Agree to Disagree But… | Joe Rogan | Super Bowl | The Mister Brown Show
In this episode of The Mister Brown Show, we are going to talk about agreeing to disagree, Joe Rogan, self-depreciation, the Super Bowl, Valentine’s Day, and multiple controversies; because on The Mister Brown Show, we do “Real Talk, Real Life, Real Choices.”
Welcome To The Mister Brown Show!
Have you ever had the feeling that you should be doing something specific, but then you don’t do it? That feeling is what drives me to do this podcast. I want to be real with you all, because here on The Mister Brown Show, we do “Real Talk, Real Life, Real Choices.”
When I first started public speaking I spoke about sex education in schools. Kids resonated with me because I was willing to open up and actually talk about it. I didn’t ‘tip-toe’ around the topic or breeze through it to get it over with. My goal was, and still is, to uplift the best choice.
I want to use this podcast to talk about current events, but more importantly, to be encouraging. There is already so much negativity in the world, I don’t want to add to it. Now, I don’t want to ignore things or never talk about the negative; but I want to talk about it in a way that can be positive and encouraging!
There are enough things in this world that are pulling you down, you shouldn’t be one of them. Let me say that one more time. There are enough things in this world that are pulling you down, you shouldn’t be one of them. This quote brings to mind the idea of self-deprecation. According to Merriam-Webster’s dictionary, self-deprecation is “disparagement or undervaluation of oneself.” I was in a classroom one time when a student was doing exactly this. He was saying things like “I’m stupid, I’m stupid, I’m stupid;” he was being self-deprecating. I asked this student to tell me one good thing about himself and all he said was “I dunno.” So I turned to the classroom and asked them to tell me something positive about this student. Every single student said something nice about him, even the girl that he has been bullying. The moral of this story is that we have to look for the good in order to build on it. We have to change our focus towards positive things so we can build more good things upon the initial good thing.
One of my goals is to help students so they can move forward. Even if your situations are bad and horrible, you still have the power to choose how you are going to respond; and that choice can change your life! I want to be a source of inspiration and encouragement, as well as motivation. I am BLESSED with the opportunity to influence people’s lives who I may never even meet! Who you are influences what you do, not the other way around. We need to be faithful where we are and do our best in each moment. Your influence doesn’t stop with your job. Your job can change, but your influence won’t. We all make mistakes sometimes too, so let's just keep moving forward and building on the good. Because when you make better choices, you will live a better life. So choose well. Oh yeah!
Coming Up Next
I will be launching a new podcast schedule! I plan to release podcasts on the 1st and 15th of each month. They may be a little longer, but now you know the schedule so you can go mark your calendars!
Tomorrow, February 16th, I will be going live to talk about “The Complicated Relationship With Social Media.” Kids today are running to social media for approval, acceptance, and affirmation; and they are doing crazy things to get it. They do it because they simply want to be seen. I don’t necessarily desire to be on social media, but I want to be a light and provide encouragement on platforms that can be so negative.
Find me on social media at:
Quote Of The Day
Do you think we are becoming ‘meaner’? I will be honest, the way that we are treating people is bad. We are treating people as objects instead of people. We use labels and name-calling to try and dismiss people so we don’t have to acknowledge their humanity. This is why today’s Quote Of The Day is:
“Agree to disagree, but commit to decency.”
We need to remember that people are human. Now, I don’t think we can all hold hands singing “kumbayah” where everyone agrees on everything, but I am saying that we can be respectful. We have to stop labeling and calling people names. These labels are being used to segregate, divide, and dismiss people. Just because an individual agreed with a political policy that former President Trump had, does not mean that person should automatically be labeled a ‘Trump Supporter.’ Similarly, just because an individual agreed with a point made by Black Lives Matter does not mean that individual should be labeled a ‘BLM Supporter.’
We have to be better. We cannot try to ‘cancel’ someone’s entire life based on one thing that was said. We have to stop labeling people as a means of segregating them so we don’t have to associate with or speak to people who are not the same label as us. “Agree to disagree, but commit to decency.” Commit to being decent and respectful.
The last point I want to make about our Quote Of The Day is that students and kids do not like hypocrisy. They like when people are honest. Kids who see us adults being honest and agreeing to disagree will learn way more from us than if we call people names and dismiss them for something they said. We need to be role models for decency and respect and I challenge you to be that role model.
