Podcast host amplified debunked claim about furries spread by Republican politicians

The Guardian quoted Yotam Ophir in an article on podcast host Joe Rogan acknowledging that he spread misinformation after he suggested that elementary schools were installing litter boxes for students who “identify” as furries. “My concern here is that throughout history when dangerous political leaders wanted to promote propaganda at the expense of vulnerable populations, a key strategy was to compare populations to animals,” said Ophir. “Even if Joe Rogan doesn’t say it explicitly, what I hear as someone who studies propaganda is that he’s suggesting that [members of] the LGBTQ+ community are unnatural, almost non-human. We know from the past that people feel much more comfortable attacking humans when they don’t see them as humans anymore.”