626 avsnitt • Längd: 50 min • Veckovis: Måndag
Dismantling New Age cults, wellness grifters, and conspiracy-mad yogis. At best, the conspirituality movement attacks public health efforts in times of crisis. At worst, it fronts and recruits for the fever-dream of QAnon. As the alt-right and New Age horseshoe toward each other in a blur of disinformation, clear discourse, and good intentions get smothered. Charismatic influencers exploit their followers by co-opting conspiracy theories on a spectrum of intensity ranging from vaccines to child trafficking. In the process, spiritual beliefs that have nurtured creativity and meaning are transforming into memes of a quickly-globalizing paranoia. Conspirituality Podcast attempts to bring understanding to this landscape. A journalist, a cult researcher, and a philosophical skeptic discuss the stories, cognitive dissonances, and cultic dynamics tearing through the yoga, wellness, and new spirituality worlds. Mainstream outlets have noticed the problem. We crowd-source, research, analyze, and dream answers to it.
The podcast Conspirituality is created by Derek Beres, Matthew Remski, Julian Walker. The podcast and the artwork on this page are embedded on this page using the public podcast feed (RSS).
Someone’s got dirt on RFK Jr. MAHA voters went MAGA because Bobby said he was going to end vaccine mandates—their code for ending vaccines, period. No longer would food be dyed and oils be made of seeds. Everyone would get free gym memberships. America’s chronic disease epidemic would end overnight, as he’s repeatedly claimed.
Then Mr Kennedy goes to Washington only to declare that antisemitism is a public health crisis? And to say that the MMR vaccine is the most effective way to prevent measles? How could he say such a thing when, as Mikki Willis recently claimed, this “version” of measles is a bioweapon designed to infect the Mennonite population?
This week we look way too deeply into Candace Owens’s recent episodes about the blackmailing of RFK Jr, a story that quickly spread its tentacles into the microphones of a number of contrarian right-wing podcasters. We’ll give you the lowdown on the story and how, like a children’s game of telephone, it repeatedly got distorted and reframed with every mind it touched.
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When the aliens landed, they told a young musician and wannabe race car driver that he was the chosen one, and they were the real gods. He should build them an embassy with a UFO landing pad in order to prepare humanity for their arrival. They taught him the secrets of sex meditation and cloning DNA as a way to keep switching bodies and never die.
Not much in his story was original, but this was the 1970s, so free love hippies flocked to his French commune—then it all turned to shit. Somehow Claude kept landing on his feet. He took his schtick to Quebec, then Japan, and even found thousands of followers in Africa. Still no embassy, no divine alien arrival, no cloned human babies—but he kept raising funds from the gullible and living like a king with a ballerina bride 40 years his junior.
For the latest installment in Roots of Conspirituality series, Julian muses on the epic tale of the Raelians.
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When cultural and psychological anthropologist Katie Rose Hejtmanek set out to study Crossfit, she knew she had to throw herself into it fully. For seven years, she traveled to “boxes” around the world while committing herself to her local Brooklyn box. What she uncovered was a rabid fan base that deeply values community and a business model that offers a refreshing response to unfettered capitalism—as well as the misogyny, racism, and militarized Christian themes that inform this beloved and despised fitness regimen. She joins Derek to discuss her new book, The Cult of CrossFit: Christianity and the American Exercise Phenomenon.
The Cult of CrossFit: Christianity and the American Exercise Phenomenon
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"In order to have the future we want, we have to build and invent more of the things we need."
That’s the central claim of Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson’s new book, Abundance. They argue that Democrat-run cities and states have suffered self-inflicted wounds that are causing a mass exodus to red states, where life is simply more affordable. To stop the bleeding, Dems need to take action on a bold new vision that cuts through red tape to improve people’s lives and address the crises in housing, climate, healthcare and politics.
But many on the left are suspicious. Is this just Reaganomics wrapped up in the intellectualized language of the NY Times? Is Abundance the privileged prosperity gospel for white liberals?
Show Notes
The Abundance Agenda: Neoliberalism’s Rebrand
Summary of Abundance Critiques
Politico: False Choice Between Abundance and Antitrust
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It's been quite the week at HHS with Robert F Kennedy Jr in charge. Derek considers what's been going on: Bobby's announcement that he's going to "determine" the cause of autism by September; his social media marketing-driven visit to grieving families in Texas; his pivot on the MMR vaccine; and his recommendation to the CDC that fluoride be removed from public water supplies.
Show Notes
RFK Jr. says HHS will determine the cause of autism by September
RFK Jr. says he plans to tell CDC to stop recommending fluoride in drinking water
What RFK Jr. Told Grieving Texas Families About the Measles Vaccine
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Jay Bhattacharya, Covid contrarian and co-author of the Great Barrington Declaration, is now the Director of the NIH. The day before beginning his new job, he gave his first official interview to Bari Weiss on her podcast, Honestly. Derek and Julian discuss.
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There’s a mystery of violence swirling in and amongst the kids these days. Especially boys. What could it be? Snapchat? Video games? Andrew Tate? A hit Netflix series points to issues, and policy. But is it pointing in the right direction?
Today we’ll look at “Adolescence”: the origin story, the strengths and liabilities of its one-take technique, and its deceptively conservative messaging. Should it be shown in Parliament? Schools? Does it tell us much about the kids it is worried about? Does it offload responsibility for misogyny and violence onto ambient internet chaos, when there are so many other causes closer to home? And why, if it is a meditation on violence committed by boys, do we learn so little about the girls who are harmed?
___
Correction: In the episode, Matthew said that Axel Rudakabana was of South Asian descent. He was born in the UK of parents from Rwanda.
Teachers Warn That Misogynist Andrew Tate Has 'Radicalized' School-Age Boys
180: Is This the Next Andrew Tate?
Stephen Graham shares the heartbreaking stories that inspired Netflix's Adolescence
'Adolescence' Becomes Netflix's Most-Watched Limited Series in First 2 Weeks With 66.3 Million Views
Elon Musk blasted for spreading 'concerning' misinformation about Netflix's Adolescence
Netflix’s Adolescence makes TV history in the UK
Netflix's Adolescence inspired by true story of Croydon girl's horrific murder - MyLondon
UK experts warn of dangers of violent content being readily available online | Southport attack
Croydon schoolgirl Elianne Andam stabbed in ‘white-hot anger’, court told | UK news
Hassan Sentamu sentencing remarks
Sentencing Remarks: In the matter of the murder of Ava White
Crime in England and Wales: year ending September 2024
The facts about firearm violence
Firearm Violence in the United States | Center for Gun Violence Solutions
Beyond the Headlines 2024 Summary | Youth Endowment Fund
Spotify takes down Andrew Tate ‘pimping’ podcast after complaints
Kyle Clifford watched Andrew Tate videos before triple murder
The Terrifying Truth Behind Netflix’s ‘Adolescence’
Stephen Graham Netflix series Adolescence inspired by two real-life crimes
"Objective realism," ethnographic cinema, and the classical model of visual-anthropological research
GCSEs harm our young people. Ministers should have the guts to abolish them – and start again
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Part Two: Matthew remembers the snow job of “The Sound of Music.” Also: more on Sophie Scholl, introducing the Edelweiss Pirates, the “adult gaze”, what trusting kids means, notes from Emma Goldman and Janusz Korczak, and excerpts from a poem by Aku Päiviö, father of Jules, who traveled from Northern Ontario to Spain in 1937 to volunteer in the International Brigade.
____
When fascism rises, and some young people are drawn into its orbit, because everyone from Jordan Peterson to Andrew Tate has figured out how to exploit resentment at the failures of capitalism, we have an opportunity to give our kids a lot more than moralistic calls for a return to normalcy, compliance, warnings about screen time, striving to be better students, doing more sports, and not making too much of a ruckus.
The kind of parenting that limits itself to restoring the status quo for younger people in an age of fascism is not engaged parenting.
It’s not enough to be a good boy or girl. Antifascism takes more than that.
Op-ed: Try again, President Kumar: Renewing calls for Tufts to adopt March 4 TCU Senate resolutions
Death toll since Israel's aggression on Gaza on October 7 rises to 31,819 (March, 2024)
Austerity Has Always Been a Project to Empower Capital at the Expense of Workers
It's Not Them; It's Us: Thoughts on the Show Adolescence
Netflix’s ‘Adolescence’ Taps Into the Latest Moral Panic
UK government's own estimate says welfare cuts to push 250,000 into poverty | Reuters
55: Games Against Humanity (w/ Thi Nguyen) — Conspirituality
207: Gaming Realities (w/Thi Nguyen) — Conspirituality
Reminder to the media: Research video games before reporting on them
Out of the Ruins:The Emergence of Radical Informal Learning Spaces
Anarchist Education and the Modern School: A Francisco Ferrer Reader
The People's Republic of Neverland: The Child versus the State
Raising Free People: Unschooling as Liberation and Healing Work
Teaching Resistance: Radicals, Revolutionaries, and Cultural Subversives in the Classroom
TRUST KIDS! Stories on Youth Autonomy and Confronting Adult Supremacy
Refusing Complicity: The Bravery of Sophie Scholl - Radical Tea Towel
Sophie Scholl and the youth resistance against the Nazis – DW – 02/22/2023
The majority of news influencers are conservative men, study finds
The politics of The Sound of Music | Peter Levine
The Edelweiss Pirates: A Story of Freedom, Love and Life
The Child and Its Enemies | The Anarchist Library —Emma Goldman
DECLARATION OF CHILDREN'S RIGHTS—Janusz Korczak
The King of Children: A Biography of Janusz Korczak - Betty Jean Lifton
Sophie Scholl – The Final Days
Remember the Mac-Paps - rabble.ca
The Canadians In The Spanish Civil War
'Gentleman Jules' lived for just causes | Sudbury Star
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But the parents? Meh.
When fascism rises, and some young people are drawn into its orbit, because everyone from Jordan Peterson to Andrew Tate has figured out how to exploit resentment at the failures of capitalism, we have an opportunity to give our kids a lot more than moralistic calls for a return to normalcy, compliance, warnings about screen time, striving to be better students, doing more sports, and not making too much of a ruckus (as Marco Rubio calls it).
The kind of parenting that limits itself to restoring the status quo for younger people in an age of fascism is not engaged parenting.
It’s not enough to be a good boy or girl. Antifascism takes more than that.
In this Part One, Matthew previews our main feed discussion of Adolescence (coming this Thursday), parses a speech by Gareth Southgate, wonders why Jonathan Haidt knows nothing about gaming, and remembers Sophie Scholl.
Op-ed: Try again, President Kumar: Renewing calls for Tufts to adopt March 4 TCU Senate resolutions
Death toll since Israel's aggression on Gaza on October 7 rises to 31,819 (March, 2024)
Austerity Has Always Been a Project to Empower Capital at the Expense of Workers
It's Not Them; It's Us: Thoughts on the Show Adolescence
Netflix’s ‘Adolescence’ Taps Into the Latest Moral Panic
UK government's own estimate says welfare cuts to push 250,000 into poverty | Reuters
55: Games Against Humanity (w/ Thi Nguyen) — Conspirituality
207: Gaming Realities (w/Thi Nguyen) — Conspirituality
Reminder to the media: Research video games before reporting on them
Out of the Ruins:The Emergence of Radical Informal Learning Spaces
Anarchist Education and the Modern School: A Francisco Ferrer Reader
The People's Republic of Neverland: The Child versus the State
Raising Free People: Unschooling as Liberation and Healing Work
Teaching Resistance: Radicals, Revolutionaries, and Cultural Subversives in the Classroom
TRUST KIDS! Stories on Youth Autonomy and Confronting Adult Supremacy
Refusing Complicity: The Bravery of Sophie Scholl - Radical Tea Towel
Sophie Scholl and the youth resistance against the Nazis – DW – 02/22/2023
The majority of news influencers are conservative men, study finds
The politics of The Sound of Music | Peter Levine
The Edelweiss Pirates: A Story of Freedom, Love and Life
The Child and Its Enemies | The Anarchist Library —Emma Goldman
DECLARATION OF CHILDREN'S RIGHTS—Janusz Korczak
The King of Children: A Biography of Janusz Korczak - Betty Jean Lifton
Sophie Scholl – The Final Days
Remember the Mac-Paps - rabble.ca
The Canadians In The Spanish Civil War
'Gentleman Jules' lived for just causes | Sudbury Star
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"If Americans want to change their government, they're going to have to get over their dictator-phobia."
That's neo-reactionary philosopher Curtis Yarvin in 2012, when he outlined a strategy that's eerily similar to how Trump and Musk are now destroying our government. The "dark enlightenment" blogger, long a transgressive darling of the New Right, has in the last two months enjoyed a fresh round of mainstream exposure.
We look at a man who has the ear of those who are reshaping our world at breakneck speed.
Show Notes
Kristi Noem Gets a MAGA Makeover - The New York Times
Kristi Noem’s New Teeth Are Blowing Up in Her Face | Vanity Fair
Kristi Noem’s El Salvador Prison Photo Op Might Have Violated the Geneva Convention
Trump wants FEMA gone. But that could be its own kind of disaster.
DHS Secretary Kristi Noem posed in front of El Salvador prisoners wearing $50k watch
Kelly Brogan’s Divine Dungeon: Pt 1 (feat/Esme Providence Brown)
Kelly Brogan’s Divine Dungeon: Pt 2 (feat/Esme Providence Brown)
Cathedrals of Erotic Misery • Ill Will
Financial Times on Dark Enlightenment
Common Dreams on Dark Enlightenment/DOGE
Jennifer Kollmer, 1971-2021 — Yarvin’s obit poem, TW on the rest of the blog!
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What is an oligarchy, exactly? Is the US entering a period similar to post-Soviet Russia in the 1990s? What do Russian oligarchs have to do with proven interference in the 2016 US election?
Julian digs into Russian history to explore parallels with modern-day America. Meet Vladislav Surkov, the architect of both Putin’s 25-year rule over what Surkov has dubbed “sovereign democracy,” and the global propaganda strategies generating our post-truth ecosystem of disinformation and conspiracies. There’s a reason why politics feels like theater these days, why democracy seems like a pipe dream.
While MAGA has a fascism fetish, Putin’s invasion of Ukraine might be a better match for Hitler on the verge, with Trump and Co acting as macho-clown versions of Neville Chamberlain.
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Derek and Julian discuss Robert Paxton's 2004 book, The Anatomy of Fascism, in light of 2025 America.
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McGill University science communicator, Jonathan Jarry, was recently given hundreds of hours of Zoom calls between alt-med salesman, Joseph Mercola, and a supposed clairvoyant that goes by Bahlon. Jonathan joins us to discuss what he found.
Show Notes
Here are claims about Wisconsin’s Supreme Court candidates — and the facts
Ahead of Wisconsin Supreme Court election, Elon Musk PAC offers cash for pledge - WPR
Trump backs Wisconsin Supreme Court candidate in hotly contested race - ABC News
Billionaires become a focus of the 2025 Wisconsin Supreme Court race
Brad Schimel Begins Campaigning With Anti-MLK Advocate Charlie Kirk - MeidasTouch News
Exclusive Videos Show Dr. Joe Mercola’s Dangerous Ideas Whipped up by Alleged Medium
Brief: RFK's Health Propaganda Roundtable
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The Wellness Company is now selling retatrutide, a weight loss drug currently undergoing stage 3 trials by Eli Lilly. An anti-vax company that uses fear-based marketing to push supplements appears to be overstepping legal lines. Yet will they be held accountable in an RFK Jr-led HHS?
Derek looks at private market healthcare propaganda from Ronald Reagan to Kennedy, showing how health is not the real goal of MAHA. But if they can sell untested products to fat and chronically ill patients along the way, all the better.
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Julian covers the recent Alliance for Responsible Citizenship (ARC) conference in London. Headlined by Jordan Peterson, featuring Konstantin Kisin, Ayan Hirsi Ali, Jonathan Pageau, and Eric Weinstein, the conference positioned itself as an inspiring cultural gathering focused on reclaiming Western values.
Behind the scenes, a hedge-fund billionaire new media baron, conservative libertarian think tank, shady funding source in Dubai, and an evangelical English aristocrat use the prestige of ARC and its celebrity figureheads to popularize a very specific political, economic, and religious agenda.
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Trump administration Treasury Secretary, Scott Bessent, recently stated the American economy is going to need a "detox" period. And so today we look at peak the conspirituality convergences between biological and political purification projects.
Quinn Slobodian, professor of international history at the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University, joins Matthew in the final segment to offer his big picture view on the Kings of Pain.
Show Notes
Johns Hopkins to lose 2,000 jobs after Trump’s $800m cut in USAid funding
Young scientists see career pathways vanish as schools adapt to federal funding cuts
Report: mRNA vaccines are in RFK Jr’s crosshairs; funding in question
FDA Makes Flu Vaccine Recommendations Without Convening Advisors
HHS sends all employees a $25,000 voluntary buyout offer
Exclusive: US CDC plans study into vaccines and autism, sources say
USDA gears up for MAHA dietary guidelines update
Musk Said No One Has Died Since Aid Was Cut. That Isn’t True.
Watch CNBC's full interview with U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent
Why we must teach medical students about the role of physicians during the Holocaust | AAMC
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Click here to hear the full episode on Patreon.
Second of Matthew’s two-part examination of why the hell questions of force, non-violent resistance with and without force, unarmed violence and property damage, and armed violence are so incredibly hard to talk about in a culture thick with spiritual and political bypassing. Are we capable of understanding the difference between morality and strategy?
Part 1 focused on philosophy and psychology while today the focus will be on definitions and tactics. Together, both parts will push back on conspiracism about the identities, motives, and methods of antifascists. Both will present slices of the rich discourse on violence and non-violence from antifascist history, including clarifying definitions of key terms. Both will open a space to think carefully about what intensities of self and community defense are both useful and tolerable in the fight against fascism.
Today we’ll get into the very thick weeds of how the “strategic nonviolence” research of Gene Sharp, Erica Chenoweth and Maria Stephan is framed as empirical, but may be way more about idealizing Gandhi than about facts on the ground.
Huge list of references for each!
Stopping the Press: The Threats to the Media Posed by the Second Trump Term | The New Yorker
What the FBI Has Done, and Kash Patel Could Do - Columbia Journalism Review
Hakeem Jeffries cracks down on Trump speech disruptions
Neo-Nazi Richard Spencer Got Punched—You Can Thank the Black Bloc | The Nation
Aamer Rahman: Is it really ok to punch nazis?
Meditations at the ringed fence around G20 Toronto - rabble.ca
Remaining Human: A Buddhist Perspective on Occupy Wall Street - Michael Stone
Brief: The Outside Agitator Conspiracy Trope (w/Dr. Peniel Joseph) — Conspirituality
Anti-fascists linked to zero murders in the US in 25 years | Donald Trump | The Guardian
40 Ways to Fight Fascists: Sunshine
rules for radicals | saul d. alinsky
198 METHODS OF NONVIOLENT ACTION | — Gene Sharp
She Interrupted a Town-Hall Meeting and Was Dragged Out by Private Security - The New York Times
Martin Luther King Jr. had a much more radical message than a dream of racial brotherhood
The Enigma of Frantz Fanon | The Nation
Frantz Fanon and the struggle against colonisation | MR Online
Frantz Fanon and the Paradox of Anticolonial Violence – Solidarity
Frantz Fanon—a vital defence of violence by the oppressed - Socialist Worker
Land and Freedom (1995 Ken Loach) [ENG Sub] (starting at the collectivization debate scene)
Full Spectrum Resistance — McBay
The Failure of Nonviolence | The Anarchist Library
Beyond Violence and Nonviolence | ROAR Magazine
Debunking the myths around nonviolent resistance | ROAR Magazine
Social movements and the (mis)use of research: Extinction Rebellion and the 3.5% rule
Responding to Domestic Terrorism: A Crisis of Legitimacy - Harvard Law Review
Domestic Terrorism: Definitions, Terminology, and Methodology — FBI
676 | United States Sentencing Commission
Activists use 'Tesla Takedown' protests to fight job cuts by Musk and Trump | Reuters
Tesla vehicles destroyed, vandalized since Musk began role at White House, authorities say - ABC News
Anti-DOGE protests at Tesla stores target Elon Musk's bottom line | AP News
Tyre Extinguishers: A Night Out with the Climate Activists Sabotaging SUVs
Tesla Stocks Tumble as Elon Musk’s Political Role Grows More Divisive - The New York Times
Beyond Violence and Nonviolence | ROAR Magazine
Violence Will Only Hurt the Trump Resistance | The New Republic
Why Not Riot? Interview with Author Ben Case - CounterPunch.org
10 Lessons on Filmmaking from Director Ken Loach
BBC Taster - How to Make a Ken Loach Film
Land and Freedom (1995 Ken Loach) [ENG Sub]
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First of Matthew's two-part examination of why the hell questions of force, non-violent resistance with and without force, unarmed violence and property damage, and armed violence are so incredibly hard to talk about in a culture thick with spiritual and political bypassing. Are we capable of understanding the difference between morality and strategy?
Part 1 focuses on philosophy and psychology while Part 2 focuses on definitions and tactics. Together, both parts will push back on conspiracism about the identities, motives, and methods of antifascists. Both will present slices of the rich discourse on violence and non-violence from antifascist history, including clarifying definitions of key terms. Both will open a space to think carefully about what intensities of self and community defense are both useful and tolerable in the fight against fascism.
Part 2 gets into the very thick weeds of how the “strategic nonviolence” research of Gene Sharp, Erica Chenoweth and Maria Stephan is framed as empirical, but may be way more about idealizing Gandhi than about facts on the ground. Drops Monday on Patreon.
Huge list of references for each!
Show Notes
Stopping the Press: The Threats to the Media Posed by the Second Trump Term | The New Yorker
What the FBI Has Done, and Kash Patel Could Do - Columbia Journalism Review
Hakeem Jeffries cracks down on Trump speech disruptions
Neo-Nazi Richard Spencer Got Punched—You Can Thank the Black Bloc | The Nation
Aamer Rahman: Is it really ok to punch nazis?
Meditations at the ringed fence around G20 Toronto - rabble.ca
Remaining Human: A Buddhist Perspective on Occupy Wall Street - Michael Stone
Brief: The Outside Agitator Conspiracy Trope (w/Dr. Peniel Joseph) — Conspirituality
Anti-fascists linked to zero murders in the US in 25 years | Donald Trump | The Guardian
40 Ways to Fight Fascists: Sunshine
rules for radicals | saul d. alinsky
198 METHODS OF NONVIOLENT ACTION | — Gene Sharp
She Interrupted a Town-Hall Meeting and Was Dragged Out by Private Security - The New York Times
Martin Luther King Jr. had a much more radical message than a dream of racial brotherhood
The Enigma of Frantz Fanon | The Nation
Frantz Fanon and the struggle against colonisation | MR Online
Frantz Fanon and the Paradox of Anticolonial Violence – Solidarity
Frantz Fanon—a vital defence of violence by the oppressed - Socialist Worker
Land and Freedom (1995 Ken Loach) [ENG Sub] (starting at the collectivization debate scene)
Full Spectrum Resistance — McBay
The Failure of Nonviolence | The Anarchist Library
Beyond Violence and Nonviolence | ROAR Magazine
Debunking the myths around nonviolent resistance | ROAR Magazine
Social movements and the (mis)use of research: Extinction Rebellion and the 3.5% rule
Responding to Domestic Terrorism: A Crisis of Legitimacy - Harvard Law Review
Domestic Terrorism: Definitions, Terminology, and Methodology — FBI
676 | United States Sentencing Commission
Activists use 'Tesla Takedown' protests to fight job cuts by Musk and Trump | Reuters
Tesla vehicles destroyed, vandalized since Musk began role at White House, authorities say - ABC News
Anti-DOGE protests at Tesla stores target Elon Musk's bottom line | AP News
Tyre Extinguishers: A Night Out with the Climate Activists Sabotaging SUVs
Tesla Stocks Tumble as Elon Musk’s Political Role Grows More Divisive - The New York Times
Beyond Violence and Nonviolence | ROAR Magazine
Violence Will Only Hurt the Trump Resistance | The New Republic
Why Not Riot? Interview with Author Ben Case - CounterPunch.org
10 Lessons on Filmmaking from Director Ken Loach
BBC Taster - How to Make a Ken Loach Film
Land and Freedom (1995 Ken Loach) [ENG Sub]
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Lately a lot of folks (including us) have been doing the fascism comparisons.
The questions we ponder this week: How long it takes for fascism to fully dig its roots in, how varied is the opposition along the way, and what role does the media play?
Show Notes
165: Outrage Machine (w/Tobias Rose-Stockwell)
16 October 1919 | Hitler Archive
Fritz Gerlich, publicist and prophet – how did he resist the Nazis?
Nazi Germany’s Schriftleitergesetz: The End of Freedom of the Press - Arolsen Archives
The illegal press – Verzetsmuseum
The Liberal Media Always Fails Against Fascism — Robert Evans
Can a news media that doesn’t really oppose fascism ever cover it well?
Against Normalization: The Lesson of the “Munich Post” | Los Angeles Review of Books
The Newspaper Axis: Six Press Barons Who Enabled Hitler
Fascist-Sympathizing Newspaper Barons Were the Blueprint for Today’s Right-Wing Media
Media's Failure in Times of Crisis: Election Coverage in the Interwar Period
How Journalists Covered the Rise of Mussolini and Hitler | Smithsonian
How Britain's Nazi-loving press baron made the case for Hitler | The Times of Israel
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The MAGA attack on government jobs, takeover of government agencies, and purge of supposed “DEI” and “woke” professionals has a long history in the US. Julian uses old-timey newsreels, biographies, and events in the public record to trace the lines from 1919 to today, making stops at the so-called Red Summer’s “race riots,” Red Scare communist panics, Hollywood Blacklist, and Lavender Scare that fired thousands for being presumed gay.
Unrelated to any of this completely useless and repressive paranoid bigotry, actual Soviet spies were being apprehended and prosecuted—even then everything was not on the level. The prosecutors had their own hidden skeletons and shady bedfellows, even as they claimed the patriotic moral high ground.
At the heart of this history is a lineage of men who never let truth get in the way of gaining, and wielding, power and cruelty. Julian uncovers a surprisingly direct lineage of dirty-tricks demagogue succession, from Woodrow Wilson to A. Mitchell Palmer, to J. Edgar Hoover, to Joe McCarthy, to Roy Cohn, to Roger Stone, to our current president.
Editorial Note: The Paul Robeson clip that starts the episode is a re-enactment by James Earl Jones for the Zinn Education Project. It uses the transcript of Robeson’s 1956 appearance before the House UnAmerican Activities Committee.
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MAHA's response to the measles outbreak has been horrific, though expectable. Yet RFK Jr's op-ed, in which he advocated for the MMR vaccine, ripped apart his coalition—briefly.
Derek looks at the responses to Bobby's moment of clarity, then contemplates what MAHA really wants now that their champion is the bureaucracy.
Show Notes
Vitamin A For Measles: Kevin Klatt
Measles is not a harmless illness — complications include brain damage, immune amnesia, and death
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This week we’re looking at how folks who associated themselves with the magical and morbid QAnon memes about the “coming storm” that would destroy the Deep State have become that storm, mainly by talking about it, and are now in the position to congeal an even Deeper State characterized by more repression and control. They’re doing it both as conspiracists and as conspiracy theorists would predict: as rich guys pretending to be oppressed.
This opens up the question of “Have we been here before in the US, and what happened?” The parallels are uncanny. In the late 1920s, Henry Ford had his car dealers stick copies of The Dearborn Independent newspaper in the glove compartments of new cars. That was the rag in which he published excerpts of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion. Today another auto baron, Elon Musk, busts out seigheils and posts Nazi memes whenever he likes. But only one of them got a White House office.
CDC Statement on Measles Outbreak
US Health Secretary Kennedy calls for end to deadly Texas measles outbreak
LIVE: Kash Patel’s confirmation hearing for FBI director
Kash Patel Wants to Work From Home for FBI. But Who Does He Live With? | The New Republic
How Dan Bongino Went From Infowars to FBI Deputy Director | WIRED
123: The Red-Pilled "Academic" Who Named Our Podcast — Conspirituality
Conspiracy Theories Abounded in 19th-Century American Politics | Smithsonian
Wealthy bankers and businessmen plotted to overthrow FDR. A retired general foiled it.
Medical Mystery: What killed ‘Red Scare’ Sen. Joseph McCarthy?
What We Know About the CIA's Midcentury Mind-Control Project | Smithsonian
FBI Records: The Vault — COINTELPRO
Richard Hofstadter’s “The Paranoid Style” Can’t Help Us Now
JFK, Richard Hofstadter, and the ‘Paranoid Style in American Politics’
Ford's Anti-Semitism | American Experience | Official Site | PBS
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Former "race realist" Richard Hanania recently published an article on The Free Press claiming that all those Nazi salutes the right is waving high in the sky is really "just trolling." Derek disagrees.
Show Notes
I Can Explain Why the Nazi Salute Is Back — Richard Hanania
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Is life worse for women now than in the 1950s? In a recent interview for The Free Press, author Louise Perry and journalist Bari Weiss muse on just how much women have lost since premarital sex was normalized, the pill reduced sex to consequence-free hedonism, and Roe v Wade rendered abortion as common as going to the dentist. Perry calls this “re-paganization,” delivering an eloquent longing for a lost golden age of female subservience as Weiss nods along and smiles. It’s all very heterodox.
Or is it? No mention of the impacts of Project 2025, the dangerous ascendancy of Christian Nationalism, or the deadly crisis of women’s health in full swing.
Julian analyses their conversation to pinpoint how digital new media dresses up traditionalist right-wing talking points as if they’re open-minded, edgy, and brave intellectual insights.
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Trump has decreed it’s the Gulf of America, and Google agrees, at least for US users. Rep Buddy Carter has introduced HR 1161, the Red White and Blueland Act of 2025 to rename Greenland. And then, of course, there's making Canada the 51st state.
Pay attention to shit like this: it's a magic spell.
Trump is speaking in the old language of the Discovery Doctrine. That’s what we’ll excavate today.
Show Notes
Zizian Killing Spree and Arrests
Roko’s Basilisk and Zizian beliefs/practices
Feb 2023 Community Alert about Ziz on Less Wrong
Native America, Discovered and Conquered: Thomas Jefferson, Lewis and Clark, and Manifest Destiny — Richard J Miller
Trump calls Canada a 'very serious contender' to become 51st state
H.R.1161 - 119th Congress (2025-2026): Red, White, and Blueland Act of 2025
DISCOURSE ON COLONIALISM Aime Cesaire Translated by Joan Pinkham
Biography - Burnum Burnum - Indigenous Australia
The fight to 'free' the Aboriginal flag
Common Methods of Annexation | Snohomish County, WA
Doctrine of Discovery: How the 500-year-old Catholic decree encouraged colonization
Speech Acts (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)
Mexico's President Sheinbaum threatens to take legal action over the Gulf name change : NPR
How Canada planned to invade the U.S. (and vice versa)
Poilievre says Canada is broken
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What do we worry more about: the far-right beliefs of trolls, or the coding skills of the trolls?
The split focus on Marco Elez and Elon Musk—are they Nazis, or hackers, or Nazi hackers?— highlight two prongs of emergent fascism. The ideological/aesthetic/psychological on one side, and the technocratic on the other. We can call them the manners and the machine.
First, Matthew unpacks a century-old thesis by an OG fascist that says totalitarian regimes take shape when both are working together, but that ultimately, the coup d’etat is about seizing control of the machine.