Happy Super Bowl & Valentines Day?
Did you have a Valentine this year? I certainly have a wonderful Valentine! My wife Andrea wrote all the things she loves about each of us on little paper hearts and then stuck them to each of our bedroom doors. [Check it out at https://www.instagram.com/thelifewiththebrowns/] In the Brown household, we like to celebrate Brown-entines Day. We wait until the day after Valentine's Day and then we go out to all of the stores and buy all of the deeply discounted candy and gifts. It is a really fun activity that we like to do as a family to celebrate.
Happy Super Bowl day? I feel like the Super Bowl gets treated like a holiday. Our family didn’t have a big party or anything like that, we just spent the day together. My son Evan loved watching all of the State Farm commercials and quoting the super fast narrator at the end of each commercial. I want to take a moment to talk about the controversy around the halftime show. There is controversy about something that shouldn’t be controversial. Sometimes people will inject meaning into things to try and get clicks or likes. The halftime show really was not nostalgic for me because I listened to the lyrics of the songs. If the majority of your work is degrading to women and degrading certain lifestyles, that is a problem. The beat can be really good, but what you consume will someday consume you. Music is powerful.
What are your thoughts? Did Eminem kneeling during his performance demonstrate his solidarity with Colin Kaepernick, or was it simply part of his performance? Are we injecting meaning into something when it wasn’t the original meaning? Does kneeling only mean one thing now? I thought it was simply part of his performance, what do you think?
Sometimes we create controversy where there shouldn't be.
Should the Joe Rogan controversy be a controversy? Should he be canceled? Let’s talk about it!
Here is my take on this controversy. Joe Rogan had two very educated people on his show whose views were contrary to mainstream information regarding covid. He provided them with a platform to explain their views and their reasoning behind them. For example, Dr. McCullough was one of his guests and he made the point that while he was in D.C. there was zero discussion on treatments for covid, only conversations about the vaccine. So now Joe Rogan is ‘in trouble’ because he let two very educated men on his show and let them explain their point of view? He is being ‘canceled’ because he let people have a voice? What Joe Rogan did is called journalism. It is called free speech.
What happened to “inaccurate” and “accurate information”? Why is it now called “Misinformation and Disinformation”? Why is Joe Rogan being labeled as spreading ‘misinformation’ for simply doing what journalism has done for years by giving people a voice? In today’s society we are being spoon-fed our information according to what the government or media want us to know. Can I decide for myself? Can I look at and evaluate information on my own and formulate my own decision like a responsible adult? Social media platforms are even adding disclaimers to any videos or content that mention covid in order to direct people to “the right information.”
When Spotify and American citizens would not cancel Joe Rogan for having these two guests on his show, people decided to create a mash-up of Joe Rogan saying racial slurs. The clips were taken out of context and mashed together to drive home the point that “Joe Rogan needs to be canceled!” Joe Rogan even apologized and said that in the mashup version he would be offended by what he said too. Even though the context of when he used the slurs were never aimed at a person or meant in the context that the mash-up implied. This makes me think of the question, “Is there a statute of limitations?” Are we going to go back to something that someone said when they were in 8th grade? In 5th grade? How far back can we go? We all have things we wish we had never said, so is there a limit on how far back people are going to dig in order to find the one wrong thing we said that supports their argument to cancel us?
This concept makes me think of a story in the Bible in the book of John, chapter 8. A town was going to stone a woman who had been caught in adultery. Jesus bent down and wrote something in the sand. He then stood up and said, “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.” Then, one-by-one they all dropped their stones and walked away. He who has no sin can cast the first stone. The point was not to actually cast any stones. The point was that nobody is without sin. So why are we trying to dismiss people who said something in their past?
We have rejected God, and that is the ultimate problem. I heard it said this way once, “God created man in his own image, and then man tried to do the same thing.” I see a whole bunch of people who are not being decent. We have to remember that none of us are without mistake or without sin. We can “Agree to disagree, but commit to decency.” By coming together we can create better solutions.
Should the Joe Rogan controversy be a controversy? I don’t think so. He apologized, and we need to move on. No one is perfect, and it is all about progress, not perfection!
