Joe Rogan shares bold perspective on tackling inevitable dark sides to free speech: "Those people become heroes"

Joe Rogan recently had rock music legend Bono over on his podcast, The Joe Rogan Experience. Bono, real name Paul David Hewson, is the frontman of the legendary band U2.

The 65-year-old rockstar is one of the most recognizable icons in the business, and is known to use his voice and platform for activism. On the podcast, the two discussed numerous social issues.

Among the many things they spoke on was the complexity of freedom of speech. When the topic came up, Rogan said (1:06:56):

"Like, look, the way to combat bad speech is with better speech. The way to find out whose arguments are correct is to let them debate in the marketplace of free ideas, and expose these people for what they are. And have the people that are on the sidelines that are letting these great thinkers have these discussions say, 'Okay, this guy makes sense. This guy is clearly a grifter. This guy has ulterior motives..."

He continued:

"The problem with free speech is you're also going to get a lot of ugliness because there's a lot of ugliness in the world. You're going to get a lot of people that say horrible things. And I think the only way we sort through all that is you have to let them. And then you have to let people rise up that oppose those horrible ideas. And those people become heroes."

Listen to Joe Rogan here (1:06:56 for his comments):

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Bono tells Joe Rogan how humor helps in fighting hate speech

Building on what Joe Rogan said, Bono added that humor helps convey the message across better. In his battle against hate speech, the Irish singer cited how humor can help alleviate tension and further bridge a connection with people.

Citing how members of the KKK were allowed to rally in the spirit of freedom of speech, Bono said (1:08:10):

"The Klux clan -- you mentioned the silly costumes -- they don't like that. It's like, they want you to be afraid or you want to be nervous but it's like, 'Dude, look at the stage gear! You're a ghost. Like, come on!"

The two then talked about Daryl Davis, a black man and a previous JRE guest who is famous for convincing dozens of Klansmen to leave and later denounce the KKK. When it comes to freedom of speech, it takes courage to hear the sentiments of your perceived enemies to find out that they aren't enemies at all - but friends waiting to be found.