Then he rounds off with a rant about how easy it is liberal-centrist discourse about manners to distract from the reality of the machine. Why? It’s because in the absence of a clear analysis of how capital and power work—it’s in the sphere of manners—that liberals feel they have a fighting chance. But it’s also exactly where Musk and Elez and Vance and Trump can ignore them.
Show Notes
A Doomed Democracy | STANFORD magazine
The October Revolution - Introduction | Marx Memorial Library
Alexander Kerensky Dies Here at 89 - The New York Times
Curzio Malaparte | Italian Author, Journalist & Politician | Britannica
Reading the Eccentric Italian Writer Who Tried to Cover Up His Fascism ‹ Literary Hub
Curzio Malaparte: The Illusion of the Fascist Revolution
The Californian Ideology Personified - Truthdig
Cyberlibertarianism: The Right-Wing Politics of Digital Technology on JSTOR
175: Diagonalism (w/William Callison and Quinn Slobodian) — Conspirituality
Opinion | Don’t Believe Him - The New York Times
Welcome to Neokayfabe — Abraham Josephine Riesman // Writer
40 Ways to Fight Fascists: Street-Legal Tactics for Community Activists — Spencer Sunshine
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Education / Public service alert:
Matthew critically reviews six books that define fascist eras and recount how they have been opposed. A kind of “here we are, now what?” episode that hopefully interrupts the doomscroll with the sobriety of some practical considerations.
Formats range from popular nonfiction to academic history to pragmatic field guide. Politics range from liberal to anarchist. More feminist and non-white sources to be reviewed soon.
Timothy Snyder’s Bad History | City Journal
Robert O. Paxton - The Anatomy of Fascism
Is It Fascism? A Leading Historian Changes His Mind. - The New York Times
Antifa: The Anti-Fascist Handbook
Curzio Malaparte - The Technique Of Revolution
40 Ways to Fight Fascists: Street-Legal Tactics for Community Activists — Spencer Sunshine
Joyful Militancy | The Anarchist Library
Let This Radicalize You | HaymarketBooks.org
Being Numerous: Essays on Non-Fascist Life — Natasha Lennard
DISCOURSE ON COLONIALISM Aime Cesaire Translated by Joan Pinkham
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Raw Milk. Raw Water. Raw Meat.
Mallory DeMille returns to break down the raw trend in wellness. We look at the science and cultural implications behind it.
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The eighth installment of Matthew’s Five Big Questions Posed to an Extremely Thoughtful Person.
Friend of the pod Blair Hodges joins Matthew to talk about how he’s transformed the teachings of his Mormon upbringing into inspiration for social justice, how he grapples with the limits of the nuclear family as he thinks about community building, and why James Baldwin is so important to him.
Blair has degrees in journalism, religious studies, and disability studies from the University of Utah and Georgetown University. He’s currently working on a research project on the history of intellectual disabilities in Mormon thought.
Show Notes
Relationscapes—with Blair Hodges
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“You don’t get rich writing science fiction. If you want to get rich, start a religion.” With those words, prolific sci-fi pulp fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard prophesied the course of his life’s work.
The 1950s saw the emergence of UFO- and alien channeling-based spiritual groups, as postmodern religious syncretism transformed supposedly ancient angels and demons into benevolent and/or terrifying aliens. No iteration of this fantasy has been more financially fruitful, culturally impactful, controversial, or bizarre than Hubbard’s brainchild: Scientology.
In the latest episode of Roots of Conspirituality, Julian digs into the fascinating backstory of this prolific author, revered as prophetic by thousands, pursued as a fraud by the IRS for decades, described as a cult leader by church escapees, and called an abusive madman by his ex-wives. Allegedly…
The religion is a complex blend of self-help psychology, elaborate pseudoscience, high-demand paranoia, and alien mythology that, at its height, commanded 100,000 members—and is still valued at roughly $2 billion.
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Given how much shit the zone is being flooded with right now, you might have missed Donald Trump screaming about the supposed mistreatment of white South Africans recently. Last week, he said “certain classes of people” were being treated “very badly.” The trigger was a bill signed by South African president, Cyril Ramaphosa, a former anti-Apartheid activist, trade union leader, and successful businessman—three qualities Trump doesn’t really understand.
Like the Trump administration, we have our own South African on staff—and he’s legitimately employed here! Julian grew up under apartheid and left the country due to it. Derek chats with him about what life was like growing up there, and he explains the confusion that Trump is injecting into the body politic.
Show Notes
South African president signs controversial land seizure law
No Proof Elon Musk's Grandparents Belonged to Nazi Party
Errol Musk Talks About Elon’s Maternal Grandparents
Understanding What the 2025 Expropriation Act Means
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As of recording time, RFK Jr has not yet been confirmed to the HHS Secretary position by the Senate. That might change by publication date. But if we were setting odds on this confirmation, we’d say put your money on Bobby.
So, WTF. Bobby Brainworms will be in charge of US public health, and its influence around the world. Our years of reporting on him have been defeated by the influencer noise of the MAHA Mamas. But we. Will. Carry. On.
Julian reviews the misinfo docket. Derek runs down the bureaucratic implications. And Matthew speculates on just how perfect someone like RFK Jr would be as the domestic health figurehead of a fascist movement, if, you know, that were ever to be possible.
Show Notes
Some Cancers Rising Amongst Younger people
Increased Lung Cancer from the 1960s to 80s.
Smoking Suppresses Appetite and Results in Lower BMI for Some
64% of Adults in UK Overweight
Diabetes Was 1.8% in the US in 1960
11.6% of US Population Has Diabetes
Risk of Alzheimer’s Doubles Every 5 Years After 65
30% of Smokers are Overweight or Obese
A recent study did NOT show vaccines cause autism, but RFK Jr. keeps pushing the lie.
“A New Academic Publishing Model”: Right-Wing Dark Money Group Launches Fringe Medical Journal
Judge Orders White House to Unblock Funding for NIH, Others
History of fascism, reproductive rights offers lessons for today
Are tyrants good for your health?
When the leader is ill—or addicted to cocaine, meth, steroids, or hormones
Five Pseudosciences That Fueled the Nazis
Theodor Morell: Hitler’s Particularly Odious Physician
Public Health Under the Third Reich
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Derek meditates on a recent conversation about the left-right divide between Ezra Klein and James Pogue.
Show Notes
MAGA’s Big Tech Divide: Ezra Klein Show
Going Back to Cincinnati — James Pogue
Inside the New Right, Where Peter Thiel Is Placing His Biggest Bets — James Pogue
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In the spring of 2017, Jordan Peterson first went viral by writing this in Canada’s National Post:
I will never use words I hate, like the trendy and artificially constructed words “zhe” and “zher.” These words are at the vanguard of a post-modern, radical leftist ideology that I detest, and which is, in my professional opinion, frighteningly similar to the Marxist doctrines that killed at least 100 million people in the 20th century.
Remember that horseshit, or things like it? Did you guffaw because he was obviously absurd? Did you try to reason with his stans online? Did you see him as a crank influencer, or a dangerous political figure?
Did you hope his ideas would be beaten down in the marketplace of ideas? Or did you seek him out at a public event and shout him down with a bullhorn?
Today, word salad like this is everywhere—including in Project 2025, now driving the Trump admin.
Matthew visits the antifascist woodshed to investigate the liberal manners, free speech naivety, and lack of community alliances that dissuaded him from grabbing the mic during a Peterson Q&A in 2017 and shouting:
“Your ideas are fascist and you should STFU. You are endangering trans people with your bullshit. Why do you care about how they experience their bodies, you whining pervert? Why are you inciting hatred against young people who want a better world?”
Because… look where we are now.
Show Notes
Read the Memo Pausing Federal Grants and Loans - The New York Times
President George H.W. Bush on political correctness (1991)
The History of Political Correctness—Lind
The Pitfalls of Liberalism — Kwame Ture
The Forgotten History of the World's First Trans Clinic | Scientific American
Jordan Peterson: The right to be politically incorrect | National Post
Jordan Peterson is trying to make sense of the world — including his own strange journey
Postmodern Neo-Marxism — Jordan Peterson’s Shadow
Doug Ford met Jordan Peterson, appointment calendar reveals | CBC News
Why are the Proud Boys so violent? Ask Gavin McInnes — SPLC
Jordan Peterson revealed he once earned $400,000 a month
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Edward Snowden is largely only a public name thanks to Glenn Greenwald’s reporting, for which he was one of the contributors to a Pulitzer Prize-winning series for The Guardian in 2014. For a while, Matt Taibbi was considered the heir to Hunter Thompson when his gonzo journalism tore open the 2008 financial crisis and gave the public the term “vampire squids.”
Yet in more recent years, both men have swerved right: Glenn became a darling on Fox News and Taibbi was recruited by Elon Musk as one of the Twitter Files “journalists.” How did that happen? We’re joined by journalist Eoin Higgins, whose new book, Owned: How Tech Billionaires on the Right Bought the Loudest Voices on the Left, dives into the career arcs of both Greenwald and Taibbi, and how they confuse and distort right-left alignments.
Show Notes
Sharath Jois, Heir to Founder of Ashtanga Yoga, Dies at 53 - The New York Times
Sharath’s Statement on Pattabhi Jois’s Assaults: Context, Links, Notes – Matthew Remski
Surviving Modern Yoga - North Atlantic Books
Owned: How Tech Billionaires on the Right Bought the Loudest Voices on the Left
Eoin Higgins Morning Brew | Bluesky
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Part 2 of Matthew’s sit down with sex-work veteran and social justice advocate Esme Providence Brown to discuss New Age / wellness antifeminist, Kelly Brogan, and how her craven politics bolster the permission structure for Trumpian misogyny.
They track her political and aesthetic journey from labcoat wearer to wellness pole dancer to BDSM cosplayer—a spiral through deepening layers of appropriation, disavowal of responsibility, and cringe-tastic ideas. Esme concludes with some deep insights on what it means for artisanal BDSM to be stripped of its political and consent-culture context, and who Brogan’s “feminism is a psy-op” argument really serves.
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When asked if he thought Mark Zuckerberg’s effective ending of fact checking was in response to threats that he would “put him in jail for a very long time,” Trump replied, “Probably. Yeah, probably.” A week later, TikTok voluntarily disabled their app for users, then put up an announcement saying that Trump was going to bring them back.
Julian talks to digital disinformation expert Renee Diresta about the massive Big Tech realignment with MAGA, which now means Meta, X, and TikTok may become more like TruthSocial. If fact checking is biased, content moderation is censorship, and combating foreign propaganda is anti-free speech, where does that leave us now?
Show Notes
If you Give A Mouse a Cookie: Renee Diresta
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What the ever loving fuck. That’s our intro today.
But we do have a structure. Julian’s going to review the Executive Order chaos, including the pardoning and deputizing of fascist street gangs. Derek’s going to explain what the ever loving fuck it means for health agencies to turn off access to health data. And I’ll look at two Xtian responses to fascism: one hypocritical and one poetic… but maybe toothless.
Show Notes
Freed Capitol riot ringleaders regroup - and vow 'retribution'
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The alien from Venus in George King’s head said: “Prepare yourself. You are to be the voice of interplanetary parliament.” It’s 1952 and the Englishman has been meditating deeply. Eight days later, a famous yogi from India materializes to explain what’s going on.
These experiences became the basis for the Aetherius Society—an organization that still has 35 chapters around the planet today. They claim the world’s governments are covering up their communication with a spiritually enlightened galactic federation, so as to maintain control over humanity.
If that sounds like 2020 red-pilled Instagram grift, you’re right! Everything old is new again.
Julian’s series, The Roots of Conspirituality, a history of new age conspiracism, is now conveniently organized under the “Collections” tab at the top of our Patreon page. Each episode is self-contained—but listen from the start if you want to trace the journey from the 1840’s “burned over region” of the American North East to today!
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On Jan 10, the Oregon Nurses Association launched the largest healthcare strike in Oregon state history. Some 5k frontline caregivers from 8 Providence hospitals and 6 clinics have been holding the line in freezing temperatures as they fight for basic rights that their employer—a Catholic nonprofit healthcare system whose C Suite members make millions of dollars every year—refuses to give them.
Derek discusses why such strikes, and unions in general, are so important as the new administration takes office. He breaks down some of Providence’s past legal problems, discusses his own experience as a Providence patient, and talks to some of the nurses on the strike line.
Show Notes
Resources for striking healthcare professionals
It's Time for Providence to Put Patients Before Profits
Providence, striking Oregon health workers remain apart on key issues
They Were Entitled to Free Care. Hospitals Hounded Them to Pay.
Hospital System to Refund Poor Patients Who Were Entitled to Free Care
Wealthiest Hospitals Got Billions in Bailout for Struggling Health Providers
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One of the top podcasts in the world—even beating out Rogan for a few hours—is popularizing a well-meaning intervention for non-speaking autistic people. Unfortunately, that intervention happens to be a proven failure, and may set autistic and disability rights discourse back by decades.
Filmmaker Ky Dicken’s The Telepathy Tapes podcast delves into the world of Facilitated Communication, in which non-speaking people are believed to miraculously gain access to complex written language after lives of silence. According to Dickson, non-speaking people can also gather in transdimensional spaces and channel spiritual knowledge.
But there’s a problem. Every controlled test shows that the messages produced through letterboards and iPads are coming from the facilitators—not the non-speaking persons.
In this episode, Matthew interviews experts in pseudoscience and autism, including Janyce Boynton, a former (now dissident) practitioner of Facilitated Communication who explains how seductive and promising it was to practice, but how it ultimately steals agency and dignity from the autistic client.
And... this is also a story about parents dealing with crushing levels of unpaid and invisible labour. They are already doing miraculous work. A fantasy is no replacement for true support and recognition.
Show Notes
Podcast About 'Telepathic' Autistic Children Briefly Knocks Joe Rogan Out Of No. 1 Spot
Ky Dickens Director | Filmmaker
Facilitated Communication—what harm it can do: Confessions of a former facilitator
MD25438 - Powell, Diane Hennacy, MD - OR License Verification - 01/12/2025 11:07:47 AM
The Telepathy Tapes: Separating Science From Pseudoscience In Autism Communication
Stolen Voices: Facilitated Communication Devalues Autism | Psychology Today Canada
The Telepathy Tapes Prove We All Want to Believe
"The Telepathy Tapes" is Taking America by Storm. But it Has its Roots in Old Autism Controversies.
Mixed Messages: Validity and Ethics of Facilitated Communication | Disability Studies Quarterly
Is There Science Behind That? Facilitated Communication
Controlled Studies — Facilitated Communication
Served people with severe communication impairments — Obit for Rosemary Crossley
More Doubts over Disability ‘Miracle’
Jonathan Jarry MSc - Science Communicator
FCisNotScience - YouTube — Janyce Boynton’s awesome YouTube channel
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The seventh installment of Matthew’s Five Big Questions Posed to an Extremely Thoughtful Person.
Sam Adler-Bell is a journalist, political theorist, and co-host of one of Matthew’s favourite podcasts, Know Your Enemy—a show about the American right. They discuss the normalization of genocide, the stark comforts of Freud and Janet Malcolm, the relief of DW Winnicott, how we can’t avoid playing the role of our own mothers, and also good advice from his dad, a labour lawyer who knows something about long, uncertain, but always worthwhile battles for the common good.
Show Notes
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Twitter Files journalist Alex Berenson recently published two articles claiming that Moderna covered up a child's death from a Moderna Covid booster trial—and the FDA is complicit. Children’s Health Defense then hosted him on their TV program to learn more about this outrageous scandal.
Do Berenson's claims hold up? All Derek did was click on the links in his own article to discover the "truth." He looks at this phenomenon through the lens of the 2020 book, Calling Bullshit: The Art of Skepticism in a Data-Driven World.
Show Notes
Calling Bullshit: The Art of Skepticism in a Data-Driven World
Children’s Health Defense interview
The Lancet study on Covid vaccination in children
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We know Bryan Johnson gobbles 100 pills a day. He pumps his son’s plasma through his veins. He does light therapy on his junk and wants to live forever. But do we understand how Johnson’s fascinations reflect his Mormon heritage? No. No we don’t.
That’s why we called our very own Salt Lake City expert, Blair Hodges, host of the Relationscapes podcast.
Blair joins Matthew to discuss Johnson’s transhumanism, which has roots in the LDS but has also led him away from it. They cover the spirituality of his money, whether he’s trying to become a living god, and how his home gym has some distinctive Mormon temple elements. Also: is Bryan really as polite as he seems, or is he hiding
Blair has degrees in journalism, religious studies, and disability studies from the University of Utah and Georgetown University. He directed communications for the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Studies at Brigham Young University before moving to the nonprofit sector. He has served as communications director for Volunteers of America, Utah and RMHC of the Intermountain Area. He’s currently working on a research project on the history of intellectual disabilities in Mormon thought.
Show Notes
Relationscapes—Blair Hodges
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In January, 2023, Bloomberg published an article about how tech entrepreneur turned longevity stan, Bryan Johnson, spends $2 million a year in an attempt to live forever—or at least until age 200, as the goalposts shift. Then a Netflix documentary, Don’t Die: The Man Who Wants to Live Forever, dropped on January 1, taking a deep dive into Johnson’s quest and complex personal life. A strange thing happened along the way: Johnson felt much more personable and relatable than ever before to many viewers. Given the Bloomberg journalist is one of the producers, is this the latest propaganda piece by a supplements-pushing huckster, or is Johnson tapping into something much older and deeper about the human condition?
Show Notes
How to Be 18 Years Old Again for Only $2 Million a Year
Politico piece on Mayor Karen Bass and LA Fires
Anna Merlan on LA Fire conspiracies
Ally Carter Diddy-List Fire Conspiracy Theory Shared by Former Bush Official
Nutritionist Reviews The Blueprint Supplements
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A one-time drop of Derek's new podcast, Clarity Lab, the official podcast of Siris Health, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit building a free educational platform and curating social media channels that feature experts presenting health and science in a clear, compelling manner.
Celery juice. Coffee enemas. Ozone therapy. The list of pseudoscientific cancer "treatments" is endless. Yet they all risk pushing people in vulnerable positions toward untenable "cures."
Dr Andrea Love joins Derek Beres to discuss the dangers of cancer misinformation, as well as why the field of cancer research is so complex—and rewarding.
Dr Andrea Love is an immunologist and microbiologist, as well as subject-matter expert in infectious disease immunology, cancer immunology, and autoimmunity. She writes the Immunologic newsletter.
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Matthew sits down with sex-work veteran and social justice advocate Esme Providence Brown for the first of two chinwags about our famous New Age / wellness antifeminist, Kelly Brogan, and how her craven politics bolster the permission structure for Trumpian misogyny.
They track her political and aesthetic journey from labcoat-wearer to wellness pole dancer to BDSM cosplayer—a spiral through deepening layers of appropriation, disavowal of responsibility, and cringe-tastic ideas.
This is only Part One!
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UCSF epidemiology and biostatistics professor Vinay Prasad's star rose when he compared the US response to Covid-19 to the beginnings of the Third Reich in October, 2021. Though a less famous contrarian than others in the MAHA sphere, the hematologist-oncologist has honed his social media trolling over the past few years, always ready for a fight, evidence be damned.
Derek and Julian look at two recent videos that signal Prasad might be angling for a position in a potential RFK Jr-run HHS—and all the misinformation he continues to spread.
Show Notes
BMJ's Systematic Review on Quarantine Measures
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Like it or not, 2025 is here. What happens in post-truth America when formerly fringe conspiracy theorists, religious extremists, pseudoscience-peddlers, and wannabe authoritarians become a government—now weaponized against their personal enemies, both foreign and domestic? Should political analysis take a page from academics who study professional wrestling?
We each offer our views on what's ahead.
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George van Tassel was the original UFO contactee. He claimed to have been visited by aliens from Venus in 1953, which led to him hosting thousands of people at the annual Interplanetary Spacecraft Convention for almost 20 years. He channeled “Ashtar, ”a figure still popular in “Galactic Federation” conspiritualist circles today, and spent 25 years building a time machine based on telepathic communications with aliens.
Julian unpacks the wild story of van Tassel’s airstrip, the Mojave Desert’s Giant Rock, and how the FBI may have been involved in his mysterious death and subsequent disappearance of his cellular rejuvenation equipment.
This is part of a series of free-standing episodes that excavates the history of pseudoscience and conspiracism beneath contemporary New Age spirituality.
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Journalist and author Josie Reisman says we can’t understand the Trump era without understanding his life-long pro-wrestling fandom, and his bonds with one of his closest friends, WWE tycoon Vince McMahon.
Reisman argues that McMahon’s invention of “neokayfabe,” in which storylines and real life are purposefully and artfully confused, blurs the distinction between fact and fiction. It makes consumers, followers, and voters complicit in creating a spectacle of cruelty.
It’s the kind of argument that once seen, can’t be unseen. It helps explain the contradictory and performative politics of Trump—and how, under his leadership, the administrative state may not be destroyed by fascism directly, but by a theatre of cynicism and catharsis that will allow the latent fascism of the American Empire to explode.
Show Notes
Ringmaster: Vince McMahon and the Unmaking of America — Abraham Josephine Riesman // Writer
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British entrepreneur and investor Steven Bartlett launched his podcast, Diary of a CEO, in 2017. He quickly found an audience in the tech world, which gave him access to a wide range of celebrities and businesspeople from various domains. By 2024, the podcast became one of the top 5 in the world, netting Bartlett and his team a reported $25M this year alone.
Yet as Bartlett’s star rose, his guest list began becoming more and more suspect. Pertinent to our beat, contrarian wellness influencers and philosophers appeared, spreading Covid conspiracies and health misinformation. In his role as curious everyman, Bartlett rarely challenged their narratives, sometimes playing along with their conspiratorial hot takes to an audience in the millions.
We look at a few conspiritualist crossovers this week, and discuss what it really takes to become a top 5 podcaster—and the information and integrity that’s sacrificed along the way.
Show Notes
Sacred Heart of Luigi hanging up at Vito's Pizza
Extremist “Saints Culture”
Catholic ethicists condemn ‘indifference to suffering’ shown by those celebrating Luigi Mangione
41% of young voters say UnitedHealthcare CEO killing "acceptable"
69% Blame CEO Murder on US Healthcare System
Mainstreaming of Violent Accelerationism
December Wave 2 2024 AmeriSpeak Omnibus | NORC at the University of Chicago
Steven Bartlett sharing harmful health misinformation in Diary of CEO podcast
What the Most Famous Book About Trauma Gets Wrong
Bessel van der Kolk: Role in the Satanic Panic
He Built a Wellness Empire While Adventuring With Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Only 7% of American Adults Have Good Cardiometabolic Health
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Happy New Year’s Eve!
The sixth installment of Matthew’s Five Big Questions Posed to an Extremely Thoughtful Person.
Writer, historian, and activist Rebecca Solnit is the author of more than 20 books on feminism, western and indigenous history, popular power, social change and insurrection, wandering and walking, hope and disaster.
Show Notes
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Ozempic might be all the rage among people who want to lose weight, but wellness influencers and MAHA acolytes are raging against the antidiabetic medication. Derek investigates recent statements by RFK Jr and Calley Means and holds up their claims to the data we can all see online.
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We've been highly critical of The Free Press in the past, but a recent memoir-article about grappling with a familial history of polio by Jana Kozlowski stood out. Derek and Julian take no issue with the piece, which was an emotional plea to understand the ravages of polio and the efficacy of vaccines. The comment section is another thing.
Show Notes
Polio Ravaged My Family. Forget Its Horror at Your Peril.
The First Five Errors in the Moth in the Iron Lung Book
The First Five Errors in Dissolving Illusions by Suzanne Humphries
Amazon Won’t Take a Stand in War Over Anti-Vaxxer Book
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A special Patreon bonus unlocked episode as we enjoy the holidays with our families and friends.
Matthew got The Question on the morning after the election. At that moment, he came up with nothing but a hug. But then he chewed on it for days, and came up with eleven things to consider.
So here are some notes for possible conversations with tweens about anxiety, bullies, fascism, friends, mutual aid, and love.
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“If you grow up with it, religion is real until you realize it is also imagined. And after a period of disenchantment or even depression that associates imagination with lies, you might then sense that the imagined part was also real, but because it’s imagined, you know you can change it.”
Matthew reflects on how Santa becomes more real in the home after the kids know he’s just a story, but a story of unbridled love and causeless generosity they can now participate in telling.
Happy holidays, everyone!
Show Notes
A Christmas Carol: Dedicated to Scrooge, And His Art Collection—McKenzie Wark
Ringmaster: Vince McMahon and the Unmaking of America — Abraham Josephine Riesman
Welcome to Neokayfabe—Jodie Reisman
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Jeffery Tucker is the founder of the MAGA thinktank Brownstone Institute. In 2020, Brownstone published The Great Barrington Declaration, with lead author Jay Bhattacharya—now the nominee for head of the NIH.
Jeffrey’s daughter, Julia, joins Matthew to discuss her dad’s rise through the punditocracy, through decades of fringe libertarian publishing, working for Ron Paul, boosting anarcho-capitalism and crypto, writing for the Epoch Times, and asking such daring questions as: “What’s so wrong about child labour?”
Show Notes
Patreon: Post-Catholic Music (w/Julia Tucker)
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The murder of United HealthCare CEO Brian Thompson has set off shockwaves across America. This week we look at the story’s online impact, people mythologizing the alleged killer, its intersection with conspirituality, and the healthcare system in America writ large.
Show Notes
Jen Gunter on insurance denial for her premature babies' oxygen needs
Exclusive: Luigi's Manifesto - Ken Klippenstein
Savings: Quarter of Americans Have Few, One in 10 Have None | Statista
The Burden of Medical Debt in the United States
View of U.S. Healthcare Quality Declines to 24-Year Low
MDVIP/Ipsos poll shows Americans are struggling with the healthcare system
Conservatives Face Backlash From Followers Over UnitedHealthcare Murder - Newsweek
Kaiser Study on Health Insurance Satisfaction
NIH Debunks Myth that 60% of Bankruptcies are Medical in Nature
Luigi Mangione’s Anger Wasn’t Neatly Ideological
Gallup Poll on Health Care Satisfaction
Ipsos Poll on Health Care Satisfaction
Mental Illness is 13.5 times More Likely In Lone Wolf Shooters
Narcissism, Fame Seeking and Mass Shootings
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The fifth installment of Matthew's Five Big Questions Posed to an Extremely Thoughtful Person.
Dr. Annie Kelly joined us in Episode 61 to lay out her research on the manosphere-to-conspirituality pipeline. Today she joins me to discuss the trouble and joy of balancing extremism research with stories of hope and solidarity.
Show Notes
Vaccine: The Human Story - YouTube
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Extremely online, bearded, Millennial pastors in tailored suits want to repeal women’s suffrage, criminalize gays, and Make America Christian Again. These “TheoBros” even have a guy on the inside: JD Vance. Trump’s Dept of Defense nominee, Pete Hegseth, attends an affiliated church.
Julian tracks their genealogy and ugly ideas, as well as their parallel reactionary theocratic visions wreaking havoc elsewhere in the world today. Stay tuned for conversational reflections and wholesome holiday wishes at the end!
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Journalist Talia Lavin joins Derek to discuss her recent book, Wild Faith: How the Christian Right is Taking Over America.
Show Notes
Wild Faith: How the Christian Right is Taking Over America
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As we ride out the aftershocks of the election and prepare for Trump 2.0, it’s as if nothing is bolted down. Trump’s cabinet appointments signal a disregard for competence or temperament as he seems to prioritize fervent deep state conspiracism and anti-woke aggression in his choices. The chattering classes (both legacy and new media) are on the front lines of having to adapt in real time.
What to do? Double down on anti-fascist resistance, turn the disinformation detection devices up to 11, chart a course for sanguine neutrality, normalize the chaos as the world burns, or maybe give this rag-tag group of billionaire outsiders a chance to move fast and break things—in the hope that some of it was not working anyway?
We look at three different modes of damage control currently ripping through American discourse.
Show Notes
There’s a conspiracy theory that the CIA invented the term ‘conspiracy theory’ – here’s why
87: The Aubrey Marcus Spectacle
107: An Open Letter to Aubrey Marcus
214: Aubrey Marcus is Totally Not a Cult Leader
Winning the Fight for Reproductive Rights in Mexico - Open Society Foundations
Madres de Plaza de Mayo | Learning for Justice
Adweek article on Rogan and MeidasTouch
Kash Patel Seal Team 6 Endangerment
So Marianne Williamson Really is the Peace Candidate—Patreon
Russell Tribunal on Palestine, 2014
Friday 17 November: Twenty thousand Palestinians believed to be killed in Israel’s genocide of Gaza
Campus Protests Led to More Than 3,100 Arrests, but Many Charges Have Been Dropped
Harris campaign rejects claim vice president thinks there is a genocide in Gaza
A Study Reveals CNN and MSNBC’s Glaring Gaza Double Standard | The Nation
Morning Joe: Dems’ Favorite Show, Blatant Pro-Israel Propaganda
The Intercept: Israel-Palestine Coverage
US MSM downplays Amnesty report
TIME on Iranian Foreign Influence Methods
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Researchers in California recently warned that just one mutation in H5N1, the bird flu virus, could make the disease transmissible between humans. While the virus was first identified in 1959 (and became globally significant in 1996), they’re also concerned that increasingly damaging effects of climate change could make us more susceptible to such viruses. The same week, California-based raw milk manufacturer, Raw Farm, was forced to recall its products due to third-party testers discovering it contained H5N1.
Derek looks at these converging trends—the wellness-driven fervor over the safety and health benefits of raw milk and the chances of another pandemic—with an investigation into why this matters from a public health perspective. Along the way, he’ll define the three often-confused forms of health in public discourse—individual, population, and public health—and why influencers often confuse them.
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Exvangelical author Tia Levings joins Matthew to discuss her harrowing memoir of indoctrination, abuse, recovery, and advocacy, The Well-Trained Wife: My Escape from Christian Patriarchy. It’s a wild GenX journey that tells us a lot about the logic of evangelical support for Trumpism, and how those caught within it can see their way clear the gender terror, rape culture, and fantasies of retribution.
Show Notes
This season, Patreon is checking some big things off your wish list
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If you’ve spent one minute on social media in the last few months, you’ve probably heard that seed oils are extremely toxic, food dyes are the reason for rising obesity rates—oh wait, that’s glyphosate—and vaccines are still causing autism. Nevermind the fact that the supposedly criminal preservative, thimerosal, was removed from almost all vaccinations in 2001. Clinical research is irrelevant in MAHA, RFK Jr’s Make America Healthy Again MAGA ripoff.
Wellness acolytes have found a champion in Kennedy, who’s going to immediately end chronic diseases and reduce obesity rates by…checks notes…making sure every American has a gym membership. We’ve covered Bobby a lot on this podcast, so today our fearless correspondent, Mallory DeMille, returns to investigate one very vocal and very relieved cohort, the MAHA Mamas. They just know Kennedy is going to truly save the children, science be damned.
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An essay from Matthew on how MAGA religiosity obscures the religious nature of liberalism, and how both obscure the underlying religion of capitalism.
Inspired by Walter Benjamin, who in 1921 wrote:
One can behold in capitalism a religion, that is to say, capitalism essentially serves to satisfy the same worries, anguish, and disquiet formerly answered by so-called religion. Capitalism is a pure religious cult, perhaps the most extreme there ever was. Within it everything only has meaning in direct relation to the cult: it knows no special dogma, no theology.
