also true that they know how to do it better now. It’s also true that they have better methods of containing these plants and they can actually shut them down now, unlike the Fukushima one,” he remarked.
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