Show Notes
Walter Benjamin, "Capitalism as Religion [Fragment 74],"
Has Capitalism Become Our Religion?
On the Concept of History - Walter Benjamin
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The Free Press founder, Bari Weiss, recently hosted Peter Thiel on her podcast. While The FP markets itself as as a return to independent and non-partisan real journalism, Julian and Derek point out that's not the case at all—especially when the organization's $15M in funding comes from rightwing and libertarian VCs. Will Weiss factcheck Thiel's misinformation in real-time, as a "non-partisan" outlet should?
Show Notes
Lapdogs Of The "Counter-Elite" Authoritarians
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Since the election, Democratic voter disbelief and despair has alternated between grief and rage. We watched some erstwhile vociferous critics of Trump in the legacy media, like Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski, kiss the ring and bend the knee, while others adopted a contorted posture of seeming legitimization, like NPR hosting Leonard Leo for a nice long sit-down interview.
Meanwhile, the big egos of MAGA 2.0 seem to rise like Soviet propaganda banners over the American landscape. Trump has named his cabinet picks at lightning speed. His list includes a pro-wrestling executive, a Hare Krishna cult member, a tech billionaire, an anti-vax conspiracy peddler, a FOX News host with far-right tattoos, an alt-med snake oil salesman, two sex offenders, a COVID-contrarian doctor—and, contrary to his claiming to know nothing about it during the election, prominent Project 2025 authors.
What most high profile nominations all have in common is being completely unqualified for the job. Maybe that’s the point. We look at the cabinet picks that intersect with our beat, as pseudoscience conspiracism now completes its journey from the social fringes to deciding White House policies—and all the consequences that entails.
Show Notes
Conspirituality’s Project 2025 coverage
Everything You Need to Know About Donald Trump’s FDA Pick
No, Medical Errors Are Not the Third Leading Cause of Death
Dr. Oz Shilled for an Alternative to Medicare
Trump picks former Florida Rep. Weldon to lead CDC
13 things everyone should know about Pete Hegseth
Trump reportedly plans to kick trans troops out of the military within days of inauguration
Transgender Military Service in the United States
Did RFK Jr. eat McDonald’s in that viral pic aboard Trump’s plane? Here’s the answer
Part One: Vince McMahon, History's Greatest Monster - Behind the Bastards
C-03-CV-24-004019 — John Does suit against WWE, trigger warning.
Case 3:24-cv-00090 Document 1 Filed 01/25/24 — Janel Grant suit, trigger warning.
152: Tulsi Gabbard’s Krishna Consciousness (w/Nitai Joseph)
Tulsi Gabbard Had a Very Strange Childhood
What Does Tulsi Gabbard Believe?
Tulsi Gabbard’s ties to secretive cult may explain her perplexing political journey
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Matthew here with the fourth installment of Five Big Questions Posed to an Extremely Thoughtful Person.
Rob Schenck joined me in Episode 199 to discuss his deradicalization from the Evangelical anti-abortion movement. Today he joins me to discuss some things he’s learned about hope, faith, resilience and building community in hard times.
Show Notes
199: Inside Anti-Abortion Christian Nationalism (w/Rob Schenck)
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The climate denialist who exposed the so-called “censorship industrial complex” returns, this time at another congressional hearing. Michael Shellenberger has come to blow the whistle on Big Government’s UFO cover-up.
Nancy Mace, Lauren Boebert, and Anna Paulina Luna alternate between showing off their knowledge of fantastical History Channel “documentaries” and playing bad cop interrogators.
Reverse-engineered UFO’s! Recovered alien “biologics!” Interdimensional beings! Organic machines that defy the laws of physics!
Shellenberger and his fellow “witnesses” provide precisely zero evidence for any of these earth-shattering claims.
Welcome to the Government Oversight and Accountability Committee circus.
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AG1 built a billion-dollar brand in large part by tapping into the fitness and wellness podcast and YouTube markets. Recently, AG1’s founder, Chris Ashenden, resigned after a decades-old real estate scam in his native New Zealand came to light. While Chris has mentioned it in passing, he’s always claimed to have paid full reparations for his crime—and it was a crime.
Turns out that he hasn’t paid it all, as uncovered by New Zealand journalists Jonathan Milne and Mike Wesley-Smith. They join Derek to discuss their year-and-a-half long investigation that resulted in a billionaire founder leaving one of the most well-known supplements brands in the world. They also talk about why journalism still matters in a world seemingly run by billionaires.
Show Notes
AG1 founder Chris Ashenden resigns amid scrutiny of NZ criminal history
DELVE: Powder Keg podcast on Apple Podcasts | Spotify | iHeart
Trump sues for billions from media he says is biased against him
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Josemaria Escriva founded Opus Dei, an ultra-conservative, high-demand, secretive Catholic organization in Madrid, Spain, after receiving a supposed vision from God in 1928. His small inner circle initially initiated university students into strict obedience, celibacy, medieval practices of self-flagellation, and deceptive recruitment techniques to convert their friends.
Operating outside of the mainstream church, Opus Dei rose to prominence under Spain's authoritarian dictator, Francisco Franco. Escriva was eventually canonized as a saint while the group amassed enormous wealth and influence around the world.
Today, their reactionary religious and political mission has established a foothold in Washington DC through the Catholic Information Center—the tabernacle closest to the White House.Bill Barr, Leonard Leo, and Project 2025 mastermind, Kevin Roberts, all visit for spiritual guidance. Meanwhile, scandals and lawsuits involving child sex abuse, money laundering, and human trafficking plague Opus Dei's reputation. Gareth Gore joins us to discuss his controversial new book on the past and present of this secretive organization, Opus.
Show Notes
Pew Research Center: America’s News Influencers
Gareth Gore Author page for his book, Opus
Opus Dei Paid $900K to Settle Sexual Misconduct Claim
Argentine Prosecutors Accuse Opus Dei of Human Trafficking
Maria del Carmen Tapia Book Summary on Opus Dei
Biblical omen uncovered in aftermath of Hurricane Helene | Daily Mail Online
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A personal journey through health describing what led Derek to focus on health, science, and healthcare as a career and, eventually, this podcast.
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The post-election online chaos has a lot in common with what can go wrong in online survivor groups. Matthew tracks how opportunities for connection and solidarity can crater into gravity wells of recrimination, trauma-dumping, moral outrage porn, and the rise of new influence hierarchies. Not just because of differences in politics and values and temperament—but because of inequality and privilege.
A meditation on the difference between building a boat to sail in vs. a boat in a bottle, on considering the second arrow, and on when to log the fuck off.
Show Notes
MORAL OUTRAGE PORN C. Thi Nguyen and Bekka Williams
The Second Arrow — Sutta Central
Log the Fuck Off with Amber Frost, Matt Christman, & Ben Fong
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Once upon a time, there was a golden age. A time when the news media was fair and balanced, unbiased and honest. But we've lost all that to the corrupting influence of big money, political correctness, and woke censorship. Blame the radical left.
Not to worry: the online charisma of heterodox new media figures like Bari Weiss and her plucky, centrist, truth-telling little start-up, The Free Press, has come to Make Journalism Great Again.
Yet their supposed heterodoxy is neither neutral nor journalistically rigorous. It's pure culture war contrarian sensationalism that wastes little ink critiquing the rise of right-wing authoritarianism.
We trace these tangled threads by listening in to the supposedly non-partisan The Free Press election night livestream, which giddily praised Trump for being the consummate bullshitter that will take an ax to Democratic institutions.
When a Terrorist Comes to Your Hometown
Columbia's Own Middle East War
Bari Weiss’s Unasked Questions
Thiel/Lonsdale and UATX funding
UATX huge cash injection after pro-palestine protests
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Matthew got The Question on the morning after the election. At that moment, he came up with nothing but a hug. But then he chewed on it for days, and came up with eleven things to consider.
So here are some notes for possible conversations with tweens about anxiety, bullies, fascism, friends, mutual aid, and love.
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Derek discusses Tucker Carlson advocating for corporal punishment as a way to discipline children in his appearance at the Turning Points USA MAGA rally.
This is an unlock from a recent Patreon bonus, with a new intro from Matthew.
Show Notes
Stephen Colbert: Tucker Carlson’s Weird Daddy Issues
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Rapid-response electoral punditry is not our lane. So, while we gather our feelings and thoughts, Matthew hosts novelist Sheila Heti for a discussion of her encounter with A Course in Miracles, and what she discovered when she investigated its origin story for Harper’s Magazine.
Was Helen Schucman, the book’s “scribe”, mentally ill? Was she unduly influenced by her boss at Columbia Medical School, William Thetford, who once worked for the CIA’s MKUltra programme, and with whom she was clearly in love, even though he was gay? Were they dropping acid on assignment from Langley? Why was the initial dictation of the book so radically altered by its first editors? Why did Helen Schucman curse A Course in Miracles so soon after publication? Why did she keep writing trite poems to Jesus before dying in bitterness?
Heti was the ideal gumshoe for this project, because as a novelist all-too-familiar with internal voices and the feeling of “channeling,” she was able to feel her way into Helen’s life. Matthew asks her what she found.
Show Notes
The New Age Bible — Sheila Heti
Sheila Heti — website
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Having lived under Apartheid in South Africa, voted in the UK, and now staring down this terrifying US election, Julian reflects on the political differences between the three countries.
Stay tuned for some hopeful poetry at the end.
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Recently, “holistic veterinarian” Marcie Fallek, whose latest book, “Little Miracles Everywhere: My Unorthodox Path to Holistic Veterinary Medicine," is the #1 bestseller on Amazon in the Alternative Holistic Medicine category, appeared on Children's Health Defense's daily morning show.
During “Pet Vaccines and Holistic Vet Care" she spreads the same sort of vaccine misinformation and fear-mongering that RFK Jr's nonprofit has become infamous for. All of which made Derek realize that yes, they're actually coming for our pets.
Show Notes
Private Equity Is Killing Your Pets
Nearly 70% of veterinarians have lost a colleague or peer to suicide, study finds
The acute suicide crisis among veterinarians: 'You're always going to be failing somebody'
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With days left before the most consequential US election in our lifetime, we reflect on the last 4.5 years of this podcast while expressing our hopes–and our own reporting goals—for the future.
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Matthew here with the third installment of Five Big Questions Posed to an Extremely Thoughtful Person.
Michelle Cassandra Johnson was an early guest on our show and helped us lay the groundwork for understanding the reality and impacts of racism in the worlds of wellness and new spirituality.
She’s an author, activist, and racial equity trainer. Her latest book, A Space For Us: A Guide For Leading Black, Indigenous, and People of Color Affinity Groups, was published by Beacon Press in August 2023. She lives in North Carolina with her sweet dog, Jasper, and her honeybees.
Show Notes
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Derek discusses Tucker Carlson advocating for corporal punishment as a way to discipline children in his appearance at the Turning Points USA MAGA rally.
Show Notes
Stephen Colbert: Tucker Carlson’s Weird Daddy Issues
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Billionaire legal activist Leonard Leo has had a role in placing all six conservative justices on the SCOTUS, and so therefore is in large part responsible for the overturning of Roe V Wade. But his right-wing activism isn’t even close to over, as he recently stated during a rare interview with The Daily Wire. Derek and Julian discuss Leo’s dark vision for the future.
Swamp Creatures 6: Leonard Leo, Judicial Kingmaker
Inside Leonard Leo’s Plan For Conservatives To ‘Crush Liberal Dominance’
We Don’t Talk About Leonard: The Man Behind the Right’s Supreme Court Supermajority
Leonard Leo’s Extremely Revealing Letter to a Dark-Money Group
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On Oct 4, Jay Bhattacharya, a professor of medicine, economics, and health research policy at Stanford, held a symposium at his university. Titled “Pandemic Policy: Planning the Future, Assessing the Past,” it was marketed as an open-minded series of panel discussions involving a range of experts to debate and discuss the efficacy of Covid mitigation techniques.
In reality, it was a collection of mostly anti-vax and definitely anti-lockdown contrarians that tried in vain to bait people like Dr Peter Hotez to attend in order to give the event an air of legitimacy. Held on the anniversary of the “Covid is bad for business” doctrine, The Great Barrington Declaration, the day presented an opportunity to air supposed “censorship” grievances and demands that the public should have a say in the science of future pandemics.
The rub: most everyone involved is invested in the economics of public health, not the science, though those lines were freely and falsely blurred throughout the day. Considering Stanford’s new president, economist Jonathan Levin, gave the opening remarks, the Covid contrarians took one more step into the mainstream with their business-first, science-whatever attitudes.
Show Notes
Pro-COVID UK Charity With Anti-Vax Ties Behind Controversial Stanford Health Policy Conference
Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick says a failing economy is worse than coronavirus
Dr. Vinay Prasad: “Public Health’s (Mis)Truth Problem”
Can Stanford Tell Fact from Fiction?
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As the world watches, Israel and Iran are squaring off for a potential war. Meanwhile, a Texas evangelical preacher, who runs the biggest Christian Zionist group in the world, is cheering on the coming apocalypse—as predicted in his 2005 book, Jerusalem Countdown. John Hagee even flew to DC to persuade Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson, to jam through another military aid package.
Julian examines the real-world significance of conflicting religious prophecies focused on one particular piece of real estate in East Jerusalem as the “shoreline of eternity”—the portal into God’s Kingdom.
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Trump’s Town Hall DJ love-in stumped a lot of folks. From the conspirituality angle, however, there’s something familiar about this improvised ritual. Because the world we cover is strewn with the wreckage of charismatic patriarchs who bleed their followers dry in the closed-loop system of cultic dynamics.
When leaders like Trump get to the end of the line, all that’s left is pure affect. They have exhausted themselves in the efforts of self-aggrandizement. They have nothing left to say because they’ve said it a 1000 times. They’re all out of stories. They might even be bored of their own bullshit. Underslept or dysregulated by chaotic schedules, they may not be sure where they are. They’re beset by enemies, ill and in cognitive decline, but can’t admit it. And when they start to feel overwhelmed by their followers' pathetic—in their view—neediness, they will reach for any help they can get in maintaining their emotional dominance.
What October 14 showed us is that in these moments, Trump’s go-to resource is canned music, and, without his own iPad at the ready, a DJ handler who can spin the tracks and support his reverie of relief and control.
Show Notes
Trump holds town hall in Pennsylvania suburbs with focus on economy
How Media Outlets Covered Trump’s Musical Town Hall
DJ T: How Trump controls the music at Mar-a-Lago
152: Tulsi Gabbard’s Krishna Consciousness (w/Nitai Joseph)
PLAYING FOR OSHO 1989 Introduction – Chinmaya Dunster
Patted Down by India’s Hugging Saint
The Soft Nationalism of Amma, India’s Hugging Saint
37: Guru Jagat Cultjacks Kundalini Yoga (w/Philip Deslippe & Stacie Stukin)
Letter to Sogyal Rinpoche from current and ex-Rigpa members details abuse allegations
Trump's bizarre music session reignites questions about his mental acuity
Brief: Trump’s Impending Ego Implosion (w/ Daniel Shaw)
Traumatic Narcissism: Relational Systems of Subjugation
Sex abuse allegations surround L.A. Buddhist teacher
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People will reach for anything to relieve the stress of climate anxiety.
There’s outright denial: this can’t be happening. It doesn’t fit in with my understanding of the world. The science must be wrong. During Milton, Catturd wonders why the wind speed keeps changing on the weather reports. They must be making it up. Or the guy in Galveston, TX, posting that he can’t see any hurricane from his Gulf view.
When denial is impractical, there’s political displacement: our enemies are responsible. They’re seeding the clouds, they’re spewing the chemtrails. The Democrats are sparking tornadoes with invisible drones over swing states. They’re using radio waves to steer the hurricane’s eye. They’re clearing land for lithium mining so they can take our gas hog pickups away.
But when the storm surge is just too high to attribute to Jewish space lasers, there’s also good old spiritual displacement: God is punishing our enemies for their sins. We didn’t stop all their abortions and anal sex, and now we are caught in the crossfire of God’s just vengeance.
Today we look at the distortions and disruptions, the fallacies and fables—and not all of them from the right—that keep people locked in climate paralysis.
Show Notes
Food Babe misinformation carousel
Wigington v. MacMartin, 2:21-cv-02355-KJM-DMC
Record Hot Water Is Fueling Hurricane Milton
Hurricane Milton: what causes such intense storms?
What Big Oil knew about climate change, in its own words
Early oil industry knowledge of CO2 and global warming | Nature Climate Change
Exxon Confirmed Global Warming Consensus in 1982 with In-House Climate Models
No obituary for Earth: Scientists fight climate doom talk
Guy McPherson and Near Term Human Extinction - The Mike Nowak Show with Peggy Malecki
Arctic News: It’s time to pursue hospice, by Guy McPherson
Statement on Guy McPherson - Eugene
The faulty science, doomism, and flawed conclusions of Deep Adaptation -
The faulty science, doomism, and flawed conclusions of 'Deep Adaptation' | openDemocracy
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Matthew fields excellent questions about his new book from colleagues Ann Gleig and Michelle C. Johnson.
NAB Show Notes
This event includes discussions on sensitive topics related to abuse; sexual assault; high-demand tactics; racism; gender-based violence; and systems of dominance, patriarchy, and oppression. We know that these topics may be distressing or triggering to some attendees, and we invite you to take care when listening, and to tend to your needs if you feel activated, overwhelmed, or emotionally impacted. We're so grateful you're here, and we thank you for coming. We also want to thank survivors of sexual violence and abuse in yoga, wellness, Buddhist communities, and beyond, whose stories, voices, and feedback have been invaluable to the work each of us continues to do in service of healing our communities from the harm of sexual violence.
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Born in 1831, Helena "Madame" Blavatsky pioneered the New Age grift. The Russian aristocrat plagiarized her books while claiming to be channeling the “Masters of Ancient Wisdom” to tell a dodgy heroic back-story. She founded the Theosophical Society in New York, claimed to have learned a secret Tibetan language, and laid the foundation for alien channelers and Woo-Anon. She also inspired the Nazis.
In the latest episode from a series on the pseudoscience New Age roots of today’s conspirituality phenomenon, Julian pins Blavatsky on the cork-board map.
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On September 29, a predicted one million people were going to show up for the Rescue the Republic event in Washington DC. Founded by the libertarian party chair, the Defeat the Mandates founder, and “professor in exile,” Bret Weinstein, about 1,500 mostly MAGA acolytes showed up. Yet the event represents something a long time building in America: the strange and at times uncomfortable merging of wellness and right-wing politics via MAHA and MAGA.
Sure, RFK Jr was there, but today we’re going to look at a few figures we haven’t covered in a while, or at all. As can be expected in conspiracy land, the C-list celebrities brought some of the most outlandish, and most dangerous, ideas along with them.
Show Notes
Orange Shirt Day | The Canadian Encyclopedia
National Day for Truth and Reconciliation and the History of Residential Schools - Foundry
Phyllis’ Story - Orange Shirt Society
More Than Anything Else, the Rally to Rescue the Republic Was Awkward
Are food dyes used in the US banned in other countries? No, not really.
IDF Ordered Hannibal Directive on October 7 to Prevent Hamas Taking Soldiers Captive - Israel News - Haaretz.com
Have no childhood vaccines ever been tested using double-blind placebo controlled trials?
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With MAHA taking over stages nationwide, we’re experiencing a deluge of wellness influence and contrarians screaming about systemic issues with food, medicine, and government. Yet the solutions they offer never actually address public health.
Ironically, the same trend has been occurring in investment-driven medicine, where both government and private sector money is flowing into individualized medicine at the expense of public health.
Derek dives into this sordid affair, concluding with six steps experts agree would actually do something about the state of our health.
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Finally: a dedicated, concise report on RFK Jr’s sordid history with women, with all the sources.
Why?
Because now one of the allegations involves a criminal act.
And because it’s becoming clearer that the emotional manipulation he allegedly deploys in his personal life—many sources say that “love-bombing” is his technique—rhymes so closely with his political day-to-day that it’s hard to find the lines between stumping, white knighting, seducing, and screwing.
Correction: The RFK Jr clip “I’m not a church boy” ran on Breaking Points, not Majority Report.
Show Notes
RFK Jr.’s Family Doesn’t Want Him to Run. Even They May Not Know His Darkest Secrets. | Vanity Fair
Damning Report Reveals RFK Jr.’s History of Alleged Sexual Assault | The New Republic
RFK Jr. Was a Compulsive Womanizer, and Yes, We Should Care | The New Republic
43 suspected mistresses found in RFK Jr.’s phone
Former babysitter for Robert F. Kennedy Jr. accuses him of sexual assault in Vanity Fair profile
Woman who accused RFK Jr of sexual assault says he apologized by text | Reuters
Keith Edwards — “I’m not a church boy.”
Massachusetts Sexual Assault Laws
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Texts Apology to Woman Who Says He Sexually Assaulted Her
A Timeline of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s Controversies
The Last Days of Mary Kennedy: 'She Is Angry and Depressed, but She Is Not Ill' (Exclusive)
Brief: The New Age Origin Story of RFK Jr’s Campaign — Conspirituality
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Cleanse the soil! Purify the blood! Save the children! Make America Healthy Again!
On Sept 23, Jordan Peterson, RFK Jr., rising alt-health stars Casey and Calley Means, and many other nutrition non-experts gathered for a live streamed event they called the American Health and Nutrition Roundtable, hosted by Republican Senator Ron Johnson of Wisconsin.
Their subtitle, A Second Opinion, was an apt description for the alternative fact-filled diatribes that ensued. The soil has been poisoned, everyone is fat and sick, the entire medical industry is corrupted by Big Pharma, and Big Food is enacting a genocide on the American people via metabolic dysfunction. COVID skepticism and anti-vax messaging lurked just beneath the surface.
The speakers painted a terrifying picture and then presented themselves as benevolent common-sense saviors. At the climax of her speech, Casey Means, fresh from her career-boosting Tucker Carlson appearance, took a deep breath before declaring that this is all actually a spiritual crisis.
Killers of the Flower Moon: The real history behind diabetes and Native Americans.
Palestinians pampered”— Robert Kennedy Jr
CDC Sociodemographic Data on American chronic disease
Commonwealth Fund: Portrait of the Failing US Healthcare System
Mikhaila Fuller | Yeah, I get botox. From the latest Q&A, link in bio. | Instagram
Mikhaila Peterson’s life at the molten core of the culture wars - New Statesman
NPR on International Journal of Obesity Study
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Matthew here with the second installment of Five Big Questions Posed to an Extremely Thoughtful Person.
Does Natalie Wynn need an introduction? Or do we simply know that every frame of every Contrapoints essay is a gorgeous still life, a love letter to the unknown viewer thirsty for smarts and queerness and justice?
Often, top-tier artfulness will wind up concealing the artist. But despite the rigors of curation and the introversion Wynn ‘fesses up to in this interview, she also communicates welcome and generosity, and it was an honor to hear her speak personally about these Big Things..
BTW: here are the five questions. You can think about them too.
Show Notes
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An essay from Matthew exploring the problem of authenticity which plagues every investigation we do on the spiritual influencer beat.
There are queasy questions we’re always contending with when we’re listening to the preaching of Charles Eisenstein, Kelly Brogan, Zach Bush, or RFK Jr:
Has this person really committed to the spirituality they are presenting? Or is spirituality instrumental to them? Do they have experience to share, or programs to sell?
It’s hard if not impossible to find the line between these things, especially in the society of the spectacle, especially when we’re talking about influencers we don’t personally know. But it's an important consideration because assumptions made in one direction or another taint the entire discourse.
Maybe, we’re talking about the difference between unearned faith and earned faith.
Show Notes
Zero at the Bone: Wiman
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On Monday, Senator Ron Johnson sponsored a congressional panel entitled "American Health and Nutrition: A Second Opinion." Unfortunately no actual health or nutrition experts were invited. Instead, the four-and-a-half hour event featured speakers like Robert F Kennedy Jr, Jordan Peterson, Jillian Michaels, Vani Hari (Food Babe), and a host of other influencers and contrarians. Derek investigates all the science that wasn't told—and all the products and services that were sold.
Note: Derek meant to compare aluminum fear-mongering with thimerasol (organomercury) but instead conflated them. Both are safe at the level used in vaccines as adjuvants, though most thimerasol was removed due to public outcries and an abundance of caution. Links added to Show Notes.
Show Notes
Mandela Barnes Says Sen. Ron Johnson 'Bought and Paid for' by Big Pharma
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Tens of people will be flocking to Washington DC this Sunday as Rumble comes to life during Rescue the Republic, a one-day event featuring RFK Jr, Russell Brand, Jordan Peterson, Bret Weinstein, Tulsi Gabbard—it’s quite an impressive roster of anti-vax luminaries and right-wing contrarians gathering under the pretense of what is effectively a glorified Donald Trump rally.
And that’s not hyperbole, given that Trump is seated next to Elon Musk on the marketing materials, which is a graphic retelling of George Washington crossing the Delaware River. While this event is already infected with tons of conspirituality, one late addition caught our attention: Human Garage. This fascia-release-cures-everything organization had to flee California for Canada due to legal troubles, yet their star continues to rise as they embark on their “Transforming Trauma” world tour. And nothing says “healing” more than spreading pseudoscientific wellness jargon and hawking turmeric supplements at a Trump event.
Show Notes
Pope: War in Gaza is too much! No steps taken for peace - Vatican News
Physio Reacts: Episode 1 - Human Garage (Part 1 of ?)
Physio Reacts: Episode 2 - Human Garage (Part 2)
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The British occultists took the thin and sickly but beautiful boy away from his family. Groomed him for 20 years to become the savior of humanity. Trained him between 1909-29 to be a serene guru and charming English aristocrat. He looked good in a double-breasted suit and had fabulous hair. Huge amounts of money flowed into the organization they built around him.
But Krishnamurti became a man the day he shocked them all. Julian’s latest chapter of his historical series wraps up Helena Blavatsky’s Theosophical Society—one of the crucial 19th century roots of New Age metaphysics, and the phenomenon we call conspirituality.
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“God talks to human beings through many vectors. But nowhere with such detail, and grace and joy, as through creation. When we destroy nature, we diminish our capacity to sense the divine.”
With this April 2023 tweet, RFK Jr inaugurated his presidential campaign, which has now folded into a daily ritual of Trump bootlicking.
Now, Bobby is telling Tucker Carlson and the world that climate change cannot be solved through commitment to the “carbon orthodoxy.”
“It’s not about quantifying stuff,” he says. “That's what the devil does. But the reason we're preserving these things is because we love our children.”
What does this mean?
Matthew tracks the sources and implications of Kennedy’s broken climate discourse—rooted in St. Francis of Assisi, appealing to gentleman farmers and homeschoolers, allergic to the scientific abstractions that give us a truly global picture, and always committed to the free market.
Show Notes
RFK Jr: Teaming up With Trump, Pavel Durov’s Arrest, CIA, and the Fall of the Democrat Party
Birdwatching with Jonathan Franzen: 'Climate change isn't the only danger to birds'
Special Interview: Nostalgia for the Superego (w/Sam Binkley) — Conspirituality
Laudato si' (24 May 2015) | Francis
Brian Swimme: The Cosmos Watching Itself (E35)
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There’s been a question gnawing at fans of Charles Eisenstein: what does he really feel about RFK Jr’s pivot to Trump? The always aspiring poet-philosopher was hired as a messaging advisor to Bobby, after all. We’ve spotted little fragments of Eisenstein’s exceptionally long essays sneaking their way into Bobby’s speeches. There was some influence, for sure, even after Charles went on multiple Costa Rican sabbaticals right in the middle of campaign season and apparently cut his consulting rate down from $21k per month, perhaps out of the goodness of the heart he knows is possible. And yet, for weeks after Bobby jumped the shark, Charles remained silent.
Until now, that is. With the publication of his recent 6,711-word essay, “Shades of Many Colors,” Eisenstein finally breaks his silence and lands firmly on the side of…well, we’re not quite sure. But one thing that’s emerged is Charles’s penchant for not crediting the source of some of his galaxy-brained ideas. Today, we’ll look at some of what Charles says in his latest opus, and try to figure out what exactly he’s saying.
mRNA vaccine spike protein differs from viral version
The effect of SARS-CoV-2 variant on respiratory features and mortality
Autoimmune and Autoinflammatory Connective Tissue Disorders Following COVID-19
Conspirituality 1: Coronation for Whom?
Brief: The New Age Origin Story of RFK Jr’s Campaign — Conspirituality
86: Charles Eisenstein, New Age Q — Conspirituality
Disavowing Disinformation - North Atlantic Books
Inside the Last Weeks of RFK Jr.’s Campaign
Charles Eisenstein - What is the Next Story? - Scientific and Medical Network
Brian Swimme: The Cosmos Watching Itself (E35)
Charles Eisenstein Endorses Trump, but Thinks You're Not Clever Enough to Notice (Part 2)
Cardiac Events Following Mpox Vaccine
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"Biohacking expert" Kayla Barnes recently published a 31-minute video about her morning routine, filled with EMF-blocking shields, grounding protocols, and 40 different daily supplements. Good if you can afford it, but then she sells questionable protocols at her Cleveland, Ohio-based clinic, Lyv Wellness, despite having no clinical training. Derek watches what she says, then watches what she sells.
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Tucker Carlson is the Steve Bannon of Joe Rogans. Tucker surpasses Rogan’s massive reach at times, but his curated guest list drives a deliberate agenda: normalizing neo-fascist political discourse. He does it all with an affable, friendly, just-asking-questions, I’m-not-as-smart-as-my-guests attitude that may disguise what he’s doing—like interviewing a Holocaust-denier Nazi apologist, or framing modern-day dictatorships as admirable, or promoting the anti-semitic Great Replacement Theory, or globe-trotting to flatteringly interviewing brutal enemies of democracy like Viktor Orban or Vladimir Putin.
In the wake of recent controversy about WWII revisionism on Carlson’s show, Julian breaks down the accelerationist contours of Tucker’s far-right influence and agenda. Being fired from FOX News and going “independent” has only made it worse.
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In 2022, Tucker Carlson produced a documentary called “The End of Men,” his contribution to the so-called “masculinity crisis.” That’s when testicle tanning hit the mainstream, which one astute observer dubbed “bromeopathic therapy.”
Turns out the former Fox News host isn’t done dabbling in conspirituality. This year, he’s platformed the QAnon Shaman, Jacob Chansley; lyme disease conspiracist, Kris Newby; the “other” Naomi, Naomi Wolf; brother-sister optimizers, Casey and Calley Means; and he’s currently on a 16-city tour with the likes of Russell Brand and Alex Jones. He’s also partly responsible for helping usher RFK Jr into Donald Trump’s camp.
While the former CNN and MSNBC host turned far right provocateur isn’t leading wellness retreats (yet), he’s certainly being shared by an increasing number of wellness influencers, and we want to know why.
DOJ Accuses Russia of Sprawling Election Interference Campaign
Safety through Solidarity by Shane Burley, Ben Lorber
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Here’s the first installment of a regular timeline cleanser featuring interviews with folks reflecting on hope, faith, resilience and building community in hard times.
You know—all the things that conspirituality itself can’t offer.
These are short, personal visits in which Matthew asks each guest the same five questions about their life wisdom—at least as it’s coming together in this moment.
To start this series, Matthew hearkens back to the roots of Conspirituality Podcast in the yoga world with guest Jivana Heyman. Jivana is the founder and director of Accessible Yoga, an organization dedicated to increasing access to the yoga teachings and supporting yoga teachers. He’s the author of Accessible Yoga: Poses and Practices for Every Body; Yoga Revolution: Building a Practice of Courage & Compassion; and The Teacher's Guide to Accessible Yoga: Best Practices for Sharing Yoga with Every Body.
BTW: here are the five questions. You can think about them too.
Show Notes
9: Ableism in Conspiracy Theories (w/Jivana Heyman) — Conspirituality
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What does it mean to spill ink on dispelling conspiracy theories about non-existent children being murdered, while actual children are being murdered? At what point does the labour of debunking right wing wackjobs also do the shadow-work of supporting the liberal-center orthodoxy?
Matthew looks at how with QAnon, the liberal-center press criticized irrational responses to imaginary traumas, with a great sense of urgency. But on Gaza, they criticize rational responses to actual traumas, and imply that protesters are asking for too much, too fast.
What happens downstream of denials, minimizations, and contradictions? What are the social and mental health implications of moral injury? Are these not some of the same social conditions that generate conspiracism?
Content warning: discussion of children, genocide
Show Notes
Rights expert finds ‘reasonable grounds’ genocide is being committed in Gaza | UN News
Dems Gave the 'Uncommitted Movement' Space to Talk About Gaza — Just Not on TV
First-Ever DNC Panel on Palestinian Rights: We Need to “Restore the Soul of the Democratic Party”
“Stop Arming Israel”: Meet the DNC Delegates Who Unfurled Banner During Biden Speech
201: Librarians Are Not Groomers (w/Heath Umbreit) — Conspirituality
What I Saw Was “Unfathomable”: Doctor Who Worked in Gaza Speaks Out Against U.S. Arming of Israel
Counting the dead in Gaza: difficult but essential - The Lancet
Clearing Gaza of almost 40m tonnes of war rubble will take years, says UN
Israel Has Killed 2,100 Babies Under 2 Years Old in Gaza, Rights Group Says | Truthout
College Administrators Spent Summer Break Dreaming Up Ways to Squash Gaza Protests
The Black Mark on the Democrats’ Big Party | The New Republic
Amnesty International Warns of U.S. Complicity in War Crimes in Gaza
Christian Wiman | Yale Divinity School
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Calley Means is the cofounder of TrueMed, a company that helps businesses qualify products and services like supplements and ice baths for HSA and FSA money. Casey Means is the founder of Levels, a continuous glucose monitor subscription service aimed at the biohacking community. The brother and sister recently appeared on Tucker Carlson's podcast to rage against seed oils, as well as the food and pharma industries' focus on profits over people.
Derek dug into their business models, finding them guilty of the same "crimes" they accuse others of.
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RFK Jr has dropped out of the presidential race and thrown his weight behind Trump. In our 10th episode on the man in the last year-and-a-half, we look at the potential dangers of this unholy alliance, and what it means for America.
Show notes are extensive, visit patreon.com/conspirituality or conspirituality.net for more.
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Born in 1831, Helena “Madame” Blavatsky pioneered the New Age grift. The Russian aristocrat plagiarized her books while claiming to be channeling the “Masters of Ancient Wisdom” to tell a dodgy heroic back-story. She founded the Theosophical Society in New York, claimed to have learned a secret Tibetan language, and laid the foundation for alien channelers and Woo-Anon. She also inspired the Nazis.
In this debut episode from a series on the pseudoscience New Age roots of today’s conspirituality phenomenon, Julian pins Blavatsky on the cork-board map.
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Dems are laughing about Donny Dentures or #TrumpisDone, but the reality inside his head, and Mar a Lago, will be very grim, and there will be a lot of collateral damage.
Mental health titans like Robert Lifton have reached the consensus that Trump has been mentally ill for a long time. They’ve diagnosed him with “narcissistic personality disorder, antisocial personality disorder, paranoid personality disorder, delusional disorder, malignant narcissist,” and so on.
Such patients meet predictable ends when the wheels fall off. In the cult world (where Lifton has been so influential), there are bangs (Jim Jones) and there are whimpers (Keith Raniere). What might it look like for Trump?
No one is more qualified to discuss the possibilities with Matthew than Daniel Shaw, LCSW, a psychotherapist trained in psychoanalysis as well as in trauma-informed psychotherapies. He is in private practice in New York City and in Nyack, New York; and Faculty and Supervisor at The National Institute for the Psychotherapies in New York. He is the author of Traumatic Narcissism: Relational Systems of Subjugation, published by Routledge in 2014, and nominated for the prestigious Gradiva Award. His book Traumatic Narcissism and Recovery: Leaving the Prison of Shame and Fear was published in 2021. He is known for his work with cult trauma survivors and with clients who have experienced narcissistic abuse.
Show Notes
Traumatic Narcissism: Relational Systems of Subjugation
Traumatic Narcissism and Recovery: Leaving the Prison of Shame and Fear
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In one survey, 82% of young people aged 18-25 searched the internet for mental health advice. Another survey of university students found that 44% report using the internet to learn about sadness, anxiety, or confusion. Regardless of what mental health experts advise, people of all age groups are turning to the internet and social media for help.
What are the potential risks and rewards of using these platforms to try to communicate credible mental health science? And what happens when you’re endlessly trolled for being a “Big Pharma shill,” even when you don’t have prescriptive powers and only offer talk therapy in your clinical practice?
Clinical psychologist Jonathan Stea joins us to discuss these difficult questions. His new book, Mind the Science: Saving Your Mental Health from the Wellness Industry, is a field guide that responds to some of the intense challenges earnest seekers face when trying to navigate waters filled with supplements-slinging sharks who believe they can diagnose mental health conditions with zero training.
Show Notes
AI-generated video of Trump on ayahuasca
Mind the Science: Saving Your Mental Health from the Wellness Industry
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Peter McCullough recently shared a ton of misinformation about mpox while speaking to Drew Pinsky; both men work for The Wellness Company, a supplements company that weaponizes anti-vax misinformation to sell products. Mikki Willis uses the Hero's Journey as a guide to dealing with mpox—and falsely represents Joseph Campbell's work. Russell Brand and Bret Weinstein claim mpox is a government psyop and nothing more.
Derek looks at the conspiritualist fervor bubbling up around what's turning out to be another dangerous virus by men who do everything but point to sound public health measures.
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ProPublica recently got a hold of 25 Project 2025 training videos—over 14 hours worth of content revealing the policies the Heritage Foundation would like to see implemented if Donald Trump regains the White House. Derek and Julian break down one of the most egregious.
Inside Project 2025’s Secret Training Videos
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Did you hear that Taylor Swift is supporting Donald Trump for president? That’s right: last week, the former president shared photos of fans rocking “Swifties for Trump” t-shirts on Truth Social. Trump seemed pleased, replying to his online following of 24 billion people: “I accept.”
Yet something seemed off. Just like photos of Trump surrounded by seven-fingered Black Americans smiling on city stoops, these Swiftie endorsement photos were AI generated. As it turns out, AI is playing a more insidious and dangerous role in this year’s election—and in the conspiracy theory industry—than ever. The line between fact and fiction has long been blurred, but we’re entering a new reality where distinguishing between those two might prove impossible.
This week, we look at the stakes of the first AI-generated election in America—and wonder how much worse it can get, even in three short months.
Trump Promotes A.I. Images to Falsely Suggest Taylor Swift Endorsed Him
Christian Nationalists Are Opening Private Schools. Taxpayers Are Funding Them.
Fake Photos, Real Harm: AOC and the Fight Against AI Porn
Propaganda, foreign interference, and generative AI
AI Poses Risks to Both Authoritarian and Democratic Politics
Election disinformation takes a big leap with AI being used to deceive worldwide
Detention and alleged ill-treatment of detainees from Gaza during Israel-Hamas War
U.S. decries reported sexual abuse of Palestinian prisoners after graphic video aired on Israeli TV
US approves sale to Israel of $20 billion weapons package | Reuters
A record share of US electricity comes from zero-carbon sources - but more work is needed
China could exceed renewables generation target of 33% by 2025 | S&P Global Commodity Insights
Israeli Government Pays $2M for AI Influence Campaign
Israel-Funded Disinfo Campaign Targets US Lawmakers
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A short break-the-fourth-wall reflection from Matthew on his new regular series for our main feed, starting in September.
The Conspirituality Relief Project will provide regular timeline-cleanser interviews in which super interesting guests reflect on hope, faith, resilience, and building community in hard times.
You know, all of the things that conspirituality itself promises to do, but can’t, or won’t.
Every guest gets thirty minutes, and the same five questions:
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An unexpectedly cheerful followup to “JD Vance Taps into Parental Rage.” The alt titles today could be: “Tim Walz Taps into Parental Goals,” or “Disarming the Disinfo of the Right is Great, But Have You Tried Dad Jokes?”
Across social media, liberal millennial women are tagging Tim Walz as the return of the dad they lost to Fox News. Matthew digs into that graveyard with a survey of the tools that we’ve used to examine the nature and function of patriarchal bullshit as it dominates conspirituality, cults, and QAnon. The result is a stroll through a Madame Tussaud’s display of fragile and toxic influencer fathers, from Jordan Peterson to Jim Watkins to RFK Jr to Donald Trump.
Tim Walz not only doesn’t do any of the things these guys do—he might be rooting around in his special tool drawer now to find just the thing it’ll take to fix what they’ve done.
Note: this is not a blind love-fest or blanket endorsement of as-yet vague policies. But there is something powerful going on with Walz’s new-old modeling of Big Dad Energy.
Tim Walz’s green resume has an oily stain
Minnesota activists criticize Tim Walz for refusing to meet with Palestinians – Mondoweiss
Donald Trump Likens His Schooling to Military Service in Book - The New York Times
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Eight years ago, they called us cucks, libtards, and globalists. We were corrupted by cultural Marxism, teaching our kids to hate themselves. Four years ago they gloated over drinking liberal tears. They called us sheeple, groomers, vampires, pedos. We made up a pandemic so that we could brew up a kill shot, and force it on everyone after making ourselves soy-boy sick. We were exposing our kids to trans strippers in the library and showing them how to use buttplugs in kindergarten. When our children were sufficiently deranged and submissive, we drained them of adrenochrome and mutilated their privates.
JD Vance’s ONE JOB was to turn this bullying into policy, and encode it in the pages of Project 2025. Peter Thiel sent him forth to blend every shitpost into a radioactive slurry to power a cybertruck convoy carrying the titans of New Right capitalism into Washington.
He tried. He really did.
But then came the stories about him. That he fucked a couch. He wrote about it in his book, someone said. Someone else said he was getting off on dolphin porn. The lies spread, with glee and schadenfreude. And he folded. Like a foldaway.
Suddenly, all the green drained out of million shriveling Pepes and made the world verdant with hope. And from the middle of a cornfield football grid, Tim Walz manifests with his Big Dad grin and said, "Let’s roll up our sleeves and beat these creepy weirdos.”
Today we’ll talk about fighting conspiracy theories that started as jokes with jokes that defuse conspiracy theories. About what it takes to commandeer the attention economy, and how much of our souls we spend to do it. About the difference between meme wars and policy debates, and how far the Big Dad Energy vibes can take us.
RFK Jr.'s incredible disappearing campaign
The author of the viral joke post about JD Vance having sex with a couch breaks his silence
162 lies and distortions in a news conference. NPR fact checks former President Trump
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Tech billionaire Peter Thiel claims “freedom and democracy are incompatible.” Mentor and $15M donor behind JD Vance’s political career, Peter Thiel also has an influence: Mencius Moldbug, computer programmer and lead philosopher of the “Dark Enlightenment,” or “neoreactionary” movement.
Moldburg says, “if Americans want their government to change, they’re going to have to get over their dictator phobia.” Erstwhile pen-name of Curtis Yarvin, “Moldburg” is openly anti-democratic, advocating for one-party city-states ruled by CEO-kings. His takes on race, slavery, and the Nazis are equally alarming.
Vance has also publicly praised and cited his work, and Thiel gave $1.1 million to Yarvin’s tech start-up. Julian digs into the toxic pseudo-intellectual philosophy behind the next wave of MAGA authoritarianism.
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Ziklag’s ultra-wealthy network of Christian donors is spending nearly $12M to mobilize Republican voters in order to secure a Trump victory this November. ProPublica found that their plan involves purging 1M+ people from the voter rolls in key swing states. Unsurprisingly, this is yet another Christian nationalist group with ties to Project 2025.
Here’s the thing: Ziklag is classified as a 501c3 charity organization, which means they’re breaking longstanding rules of nonprofit governance. Will they be held accountable and lose their status? Derek and Julian discuss.
Show Notes
Ziklag Exposed: Secretive Christian Nationalist Network Tries to Purge Voters in Battleground States
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You’re an eight year-old girl. The purity culture of your evangelical church, ruled by men but policed by women, has you worried that the spaghetti straps on your summer top might be sinful. You learn from the women around you how to defer, serve, please, keep your voice girl-like forever, and use it to both signal obedience but also piously request relief from sexual aggression.
You’re a seven year-old boy. The holy laws of gender in your church dictate that when you’re the only male present at Bible study, you must lead the room full of women in reading and prayer. You must perform manliness in your boy’s body, assuming an anxious leadership role you did not earn. If you don’t puff yourself up, you’re a sissy—one of the girls alongside you learning the tones of the Fundie Baby Voice.
These are parts of the stories of Julia Postema and Jeremiah Gibson, the co-hosts of the podcast Sexvangelicals: The Sex Education the Church Didn't Want You to Have. They are Boston-based licensed psychotherapists and certified sex therapists. They specialize in helping couples with negative religious backgrounds discover sexuality that works for their partnership. Julian and I sat down with them to learn about how their clients recover from purity culture, and sometimes in the process run smack into its mirror world: the tantric workshop land of divine masculine and feminine stereotypes plus fascinations with semen retention.
Show Notes
Sexvangelicals: Podcast | Website | Instagram | Substack
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Scroll through masculinity influencer social media feeds and you're constantly told there's a "crisis of meaning." But is that really true? Has a shared meaning ever reflected the totality of any population?
Derek turns this idea over in his head by looking at the mythology of the hero's journey. But first, he provides some inspirational messages from the White Dudes for Harris call last week, where perhaps a new and empowering sense of masculinity is taking hold.
Show Notes
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The “childless cat lady” thing is as ridiculous as JD Vance is. But it’s not stupid. It’s tapping into something powerful, because it’s shameful.
Vance’s fantasy that childless cat ladies are miserable in their lives is another case of every accusation being a projection.
In actuality, he’s speaking to that swath of parents out there in general—and particularly on the right—who are actually miserable in their lives, regretting their choices, wondering why God saddled them with 4-5-6 kids in a country that does so little to support families.
But it’s illegal to say any of this. Children are gifts from God, right? They have to disown it and pretend that their families are perfect and perfectly fulfilling.
An editorial-style Brief from Matthew, who’s been parenting as a stepdad and biodad for long enough to know that parents and the childless absolutely need each other.
Full text of "GHETTO DIARY - ENGLISH - JANUSZ KORCZAK"
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If something real occurs in this timeline, but no conspiracy theorist is there to FUBAR it, does it actually happen?
An old man, weakened by COVID, picks up an old-timey phone handset on a Delaware Saturday to tell a childless cat lady that the reins of destiny are now in her hands.
A staffer clicks “post” at 1:46pm, and X lights up with something real… that throws an instant shadow of insanity.
Biden is too sick to have posted, they say. He’s dead, they say. He has staged or suffered a coup. And Kamala Harris? A DEI bimbo flashing esoteric Marxist hand signals. The DNC is fraudulently transferring the campaign war chest. They couldn’t kill Trump so now they’re playing dirty with the nomination. Biden’s brother is stepping in, Biden’s body double is 8 inches too tall. Dudes who made too much “Let’s Go Brandon” merch are launching lawsuits and crying in their beer.
We run down the most cursed Kamala conspiracy theories, how they distort the real questions about her, how being a childless cat lady is her superpower, and whether the ghouls that dream them up really matter.
Show Notes
Vivian Wilson on Threads: There’s a lot of stuff I need to debunk
Elon Musk's transgender daughter, in first interview, says he berated her for being queer as a child
J.D. Vance’s Hatred of Cat Ladies Is Weirder and More Dangerous Than You Think
J.D. Vance Really Is the Key to Understanding the American Right
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This is the second episode in “Conspirituality and the Imaginary Children,” an occasional series on how children, as symbols (but not persons with their own internal lives) are at the center of conspirituality anxiety and discourse.
The title is taken from a pamphlet published by Ralph Drollinger, a former professional basketball player from San Diego who founded a 501c3 called Capitol Ministries in 1996 to facilitate prayer meetings and study guides for congresspeople in Washington, and state legislators in more than 40 states.
Drollinger’s crowning achievement was to initiate a weekly Bible study group in the White House during the Trump administration. The 60-90 minutes were regularly attended by ten Trump cabinet members.
Like many evangelicals, Drollinger argues that spanking children is mandated by the Bible But he also goes a Trumpian extra mile—explicitly connecting the virtue of child assault in the home to the state’s monopoly on violence. Matthew walks through what this looks like and how Drollinger justifies it through narrow and dishonest readings of scripture.
Show Notes
God’s Word on Spanking [youtube]
194: The Power Worshippers (w/Katherine Stewart) — Conspirituality
How the Trump Cabinet’s Bible Teacher Became a Shadow Diplomat - The New York Times
White House Bible Study Led by Pastor Who Is Anti-Gay, Anti-Women and Anti-Catholic - Newsweek
Is God Judging America Today? by Ralph Drollinger
Capitol Ministries 2023 revenue
Jordan B. Peterson’s Support of Corporal Punishment for Children: A Critique - Mad In America
Shepherding a Child's Heart — Tripp
Shepherding a Child's Heart (a short critique) — DonOwsley.com
Ministry Versus Political Activism by Ralph Drollinger
Text of the Spencer Spanking Plan
Misused Scripture: Jeremiah 17:9.
HEBREW WORD STUDY – Deceitful and Wicked אנשׁ עכב | Chaim Bentorah
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A tale of two tweets: Dark Horse podcast cohost and “conspiracy hypothesizer” Bret Weinstein took to Twitter twice this month, first dropping a video claiming that RFK Jr becoming Donald Trump’s running mate would make them “assassination proof,” then later floating the idea that an AI Joe Biden really phoned into Kamala Harris’s first conference as the presumptive presidential nominee. Or…is Biden even alive?
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Just two days after surviving an assassination attempt, Donald Trump announced JD Vance as his VP pick. Vance has made a dramatic U-turn from calling Trump a "reprehensible idiot" and "America's Hitler" in 2016. But who is this 39 year old, really—who after less than two years of on-the-job experience, is now almost a heartbeat away from leading the free world?
Well, not unlike other right-wing populists in Europe and at home, Vance has an idiosyncratic political affinity for JRR Tolkien. We might even call him America’s conspiracy hobbit at this point, fresh from the Appalachian Shire but inexorably drawn by the burning crypto rings of Silicon Valley to eventually land at the feet of Sauron to meet his fate.
But to answer this question and examine where JD Vance fits into the conspirituality landscape, we’ll be breaking down a speech recently released by ProPublica. It’s from an intimate invitation-only conservative event hosted in 2021 by a group called the Teneo Network. Behind closed doors, Vance encouraged his audience to get away from that weird feeling in their chests when listening to the unique truths of conspiracy theorists. Like, Alex Jones sees the world more clearly than MSNBC's Rachel Maddow. The right also apparently needs more oligarchs. Oh, and the literal Devil is at work in the world around us.
J.D. Vance Speaks at a Private Teneo Network Event, Sept. 2021
Inside the “Private and Confidential” Conservative Group That Promises to “Crush Liberal Dominance”
How Lord of the Rings Shaped JD Vance’s Politics
The Influences on JD Vance’s Political Philosophy
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Project 2025's plan for workers is clear: crush unions, eliminate minority protections, curtail reproductive health care benefits, and make the workplace biblical again.
Derek and Julian unpack the details of another insane chapter from Project 2025's 920-page manifesto that describes their vision for the reduced rights of the working class. According to their own statements, a Trump presidency would set these and other disastrous plans in motion from day one.
Show Notes
Conspirituality 187: Project 2025: An Authoritarian Conspiracy
Project 2025's Disdain for Public Education
The GOP Thinks Food Stamps Are the Real Problem
The Plan to Dismantle Health Care
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We cover conspiracy theories, spiritual abuse, and religious and right-wing extremism. We cover showmen and charismatics suffering from King Victim Complex. Last week we had to study a goddam assassination attempt.
But sometimes we get to peek into the worlds that younger people are making within our cursed digital environments, and we realize they might be laughing at some of the problems that fill us olds with despair right out of existence.
Gaming journalist and Master of Divinity Riley MacLeod joins Matthew to talk about whether the hit indie game Cult of the Lamb might be all the inoculation against cultic dynamics that generation Alpha ever needs.
Show Notes
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Two landmark Supreme Court decisions—the Trump immunity case and the overturning of the Chevron doctrine—represent the legal institutionalization of the core values of conspirituality: self-sovereignty, natural immunity or divine protection, and “doing your own research.”
The attempted assassination on the former president forged the essence of these two rulings into a stunning still life of Trump’s image for those who love him and those he’s appointed to serve him.
Julian and Matthew wade into the flood, and what might happen at ground zero of conspiracy theory formation—this time veering left as well as right.
Show Notes
Former classmate of Trump rally gunman says he was ‘bullied almost every day’
The FBI Identifies Suspected Gunman in Trump Rally Shooting: What to Know - The New York Times
FBI identifies Thomas Crooks of Bethel Park as the suspect in Trump assassination attempt
Trump rewrites Republican convention speech to focus on unity not Biden - Washington Examiner
Vance shooting response: https://x.com/JDVance1/status/1812280973628965109
Musk shooting response: https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1812256998588662068
Rubio shooting response: https://x.com/marcorubio/status/1812256529296613657
Boebert shooting response: https://x.com/KyleClark/status/1812316469016846373
Brief: The Theatre of Trump (w/Hank Willenbrink) — Conspirituality
23-939 Trump v. United States (07/01/2024)
Clarence Thomas Raised Another Issue: Was Jack Smith Legally Appointed? - The New York Times
22-451 Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo (06/28/2024)
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Project 2025's approach to environmental issues is pretty straightforward: deny climate science, dismantle the EPA, clear a path that prioritizes corporate profits, and let the world burn.
Derek and Julian unpack the details on the chilling chapter from Project 2025's 920-page manifesto that outlines their plans for the Environmental Protection Agency. According to their own statements, a Trump presidency would set these and other disastrous plans in motion from day one.
Show Notes
Conspirituality 187: Project 2025: An Authoritarian Conspiracy
Project 2025's Disdain for Public Education
The GOP Thinks Food Stamps Are the Real Problem
The Plan to Dismantle Health Care
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While speaking on Steve Bannon’s podcast, The War Room, Heritage Foundation president Kevin Roberts recently stated, “We are in the process of the second American Revolution, which will remain bloodless—if the left allows it to be.”
Roberts is the mastermind behind Project 2025, Heritage’s 920-page “presidential transition” agenda that seeks to implement authoritarian power in America. The text combines the anti-regulatory stance of libertarianism, laissez faire capitalism on steroids as espoused by conservatives, and the heinous and anti-democratic religious dogma of Christian nationalists, and it’s finally receiving a lot of attention.
Derek and Julian look beyond the “bloodless” comment to hear what else Roberts and crew have in store for America should Donald Trump regain the presidency. As you might imagine, it has nothing to do with democracy.
Show Notes
Taraji P Henson Calls Out Project 2025 at BET Awards
‘Complete and utter B.S.’: Trump DEFINITELY knows his own team authoring Project 2025
Conspirituality 187: Project 2025: An Authoritarian Conspiracy
Project 2025's Disdain for Public Education
The GOP Thinks Food Stamps Are the Real Problem
The Plan to Dismantle Health Care
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Today we’re looking at a lavish infomercial put out by New Age oligarch and RFK Jr superfan Aubrey Marcus, in which he tries to show the world that his very expensive encounter group, Fit For Service, is definitely not a cult. And at how Matthew got quoted in the opening montage as though he endorsed FFS as an “anti-cult.” He hasn’t.
Marcus might be protesting too much. Because no one with any credibility has actually called FFS a cult, and they couldn’t, because no one has done the investigative work that would take. In a lot of ways, that question is beside the point. It’s not the ‘70s anymore. If you have 604K YouTube subscribers, and millions in the bank from oil money and supplement sales, you don’t need to coerce anyone into staying on your ashram compound and working on your spiritual ideas for free. You too can have an unlimited supply of well-heeled seekers cycling through your coaching encounter group.
So the real questions are: what is it really worth, and what does it really serve?
87: The Aubrey Marcus Spectacle
Brief: The New Age Origin Story of RFK Jr’s Campaign
107: An Open Letter to Aubrey Marcu
86: Charles Eisenstein, New Age Q
Why Kyle Kingsbury Quit The UFC
Myths That Make Us | Godsey Montana Summit talk
The music festival that wants to know your deepest secrets
[Annihilation] Can someone explain the shimmer from the movie scientifically?
Dharma Artist Collective—Godsey’s online community
'I Was 13 When Marc Gafni's Abuse Began'
Former Rabbi Accused of Improper Sexual Conduct Now Rising Star in U.S. Spiritual Movement
Gafni Faces Fallout From New Age Community
Marc Gafni Named In Latest Sexual Abuse Lawsuit Against Yeshiva University
Popular New Age author Marc Gafni molested 13-year-old girl in 1980, lawsuit says
Sara Kabakov lawsuit docket
Aaron Rogers in Marc Gafni’s library
Has Aaron Rodgers been learning Torah at his offseason retreat?
My Dad Died: The Blessings Of The Father Pt 1 w/ Dr. Marc Gafni
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Back in 2011, Ward and Voas wrote that conspirituality was a mainly-online movement, and they were right about that. They didn’t do fieldwork at events. They didn’t attend trainings and rituals. They combed the internet for evidence of what they were looking for.
They found strange and anxious spiritual themes. But they also found evidence of what the internet does in all of its speed and dissociation, in its invitation to seize attention through contrarianism and amplify jagged anxieties and glittering pieties.
In finding conspirituality, they may have proven that you can’t do religion on the internet. And maybe, that’s part of why conspirituality exists.
Religious impulses are ancient and primal, centering communities as campfires do. But they also throw off sparks of narcissism and extremism, which the algorithms must capture to drive engagement.
Show Notes
MMMEATTT — “A newsletter about things that can’t exist on the internet” by Beau Brink
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The stress of influencing in the New Age / alt-med world is rough. You have to pretend to know everything, from vaccine science to the origins of autism, to how feminism has desecrated the sanctity of motherhood. It’s not surprising that a growing number of the conspirituality influencers we know and love are all tuckered out, and now choosing to let Jesus take the wheel.
Freebirth mogul Yolande Norris Clark now joins the growing ranks of converts from conspirituality to Orthodox Christianity. How will she square her politics of the divine feminine with a hyper-patriarchal tradition? Or is it really such a stretch?
She wanted a 'freebirth' with no doctors. Online groups convinced her it would be OK.
From Costa Rica, Yolande Norris-Clark Free-Births COVID News About “Hellscape” of Canada
Free-Birther Yolande Norris-Clark Promotes “The Secret Covenant”
COVID-Denialist: “Rona Is as Real as You Want it To Be”Argentino on Pastel Q — Twitter
The Women Making Conspiracy Theories Beautiful
The Instagram aesthetic that made QAnon mainstream
The Conspiracy Theory to Rule Them All
'Pastel QAnon' Is Infiltrating the Natural Parenting Community
First appearance of "The Secret Covenant" online
Secret Covenant: Freedom-Force (2004)
Secret Covenant boosted on a QAnon channel, 2020
PolitiFact | John D. Rockefeller did not write a ‘secret covenant’ about world domination Transphobia in the Midwifery Community
Yolande Norris-Clark: Transgenderism, Feminism & C0Vid (Content warning: transphobic creator)
Orthodox Christian churches are drawing in far-right American converts
Matthew Heimbach excommunicated
Justin Trudeau & The Misuse Of Words
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Can yoga bring hostages home? No. Can yoga stop a genocide? Also no. But this won’t stop earnest practitioners from instrumentalizing practice for both purposes.
For supporters of Israel, practice is dedicated to the protection of land, the return of hostages, and to uphold the spiritual valor of soldiers. Among supporters of Palestine and a ceasefire, yoga practice and community is an organizing principle for decrying genocide, building mutual aid, and resisting global colonialism. Both factions cite the Bhagavad Gita.
Does yoga support nationalistic violence and body fascism? Isn’t that where its modern origins lie? Or does it have deeper, intersectional roots in universal liberation?
The interpretive war, articulated and inflamed online, only accelerates the material war.
But there is a third space we examine today: the gap between how spiritual aspirations appear and are praised or condemned in the world of the spectacle, and how they play out in the flesh.
About : Israeli hostages taken by Hamas
We Are Still Standing handstand event
Carmel Gat | Yoga in captivity
Taken captive: Carmel Gat, seen doing yoga with hostage children
Initial Twitter posting of Alfie's yoga class in Gaza
Reserve combat engineer practices yoga with soldiers in a house in Gaza
IG post | criticism of Yoga Journal cover
In Israel, Chanting 'Om' Between Missiles
What does Israel's rescue of 4 captives, and the killing of 274 Palestinians, mean for truce talks?
AP: Calculating death numbers in Gaza
Sarah Martin Little Rock yoga benefit event
Rasha Madkour fundraiser for The Longhorn Muslim Alumni Network
UK yoga event for the Palestine Children's Relief Fund
Hot Yoga Glasgow yogathon for the International Rescue Committee
A look inside the growing Pro-Palestine student solidarity encampment at UCSB
Pro-Palestinian Demonstrators At USC Join Camp-In Movement On Heels Of Valedictorian Controversy
Sheena Sood's Yoga for Palestine series at Bhakti Yoga Movement in Portland
50. Sellouts & Zealots (w/Sheena Sood)
Reserve combat engineer practices yoga with soldiers in a house in Gaza
The Dangerous History Behind Netanyahu’s Amalek Rhetoric
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What does it really mean to be a prophet, found a religion, and persuade millions of people that god speaks directly to you?
And what does this god tell you? How to live morally. What kinds of sex are forbidden. How to avoid death and live forever. When the end of the world is coming, and which messiah will bring it.
In this latest installment on the history of the intersection of spirituality and pseudoscience, Julian looks at the story of a prophet named Ellen G. White and what she may have in common with historical figures as diverse as Gopi Krishna, Dostoevsky, and Joan of Arc.
Show Notes
Christian Experiences and Teachings of Ellen G White
Sam Kean: Heaven is for Neuroscience
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Last month, Russell Brand visited Jordan Peterson's podcast for “The Evolution of Theology.” Which, given these two figures, had to focus on topics like the unreligious impulsivity of gay people and why slaves should “just not be slaves.” Derek and Julian discuss.
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On June 14, Reuters published an article about the US Military’s clandestine program to discredit China’s Sinovac vaccine during the early days of Covid-19. Turns out the Pentagon hired an outside agency to purposefully spread FUD (fear, uncertainty, and doubt) about the Chinese inoculation program by flooding social media with anti-vax propaganda. It was a smack in the face for anyone—including us—who’s been calling for sound public health measures over the last four years. And it very likely killed people in Southeast Asia.
This week, we look at the harrowing reporting that revealed a shameful, interventionary program that began under the Trump administration and persisted at least a few months into the Biden presidency. We’ll also review the very few conspiritualists that have even covered the story—somewhat surprising, given that a good ol’ government conspiracy is their bread and butter. But what happens when anti-vaxxers are confronted with a government-led anti-vax program, enacted by the same military that some of them, like RFK Jr, want to drastically reduce? Let’s find out.
Pentagon ran secret anti-vax campaign to undermine China during pandemic (Reuters)
Pentagon Ran Secret Anti-Vax Campaign in Philippines, While Censoring Americans Who Criticized COVID Shots (Children’s Health Defense)
Supporting military missions overseas (GDIT “Careers” page)
Companies Profiting from the Gaza Genocide
CONTRACT to GENERAL DYNAMICS INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY, INC.
Vaccine Diplomacy in the Wake of COVID-19
Pentagon Orders Sweeping Review
Martin Luther King Jr.’s moral stance against Vietnam War offers lessons for the Middle East
Exclusive: Inside the S--tshow That Was the Trump-Biden Transition
The Scam at the Heart of the Mysterious Epoch Times
End The Forever Wars | Kennedy24
EXPOSED: Secret Pentagon MISINFO Campaign Spread LIES About COVID Vaccines (The Hill)
DISGUSTING! Glenn Greenwald GOES OFF On Pentagon Anti-Vax Psyop (Breaking Points)
Pentagon Opens Sweeping Review of Clandestine Psychological Operations
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What is the distance between spiritual practice and social action? Derek has weighed this question for decades. This unscripted meditation on the topic uses Aubrey Marcus's new "documentary," Anti-Cult, as a jump-off point.
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A Deep Cut from January's Patreon.
Control the Court. Overturn Roe. Funnel anonymous donations and shady gifts. Deregulate for Jesus. Roll back the cultural clock. Celebrate. Rinse and Repeat.
Leonard Leo’s libertarian Catholic agenda has made him a preeminent power-broker in right-wing American politics. He’s reshaping society while enjoying the pipeline of cash and influence that connects billionaire GOP mega-donors and the SCOTUS judges he helped install.
Julian tracks how Leo’s Federalist Society used Trump as part of a decades-long systematic takeover of the judicial system that culminated in the current ethics and corruption scandal in the SCOTUS.
Show Notes
ProPublica “Friends of the Court” investigative journalism series
The Guardian Club For Growth GOP Insurectionist Support
Open Secret 2022 Donor List
Dark Money Spending After Citizen’s United
Senator Sheldon Whitehouse “The Front Group Swarms”
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Acclaimed actor Terrence Howard has a new role playing a heroic Galileo-like character on the YouTube and podcast stage, where he fearlessly points out the flaws in mainstream math and science.
Howard's recent appearance on The Joe Rogan Experience gave him three hours to explain how his dreams and spiritual visions, along with his own research and deep study of maverick experts, have revealed unique answers to the deepest unsolved mysteries of physics. Turns out that none of this is new, the actor actually unveiled his discoveries in a surprising lecture at the Oxford Union in 2017.
Today we'll break down these two cosmic events in space-time and discuss what it all means, and whether it's just a bit of fun or something more dangerous.
Show Notes
5 Craziest Moments from Terrence Howard on Rogan
Prophetic Charisma By Len Oakes: A Brief Overview
Terrence Howard's Dangerous Mind
Terrence Howard Patents Debunked
Howard Virtual reality Patent Claim
John Keeley and The Etheric Force Machine
Walter Russell Society, now named The University of Science and Philosophy
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Six chapters on approaches to prospirituality, now that we know (or think we know) what the hell conspirtuality is. This is a long episode, but there are evenly-placed breaks for you all to pause on!
Chapter 1: Positions
After 4 years, we’ve come to a natural question at the end of defining the problem of conspirituality. How do we orient ourselves towards possible answers?
Chapter 2: The Prospirituality Challenge
If you’re clear on how spirituality—including beliefs in the supernatural—can be medicine, you can be clearer on where it becomes poison.
Chapter 3: I did not expect to be friends with Joseph Baker
I never thought I would be friends with a student of A Course in Miracles: maybe my judgments about its inevitably bad impacts are misplaced. Also: it’s not a good idea to dismiss anyone on the basis of religious belief if you don’t know how that belief actually operates, and you won’t unless you talk to them.
Chapter 4: Buddhist Tolerance, Buddhist Repair
Conspirituality is right at home within high-demand groups or cults. Paranoid and controlling social structures feed on paranoid and dissociative emotions and ideas. For members and observers alike, it can become difficult to tell whether the content of the religious group is intrinsic to its cruelty, or whether these can be separated. Surprisingly, some high-demand groups can foster reforms from within, with members reframing the very concepts that had been weaponized against them to liberate themselves. In that sense, the doctrines and beliefs can be part of the problem, but also part of the solution.
Chapter 5: Eve Sedgwick
Cynicism about religion is an occupational hazard of this beat. It’s also popular. At times it’s worth questioning the critical economy focused more on deconstruction than on generating ideas and solidarity.
Chapter 6: The Trouble and Joy of Belief and Silence
“You will know them by their fruits. Do we gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles?”
Matthew 7:16
Show Notes
Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People
Survivors of an International Buddhist Cult Share Their Stories
Paranoid Reading, Reparative Reading
Baylor Religion Survey: 3 graphs
Anxious attachment and belief in conspiracy theories
There are higher levels of conspiracy beliefs in more corrupt countries
The impact of economic inequality on conspiracy beliefs
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Terrence Howard recently made waves (again) when appearing on Joe Rogan’s podcast to discuss “Terryology,” a language of logic which he claims proves one times one equals two. Since he announced his theory in 2015 (and published it on Twitter in 2017), he’s been repeatedly criticized. In this latest round, that criticism is coming from Eric Weinstein, who appeared on physicist Brian Keating’s podcast to discuss Howard’s math. As usual with Weinstein, the conversation went in a million directions. Derek and Julian discuss.
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Are you ready to “live beyond 180? That’s the tagline of the 10th Annual Biohacking Conference, which went down in Dallas two weeks ago. The brainchild of Dave Asprey, the conference focused on numerous “hacks” to help you live not only longer, but better and longer. This has been a decades-long goal of Asprey, who you might know as the founder of Bulletproof Coffee—you know, despite mountains of clinical evidence stating otherwise, this tech entrepreneur is certain that melting a stick of butter in your coffee every morning is the key to longevity.
Was the key, that is. Dave is now behind the supposed “mold-free” coffee company, Danger Coffee, alongside a whole bunch of other sciencey gimmicks, like his “Wasabi Method,” which was launched at the conference. The key to longevity, it seems, is knowing that your sales funnel always depends on there being another key. That’s the vibe our returning correspondent, Mallory DeMille, got when reviewing the many reels and videos that surfaced from the conference rooms at the Fairmont Hotel.
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QAnon’s “Great Awakening,” influencers claiming to channel spirits or aliens, prophecies of a glorious Christian apocalypse—all aspects of the modern phenomenon that we call “conspirituality.” A sign of our crazy times?!
Not quite. The roots of this passionate delusion can be traced to an eventful time in American history: the mid-1800’s. In this episode of his pseudoscience series, Julian covers the relationship between famous Spiritualists who talked to the dead on stage, the emerging science of parapsychology, early formulations of New Age beliefs, and the passionate Christian revivalism centered in New York State’s “burned-over district.”
Show Notes
Doomsday Prophecy and Spiritual Porn (earlier episode on 19th century Great Awakening)
Hearing Voices, Seeing Colors, & Fighting Phantoms (earlier episode on temporal lobe epilepsy)
New Yorker: Why Did So Many Victorians Try To Talk To The Dead
PBS: William Miller and The Second Great Awakening
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It’s all just a show, and sometimes that makes it all the more real. Playwright and theater scholar Hank Willenbrink joins Matthew to look at the spectacle of Trump through the lens of performance studies.
From his childhood listening to Norman Vincent Peale, to his lifelong fascination with Broadway, to his TV celebrity, to the tableau vivants of evangelicals gathered round him to sanctify his holy mission, Trump hits his marks so well he doesn’t even need to remember his lines. Now he has a new role to play: the framed felon.
Show Notes
Performing for the Don: Theaters of Faith in the Trump Era
Bread and Puppet Theater — Glover, VT
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We talked to Renee Diresta, when she in the middle of a life-changing crisis. Elon Musk’s hand-picked "journalists" were testifying in front of Congress as part of the “Twitter Files.” Matt Taibbi and Michael Shellenberger sounded the alarm about a supposedly vast conspiracy between think tanks, big tech companies, and government intelligence agencies to censor the free speech of conservative Americans. They referred to that conspiracy as the “Censorship Industry Complex," identifying its leader as a shadowy former CIA intern named Renee Diresta.
The reality is that Diresta was involved in a 2020 academic project called the Election Integrity Partnership, which studied then gave reports on viral social media content steeped in misinformation. She joins us to discuss her new book, Invisible Rulers: The People Who Turn Lies Into Reality.
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Nicole Shanahan, RFK Jr's VP pick, has recently started her own podcast. Dilbert creator Scott Adams joined. The conversation quickly turned into a conspiracy free-for-all, starting with DEI, then swerving into fertility, vaccines, transgender people, EMFs, and much more. Derek responds.
Show Notes
Inside the fringe worldview of RFK Jr.’s VP pick
A Running Mate’s History: $1 Billion, Cocaine, a Fling With Elon Musk
Back to the People: Reframing Our Brains on Food, Debt, and DEI (full episode)
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When young TikTok dance stars joined 7M Films, they got access to big production budgets, luxurious locations, and exciting career opportunities. There was a problem, however. Their boss, Robert Shinn, was a self-styled Christian pastor who placed increasing pressure on their time and finances, demanded unquestioning devotion, and isolated them from the outside world. (Julian covered the story of a family trying to regain contact with their daughter, Miranda Derrick, who had disappeared into Shinn’s Shekinah Church for Conspirituality 105: TikTok, Cults & Conspiracies.)
A new Netflix docuseries picks up where we left off. Julian talks to the series director, Derek Doneen, to discuss “Dancing for the Devil.”
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Every year, the Environmental Working Group, a Washington, DC-based lobbying group, publishes its “Dirty Dozen” report, which supposedly informs consumers about the 12 “dirtiest” fruits and vegetables. The report is repeated verbatim by major media outlets, which routinely demonize strawberries, blueberries, and other conventionally-grown produce. But does their science hold up?
Not according to the majority of scientists and researchers. Over the decades, the EWG has slammed some pesticides but not others, ignored data on dosages, and even wondered out loud if all that mercury in vaccines might just be causing autism. They also routinely ignore potentially hazardous organic chemicals, while selling “verified” labels for skin care products and sunscreens.
Today Derek is going to walk me, the non-science journalist, through the work of the EWG before he talks to biomedical scientist Dr Andrea Love and cosmetic chemist Dr Michelle Wong about the group’s questionable methodologies and fear-mongering tactics.
Show Notes
Environmental Working Group and the Dirty Dozen
Influence Watch: Environmental Working Group
Ken Cook: The Story of The Environmental Working Group
What Biden’s oil record means for the industry’s future
Alleged ‘deal’ offer from Trump to big oil could save industry $110bn, study finds
10 years after Flint's lead water crisis began, a lack of urgency stalls 'proper justice'
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In this Listener Stories episode, Matthew sits down with Jude Mills, an old friend from the yoga world, to hear her story about growing up in an anti-theist home in hyper-sectarian Scotland, but feeling the inexorable call of religion. So started a long journey toward her vocation as a hospice chaplain at the height of COVID.
They discuss the needs of the dying, regardless of beliefs, and how losing dignity to institutional abuse does not necessarily mean losing faith. In discussing how some former believers feel excluded from community life, Jude says something remarkable: “Everyone has a right to a sacramental life.”
Jude has a Master’s degree in Public Theology and research interests which include: podcasting as a medium for theological reflection and enquiry; narratives of spiritual and religious abuse and harm and issues of disabled, neurodivergent and LGBTQ+ inclusivity in church contexts. Her podcast 'Fkd Up By Faith' will be the research subject for her PhD.
Show Notes
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There’s been a growing acceptance of religious belief from the previously religious-averse, especially in the Covid contrarian space. This comes in the wake of a number of recent high-profile conversions, most notably Russell Brand getting baptized. Why are the skeptical suddenly finding faith?
Derek and Julian discuss their atheism in the context of these recent changes of heart—including Brand’s recent appearance on Bret Weinstein’s Dark Horse podcast. They share how their own skepticism has evolved and informs their work, debating on what value religion and, specifically, a belief in a god, holds for spiritual practices today.
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Philosopher Thi Nguyen first visited us 150 episodes ago (!!) to discuss how social media gamification exploded online conspiracy theories and audience capture drags content producers toward the seductions of premature clarity—and the ecstasy of fascism.
Nguyen returns to discuss “value capture”: how simplified and portable metrics in institutions, technology, and media landscapes erode our moral capacities as we pursue goals we never signed up for. (We even consider this influence on podcasting!)
Throughout, we also talk about the heart of Nguyen’s book, Games: Agency as Art, in which he explores the liberatory nature of games that offer the pleasures of striving and absorption. We wonder whether—if we valued and understood play for its own sake—we might not need to gamify the world.
Show Notes
Games and the Art of Agency (Philosophical Review) (2020 APA Article Prize; selected for Philosopher Annual‘s “10 Best Philosophy Articles of 2019”)
Value Capture (JESP)
Trust as an Unquestioning Attitude (OSE)
Transparency is Surveillance (Philosophy and Phenomenological Research) (short summary)
Hostile Epistemology (keynote for the 2022 NASSP.)
Autonomy and Aesthetic Engagement (Mind) (audio)
Art as a Shelter from Science (Aristotelian Society Supplementary)
The Arts of Action (Philosopher’s Imprint)
Moral Outrage Porn with Bekka Williams (Journal of Ethics and Social Philosophy) (selected for Philosopher Annual‘s “10 Best Philosophy Articles of 2020”)
How Twitter Gamifies Communication (Applied Epistemology, OUP) (And a shortened version for students, with suggested classroom exercises.)
Echo Chambers and Epistemic Bubbles (Episteme)
The Seductions of Clarity (RIPS)
Cultural Appropriation and the Intimacy of Groups, with Matt Strohl (Philosophical Studies)
Trust and Antitrust — Annette Baier
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Russell Brand has accepted Jesus into his heart and been baptized in the spirit. But does his conversion to Christianity make sense along the New Age rebel to right-wing, conspiracy-theorist radicalization pipeline? Is Brand seeking absolution for his sins, or recognizing that most of his audience are Christians “oppressed” by authoritarian libs?
Julian explores how the “enlightened outsider” uses pseudoscience to justify spiritual beliefs that are actually connective tissue between conspiracism, New Age metaphysics, and faux Christian victimhood.
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Two weeks ago, several university administrators asked militarized police units to smash pro-Palestinian encampment protests on quads and in occupied buildings. It happened at places like Columbia and CUNY, and the University of Texas in Austin where our guest today, Dr. Peniel Joseph, teaches on the history of the Black Power movement.
In the midst of the news cycle frenzy, an old phrase began popping up in discussions of who the protestors were and whether the police actions were justified. Authorities said (and media figureheads repeated uncritically) that protestors were infiltrated and influenced by “outside agitators.”
It’s a phrase with a long history to it. Joining Matthew to unpack it is Dr. Peniel Joseph, a historian of the Civil Rights era, during which time the trope reached peak exposure, when it was lobbed at Martin Luther King Jr., as he sat in Birmingham Jail.
Show Notes
NYPD Chief of Patrol on the “unknown entity”
Thursday's Headlines: NYPD Discovers Chained Bike Locks Edition
Nearly all Gaza campus protests in the US have been peaceful, study finds
Unmasking The 'Outside Agitator'
Debunking the “Outside Agitator” Trope amid pro-Palestinian campus protests
Cost of repairing occupation damage at Portland State library estimated at $750K
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Matthew is in the guest seat today! Why? Because in 2019—just months before the pandemic and this podcast kicked off—he published a book titled Practice and All is Coming: Abuse, Cult Dynamics and Healing in Yoga and Beyond. It focused on survivor stories of assault and abuse within the cultic mechanisms of Pattabhi Jois' Ashtanga Yoga community. The book also proposed a path into co-creating safer yoga communities via enhanced critical thinking, self-and-other-care, student empowerment, and community resilience.
In many ways, this book holds the keys to how one-third of the team has tackled the conspirituality era. Derek and Julian interview their colleague about it all on the occasion of the release of a second edition, now titled: Surviving Modern Yoga: Cult Dynamics, Charismatic Leaders, and What Survivors Can Teach Us (North Atlantic Books).
Show Notes
Surviving Modern Yoga by Matthew Remski | PenguinRandomHouse.com
Yoga’s Culture of Sexual Abuse: Nine Women Tell Their Stories | The Walrus
Survivors of an International Buddhist Cult Share Their Stories | The Walrus
How a #MeToo Facebook Post Toppled a Yoga Icon | by Matthew Remski | GEN
Shielded for Decades, A Yoga Leader's Alleged Sexual Abuse Finally Comes Under Fire
How to Respond to Sexual Abuse Within a Yoga or Spiritual Community—Jubilee Cooke, Karen Rain
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In 2020, former NY Times journalist Isabel Wilkerson published Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents. The book tells a compelling story: that the root of our social divisions is the invented hierarchical structure of castes, not, as we often assume in America, race. Race, she writes, is only another manifestation of caste.
While it’s certainly an important topic here in America, Wilkerson shows, by investigating the longstanding caste system in India, the social divisions in Nazi Germany, and America’s founding and expansion through chattel slavery, that caste is a universal phenomenon.
Derek discusses his thoughts on this powerful and important book.
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Dr Sarah Ballantyne forged a career in science communication and health education advocating for autoimmune solutions in food and the paleo diet. In 2014, she began questioning her approach. Shortly after, she realized she was spreading nutrition misinformation and has dedicated her career to correcting those errors.
Derek talks to Sarah about the dangers of diet and nutrition misinformation, dealing with obesity and eating disorders, and the challenges of talking about food in public. Her new book is Nutrivore: The Radical New Science for Getting the Nutrients You Need From the Food You Eat.
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We have a real treat today for listeners who love all forms of movement, especially yoga and strength training.
Derek and Julian talk to Movement Logic hosts, Laurel Beversdorf and Sarah Court, who navigate the curvilinear path of creating irreverent yet high quality science-based movement content that sets teachers and students free from dogma and fear-mongering. Our two podcasts intersect by looking into fallen gurus, pseudoscience health claims, dodgy alignment dogmas, and cults of personality susceptible to the dangers of conspiracism. And this week we’re diving into a recent Movement Logic episode on back pain specialist, Stuart McGill.
Yet, as this conversation shows, all hope is not lost, and all physical culture is not a pipeline into body fascism, or worse—multi-level marketing. There are still intelligent and grounded educators who share the love of movement, infused with the logic and humility of science.
Laurel Beversdorf is an international yoga educator, a certified kettlebell specialist, and a strength coach. Sarah Court is a Doctor of Physical Therapy, movement mentor, and yoga teacher trainer.
Episode 62: Make McGill Make Sense
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In the first full episode of this ongoing series, Matthew looks at the anti-abortion arcs of two men: Rob Schenck and Frank Pavone.
Both leaders invested the images and remains of the unborn with passionate but imaginary desires that obscured from them how much harm they were causing.
One of them exited that highway, but the other is still burning it up.
Includes the story of Kermit Gosnell, and how his Philadelphia abortion abattoir exemplified a political and moral disaster worthy of Naomi Klein. An obvious, organized crime, something that everyone could see but some tried to paper over, aided and abetted by the dominant order and progressive hypocrisy. Something that becomes the focal point of reasonable rage, but then leads to twisted conclusions.
Content warning: abortion details.
Full Show Notes available on Patreon.
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The late historian of religion James Carse (1932-2020) made a radical proposal in his 2012 book, The Religious Case Against Belief. He argued that beliefs, far from being central to or definitive of religion, are actually antithetical to religious community.
A religion’s historical longevity, he argued, depends on its ability to absorb and neutralize beliefs—epistemological dead ends built on willful ignorance.
“The challenge to religion,” Carse says, “is not its opponents from without, but its believers from within, and the real enemy of religion is belief itself.”
What does this mean for a project like Conspirituality and other projects of disillusionment carried out in the shadow of New Atheism and other modern skeptical movements?
Blair Hodges of the Fireside and Family Proclamations podcasts joins Matthew to discuss a potential casualty of the battle against religious extremism: a nuanced understanding of religion itself.
Show Notes
The Religious Case Against Belief by James P. Carse
Family Proclamations w/ Blair Hodges
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Robert F Kennedy, Jr isn’t backing down. You can’t get away from his voice or his endless content stream. He’s banked on tech world oligarch anti-vax mom, Nicole Shanahan, to nail down the VP slot. His Children’s Health Defense charity is casting doubt on whether polio was even a virus. And he keeps claiming he’s not against vaccines himself, but his messaging around it tells a different story.
It’s been a few months since we’ve checked up on Chaos Kennedy, so it’s high time we did: to look at polling, rhetoric, and charismatic technique.
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"Human Biologist" and life coach Gary Brecka's star rose after biohacking UFC President Dana White's health. Yet Derek has a few questions this week: Is someone with a degree from a chiropractic college qualified to talk about seed oils, GMOs, depression, tinnitus, fluoride, detoxifying through water fasts, and diet plans? Is it concerning that his 10X Health System cofounder is a fervent Scientologist? And what happens when you actually read the science Brecka is linking to?
Worst U.S. cities for air pollution ranked in new American Lung Association report
GMO Foods: How Genetically Modified Foods Sabotage Your Health | Ultimate Human with Gary Brecka
Organic foods are not healthier...or pesticide free.
A Comprehensive Review of Health-Benefiting Components in Rapeseed Oil
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A Deep Cut from our Patreon archive (July 2023)
What do we mean when we say that we believe something? When the QAnon Shaman got dressed on the morning of January 6, he put on his red, white, and blue face paint, his postmodern quasi-Native American horned fur hat, and grabbed the spear to which he had attached an American flag. In performance mode, this cosplay persona had already garnered him a taste of the attention that would soon increase exponentially as he became the most recognizable figure of the Capitol Riot.
In today’s Bonus, Julian argues that his costume, as well as his ritual actions on that day were also an expression of a political worldview, run through with deeply held spiritual beliefs about the world and his role in it. The history of political religion, propagandistic conspiracies, and progressive spiritual convictions may show that—far from being trivial—belief is at the heart of the American, and perhaps the human, story.
Intro music: Single Origins—Luz Cafe
Interstitial: Silent Song—Eccodek (EarthRise SoundSystem Remix)
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Neal Brennan has upped the artistic ante in stand-up comedy. In Netflix specials like "3 Mics and Blocks" he’s explored loneliness, isolation, and the mental health fallout of growing up the youngest of 10 in a Catholic family with an extremely unwell father. In the process he’s made some of the great mysteries of family pain and inner turmoil more tolerable.
And—he’s a fan of our podcast, because in his search for relief, he’s tripped through the land of psychedelics, where conspirituality can sour the active ingredients.
Neal joins us today to talk about his weird journey through the plant medicine scene, to wonder whether emotional and spiritual healing makes him funnier, and to answer our questions about how today’s comics are dealing—or not—with their supersized role as political pundits.
His new special is called Crazy Good.
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Tensions between Israel and Iran escalated as supernaturally-charged conspiracy theories about the solar eclipse flooded the internet. And so Julian searched for answers about the mysterious “red heifer.” What is so special about a red cow? Might its discovery and ensuing journey from Texas to Jerusalem have played a role in the October 7 attacks? Why are zealots from all three Abrahamic religions so focused on one piece of holy real estate? Could apocalyptic prophecies actually be self-fulfilling, even when the metaphysics are make-believe?
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Matthew is joined by Theo Wildcroft and Harriet McAtee, co-editors of The Yoga Teacher's Survival Guide: Social Justice, Science, Politics, and Power (Singing Dragon Publications), a volume of essays from 16 yoga world contributors.
Three yoga culture critic nerds get into the weeds of how wellness workers and yoga teachers survive and navigate a post-pandemic world that exists at the crossroads of:
Theo is a yoga scholar. Harriet has been training yoga teachers for seven years in a little school in Oxford, UK.
Show Notes
The Yoga Teacher's Survival Guide | Singing Dragon - US
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“Cult expert” Steve Hassan has been publicly concerned with the complex sociology of trans youth since 2020. We track that interest back to his communications with gender critical activists in 2017, who reached out to him because they believed that his cult theory could shed light on what they believed were nefarious aspects of the trans awareness movement. In the spirit of helpfulness, but without any chops in the subject, he stepped up to the plate and started swinging.
Regardless of how earnest or paranoid his concern is, his access to this landscape has been bought with his intellectual legacy, and been filtered through networks that question trans identity altogether. His most inflammatory (but also silly) claim is that many young people are being hypnotized by online pornography and influenced by social media groups to the extent they inexorably choose medical transition. We investigate and analyze this unfortunate skid into the culture war mud.
Hassan has stated at length his opposition to the “cancel culture” he believes is directed at Rowling and himself. This episode is not that. It’s a sober evaluation of legacy, disciplinary overreach, and what better public intellectual engagement would look like.
Show Notes
Full show notes posted to our website and Patreon.
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Following up on our Long COVID episode with Tara Haelle, Matthew will be expanding the Listener Stories portfolio with stories from listeners about navigating Long COVID. Why? Because there’s nothing like a mysterious disease, denied by some, stigmatized by others, and politicized by multiple interests, that will bring a person closer to the appeal of alt-med conspirituality.
Matthew Stillman is our guest today. Author, documentary filmmaker, and lifelong New Yorker, Stillman grew up in an eccentric family of spiritualism and alternative medicine, but which also fostered a healthy respect for evidence-based medicine. So what happens when experts at Mt. Sinai Center for Post-COVID care reach the end of their capacity to help him with not one but two strains of Long COVID? Red light therapy! Chinese herbs! And a bracing contemplation of what it means to explore the tension between hope and knowledge.
Show Notes
The major genetic risk factor for severe COVID-19 is inherited from Neanderthals | Nature
How Genes from Neanderthals Predispose People to Severe COVID-19 | The Scientist Magazine
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Matthew is joined by historian Neil J. Young, co-host of the excellent Past Present Podcast, to talk about his new book: Coming Out Republican: a History of the Gay Right.
Young’s riveting storytelling shows how, beginning in the aftermath of WWII, many American gay men—born into socially conservative and religious families from which they had struggled to individuate—hitched the wagon of their political hopes to a Republican party they believed would champion their privacy and individual civil rights.
Ground zero for their fiercely libertarian clubs and action committees was San Francisco, where a culture of rugged entrepreneurship fostered the slogan “Keep the government out of our bedrooms, and out of our wallets.” It was an individualist politics that looked to Civil Rights and women’s rights movements for inspiration, but not allyship.
In time that same GOP would lead a culture war against everything queer—paradoxically led by closeted gay politicians who, with deeply conflicted motives, legislated against their fellows. But even as the tide turned, many gay Republicans kept their shoulders to the unforgiving wheel of respectability politics.
Young illuminates the flashes of bravery and self-reliance in these men’s stories, but also shows what happens when a marginalized group seeks acceptance and political power—instead of liberation—within a culture built on exclusion.
Neil writes for WaPo, the Atlantic, CNN, the Los Angeles Times, Vox, Politico, Slate, and the New York Times.
Coming Out Republican: A History of the Gay Right, Young
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When Moms For Liberty attacks libraries with demands to ban books about MLK Jr and age-appropriate sex education, and claims that librarians are grooming their children into the trans agenda, they’re enacting the worst forms of neo-fascist bullying. But they’re also paradoxically defending a troubled American legacy against a librarian culture attempting to course-correct towards greater inclusion.
To discuss this problem, Matthew talks to Heath Umbreit, a reference librarian who works at a public library in the northeastern U.S. Mis- and disinformation has been a professional and personal interest of theirs for several years; Heath's study of the phenomenon focuses on a critical examination of popular narratives about disinformation, the concept of epistemic supremacy, and the ways in which information and disinformation intersect with systemic power differentials in American society.
Derek gives the Keynote Address at the 2023 Oregon Library Association's Annual Conference
Library Bill of Rights | Advocacy, Legislation & Issues
Students, authors fight censorship in PA schools
Kuo & Marwick, "Critical Disinformation Studies"
Morales & Williams, "Moving Toward Transformative Librarianship: Naming and Identifying Epistemic Supremacy"
danah boyd, "You Think You Want Media Literacy... Do You?"
PEN America, 2023 Banned Books Update: Banned in the USA
Kelly Jensen, Trauma, Book Bans, and Libraries: A Resource Guide for Library Workers, Library Supporters, and Beyond
Kristen Browde, Who's Making News for Sex Crimes Involving Children?
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Project 2025 is the libertarian conservative Heritage Foundation’s systematic governance plan for the next Republican president. The 920-page plan aims to implement the "unitary executive theory," which would give all of the power of the US government to the executive branch—Donald Trump, if he wins in November.
Derek and Julian read the chapter on the Department of Education, which focuses on unlocking public funds for Christian schools while banning any discussion on DEI, CRT, or gender theory.
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A common sentiment in wellness spaces is that people turn to alt-med practices due to the exorbitant costs of American healthcare. While the latter is certainly true, Derek and Julian discuss why a lot of products and services in wellness land is really just another form of extractive capitalism.
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This week we take stock of the full entrenchment of the Mirror World, where conspirituality influencers bask in the rays of confident delusion. After a little stage-setting on the heterodox mediasphere, we open with a snapshot of conspirituality Valhalla as we listen in on Joe Rogan and Chris Rufo talking about unhoused people as though they are children who haven’t been given good boundaries.
Then we’ll look at four instances in which the spectacle brokers meet reality. What happens when Chaya Raichik gets bodied by Taylor Lorenz? What happens when the Moms for Liberty have to explain themselves on 60 minutes? What happens when Destiny rejects Jordan Peterson’s bullshit? And what happens when the mack daddy of it all, Alex Jones, gets confronted by Sandy Hook parents, face to face? Does reality break through?
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Project 2025 is the libertarian conservative Heritage Foundation’s systematic governance plan for the next Republican president. The 920-page plan aims to implement the "unitary executive theory," which would give all of the power of the US government to the executive branch—Donald Trump, if he wins in November.
This week, Derek and Julian investigate the chapter on the Department of Agriculture, which aims to strip funding for food stamps and welfare programs and further deregulate Big Ag. And if you think the author is part of a climate change denial think tank, you'd be correct.
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The death of Mahsa Jina Amini at the hands of the Islamic Republic’s “morality police” in September 2022 lit a fuse on a fervent global protest movement. Jina’s crime was wearing an “improper” headscarf in public. The slogan, “Woman, Life, Freedom,” which first emerged in the fight for Kurdish equality, was used by thousands of brave, defiant women in Iran (along with male supporters), who called for an end to oppression, discrimination, tyranny, and dictatorship.
Eighteen months later, the Iranian government has increased video surveillance and morality police patrols, imposed even harsher penalties for female disobedience, and leaned even further into brutal torture methods and daily executions. Meanwhile, Ali Khamenei’s administration floods the population with propaganda and conspiracy theories.
Julian talks to Iranian human rights activist and former BBC World Service reporter, Negin Shiraghaei, about the Woman, Life, Freedom movement, which she says remains active and unstoppable.
Show Notes
Iran one year after Woman, Life, Freedom
Iran: Alarming Surge in Executions
Khamenei Refuses US Help, Citing COVID Conspiracy Theory
Iran’s Supreme Leader Calls Gender Equality a Zionist Plot
Iranian Singer Sentenced to 3 years in Jail for Mahsa Amini Protest Anthem
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In response to Kerry Howley’s meticulous reporting on the deceptions of Andrew Huberman in New York Magazine, Huberstans around the world are braying that the man’s private life has nothing to do with his virtue as a science communicator.
Not so, we argue in this brief. Deception in one mirrors deception in the other, and there is no private life for the influencer who wants to influence your private life.
Beyond shilling for Athletic Greens and saying that sunscreen winds up in your brain, Huberman opines on relationships, sex, and addiction issues as if he is an expert—instead of (an alleged) hot mess.
Pseudoscience and pseudotherapy are parallel harms—both using manipulative jargon to convince consumers or women respectively that the influencer is well-researched and using best practices to be of service.
So we advise all Huberstans to view their hero… holistically.
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Reverend Rob Schenck spent 30 years on the front lines of the Evangelical war against Roe V. Wade. He blockaded abortion clinics, screamed at women in crisis, used fetal remains as political props, and helped wage a covert war of moneyed influence over federal officials to end abortion access.
Now, in a return to his deeper religious commitments, he is repenting his past. In an interview with Matthew, he discusses his blissful conversion experience as a teenager rooted in what he believed was a radical social justice movement. And he describes what he now sees: an anti-abortion movement helping to galvanize the Christian Nationalism poised to wreak havoc on American politics, and what we can do to push back against its aggression.
Fresh Air for July 11, 2018: An Evangelical Minister's Change Of Heart On Abortion
Former Anti-Abortion Leader Alleges Another Supreme Court Breach
Former Anti-Abortion Lobbyist Rev Robert Schenck Statement on "Operation Higher Court"
About - Truth Revealed — Rob Schenck’s blog
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In this series of audio essays, Matthew will examine how children as symbols—but not persons with their own internal lives—are at the center of conspirituality anxiety and discourse.
There are two types of imaginary child in conspirituality. One is an object of dread. The other is an idol of aspiration.
In the realm of dread we have fetuses murdered by late term abortion, children who are trafficked, made autistic by vaccines, sexualized by pornography in elementary school, or mutilated by trans activist doctors.
In the realm of idols we have newborn babies sliding like dolphins into warm birthing tubs after a mere hour of ecstatic, medically-unassisted home births. We have little girls in prairie dresses or first communion veils who must be protected from library drag queens or woke grade school teachers. We have starseeds and indigo children who carry prophecies from the great beyond.
We often reflect on the problem of authority on this podcast. Who are our leaders, and what gives them power? Why do conspiracists default to God to corroborate fantasies? What gap in cultural fatherhood is Jordan Peterson trying to fill?
With this series, Matthew looks in the other direction: what does the conspirituality crowd do with its own authority? How do misgivings, regrets and shame in relation to children get inflated and projected into moral panics?
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Former monk turned spiritual influencer to the stars, Jay Shetty, has amassed 15 million followers on Instagram. He’s interviewed Michelle Obama, Kim Kardashian, and Kobe Bryant on his popular podcast. Shetty has received accolades from Gwenyth Paltrow and Ellen Degeneres. He even officiated J Lo and Ben Affleck’s wedding.
Yet when LA-based writer John McDermott was assigned to cover Shetty for Esquire, something seemed…off. When he started pulling at some threads, Esquire pulled out of the feature. Fortunately, The Guardian agreed to publish McDermott’s investigative reporting, in which he found little of Shetty’s origin story holds up to scrutiny.
John joins Derek and Matthew to discuss.
Show Notes
Uncovering the higher truth of Jay Shetty
‘Very few have balls’: How American news lost its nerve
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Does God have a recipe? That’s the first line of the blurb of Holy Food: How Cults, Communes, and Religious Movements Influenced What We Eat: An American History by independent food historian, Christina Ward. Ward’s survey of American religious groups and cults through the foods they grow, source, and prepare leads into an in-depth discussion about cults and high-demand groups that use food, and food restrictions, as a method for control.
That’s not all she tells Derek—they also discuss the ritual of sharing a meal. Matthew and Julian offer their own reflections on food in high-demand settings before Christina joins to discuss her excellent book.
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Dolphins, drugs, new age music. Isolation tanks as a portal into other dimensions. True love and fake aliens. Julian shares a personal love story from the nineties that intersects with the work of prolific scientist, inventor, and psychonaut, John C. Lilly.
The belief that we can contact extraterrestrial civilizations, which are waiting to usher humanity into a golden age of light and love, is now a hugely profitable and popular commodity. Apparently these extraterrestrials also want to help us vanquish the forces of Deep State darkness. This is evidenced by the QAnon-and-alien-disclosure-style of programming on Gaia’s spiritual subscription platform (which brings in roughly $80 million annually).
Yet: Gaia is currently embroiled in a legal battle with a former host who claims that his stories about secret space programs and eight-foot tall “blue avian” aliens are actually part of his trademarked creative IP. When it comes down to dollars, he admits it’s all make-believe. Has he really ever dropped acid in a flotation tank though?!
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Masculinity, in all its wounded and preening anxiety, is the perennial currency of American populism.
America’s foremost public historian on fitness and education, Natalia Petrzela, returns to the pod to discuss her recent study, with Ilyse Hogue, of the appeal RFK Jr. has with young men, and what progressives can learn from it.
Show Notes
RFK Jr. has a distinct appeal when it comes to young male voters — Petrzela and Hogue
Robert F. Kennedy Jr | "My Plan To Heal Addiction" | News Nation
Prior coverage of RFK Jr.
Brief: RFK Jr Flirts with Body Fascism (w/Natalia Petrzela) — Conspirituality
164: The Two Faces of Robert Francis Kennedy Jr. — Conspirituality
Brief: The New Age Origin Story of RFK Jr’s Campaign — Conspirituality
Brief: RFK Jr’s New Director of Propaganda — Conspirituality
Special Report: RFK Jr.’s Independence Day — Conspirituality
Brief: RFK's Health Propaganda Roundtable — Conspirituality
Brief: RFK Jr., The Anti-Vax Candidate — Conspirituality
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The “healer” mutters prayers, flutters his hands over the patient’s belly, then rubs his fingers close to her navel. A stream of what looks like blood shoots out from between his fingers. After a few more finger wiggles, he appears to pull several bloody cocktail shrimp out of an invisible incision. The patient is healed. Of something.
Welcome to “psychic surgery.”
Documentarian of the uncanny, Brad Abrahams, takes our correspondent seat this week to explain how Shirley MacLaine, Burt Lancaster, Andy Kaufman, Charlie Mingus, and tens of thousands of Americans got drawn into the morbid healing craze that kicked off in the 1970s, and which may have seen its last hurrah with the imprisonment of Brazil’s John of God.
Centuries of colonization in Brazil and the Philippines, Brad explains, made conventional medical care basically unavailable for anyone poor or outside of major cities. This left a void for traditional and alternative healing to fill as the only real options, as well as provide a connection to a cultural identity that had been systematically repressed. And of course, charlatans rode the wave.
Brad brings his characteristic curiosity, empathy, and cultural competence, holding the door open for us to imagine why this abject form of medical and spiritual fraud speaks so deeply to so many.
Show Notes
Love And Saucers — Brad Abrahams
Do you see what I see? | Short Doc about Controversial Conspiracy Theorist Artist David Dees — Brad Abrahams
72: John of Fraud (w/Lisa Braun Dubbels & Mirna Wabi-Sabi) — Conspirituality
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At what point do you tune someone out and no longer consider them worth considering? Is their entire catalog of thought defined by one encounter you don’t like? Multiple encounters? If you disagree with someone on one point, do you write them off entirely, or can you consider other points of agreement? What if your initial encounter with a thinker is disagreeable? What if you really like someone and then find them increasingly disagreeable over time? Have they really changed that much? Or have you? And would you know it if you did?
Derek meditates on these questions while working through his own process of consideration. Most importantly, he lands on one certainty: racists, bigots, transphobes, and misogynists need to be stamped out.
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Being a chaos agent is exhausting. The internet never ends. It’s so abstract, groundless. At some point, all of your content seems stale and redundant. All the conspiracy theories, outrage farming, and dietary supplements seem boring; your manic salesmanship starts to feel hollow. Maybe you’re also wondering about whether you’ve sold your soul, or who you may have hurt along the way.
What will you turn to? Who will help you? What will your ultimate piece of content be? From time out of mind, there’s only ever been one answer: GOD. Russell Brand, Joe Rogan, and Andrew Huberman have all recently made such confessions of faith. Derek and Matthew discuss.
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For 22 years, astrologers, channelers, and UFO enthusiasts have run booths next to crystal healers, purveyors of esoteric books and pseudoscience products, and paranormal enthusiasts at Los Angeles’s Airport Hilton. More recently, this event—the Conscious Life Expo—has increasingly featured speakers spouting red-pilled conspiracy theories about COVID, vaccines, and the Satanic alien reptilian cabal coming for your children.
To get an insider’s view, Julian donned his gray baseball camp and grabbed his recorder to do his own research on the latest iteration of conference room conspirituality.
Introduction to CymaTones cymatic sound therapy
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This is a newly favorite mantra that RFK Jr is using on the presidential stump.
The subtext, uttered in the shadow of a pandemic that this guy did what he could to minimize and bypass, carries a lot of American spiritual—or maybe pseudospiritual—baggage.
Digging into what he means and what his demographic hears when he says “There are worse things than dying,” can tell us a lot about the status of Death, Grief and Belief in the American psyche—and even global capitalism—in this volatile time.
This episode is a recording of a talk Matthew gave at the 2024 Symposium on Death and Bereavement Studies in January, organized online by Terri Daniel of Portland, OR.
Show Notes
2024 Symposium - Death, Grief, and Belief
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Brad Onishi of Straight White American Jesus sits down with Matthew to analyze the debut of “America’s Bishop,” Joseph Strickland, on the CPAC stage, where he blessed MAGA Christian Nationalism with his purple finery and endless torrent of anti-choice bafflegab.
Strickland—removed as Archbishop of Tyler, Texas in November by the ultra-woke Pope Francis—has hit the influencer circuit to firm up the sometimes-precarious Evangelical-Catholic alliance on the backs of women. His aw-shucks “humility” and East Texas drawl offers this reactionary movement genteel cover for its aggressive fever dreams. He is, as Onishi puts it, the Catholic Ned Flanders who conspires with Mr. Burns at night.
Butcherbox promo: Sign up today at butcherbox.com/conspirituality and use code conspirituality to choose your free offer and get $20 off.
Show Notes
Conspirituality 183: Woke Pope Cancels America's Bishop w/Mike Lewis
Weekly Roundup: Embryos are People Now? — Straight White American Jesus
Nazis mingle openly at CPAC, spreading antisemitic conspiracy theories and finding allies
Bishop Strickland at CPAC — LIfesite News (redpill site warning!)
The making of Bishop Strickland - Where Peter Is
Strickland's Adventurous Online Legacy - Mike Lewis Extra
Bishop Strickland's "Letter from a Friend"
Twitter photo: Strickland with Fournier and Pavone
Catholic Priest Uses Aborted Fetus On Altar In Appeal For Donald Trump (Trigger warning. Image blurred, but still, JFC.)
Fr. Frank Pavone uses aborted fetus in message for Election Day | National Catholic Reporter
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In the early days of the pandemic, most of the cultural focus was on the necessity of quarantine measures and the distinction between mild and severe COVID infections. Yet by May 2020, some were experiencing the phenomenon of long COVID. Now understood as a post-acute infection syndrome, patients suffering from it have endured mockery, stigmatization, and accusations of lying. Nonetheless, support and patient advocacy groups have led the way, first in demanding medical and social recognition, and now in consulting with receptive researchers on diagnosis and treatment.
We’re joined by science journalist Tara Haelle, whose work has appeared in Scientific American, NY Times, Washington Post, and more. She’s also the Infectious Disease Core Topic Leader at the Association of Health Journalists. Her work covering the pandemic, vaccines, and the Long COVID connection, which combines reporting on the latest science as well as writing from patients and patient advocates, has been indispensable in understanding this spectrum of diseases.
Show Notes
Possible contender for a Long COVID blood test
RECOVER trial for Long COVID Treatments
New Yorker on the Yale LISTEN Study
LISTEN Study website
50% average lower prevalence in vaccinated people.
Tara Haelle’s Long COVID Connection project.
Opinion | Ed Yong: Reporting on Long Covid Taught Me to Be a Better Journalist - The New York Times
Six Ways of Looking at Crip Time | Disability Studies Quarterly
COVERING LONG COVID | Lygia Navarro
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After going undercover at the Conscious Life Expo, Julian examines the weird synchronicities between himself and his mirror-world doppelganger, the eccentric Rhodesian conspiritualist, Sacha Stone. Close in age and born in the same African country, both white men got involved in New Age spirituality as aspiring rock musicians in their twenties. How then did their paths diverge so radically, even as they converged in Los Angeles?
Stone invokes a fantastical millenia-long cosmic holy war, claims the pyramids were charging stations for UFOs, and praises Vladamir Putin. Julian gives a brief real world history of the British Empire, South African Apartheid, and the legendary Zulu and Ndbele nations—and wonders, how much of Sacha’s macabre preoccupations are just white guilt?
Stay tuned for a cameo from Julian’s Dad.
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A contrarian doctor “just asking questions.” Super reasonable. Certainly not anti-vax, just a regular guy who grievance-mongers about quarantine measures and mocks people afraid of long Covid. Vinay Prasad cuts a different type of figure on the conspiracy-influencer stage. He fits right in with his pal, the charismatic guru-esque Dr. Zubin Damania, and might just pop up in your YouTube feed alongside Andrew Huberman and Peter Attia.
Prasad demands unrealistic randomized controlled trial data for everything on his podcast, including protecting ICU patients from Covid via visiting restrictions. Who’s volunteering for that control group?!
Julian sits down with returning guest, Dr. Jonathan Howard, the author of We Want Them Infected. They talk about Prasad (among others) who play a sensationalist science-distortion role in the digital economy and their connections to libertarian think tanks like AIER (architects of the Great Barrington Declaration) and Brownstone Institute—who’s founder, Jeffrey Tucker, wants to repeal laws around child labor and underage smoking.
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January 6, 2021. MAGA hats, tactical gear, American flags, poles turned into clubs. Another flag appears: white, with a blue corner square containing a red Latin cross. Another that proclaims “Jesus is King.”
If you’re agnostic or atheist, you might get that old familiar feeling. Horror at the irrational devotion, nausea at the toxic masculine violence that justifies itself as holy.
But what if you recognize that Protestant flag from your own church sanctuary? What if you recognize in that mob people from your church choir? Will you wonder how their faith was replaced by conspiracy theories, and how their Jesus turned into Trump?
That’s the question posed by “God & Country,” a new documentary by Dan Partland and produced by Rob Reiner, based on the book The Power Worshippers by Katherine Stewart. Stewart is an investigative reporter and author who has covered religious liberty, politics, policy, and education for over a decade. Her journalism appears in the NY Times, NBC, the New Republic, and the New York Review of Books. She joins us today to discuss the dangers of growing Christian Nationalism in America.
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The Cleveland Clinic's website states that leaky gut is a "hypothetical condition." Yet Cleveland Clinic physician, Mark Hyman, claims that leaky gut is at the foundation of autism, depression, cancer, diabetes, and much, much more—and has solutions to sell you.
Derek investigates the manipulative and contradictory world of functional medicine.
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An anti-vax, COVID-grievance, climate-science denying, communism panic-generating film by Mikki Willis just won “Best Documentary Feature” at the Santa Monica International Film Festival.
Julian attended the festival in order to track how Willis’s latest paranoid pseudomentary, “Plandemic 3: The Great Awakening,” was platformed at this annual fete held in affluent Santa Monica alongside two other conspiracy films: “Shot Dead” and “We Will Not Be Silenced.” These three films include a who’s-who of conspiritualists: David Icke, JP Sears, Alex Jones, Joe Rogan, Brian Rose, Peter McCullough, and newer “medical whistle-blowers.”
This is the on-the-ground story about how a 30-year-old normie independent film festival got red-pilled into platforming such dangerous misinformation.
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When she’s not talking to her angel guides, Christiane Northrup says that taking Vitamin D is better than the HPV vaccine for preventing cervical cancer. When Kelly Brogan isn’t denying germ theory, she’s telling thousands of women in her online programmes to stop taking not only their SSRIs, but also birth control and Tylenol. When Naomi Wolf isn’t explaining to Steve Bannon where women’s liberation went wrong, she’s worried that vaccinated women are poisoning non-vaccinated women just by walking past them.
The train of messianic women wellness influencers rumbles on and on. But their pseudoscience claims and twisted forms of spiritualized feminism meet a brick wall in the work and advocacy of our guest today, Dr. Jen Gunter. Hailing from Winnipeg, Manitoba, Dr. Gunter is an OB/GYN who has been offering actual women’s health information through a solidly feminist lens for decades as the author of several books, including 2019’s The Vagina Bible, 2021’s The Menopause Manifesto, and her newest book, which dropped just 3 weeks ago: Blood: The science, medicine, and mythology of menstruation.
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Selling enemas to replace psych meds, or treat cancer, or cure autism is some dangerous shit.
But Matthew has a tingling sense that the wellness enema craze promises more than false health benefits. Perhaps the coffee might be an artisanal distraction from a more existential promise: a ritual of cleansing and muscular control for a world that feels filthy, guilty, and in absolute chaos. A way of returning to a crucially innocent time when you learned to hold it all in, then given permission to let it all out, and then lovingly cleaned up when you did.
Today, Instagram gives us permission to show it to the world: look at what I made! Look at how fresh and pure I am! Look at how I am polishing my innermost self. Look at this magic of making the invisible visible.
Welcome to your 50-minute analysis session to process Mallory’s brilliant reporting on Thursday: a tour through a labyrinth of dirt, control, differentiation, exhibitionism, shame—and possibly reclamation and integration.
Chapters:
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Show Notes
Conspirituality 192: Coffee is Your Friend, Not Your Enema
Paranoid Reading, Reparative Reading — Sedgwick
Know Your Enemy: UNLOCKED: Freud and Politics (w/ Pat Blanchfield) on Apple Podcasts
Freud, "Character and Anal Eroticism" | PDF
THE SEMINAR OF JACQUES LACAN BOOK X ANXIETY 1962 - 1963
Kristeva, Julia. Powers of Horror: An Essay on Abjection. New York: Columbia University Press, 1982.
Pro-Trump rioters smeared poop in US Capitol hallways during belligerent attack
Are Anti-Vaxers Really Pooping Themselves Because of Ivermectin?
What Donald Trump Actually Smells Like, According to Ex-GOP Congressman
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Wellness influencers are quite capable of inventing and spreading health misinformation. When it comes to culture war issues, however, they're incapable of generating original thoughts. So it shouldn't surprise anyone that they simply parrot talking points created by the likes of Chris Rufo and Bari Weiss, especially when it comes to their uninformed critiques of DEI and CRT efforts.
Author, lawyer, and social impact consultant Dax-Devlon Ross takes Derek on a journey through the life of a DEI facilitator—and corrects the bias and misinformation pundits like Rufo and Weiss spread as gospel.
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This episode has been brewing for some time. This week we ask: which hole is coffee really supposed to go in? Because, in the contrarian and conspiratorial wellness world, a growing number of influencers advocate for your morning java to go where the sun doesn't shine. If that's not alarming enough, they claim coffee enemas will treat autism, cancer, parasites, and much more.
Mallory DeMille is here to finally flush out this nonsense.
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Project 2025 is the libertarian conservative Heritage Foundation’s systematic governance plan for the next Republican president. The 920-page plan aims to implement the "unitary executive theory," which would give all of the power of the US government to the executive branch. This week, Derek and Julian investigate the chapter on US media agencies and the GOP's plan to create a true state-sponsored media beholden exclusively to the president.
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From the Supreme Court to Project 2025, reactionary Catholics are on the frontlines of this year’s war on democracy. Many of them bend the knee to an Italian redpilled Vatican diplomat: Cardinal Carlo Maria Viganò.
Who is this guy, and who let him onto the internet?
In 2018, Viganò rebranded Pizzagate for Catholics, by accusing Pope Francis and his progressive allies of supporting “homosexual networks, which are now widespread in many dioceses, seminaries, religious orders,” and “act under the concealment of secrecy and lies with the power of octopus tentacles, and strangle innocent victims and priestly vocations.”
Viganò went on to pen an open letter to Trump—in the style of one spiritual leader to another—in which he spoke of the great war between the “children of light and the children of darkness.” His 19th century flair, boosted by Trump himself, was such a hit it got featured in a Qdrop, got echoed by Mike Flynn, and won him an invite into the world of Steve Bannon.
Catholic political commentator Dr. David Lafferty has been following Viganò for years. He walks Matthew through how the Cardinal Catholicized MAGA fever dreams to discredit the progressive administration of Pope Francis—going so far as to wish death upon him—while inspiring a generation of TradCath crusaders.
Show Notes
Puccini meets Watergate in 'Vatileaks' scandal
Former ambassador Vigano accuses Vatican of covering up McCarrick scandal for years
The Man Who Took On Pope Francis: The Story Behind the Viganò Letter
‘It Is Not a Closet. It Is a Cage.’ Gay Catholic Priests Speak Out
Open Letter to President Donald Trump from the Carlo Maria Vigano, Archbishop of Ulpiana
Viganò, QAnon, and the 'Deep Church' explained
“An infamous betrayal of the mission of the Church”: Interview with Archbishop Viganò - Crisis Magazine (CW: Steve Bannon BS ahead)
Americans, including Catholics, continue to have favorable views of Pope Francis — Pew Research
The Silence of Sodom: Homosexuality in Modern Catholicism, Jordan
Decadence and Catholicism — Hanson
The Causes and Context of Sexual Abuse of Minors by Catholic Priests in the United States, 1950-2010
John Jay Report: On Not Blaming Homosexual Priests
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The internet has changed not only how we communicate with each other, but how we understand the world. All technologies reorient how we navigate the world. This one just feels, at times, so disorienting—especially if you are, like the three of us today, extremely online.
That’s the title of Washington Post columnist Taylor Lorenz’s recent book. Taylor has been covering internet culture since starting in social media for the Daily Mail in 2011, which led to positions as a technology reporter for Business Insider, the Daily Beast, and the NY Times. In her insightful book, she details the history of internet culture, and she joins us today to discuss reporting in an age of conspiracy theories and online trolling, the challenges of covering long Covid in an age of overwhelming health misinformation, and what it’s like to be extremely online.
Show Notes
Extremely Online: The Untold Story of Fame, Influence, and Power on the Internet
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Project 2025 is the libertarian conservative Heritage Foundation’s systematic governance plan for the next Republican president. The 920-page plan aims to implement the "unitary executive theory," which would give all of the power of the US government to the executive branch. This week, Derek and Julian break down the dystopic chapter on the Department of Health and Human Services, written by the anti-abortion, anti-LGBTQ+ Catholic nationalist, Roger Severino.
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Do people radicalized into conspiracism or cults ever admit their errors? When the prophecy fails and evidence shows they were wrong, do they come clean or double-down?
Julian checks in on some of the legacy conspiritualists profiled in our book—Russell Brand, Dr. Christiane Northrup, Mikki Willis, JP Sears, and Lorie Ladd—to see what their online messaging around Christmas and the New Year tells us.
These figures drove the anti-vax, Covid denial, QAnon virality, and rightward political trend in conspirituality during 2020-21. We’ll find out if they’ve seen the error of their ways in the aftermath of the 5th dimensional Great Awakening that never happened.
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Science evolves, often through fits and starts. Yet for most of medical history, there’s been one consistent theme: most science has been conducted on male bodies. And this has created a range of problems for women.
Thankfully, says Cat Bohannon, that’s changing. As more women and BIPOC are entering the STEM fields, we’re undergoing a renaissance in our understanding of a more inclusive and expansive science. On today’s episode, the author of Eve: How the Female Body Drove 200 Million Years of Human Evolution tells Derek how much science has gotten wrong by focusing exclusively on male bodies—and what we’re now doing right.
Show Notes
Epidemic Podcast | Tony Fauci: from one pandemic to another
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Julia Tucker is a professional church organist in Savannah, Georgia. She grew up homeschooled in a TradCath home presided over by a father who is now a minor celebrity on the reactionary right. In this Listener Story, she discusses her long strange trip out of Catholic revanchism, the unexpected freedoms of homeschooling, sneaking around in sacristries, why she believes that figures like Bishop Strickland and the Catholics heading up Project 2025 are more ominous and effective than Evangelical leaders, how music began to displace religion for her, and why she’ll continue playing the organ in church.
Show Notes
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Dr. Taslim Alani-Verjee joined us last January for a Brief on Jordan Peterson’s professional status as a shitposting registered psychologist. She returned for Episode 141 on whether it makes sense that the Canadian Medical Assistance in Dying act is fuelling conspiracy theories about state neglect.
Today she returns, as a psychologist and as a practicing Muslim, to discuss with Matthew how it feels to see her community drawn into culture war territory over sex ed and gender issues. Matthew also asks about her clinical practice with Muslim and Jewish clients in the shadow of the current Israel-Gaza war. This episode was recorded in November, but the themes are as current as ever.
Show Notes
Brief: Is Jordan Peterson Really a Licensed Psychologist? — Conspirituality
141: Does Canada Want Suffering Citizens to Die? (w/Taslim Alani-Verjee)
Hate on Display at the 1 Million March 4 Children Rally in Calgary
Cross-country rallies against 'gender ideology' in schools meet with counter-protests
Statement by MAC on Statements by Canadian Leaders and School Boards on Recent Protests
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Nothing will stop Republicans from lining up behind Trump. But the left? It's in crisis. Fragmented. Perhaps in times of great flux fascists reflexively double-down while progressives slide into a cloud of self-doubt. There, strange bedfellows are sometimes found in the dark.
To help us understand this territory—what it is and how to navigate it—we're joined by journalist, professor, and documentarian, Jeff Sharlet. His books, The Undertow: Scenes From a Slow Civil War and The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power are field guides for understanding modern America.
Show Notes
Losing the Plot: The “Leftists” Who Turn Right
The Undertow: Scenes from a Slow Civil War
The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power
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Control the Court. Overturn Roe. Funnel anonymous donations and shady gifts. Deregulate for Jesus. Roll back the cultural clock. Celebrate. Rinse and Repeat.
Leonard Leo’s libertarian Catholic agenda has made him a preeminent power-broker in right-wing American politics. He’s reshaping society while enjoying the pipeline of cash and influence that connects billionaire GOP mega-donors and the SCOTUS judges he helped install.
Julian tracks how Leo’s Federalist Society used Trump as part of a decades-long systematic takeover of the judicial system that culminated in the current ethics and corruption scandal in the SCOTUS.
Show Notes
ProPublica “Friends of the Court” investigative journalism series
The Guardian Club For Growth GOP Insurectionist Support
Open Secret 2022 Donor List
Dark Money Spending After Citizen’s United
Senator Sheldon Whitehouse “The Front Group Swarms”
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The online pseudoscience clearing house, Human Garage, treats fascia as a cure-all to nearly every disease imaginable. Yet as today's guest, David Lesondak, Senior Structural Integrator and Fascia Specialist at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center’s Center for Integrative Medicine and author of the bestselling Fascia: What It Is and Why It Matters, tells Derek, they begin with a little bit of truth before going full Quantum nonsense.
David breaks down fascia this week: what it is, how it functions in the body, and why fascia pseudoscience is so dangerous.
Show Notes
The Tissue That Connects Our Muscles May Be a Key to Better Health
Harvard scientists closer to solving centuries-old heart mystery
Human Garage: Manifesting Through Fascia
Human Garage: Anti-Gravity - Full Spinal Decompression
Human Garage: Autoimmune Diseases
Human Garage: Erectile Dysfunction
Human Garage: Anal Sphincter Release
Human Garage: Trauma Stored in Fascia
Human Garage: Trauma Release Maneuver
Human Garage: Fascia Work Cures Hives
Human Garage: Fascia Facial Release for Acne
Human Garage: Heart is a Vortex
Human Garage: Movement Instead of Medicine
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What happens when white knights role-play at saving all the children? What impacts do they have on the actual realities faced by trafficked children and adults? And how does their propaganda—rolled out in blockbuster trauma porn events like Sound of Freedom—stigmatize and endanger adult sex workers, especially those who are already marginalized? Esme Providence Brown returns as our correspondent to run it down.
Brown retired from professional sex work in 2021 after twenty-year career in Manhattan. She first joined us on Episode 169 to talk about the strange overlaps between sex work and the neo-tantra yoga movement. In this richly-researched report and discussion with Matthew, she examines the history of and present-day ramifications of anti-trafficking movements—projects that often scapegoat women who are secretly desired but publicly hated.
“Everybody wants to save the children,” Brown says, “but very few people want to step into the tangled web of what this actually means or the history of how ‘salvation’ movements - hobbled by grandiosity, white knighthood, and patriarchal ignorance—have incurred collateral damage while failing in their ultimate mission of liberation.”
Show notes for this one are extensive, and won’t fit into most pod apps. You can find them here.
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Rightwing activist Chris Rufo recently led the charge in helping oust Claudine Gay from the Harvard presidency. While the charge is plagiarism—a charge Gay herself acknowledged—the reason for Rufo’s intense focus on her has little to do with academic pedigree.
Rufo, a former vegetarian yogi, is leading the right-wing charge against DEI trainings, LGBTQ+ rights, and any mention of critical race theory. Rolling off his "victory" of Gay's resignation, he's published a blog post that he hopes will become the guiding manifesto for the "New Right." As Derek breaks down, this means returning America back to 1776 in many ways.
Show Notes
How We Squeezed Harvard to Push Claudine Gay Out
Claudine Gay: my part in her downfall
Bill Ackman’s wife is accused of plagiarizing part of her dissertation
Contracts Between Hungarian Nonprofit and Christopher Rufo, Others, Raise Foreign Agent Concerns
A lesson in persuasion — Loretta Ross
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On January 6, 2021 Del Bigtree took the stage at the MAGA Health Freedom Rally a few blocks away from where Donald Trump had just instigated a riot. He joked about how the former president was a hard act to follow.
But he dug deep and persevered by stringing together key dog whistles of Trumpian disinformation and resentment: public health officials are corrupt, COVID is a scam, and the election was probably stolen.
Such performances have gotten Bigtree’s Highwire show nuked by YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. But they’ve also made him wealthy, and with his new appointment as RFK Jr’s new Director of Communications, his political star is now rising.
Matthew runs down what we know about Bigtree, and what he thinks this appointment will bring.
Show Notes
An Important Message To The Medical Freedom Community from Del Bigtree
RFK Jr. hires top anti-vaccine activist as campaign communications director
The Disinformation Dozen — Center for Countering Digital Hate | CCDH
Brief: RFK's Health Propaganda Roundtable — Conspirituality
Brief: RFK Jr Loses New Age Support Over Israel — Conspirituality
Pandemic Profiteers — Center for Countering Digital Hate | CCDH
How three conspiracy theorists took 'Q' and sparked Qanon
Anti-Vaxxer Del Bigtree’s Unhinged Quest for Unvaccinated Blood Leads Him to Mexico
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Last year, the Heritage Foundation published a 920-page document that lays out the conservative organization’s road map for the next Republican president’s first four months in office, which could very well be Donald Trump. Project 2025 rests on four pillars devoted to the implementation of the unitary executive theory—basically, all levers of the American government bowing down to the executive branch. If this sounds like a roadmap to authoritarianism, that’s because it is.
With 54 conservative and religious organizations signing on and over 450 contributors, as well as untold millions in dark money, Heritage is leading the charge with this anti-abortion, anti-LBGTQ+, anti-DEI, anti-civil liberties game plan. To date, they’ve interviewed thousands of prospective candidates for the next administration, with the goal of hiring tens of thousands of subservient bureaucrats ready to implement this Christian Nationalistic plan.
Today we break down what the document says and how it could rapidly erode American democracy. And if that sounds like hyperbole, it isn’t.
The Power Worshippers | Katherine Stewart
Behind the Curtain — Scoop: The Trump job applications revealed
The Conservative Plan to Take Over the Country (you need to know about this)
The '3.5% rule': How a small minority can change the world
Dr. Kevin Roberts | Catholic Citizens Annual Banquet
Living a Life of Catholic Integrity in a Hostile World | Roger Severino
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Friend of the pod and Straight White American Jesus host Brad Onishi returns to pick up with Matthew where they left off in their discussion of post-religious spirituality. They discuss what happens after disenchantment, the spirituality of boredom, and why, as we hurtle into the coming chaos of 2024, it’s good to keep an eye out for new allies in unlikely places.
This is Part Two of two-part conversation. Look for Part One in your pod feeds, dated December 30.
Show Notes
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Friend of the pod and Straight White American Jesus host Brad Onishi joins Matthew for a New Year’s discussion of post-religious spirituality. Onishi fills out the details on a nascent identity that many of you might resonate with: the “secular person of faith.” They talk about the false choice of Max Weber’s fork in the road: that either we commit to the sciences or languish in the churches. They discuss Jeffery Kosky’s idea of “disenchantment with disenchantment.” And they try to figure out what Thomas Altizer was going on about when he proposed a “Christian Atheism.”
This is Part One of two-part conversation. Part Two drops Monday, New Year’s Day, on Patreon.
Show Notes
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Life coaching is big business. The life coaching industry was worth $1.5 billion in 2022 and is considered one of the fastest growing industries in America. The International Coaching Federation reported more than 26,000 coaches in North America in 2020. Yet those numbers are hard to qualify given that you don’t need certifications or training to become a life coach or, as we explore today, coaching of most any sort. Life coaches, business coaches, fertility coaches, “quantum” coaches: every industry has an increasing number of people who want to tell you how to do your job effectively, magically, or quantumally.
Who really benefits from this supposed gold rush of “MULTI 6 FIGURE BUSINESS COACH”, “Multi 8 fig biz mentor”, and “high ticket biz coach helping women scale to 20-30k months”? And has the dilution of the term "coach" damaged credentialed coaches with decades of experience?
Mallory DeMille returns to talk about the coaches who coach coaches industry: marketing tactics, parallels to multilevel marketing, and the glut in the coaching industry.
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The joys of Xmas, the wonder of parenting, the complexities of family, the distinctions between religions and cults, and the compassionate dignity of locating the sacred in our mortal humanity. Julian offers an atheist reflection on the holidays that is equal parts heartwarming, thought-provoking, and (perhaps) inspiring.
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COP28, the 2023 United Nations Climate Change Conference, recently took place in the UAE. The controversial conference included 2,500 fossil fuel industry lobbyists and featured billionaires flying into Dubai on private jet. Yet, as Maya Lilly—a film, television, and digital media producer who focuses on activist documentary storytelling—tells Derek, it's one of the few places that so many nations and world leaders meet to discuss climate change. And, she says, the financial incentives exist to make even the richest men salivate. Governments just need the political will, and citizens need to vote more climate-forward legislators into office.
Show Notes
Maya Lilly’s Curated Climate Reading List
Earth on verge of five catastrophic climate tipping points, scientists warn
Right-wing media use COP28 to dismiss climate-related deaths
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In this annual meditation and reflection, the trio consider the past year's significant happenings in conspirituality, discuss their biggest influences, identify 2024's most pressing challenges, and offer what gives them each hope as we transition into 2024.
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In November, the comedian Matt Rife released his first Netflix special, "Natural Selection." Early in the show he made a joke about domestic violence that many people took offense to. Since then, he’s clapped back at a number of people on social media (including a six-year-old boy), published a fake apology that linked to helmets for people with disabilities, and has been praised by many right-wing pundits, including the focus of today’s bonus episode, Jordan Peterson.
Derek looks at the escalation and rhetoric that’s occurred since the special, arguing that the real misogynistic thinking has taken place since the special first aired.
Note: Derek states that biologist EO Wilson is famous for popularizing the term "alpha male." This was actually primatologist Frans de Waal.
Show Notes
Bunny Hedaya claps back at Matt Rife
Should you rely on first instincts when answering a multiple choice exam?
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Amy Carlson’s metallic blue body was covered in glitter, wrapped in a sleeping bag, and draped in Christmas lights when police found her on the night of April 16, 2021. The 45-year-old leader of the “Love Has Won” cult weighed just 75 pounds; her eyes had been removed.
Carlson, known as “Mother God,” proselytized along with her followers by livestreaming around the clock, preaching a QAnon-themed spirituality that they monetized by selling colloidal silver and New Age tchotchkes. When her body was found, it was discovered that her inner circle had prepared for Carlson to be picked up by galactic starships from their Crestone, CO compound.
Julian and Matthew discuss HBO’s new docu-series, “Love Has Won: The Mother God Cult,” directed by Hannah Olson. They meditate on religious freedom, spiritual tragedy, and the ethics of big-budget cult documentary filmmaking.
Show Notes
Denver Post article with Rick Ross comments
Vulture Interview with Hannah Olson
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Measles was declared eliminated in the US in 2000. Fast forward to 2019 and the nation experienced the largest number of cases since 1992. Globally, there were 207,000 measles deaths that year, a 50% increase since 2016.
The anti-vax boom time was still to come. Andrew Wakefield, Del Bigtree, and RFK Jr. massively increased their exposure and salaries during Covid via pseudoscientific fear-mongering and promiscuous political alliances.
Scott Kennedy’s new documentary, Shot in the Arm, details the deadly impact of these anti-vax kingpins, as well as the tireless counter-efforts of scientists, medical workers, and science educators like Peter Hotez, Paul Offit, Karen Enrst, and Blimi Marcus. Scott joins Derek and Julian to discuss the past and future of the anti-vax movement.
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Matthew follows up on his interview with Mike Lewis about Bishop Strickland with thoughts about:
1) Building a bridge with progressive elements of a religion that claims 1.36 billion people globally, as it goes through another surge of paranoia and reactionary radicalization, and
2) Building a bridge into a personal past
Show Notes
Vatican II: It's about that 'fresh air' | National Catholic Reporter
More sexual assault survivors connected to Michigan-based religious groups surface
And Scales Fell From His Eyes | PDF | Protestantism | Catholic Church
Evangelicals are looking for answers online. They’re finding QAnon instead. | MIT Technology Review
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Why did Trump kick-off his 2024 presidential campaign in Waco, Texas? Who were the Branch Davidians, anyway?
Julian unpacks the incendiary streams of far-right anti-government militia history and religious apocalypticism that our former president is tapping into as he faces legal jeopardy. It all goes back almost 300 years to the original Great Awakening that QAnon and New Age channelers tried to remix in 2020.
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Conspiracy Theory Catholicism is back, bringing together Satanic Panickers, anti-vaxxers, tradwives who think (or at least say) birth control is an abomination, and survivalist prayer bros who string bullets into rosaries. This motley bunch agree on one thing: Pope Francis is just too damn woke.
The movement has many leaders, but only one man has been dubbed “America’s Bishop”: Joseph Edward Strickland, the now-former Bishop of Tyler, East Texas. “Former,” because on November 11, the Pope of Woke canceled him from his post.
Our guest today, Mike Lewis of the Catholic news and opinion website, wherepeteris.com, walks us through this strange tale, detailing how Strickland courted his own demise by going batshit on Twitter during the pandemic, suggesting Francis is a heretic, calling Joe Biden evil, and railing against abortion-derived vaccines.
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Show Notes
Mel Gibson: The man without a pope - Where Peter Is
Americans, including Catholics, continue to have favorable views of Pope Francis
Searching for Answers: Why Was Bishop Joseph Strickland Removed?
Just one-third of U.S. Catholics agree with their church that Eucharist is body, blood of Christ
Many Americans believe in the supernatural, UFOs | Ipsos
Pope Francis’ unexpected friendship with a group of trans women | America Magazine
The making of Bishop Strickland - Where Peter Is
Strickland's Adventurous Online Legacy - Mike Lewis Extra
Bishop Strickland's "Letter from a Friend"
Podcast: Fr. James Martin on Pope Francis and accompaniment - Where Peter Is
‘Medical Freedom’ Activists Take Aim at New Target: Childhood Vaccine Mandates
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What if every important world event, regardless of how tragic or distant, is really part of a secret plan that only a handful of contrarian podcast pals can decipher? Julian breaks down bizarre clips from recent Dark Horse livestreams, and wonders about the connection between conspiracy theorizing and an increasingly self-important disconnection from reality. Stick around for an expert cameo from psychology professor, Matt Browne, of Decoding the Gurus.
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Soulmates gone wrong. High-pressure sexual orientation and gender conversion in an MLM coaching cult. Journalist and producer Alice Hines discusses the “master Christ” young couple at the center of Twin Flames Universe and the alarming story that unfolds in the documentary based on her Vanity Fair expose.
Show Notes
Inside the All-Consuming World of Twin Flames
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What is it like to get red-pilled, find a fragile community of peers, and then come out on the other side?
What are the personal, social, and political wounds that make conspiracy theories feel like medicine—or a drug? What is the difference between debunking theories and healing wounds?
Today the trio discusses excerpts of an interview Matthew recorded with Stephanie Kemmerer, a former conspiracy theorist and now public educator. Stephanie is part of a newly formed non-profit called The American Information Integrity Alliance and co-facilitator of the support group DOUBT: Discussing Our Unusual Beliefs Together.
Kemmerer’s journey tells us a lot about how people fall into the rabbit hole, how they can claw their way back out. But she also suggests that the rabbit hole is really a hole in the culture, and that there’s plenty we can do to fill it in.
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Show Notes
American Information Integrity Alliance
D.O.U.B.T. (Discussing Our Unusual Beliefs Together)
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In 2021, the anti-vax dating site, Unjected, appeared on the scene. Between Unjected's conservative marketing campaigns, which leans conspiratorial and bigoted, and its partnership with supplements company, The Wellness Company, Derek breaks down why this appears to be the emergence of anti-vax lifestyle brands—a trend he believes is only going to grow in the coming years.
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Show Notes
Anti-vax dating site exposed data for 3,500 users through ‘debug mode’ bug
Maui emergency services head, who met criticism for not using sirens during wildfire, resigns
In deadly Maui fires, many had no warning and no way out. Those who dodged a barricade survived
MAGA Influencers Are Sold on This Grifty Wellness Company
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Derek interviewed journalist and researcher, Arthur Holland Michel, after the publication of Michel's 2019 book, Eyes in the Sky: The Secret Rise of Gorgon Stare and How It Will Watch Us All. When reading Naomi Klein's book, Doppelganger, Derek was struck by Klein's insight that the Right has picked up issues the Left has abandoned—such as surveillance technology. And he recalled this interview with Michel, who reports on some of the scariest surveillance tech in history.
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Show Notes
The surveillance technology that will watch us all, all the time
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Round two on Iman Gadzhi, the 23-year-old self-proclaimed marketing millionaire who makes conspiracy theory videos to sell business coaching packages. (Listen to EP 180 for background.)
This week, Julian and Matthew discuss Gadzhi's seemingly plagiarized rhetoric that invites preteen boys from Boston to Belarus to drop out of school. Manosphere types are drawn to fascist values like moths to the flame, yet when they get too close, they have to reckon with authoritarianism, and try to rebel against it.
Julian discusses Gadzhi's deceptive social-media-based marketing in the context of election-disrupting technologies. Matthew then exposes the cruelty at the heart of Gadzhi's coaching scheme, as the YouTuber imagines disciplining his future sons with violence.
Show Notes
Join THE RESCUE today (Gadzhi content)
Iman Gadzhi LIED to You - He is The Puppet Master
Iman gadzhi is pulling his second fear mongering scam and coffee should talk about it
THE IMPACT OF SCIENCE ON SOCIETY
The country school of to-morrow
Context: "People yield themselves with perfect docility to our molding hand"
Webarchive: Foster Gamble quoting Gates
The Revisionists Revived: The Libertarian Historiography of Education
The Origins of the American Public Education System: Horace Mann & the Prussian Model of Obedience
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Matthew reconsiders past criticisms of Marianne Williamson’s theology and candidacy in light of her principled call for a ceasefire as casualties in Gaza rise.
At a moment of global crisis, Williamson is distinguishing herself from the vast majority of her Democratic colleagues—including Bernie Sanders—by calling urgently for a ceasefire as the casualties in Gaza rise.
Biden Democrats are struggling to utter the word “ceasefire.” Rashida Tlaib and the Squad are now targeted for primary challenges funded by AIPAC. Will it fall to a New Age pacifist—long derided as “the crystal lady”—to challenge the geopolitical status quo? Is Williamson's proposed “Department of Peace” really that naive at this point, now that Mike Johnson, as House Speaker, holds the Evangelical view that war in the Holy Land is a sign of Jesus's return?
Show Notes
Israel & Hamas: Ceasefire — Marianne Williamson
148: Marianne Williamson and Asshole Jesus — Conspirituality
Special Report: Marianne Williamson’s Ex- Staffers Speak Out — Conspirituality
Brief: Marianne Williamson’s Spiritual Therapy Schtick — Conspirituality
MW Facebook prayer for Israel and Palestine
Leo Varadkar calls for ‘humanitarian ceasefire’ in Israel-Hamas conflict | Business Post
Kinew pledges to search landfill, but says federal role wasn't part of conversation with Trudeau
Netanyahu faces rising anger from within Israel after Hamas attack - CBS News
The Presidential Candidates on the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict | Council on Foreign Relations
Williamson: Israel and Hamas an Eye for an Eye
What Palestinians Really Think of Hamas | Foreign Affairs
House votes to censure Rep. Rashida Tlaib over her Israel-Hamas rhetoric in a stunning rebuke
Original Party Platform of the Likud Party
AIPAC vs. progressives: Israel’s war in Gaza has set the stage for a huge primary battle in 2024
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RKF Jr., who has campaigned as the peace candidate who will draw down the US military empire, has recently called Israel America’s “aircraft carrier” in the Middle East. When challenged to call for a ceasefire as the casualties rise in Gaza, the self-proclaimed protector of children said, “nobody likes children dying,” but then compared Israel’s efforts against Hamas to Alliance efforts against the Nazis.
On Gaza and Israel, RFK Jr is sounding unlike the end-the-forever wars, bring-our-troops-home candidate that many of his followers in the alternative health, anti-vax, and New Age spiritual communities thought they were supporting.
Now he’s paying the price.
Lifelong pacifist Dennis Kucinich quit the Kennedy24 campaign nine days after Israel began its retaliation for the Hamas attacks. RFK Jr.’s Director of Messaging, Charles Eisenstein, is speaking out against his boss’s one-sided stance. And alternative health and anti-vax mogul Sayer Ji has withdrawn his endorsement in a newsletter sent out to 300K subscribers.
Matthew reports on the developments and poses the questions: What is it about Gaza that suddenly makes the mainstream media reports credible to conspiritualists—as opposed to the news from Ukraine, or about COVID? And if RFK Jr. loses the support of the natural health pacifist who first backed him, who is he left to stand with?
UPDATE: Since recording, Bernie Sanders has in fact followed the lead of Williamson and others in issuing a call for an end to the bombardment of Gaza.
Show Notes
Dennis Kucinich Leaves Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s Presidential Campaign - The New York Times.
Dennis Kucinich ceasefire petition
Kennedy Condemns Terrorist Attacks Against Israel | Kennedy24
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Declares Independent Candidacy | C-SPAN.org
The New Age Origin Story of RFK Jr’s Campaign — Conspirituality
"In my name, I want no vengeance." - Charles Eisenstein
Why I Withdraw My Endorsement of RFK Jr. and Affirm the Urgent Cause for Peace In Palestine & Israel Sayer Ji
Disinformation Dozen Star Sayer Ji Now Exploiting Black Lives Matter | by Matthew Remski
Harvard Should Suspend Students Over Antisemitic Content: Bill Ackman - Bloomberg
Poll: Robert F. Kennedy Jr. takes eye-popping 22 percent against Biden, Trump, - POLITICO
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Iman Gadzhi is a rising YouTube superstar. A high school dropout and supposed self-made multimillionaire, the 23 year-old marketing guru started his YouTube channel at age 15 with weightlifting videos. He has since built a following of 3.7 million. His life and career path is symbiotic with the platform, mirroring, monetizing, and accelerating every self-help and get-rich trend that blows through through the algorithms.
At some point during COVID, he caught the conspiracy theory bug, and turned his channel into a red pill factory, pumping out such volumes of aggressively paranoid content that YouTube money bros started comparing him to Andrew Tate.
Now, Gadzhi is reaching more aggressively into the brains of pre-teen boys around the world with a morbid fantasy about the origins of public education, and how it dooms them all into woke slavery. But it’s not just a conspiracy theory. It’s a highly-structured marketing campaign pitching his online sales coaching scheme as a substitute for high school.
Show Notes
Join THE RESCUE today. #fyp #viral | iman gadzhi | TikTok —Gadzhi content
Rebels stage new invasion of Dagestan | The Independent
Dagestan: Mob storms Russian airport in search of Jews - BBC News
Iman Gadzhi Talks About His Stepdad
Independent School Fees — Southbank International
Entrepreneur Pushes for More Inclusive Education in Developing Countries — Forbes
3 Books Changed My Life—Gadzhi content
What Are the 48 Laws of Power? The Complete List | Shortform Books
Atomic Habits — If Books Could Kill
Corona Virus: SMMA in Crisis—Gadzhi content
Vaccine Regret Counselling | Life Coaching in London, UK
The Covid Crisis of 2021 - Richard Harris & Iman Gadzhi Unveil the Shocking Truth
Iman Gadzhi Opens Up About Why He Agrees With Andrew Tate & His Unique View On Women!!
5 Habits Keeping MEN Weak—Gadzhi content
A wife like that—Gadzhi content
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You’ve heard the names of our Deep State swamp creatures. But the details of their career histories, criminal indictments, and intersecting political activities paint a startling picture.
Alt-right rabble-rouser and pseudo-intellectual, Steve Bannon, was part of the team that salvaged Trump’s floundering 2016 campaign. Like Roger Stone and Mike Flynn, he was in the war room at the Willard Hotel around January 6, 2020—having told his podcast audience that “all hell is going to break loose.”
What happened between those dates is quite a tale. With Trump’s 2024 candidacy looming, Steve Bannon remains poised to bring his nasty visions to life.
*Correction: During this bonus, Julian mistakenly says Trump called it “The Movement.” He meant to say that Bannon did.
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What happens when psychedelic therapy is introduced into a society in which both the set and setting is capitalism? Derek navigates the hope and hype of psychedelics in a for-profit healthcare system with two leading researchers, Neşe Devenot, PhD and Brian Pace, PhD.
Show Notes
Beyond the psychedelic hype: Exploring the persistence of the neoliberal paradigm
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Close your eyes and imagine exiting your front door. Within moments, everything necessary for your life is a few blocks away, except perhaps your job. Groceries, coffee, toiletries, your bank—if you’re still a physical bank-type person—auto shop, all within walking distance. You never have to commute too far to live your life.
Sounds like quite a dystopian hellscape, doesn’t it?
Believe it or not, that’s yet another conspiracy theory that emerged earlier this year, because the ability to access things you need is apparently a Deep State plot. Derek is joined by “The War on Cars” co-host, Doug Gordon, to discuss how this conspiracy started and why smart urban planning is a boon for society. First, we discuss Jane Jacobs, the Scranton, Pennsylvania-born journalist and theorist who brought her civic activism to Toronto in 1968, with Matthew coloring in how her legacy has fared during the rise of the Ford family.
Corrections: In his unbridled enthusiasm for the topic and the memories it churned up, Matthew messed up THREE things—the Escalade is a Cadillac, not a Ford, “Downtown” was sung by Petula Clark, not Peggy Lee, and Bill Davis was a Progressive Conservative Premier, not a Liberal! Apologies.
Show Notes
The Woman Who Saved New York City from Superhighway Hell | Vanity Fair
‘The streets belong to the people’: Why a premier killed the Spadina Expressway | TVO Today
Ford family is building a political dynasty
Video shows Councillor Doug Ford handing out $20 bills at TCHC building
Where the Spadina Expressway Didn't Stop | The Local
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Derek spent nearly a month trying to get a flu shot. During the same period, he has yet to secure an updated Covid booster. There are many problems with anti-vax propaganda. But there are also serious issues with America’s for-profit healthcare system. Derek shares his last few months navigating it, first with his wife’s breast cancer screenings (and the unexpected costs dumped on them) and then with a shot the CDC wants everyone to receive, apparently without understanding just how challenging that can be.
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Julian Brave NoiseCat is a writer and film doc maker, and a member of the Canim Lake Band, Tsq'escen. In May of 2022 he posted this Twitter thread. Matthew wanted to learn more:
I'm struck by the similarity of right-wing conspiracy theories to actual policies towards Indigenous peoples.
It's all so Freudian. The fear that it will happen to them stems from an implicit admission that they did it to others.
As though the Black, Brown and Indigenous downtrodden are just as hateful as they are and are going to turn around and do to them what they did to us.
Show Notes
Julian’s website
Mary Simon Is Leading Indigenous Peoples to New Heights
The Past and Future of Native California
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5 am. Day 4 of executive plant medicine retreat. The venture capital tech bro sits on a metaverse mountaintop, immersed in deep meditation. He hears a hum—a vibration from the great beyond. A mantra rises up like kundalini gas bubbles just in front of his spine: techno-capital machine.
Today we dissect Marc Andreessen’s anarcho-capitalist attempt at a Silicon Valley religious doctrine, The Techno-Optimist Manifesto.
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Show Notes
The Ben & Marc Show: The Techno-Optimist Manifesto
What the Techno-Billionaire Missed About Techno-Optimism
When was the last time Marc Andreessen talked to a poor person?
Marc Andreessen Is the Buyer of Serge Azria’s Malibu Home
The Summer of NIMBY in Silicon Valley’s Poshest Town
Why American wages haven’t grown despite increases in productivity
Post-pandemic poverty is rising in America’s suburbs
The Surprising Poverty Levels Across the U.S.
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Matthew’s essay about the transient, disorganized, purificatory pleasure of RFK Jr's campaign for his wellness/yoga/biohacker demographic.
A workshop breakthrough is not a strategy. The pleasure of deconstruction is not a theory of change.
With reference to Vincent Bevins’s brilliant new book: If We Burn: The Mass Protest Decade and the Missing Revolution.
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Bari Weiss recently held a "debate" about the failure of the sexual revolution. Expensive tickets to the Theater at the Ace Hotel in downtown LA allowed you to see Grimes and Sarah Haider talk about motherhood, porn, and woke culture with Anna Khachiyan and Louise Perry. And the results were...rather boring, says journalist Michelle Lhooq.
Derek gets the lowdown from Lhooq, who wonders how the New Right captured the cool factor of the American counterculture—and how the Left gets it back.
Show Notes
The Grimes / Red Scare debate was a right-wing psy-op
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Today’s profile by Julian is of a man who connects the dots between the gun-nut fifth column in American law enforcement, local school board and city council anti-woke mania, and grassroots Christian Nationalist/QAnon crossover.
Like our other swamp creatures, his involvement in the chicanery around the last two elections make him a clear and present danger to democracy. With him, our poker hand improves to three of a kind, because like Roger Stone and Paul Manafort, he was also indicted by the Mueller Probe—and in his case, pled guilty—only to be granted a full presidential pardon by Donald Trump.
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Arizona’s recent increase in “sovereign citizen filings” connects to a New Age spiritual center called the Ultimate Light Mission. Julian talks to investigative reporter Isaac Stone Simonelli.
Show Notes
Sedona's wellness to radicalization pipeline
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Women journalists spend years meticulously investigating, corroborating and fact-checking allegations that Russell Brand is a serial sex offender. The result? A 6600-word masterpiece of survivor-centered concision, battle-tested by a legion of editors and lawyers.
But the manosphere responds! With logorrheic defenses, conspiracy theories, and rationalizations. Peak posting through it.
We look at choice man-stan statements from Charles Eisenstein (RFK Jr’s Director of Messaging), and psychonaut Daniel Pinchbeck. We also look at a pre-allegations interview Brand did with meditation guru Jack Kornfield to learn more about how Brand has ingratiated himself to wellness entrepreneurs flattered by his attention.
Show Notes
BBC and police begin inquiries as Russell Brand faces more claims
‘Jimmy Savile police unit’ helps Met with Russell Brand investigation
On Mobs, Cults, and Russell Brand - Charles Eisenstein
Brand and Circuses - Daniel Pinchbeck’s Newsletter
Open Letter to Russell Brand — Daniel Pinchbeck's Newsletter
A Cultural Crucible - Daniel Pinchbeck’s Newsletter
Alyssa Milano on the #MeToo movement: 'We're not going to stand for it any more'
Writer blames ‘predatory’ ways on women | Page Six
#6 - Abusing Power: Taking Predatory Daniel Pinchbeck At His Word
We Refuse to Endorse Daniel Pinchbeck as a Credible Voice in the Psychedelic Movement
Community, Transparency and Accountability—Dr. Ann Gleig in conversation with Egyoku Nakao Roshi & Tenku Ruff Roshi
Jack Kornfield (Morality, Spirituality & AI) - Stay Free with Russell Brand
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Four members of the Florida-based Grenon family were recently sentenced to between 5 and 12 years of prison for selling bleach. The problem? They claimed that bleach, known as Miracle Mineral Solution, cured Covid-19—as well as cancer, autism, AIDS, erectile dysfunction, and over 90% of the world's ailments. The elder Grenon, Mark, had founded the Genesis II Church of Health & Healing alongside of MMS's founder, Jim Humble, who left the church in 2017.
How did the Grenons profit from industrial-strength bleach for 13 years before finally being convicted? And why are so many people sprinkling bleach crystals in their morning glass of water to "detoxify?" Derek investigates.
Show Notes
Family Sentenced for Selling Bleach as ‘Miracle’ Covid-19 Cure
Drinking bleach can be deadly but lots of Americans are falling for fake bleach ‘cures’
Fringe 'Church' Founder on MMS: It's No Cure
Genesis 2 Church FDA Warning Letter
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On October 9, RFK Jr. brought his three-podcast-bros-in-a-trench-coat campaign to Philadelphia. On a dias across from Independence Hall, he announced his anticipated departure from the Democratic party and his new status as an independent candidate. Matthew and Julian profile his conspirituality credentials, his diagonalist politics, and his incoherent positions:
He attacks public health officials, or corporations—it’s all the same. He can pretend to care about health while making fatphobic and ableist comments. He can rail against the capture of federal regulatory agencies while proclaiming himself a staunch free market capitalist. He can pretend to help advance the lives of Black people by telling them that vaccines are a racist plot against them. He can earnestly identify with and fight in court for dispossessed tribes on American soil, while doubling down on morbid power imbalances abroad.
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Show Notes
164: The Two Faces of Robert Francis Kennedy Jr.
Brief: The New Age Origin Story of RFK Jr’s Campaign
Brief: RFK's Health Propaganda Roundtable
Brief: RFK Jr., The Anti-Vax Candidate
Brief: RFK Jr Flirts with Body Fascism (w/Natalia Petrzela)
Kennedy Condemns Terrorist Attacks Against Israel
Tribal Council | lowerbrulesiouxtribe
Special Report: Stealing Indigenous Voices in Australia (w/Tyson Yunkaporta)
Robert Kennedy’s Indian Commitment
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Quinn Slobodian teaches Modern German History at Wellesley and William Callison teaches Political Theory and Human Geography at Uppsala. We first came across their work via Naomi Klein’s examination of the clusterf&cked politics that dominate the movements we cover. We dug out their paper, and they had us at this:
"At the extreme end, diagonal movements share a conviction that all power is conspiracy."
There no clear left-right polarity in conspirituality. And Horseshoe Theory won’t cut it. We’re in the age of Diagonalism, and things are very, very weird.
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Show Notes
Coronapolitics from the Reichstag to the Capitol - Boston Review
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Our main character this week is the six-degrees of authoritarians—more like one or two degrees, in fact. He’s made millions playing footsie with most of the blood-thirsty kleptocrats of the last half-century. He embodies the corrupt and anti-democratic deep state history of Donald Trump’s inner circle, reaching back through the decades and across the globe.
Julian’s colorful storytelling series seeks to contextualize the Trump era and where we find ourselves now, based on the swamp creatures who worked for, enabled, and to some extent groomed him for the role.
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On October 14, Australians will vote in a referendum on a simple question: should Indigenous peoples be invited to form an advisory council—a Voice—to Parliament?
It seemed like a shoe-in “Yes”—before the issue was FUBARed by a coalition of antivax, anti lockdown, Q-adjacent white sovereign citizens who believe that they are the true victims of colonization.
Professor Tyson Yunkaporta of Apalech clan joins Matthew to discuss the complexities of this history—including how some vulnerable Indigenous folks have been lured into supporting the “No” vote and providing cover for libertarian and white supremacist agendas.
Yunkaporta is the founder of the Indigenous Knowledge Systems Lab at Deakin University in Melbourne AUS, author of Sand Talk: How Indigenous Thinking Can Save the World (2019) and released just this past week: Right Story, Wrong Story: Adventures in Indigenous Thinking. He’s also the host of the excellent free range podcast The Other Others.
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Show Notes
Indigenous Knowledge Systems Lab at Deakin University
Conspiracy theories are derailing the Yes vote w/ Tyson Yunkaporta
How a soap opera star pushed a conspiracy theory linking the Voice to Parliament to a UN takeover
View The Statement - Uluru Statement from the Heart
Aboriginal Tent Embassy — 'the guys who woke up Australia' — marks its 50th anniversary
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We love our scicomm episodes, because they really dig into the material heart of the conflicts this project tries to understand. What is this information chaos tearing apart public health? How do you push back against it? What does “follow the science” mean to the average voter? And how do we push back against influencers who exploit the difficulties of science and the reasonable fear that erupts when a virus is on the loose?
One answer is that we produce the best content we can, and our guests today, Drs Andrea Love and Jessica Steier have the chops. Like us, they started the popular “Unbiased Science” podcast during the pandemic in the midst of a tsunami of confusion. Only they come at it from within the sciences: Andrea is an immunologist and biologist who specializes in infectious diseases immunology, cancer immunology, and autoimmunity, while Jessica is a public health scientist who has designed and led multiple COVID-19 related research and science communication projects. This week, they tell Derek why the new COVID boosters are important, discuss the challenges of science communication in an age of misinformation, and confirm that colloidal silver and essential oils are not, in fact, immune boosters.
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On September 19, Matt Christman was hospitalized with, in the words of his colleagues on the podcast Chapo Trap House: “a sudden, severe medical emergency that will require a significant period of recovery.” His wife was scheduled to deliver their first child a few days later. Baby arrived in good health. Christman is as of this moment still hospitalized, but making some progress.
Matthew reflects on the hard left passions and despondent ecstasies of a beloved and sometimes hated dirtbag charismatic—and sends him peace and love in the silence, wherever it leads.
Show Notes
Forward Left: An Interview with Matt Christman of Chapo Trap House - CounterPunch.org
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Deep Cut pulls from our bonus episode archive to unearth previous ideas that remain relevant today.
What the hell happened between the Dalai Lama and that Indian boy? The internet served up a raft of painfully inflammatory takes, so I took a month to talk with Tibetologists and review the literature on sexual abuse in Tibetan Buddhist contexts.
This is a deep, tangled dive. Content warnings apply.
Chapters:
Deep Cut Intro Music
Single Origins — Pete Kuzma
Show Notes
Stop Sensationalizing the Dalai Lama's Innocent Interactions | A Tibetan's Perspective
རྒྱ་གར་མཐོ་སློབ་ཀྱི་བྱིས་པ་ཞིག་གིས་མཇལ་ཁ་ཞུས་པ།
Cardi B on Twitter: This world is full of predators.
https://twitter.com/MIAuniverse/status/1645530569042956289
MIA on vaccines, vindication and her visions of Jesus: ‘People fear me for some reason’
Himalayan Community comes out with massive outpour of support for HH the Dalai Lama
https://thewalrus.ca/survivors-of-an-international-buddhist-cult-share-their-stories/
Survivors of an International Buddhist Cult Share Their Stories | The Walrus
‘Abuse of Power’ (1999) | open buddhism
‘Not The Tibetan Way’: The Dalai Lama’s Realpolitik Concerning Abusive Teachers | open buddhism
Independent: Sexual Abuse Allegations in Tibetan Buddhism
Mind & Life Institute statement on the Dalai Lama
China: Dalai Lama furore reignites Tibet 'slave' controversy - BBC News
https://www.instagram.com/p/Cq4hDfaLe6d/
https://www.instagram.com/p/Cq_1L77vl2L/
Attune to the Body Cues of the Boy in the Dalai Lama Incident + Open Offer for Counseling to the Boy
https://twitter.com/LizCrokin/status/1645971419447148545
Tibetans Say the Dalai Lama’s ‘Suck My Tongue’ Viral Video Is Being Misinterpreted
Brother Lobsang commentary
“Eat my Tongue” explanation
Giaco Orofino commentary
HH Dalai Lama Archetype of Radical Innocence with Robert Thurman : On The Recent Viral Video
Kazi Adi Shakti's essay
MORAL OUTRAGE PORN C. Thi Nguyen and Bekka Williams
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The market for psychedelics is projected to grow from $2 billion in 2020 to $10.75 billion by 2027—a growth rate that could outpace the legal US cannabis market. Many high-profile investors and celebrities are entering the space, often under the pretense of funding breakthrough mental health interventions.
But…is that the real concern? Microdosing to help depression, anxiety, addiction, or suicidal ideation are all laudable goals. But is that what’s really happening in the psychedelics space?
Derek is joined by Psymposia co-founder, editor, and producer, Brian Normand; medicine, society, and culture research fellow, Neşe Devenot, PhD; and managing editor and harm reduction advocate, David Nickles. This far-reaching discussion about the history and future of psychedelics touches upon numerous aspects of this burgeoning industry.
Show Notes
Church of Psilomethoxin, Part 1: Sacramental Skepticism. Is the Church in Denial?
Right-Wing Psychedelia: Case Studies in Cultural Plasticity and Political Pluripotency
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We’ve spent the last three-and-a-half years criticizing a range of wellness ideas, charismatic charlatans, abusive self-styled gurus, and conspiracy theories. We’ve also discussed our own beliefs and highlighted many people and ideas that we believe are getting it right.
Derek has never really explored what motivates him on a physical and mental level despite having spent many years doing so inside of gyms and studios. This is no motivational speech, but rather an exploration of a motivational mindset, weighed against how some popular influencers position the concept. Derek uses his recent experience summiting Mt St Helens to frame the conversation.
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In light of the recent allegations, Matthew offers a backgrounder on what we’ve learned about Brand through conspirituality and cultic studies and from his opportunistic relationships to wellness, self-help, and Kundalini Yoga. Ending with a focus on how his yoga world LARPing became a launch pad for his success as a spirituality-coded conspiracy theorist in the age of COVID.
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Show Notes
Conspirituality 97: Brand Awareness
Russell Brand accused of rape, sexual assaults and abuse
Russell Brand - In Plain Sight (Dispatches) [couchtripper] - video Dailymotion
BBC and police begin inquiries as Russell Brand faces more claims
Russell Brand: BBC resists calls to release complaints filed against presenter
Russell Brand's Charismatic Bullshit - by Derek Beres
Conspirituality 36: Guru Jagat's Pandemic Brandwash
Conspirituality 37: Guru Jagat Cultjacks Kundalini Yoga
Conspirituality 64: Remembering Guru Jagat
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Who could be a better guide through the fever dream of modern anti-semitism—the socialism of fools—than a scrappy young scion of the House of Rothschild? How has Mike, this mysterious insider—visible on CNN but a seeming ghost in real life—used his inheritance and connections to score book deals with the Fake News Media? Will he redeem his family name?
Just joking! Author and friend of the pod Mike Rothschild is no relation to the banking family that has lived rent-free in the minds of antisemites and conspiracy theorists for over two centuries now. He is the author of 2021’s The Storm Is Upon Us: How QAnon Became a Movement, Cult, and Conspiracy Theory of Everything. His new book out less that two years later, is Jewish Space Lasers: The Rothschilds and 200 Years of Conspiracy Theories. Mike joins us now from his summer palace in the South of France, um, actually his home office in Los Angeles to discuss the very stupid but dangerous groundswell of Jew hatred now filling our feeds.
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Show Notes
Jewish Space Lasers: The Rothschilds and 200 Years of Conspiracy Theories
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When we deconstruct harmful ideas and beliefs—from antivax positions to reactionary social views—we will inevitably be seen or felt as attacking the relationships that people form through those views. That’s a big problem in a lonely world, and there will be blowback. What to do?
Matthew steps off the debunkery hamster wheel, and remembers an old piece of yoga advice.
Show Notes
The Religious Case Against Belief by James P. Carse
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Burning Man 2023 will forever be burned in memory with two images: a group of climate activists blocking the single road into Black Rock City and the sea of mud that a climate change-induced hurricane turned the playa into. The jigsaw puzzle is pretty complete. Will Burners see it?
Tommy Diacono is a five-time Burner. He also helped organize the protest. He joins two-time Burner Derek for a discussion about why his crew blocked the roads, the importance of rituals, and the importance of knowing when rituals need to end.
Show Notes
FULL VIDEO: Climate Protesters Shut Down BURNING MAN, Rangers Ram Through Blockade
Burn it all down — Derek Beres
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Naomi Klein’s Doppelganger: A Trip into the Mirror World is a polymathic work that serves up new political heuristics with the firepower we’ve come to expect from the coiner of “disaster capitalism.” A Dante-spiral through our circles of cultural hell, it’s also a memoir of demoralization, self-evaluation, and persistent hope.
If this sounds overly ambitious or grandiose—that’s a fair suspicion in this age of galaxy-brained pundits who want to write *that book about everything.* In less humble, less feminist hands, a project like this could feel like a vanity vehicle for an author’s unbearably brilliant mind.
But that doesn’t happen here, because Klein’s intersectional discipline—which despite many flights of fancy, she never abandons—serves the values of economic, racial, and climate justice, and she does it by always citing her sources and elevating the voices of the marginalized.
Derek, Julian, and Matthew discuss briefly before Klein joins Matthew to discuss her way into and out of this bizarre and demoralizing land.
Show Notes
Doppelganger — Naomi Klein
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The Forrest Gump dandy of right-wing dirty tricks is in the news again. Strategizing from the Willard Hotel as January 6 unfolded; protected by a coterie of now convicted Oathkeepers; captured on video dictating Trump’s fake electors scheme for an email. These are just a few of the things Roger Stone has done.
Stone may be the swampiest of Deep State operatives our politics has seen. Julian gives a colorful breakdown of this longtime Trump ally who's been involved in every anti-democratic scheme, from Watergate to Bush’s 2000 steal to 2016’s Russian interference—raking in millions from the “torturer’s lobby” along the way. Stone has always slithered away from accountability, but maybe this time he’ll pay the price.
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Doppelganger: A Trip into the Mirror World is an exuberant, polymathic effort, in which Klein develops several new political heuristics that pack the punch we’ve come to expect from the originator of “disaster capitalism.” Reading it is like getting walloped by a novel political theory virus— or a potent vaccine for the times. It’s also a Dante-esque spiral down through our endless circles of historical and cultural hell.
Klein’s core subject is the “Mirror World” we now battle in: a place where our digital avatars occlude our bodies, where morbid fantasies blot out fact-checked histories, where the fool’s gold of influencers outshines the daily work of researchers. It’s a place where antimaskers steal the “I can’t breathe” cry of George Floyd, and antivax influencers pretend they are being led to the gas chambers. It’s a place where selfish demagogues appropriate and mimic the poetry of social justice, but only for a select few. It’s where MAGA movement architect Steve Bannon LARPs as a therapist for the common man.
Doppelganger has landed like a Rosetta Stone for divining the incoherent politics of the figures we’ve covered all these years—and the cultural and moral vacuums they fill. But most surprisingly—and we think our listenership will be grateful for this—this rich memoir of demoralization and self-evaluation also offers a deep undercurrent of persistent hope.
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Show Notes
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Do you ever feel like American society is caught in limbo? The bardo-realm between two election cycles. The dial-up static between invasive social media and quarantine isolation. Stacking sandbags against the deluge of conspiracies and disinformation as we await the slow-motion countermeasures of science and the justice system.
The disruptions of Trump, COVID, QAnon, conspirituality, and January 6 all still frame our everyday lives, even as we attempt a return to a normalcy that was always tenuous at best. Whatever happens over the next few months, the oven of 2024 looks preheated for chaos—yet, one by one, the treasonous conspiracy-mongering liars who peaked in 2020 are being forced to deal with cold legal consequences.
Our guest today is award-winning journalist and author David Neiwert, whose book The Age of Insurrection explains how we got here—and points a way forward.
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Claiming your First Amendment rights are being violated is a sure way to have the spotlight shone on you. It's also an effective way to shut down criticism of whatever you're selling. From the 1940s-60s, supplements manufacturers used the free speech gambit to keep regulators away from their products, resulting in a 1969 Supreme Court case. Derek looks at the 20th century evolution of medical regulations, and how companies are still using a similar argument to dissuade consumers from looking too deeply into what's inside the bottle.
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Show Notes
Dietary Supplements: A Framework for Evaluating Safety
Some Implications of the Kordel Decision
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One piece of connective tissue between the right and wellness influencers we cover is their liberal use of the language of Civl Rights to describe their completely incomparable grievances. Derek covers a few recent examples, centered around one particularly troublesome analogy by a tech-bro entrepreneur using slavery as an analogy for his hustle.
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Several months ago, we received an email from Esme Providence Brown (a pseudonym, and we’ll discuss why she’s using it off the top of the interview). Esme asked if we would like to discuss the strange and taboo overlaps between yoga, wellness, neo-tantra, and sex work. I wrote back immediately to say yes.
Esme has worked as a professional dominatrix and kink provider for the past twenty years. In 2012, she began teaching yoga and investigating the intersection of sex work and spirituality through her practice and writing. She lives and works in NYC, and is now doing academic work in textiles. Matthew spoke to her while she was on a research trip to Indonesia.
We think you’ll all learn a ton from this conversation about transparent vs. non-transparent labour practices, performative intimacy, the gendered inequalities of wellness work, and how Neo-Tantrics who use handguns in their foreplay made their presence known at the January 6th insurrection.
In honor of Labor Day: Workers of the world unite.
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Show Notes
Former sex workers, now academics and published authors:
Sex Worker Decriminalization Resources:
The Oldest Profession (Podcast & Organization)
Amnesty International Statement on Sex Work
US Department of Health & Human Services Report on Human Trafficking
Sex Workers Want Rights Not Rescue
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They fell into a rabbit hole.
Matthew examines the blindspots thrown up by this common and unexamined phrase:
— The assumption that we all know what the rabbit hole is.
— The assumption that right up to the edge of the rabbit hole, the world makes sense.
— The assumption that everyone who avoided falling (or being pushed) in is simply more rational, balanced, and normal.
All of these assumptions can obscure the insanities of the dominant culture.
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The anti-vaxxers have a new Bible: an anonymously published (and RFK Jr.-connected) 500+ page tome, Turtles All the Way Down. Julian talks with pediatrician and pediatric cardiologist, Dr. Frank Han of ScienceBasedMedicine.org, who is in the midst of a 10-part “grand debunk” of this 2022 compendium of pseudoscience scare-mongering.
Show Notes
Frank Han’s Grand Debunk
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Charismatic influence thrives in online spaces, regardless of spiritual overtones. Matt Browne and Chris Kavanagh of Decoding the Gurus have traced a path parallel to our own; examining the popular figures they call "secular gurus."
They join us for a lively panel discussion on the overlaps and differences regarding conspiritualists, as well as their patented "Gurometer'' method of decoding and ranking contrarian influencers.
As scholars of psychology, anthropology, and religion, we also asked them to finally resolve the enduring argument between Matthew and Julian about the power of sacred beliefs to shape political worldviews and motivate actions in the world.
8/21: Cancel your unwanted subscriptions and manage your money the easy way by going to rocketmoney.com/conspirtuality
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Trump promised to “drain the swamp.” But his campaign attracted a carnival of corrupt influence peddlers and conspiracy mongerers. He pretended to be in a holy war against the “deep state” but his administration was defined by cronyism and long-time amoral operatives who groomed him to enable their own enrichment.
Now he’s finally, hopefully, being held to account—but who were those swamp creatures who slithered around his ankles and whispered in his ears? In this new Bonus series, Julian tells the intersecting stories behind the news of the 7 years that culminate in Trump’s latest slew of criminal indictments.
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Deep Cut pulls from our bonus episode archive to unearth previous ideas that remain relevant today.
News from Alabama: after a 23-year ban on yoga in schools, generated by a Republican moral panic, Governor Kay Ivey signs a bill that lets kids do yoga again, but with some restrictions:
"All instruction in yoga shall be limited exclusively to poses, exercises, and stretching techniques. All poses shall be limited exclusively to sitting, standing, reclining, twisting, and balancing. All poses, exercises, and stretching techniques shall have exclusively English descriptive names. Chanting, mantras, mudras, use of mandalas, induction of hypnotic states, guided imagery, and namaste greetings shall be expressly prohibited."
Those who promote yoga as universal goodwill welcome this Indian art form being made more accessible for children in a State with terrible educational markers. Hindu nationalists, on the other hand, might be outraged at a secularized version of yoga, stripped not only of references to Hinduism but of signs of any type of Indian spirituality. And a lot of white yoga progressives will look at this policy—mostly from the urban North— and worry about authenticity and appropriation.
How will the children feel?
In considering who wins and loses with this new development, Matthew reviews recent U.S. yoga-war history: battles between the Hindu American Foundation and Yoga Journal, the rise of Christian non-yoga-yoga "Praise Moves", and Encinitas Union School District got sued for allegedly violating the Establishment Clause by contracting devotees of Pattabhi Jois to teach the kids yoga.
It's not a stretch to see an overlap between this theme and the medical-moral panic over vaccines. In both cases, the focus is on the imagined corruption of children, whether by poison, politics, or inner quiet.
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Deep Cut Intro Music
Single Origins — Pete Kuzma
Show Notes
Alabama lifts three-decade-old ban on yoga in public schools—with a catch.
New study ranks Alabama as 43rd for student achievement, grade of D+
12 Reasons Why Yoga is NOT Good for Christians
Hindu Group Stirs Debate in Fight for Soul of Yoga
Hindu American Foundation: Hindu Roots of Yoga
Shukla's letter: Is Hindu a bad word?
Explained: The Hindu American Foundation’s defamation case against Hindus for Human Rights founders
Audrey Truschke's tweet
Detroit's Satanic Statue Has A Political Point to Make
Encinitas school yoga lawsuit stretches on
Yoga-for-Trophy-Wives Fitness Fad That’s Alienating Discipline Devotees
Next Article Yoga's Culture of Sexual Abuse: Nine Women Tell Their Stories
Candy Gunther Brown amicus brief for the plaintiffs, against the yoga programme
Mark Singleton amicus brief for the defendants, for the yoga programme
Chris Chapple amicus brief for the defendants, for the yoga programme
Yoga Alliance amicus brief for the defendants, for the yoga programme
Sedlock v. Baird - Brown’s summary
SEDLOCK v. Yes! Yoga for Encinitas Students, Intervener and Respondent
Yes! Yoga for Encinitas Students filing
The World's Most Influential Yoga Teacher is a Homophobic Right-Wing Activist
Translation of the Dattātreyayogaśāstra, the earliest text to teach haṭhayoga
Barkataki: How to Decolonize Your Yoga Practice
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Dr. Bradley Onishi, is the author of Preparing for War: The Extremist History of White Christian Nationalism - And What Comes Next. He is the co-host of the excellent Straight White American Jesus podcast. His work has appeared in the New York Times, NBC News, Politico, Rolling Stone, Huffpost, and many other outlets.
Bradley got personally drawn into evangelical Christianity as a teenager—and from a secular family—and had the strange experience of burying his part-Japanese heritage in a white coded, Christian Nationalist identity. It took him years of scholarship to see how this political ideology had been baked into the religious indoctrination. Now he’s a religious studies scholar, doing work in the world from that perspective. And his struggles with all of this stuff have brought his empathy and his humility up to the surface in really profound ways.
Bradley has a lot of family history in Maui, and on his behalf and for people there who have just survived a catastrophic fire and now must bury their dead and rebuild, we would like to encourage you to consider donating to the Maui Mutual Aid Fund.
Show Notes
Preparing for War: The Extremist History of White Christian Nationalism--and What Comes Next
Go to HelloFresh.com/50conspirituality and use code 50conspirituality for 50% off plus free shipping.
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Are you ready to live your best life ever? Because if you’re not always on volume 10, eating the purest foods and shouting your truth at every turn, you’re certainly doing life wrong.
Derek looks at the ever-growing anxiety marketed as optimal health in wellness spaces, wondering when will enough be…enough?
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Following up on our review and coverage of Satan Wants You, Matthew talks with Canadian filmmakers Sean Horlor and Steve Adams about how they excavated the origin story of the Satanic Panic movement.
Show Notes
151: Satan Wants You Watch Party (Spoilers)
Conspirituality: UNLOCKED: Swan Song Series 4 | Michelle Remembers: Context & History
Conspirituality: UNLOCKED: Swan Song Series 5 | Michelle Remembers: Themes & Framing
Conspirituality - UNLOCKED: Michelle Remembers: Literal Symbols
Conspirituality - UNLOCKED: The Courage to Heal Pt. 1
Conspirituality - UNLOCKED: The Courage to Heal Pt. 2
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In 2017, 4chan user "Q" started LARPing as a Deep State insider with predictions about Hillary Clinton and the pedophile cabal. 10 months later, the online antifascist world assembled its emergency podcast response team: three dubiously-credentialed shitposters( two using pseudonyms themselves) dedicated to covering “the best conspiracy theories of the post-truth era. Exploring online fever swamps and tripping over deranged historical facts that make conspiracy theories sound sane.”
The digital soldiers of QAnonAnonymous Podcast subjected themselves to the most cursed content the internet has to offer. But the real world they traveled through was just as smelly. They went to live QAnon protests, parades, and conferences. They conducted the first interviews with the QAnon Shaman. They attended ball-slapping workshops to raise their testosterone for the Great Awakening. They caught COVID many, many times, all for the cause. And now, as their reward, they get to see their favorite redpilled celebrity, and Mel Gibson's favorite Jesus, Jim Caviezel, star in the fake-u-mentary, "Sound of Freedom."
It’s been a long road to Hollywood for our guests Travis View and Jake Rockatansky, but this is their red-carpet moment where we get to ask them: How did they like working on this show?
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Notes from Matthew in response to a great question from a listener:
How do you keep from hating these people? The blasé unimaginative crackpots like Aubrey Marcus, the gaslighting meanderings of RFK Jr., the hordes of ignorant, ignorant, ignorant (trying to keep from saying st*pid) jackasses that follow in their wake, so desperately certain of their completely subjective fever dreams?
It’s not easy, but there are some ways of avoiding hatred and disgust, and it’s important to lean into them.
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Seven ex-staffers who worked on Marianne Williamson’s campaign have written an open letter describing her campaign as an “exercise in deception.”
Matthew analyzes the open letter, and contextualizes its allegations within Williamson’s worldview and history.
Show Notes
EXCLUSIVE: Seven Ex-Marianne Williamson Staffers Say Stop Supporting Her
148: Marianne Williamson and Asshole Jesus — Conspirituality
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GT Dave's kombucha origin story is the stuff of legend—at least how he frames it. But when the LA Times broke the story of a judge awarding workers nearly half a million dollars in back and overtime pay, citing GT's abuse of employees and contradictory evidence, a different story unfolds.
Derek looks at this kombucha company's origins, unrealistic health claims, and the many troubles its endured over the decades, and how GT's response aligns with the conspiritualist playbook.
L.A.’s kombucha empire exploited workers for years
What Science Says About the Potential Health Benefits of Kombucha
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Tobias Rose-Stockwell is a media researcher, writer, designer, and author of the new book, Outrage Machine: How Tech Amplifies Discontent, Disrupts Democracy—And What We Can Do About It. The book deals with tough questions about who we are as individuals and a society, reminding us that we all help shape our surroundings by what we pay attention to, how we understand and process the information we ingest, and perhaps most importantly, what we do with it.
Tobias joins Derek for an in-depth conversation about the history of news and the future of media literacy.
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Altered states exist on a spectrum, from enhancing human flourishing to perpetuating dangerous delusions. Daniel Pinchbeck’s recent comments on our book inspire Julian’s journey into psychedelics, the 2012 prophecy, the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire, and the brain typologies that underlie visionary religious experience. Tune in for practical advice and guidelines about drugs, awareness practice, cults, and staying sane.
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Deep Cut pulls from our bonus episode archive to unearth previous ideas that remain relevant today.
Survivor shame over what has been lost, and how one has been complicit.
Apologist shame: turned inside out and externalized as aggression.
Popular shaming, which tries to deflect attention from how close to home cultic dynamics really are.
In the cult landscape, shame is a common denominator. In this contemplation, Matthew unpacks various aspects, with help from the writing of cult theorists and recovery counselors Alexandra Stein, Daniel Shaw, and Holocaust survivor Primo Levi.
Deep Cut Intro Music
Single Origins — Pete Kuzma
Show Notes
Primo Levi: The Drowned and the Saved
The Relational System of the Traumatizing Narcissist — Shaw
Rachel Bernstein's “One More Thing” at the end of Betrayal and Power w/ Nitai Joseph, former Hare Krishna — S4E5.
All of Rachel Bernstein’s IndoctriNation podcast.
What’s Behind the Blowback You’ll Get When You Engage Cult Members
"Deception, Dependence, Dread of Leaving" — Langone
Selected Bibliography:
Ainsworth, Mary D. Salter. Patterns of Attachment: a Psychological Study of the Strange Situation. Routledge, 2015.
Arendt, Hannah. The Origins of Totalitarianism. Penguin Classics, 2017.
Freyd, Jennifer J. Betrayal Trauma: the Logic of Forgetting Childhood Abuse. Harvard University Press, 1998.
Freyd, Jennifer J., and Pamela Birrell. Blind to Betrayal: Why We Fool Ourselves We Arent Being Fooled. Wiley, 2013.
Hassan, Steven. Combating Cult Mind Control: the #1 Best-Selling Guide to Protection, Rescue, and Recovery from Destructive Cults. Freedom of Mind Press, 2016.
Kramer, Joel, and Diana Alstad. The Guru Papers: Masks of Authoritarian Power. North Atlantic Books/Frog, 1993.
Lalich, Janja, and Madeleine Landau. Tobias. Take Back Your Life: Recovering from Cults and Abusive Relationships. Bay Tree Pub., 2006.
Lalich, Janja. Escaping Utopia: Growing up in a Cult, Getting out, and Starting Over. Routledge, 2018.
Langone, Michael D. Recovery from Cults: Help for Victims of Psychological and Spiritual Abuse. W.W. Norton, 1995.
Lifton, Robert Jay. Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism: a Study of “Brainwashing” in China.W.W. Norton, 1961.
Miller, Alice, et al. For Your Own Good: Hidden Cruelty in Child-Rearing and the Roots of Violence. Farrar, Straus, Giroux, 2002.
Oakes, Len. Prophetic Charisma: the Psychology of Revolutionary Religious Personalities. Syracuse University Press, 1997.
Shaw, Daniel. Traumatic Narcissism: Relational Systems of Subjugation. Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, 2014.
Stein, Alexandra. Terror, Love and Brainwashing: Attachment in Cults and Totalitarian Systems. Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, 2017.
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We’ve been tracking Bobby’s misinformation, contradictions, and cursed networks for three years. And now he’s having his moment, and it’s anyone’s guess how far he’ll run. But why is he so appealing on the presidential stage? Why is he polling at 20%, with his favorability in double digits against Biden?
It’s not just that his endless rhetoric appeals to libertarians on the right and paranoiacs on the left. It’s that he casts a charismatic spell that echoes, exacerbates, and amplifies some of the deepest conflicts in the American psyche—between tradition and rebellion, nostalgia and grievance, idealism and paranoia.
Bobby, you see, is never quite who he seems to be. In one moment he’s the prodigal prince of Camelot, seen through a sepia lens. In the next he’s a tortured and braying conspiracy theorist, lit by the blue light of countless screens.
Show Notes
RFK Jr. says COVID may have been 'ethnically targeted' to spare Jews
A Kennedy and His Mentor Part Ways Over River Group - The New York Times
Robert F Kennedy Jr says he has ‘conversations with dead people’ | Democrats | The Guardian
Beware: we ignore Robert F Kennedy Jr’s candidacy at our peril | Naomi Klein | The Guardian
Most People Believe In JFK Conspiracy Theories | FiveThirtyEight
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Derek unpacks what’s really going on in conspiritualist messages about the "climate change narrative" and how they use an assault of varying degrees of credible information to conflate issues, some of which they then monetize.
Then, he looks at how messages go horribly astray when the full context is missing—something quite common in social media, and which upcoming main episode guest, Tobias Rose-Stockwell, calls “context creep.”
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A granular—let’s say quantum-sized—look at how RFK Jr.’s wealthiest and most influential New Age supporters are thinking about his candidacy. Aubrey Marcus and Charles Eisenstein disclosed it all on a two-hour podcast released on June 21, providing a nearly-perfect encapsulation of every theme of our beat. Their performance shows how dedicated conspiritualists keep the faith as they graduate out of the group-encounter retreat economy and into the mainstream political arena.
Show Notes
The Future Of The World Depends On Us w/ Charles Eisenstein
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Neuroscientist Andrew Huberman has become one of the most popular science podcasters in the world. His regular two- to four-hour episodes feature a dizzying assault of information on topics like physical and mental fitness, psychedelics, hair loss, brain optimization, and a host of other topics, sometimes with expert guests, while at other times he goes solo. And many of these episodes are super informative and inspirational.
And yet, at times it seems like Huberman is sacrificing quality for quantity. This week, we look at three instances in which Andrew Huberman appears to be speaking outside of his lane, or perhaps overhyping supplements for his own benefit, and we want to know what else is being sacrificed along the way. McGill Office for Science and Society science communicator, Jonathan Jarry, joins the discussion.
Andrew Huberman Has Supplements on the Brain
How Podcaster Andrew Huberman Got America to Care About Science
The Real-Life Diet of Andrew Huberman, Who Switches to Red Party Lights After Dark
NEUROSCIENTIST: This Habit Makes You UGLY | Andrew Huberman
Paul Ingraham critique of Huberman
“Evidence-Based Medicine” vs Science-Based Medicine
New York Times review of Tim Ferris’s book 4-Hour Body
Michelle Wong’s query about sunscreen crossing blood-brain barrier
Neuroscientist Asaf Weisman’s opinion on Huberman
Sports Scientist Matt Stranberg opinion on Huberman
“Health Nerd” Gideon Meyer-Katz on misrepresented “cold-plunge” paper
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Bobby provokes a “disorganized attachment” response in would-be followers.This is the emotional vortex that begins to churn when a charismatic leader draws followers into a vision of the world as irrevocably broken, poisoned, dangerous, full of lies and betrayal. But he doesn’t just scare them. Somehow, he also promises an island of salvation in their sea of doom. This is Bobby’s pattern.
It’s clear that his misinformation on everything from supposed vaccine danger to the supposed totalitarianism of COVID mitigations is not a description of the world so much as a ghoulish parody of it. As the creator of that vision, in which solutions seem so out of reach, he stands alone as the wizard who can repair it.
Show Notes
Joe Rogan's worst misinformation yet, with RFK Jr.—Dr. Dan Wilson
bad_stats Rogan debunk Twitter thread
How Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., Distorted Vaccine Science - Scientific American (coverage of the 2005 article)
Just Another RFK Jr. Lie. I Know, Because It’s About Me. | The Nation—Joan Walsh
My Conversation with Robert F. Kennedy Jr. - by Paul Offit
Robert Kennedy Jr. Full, Controversial Speech at "Defeat the Mandates"
Stein, A. 2017. Terror, Love and Brainwashing: Attachment in Cults and Totalitarian Systems. Routledge. 2017.
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Nazis loved yoga. Rudolf Steiner set the stage for COVID denialism. Modern social justice warriors have a fondness for Hindu nationalism. Antivax activists are stuck in 19th century Gothic novels. Yoga, as the religion of neoliberalism, has actively depoliticized large swaths of the white middle class, making yoga moms vulnerable to fascism. Who’s responsible for these outrages? Conspiritualists? Who are they and what’s their evil plan?
No, our book is not a conspiracy theory. There’s no one piloting this plane. And yet, the patterns we’ve tracked on this podcast and in our book at times suggest something organized and coherent. Do we take this too far? At point does the intricacy of our research mimic the paranoia of what we’re researching? This week, we take a look.
Our Recent Op-Eds:
New age wellness takes a reactionary turn (The Boston Globe)
The Conspirituality of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (Time)
Opinion: Danielle Smith’s alternative health proclamations are key to her populist messaging (The Globe and Mail)
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What do we mean when we say that we believe something? When the QAnon Shaman got dressed on the morning of January 6, he put on his red, white, and blue face paint, his postmodern quasi-Native American horned fur hat, and grabbed the spear to which he had attached an American flag. In performance mode, this cosplay persona had already garnered him a taste of the attention that would soon increase exponentially as he became the most recognizable figure of the Capitol Riot.
In today’s Bonus, Julian argues that his costume, as well as his ritual actions on that day were also an expression of a political worldview, run through with deeply held spiritual beliefs about the world and his role in it. The history of political religion, propagandistic conspiracies, and progressive spiritual convictions may show that—far from being trivial—belief is at the heart of the American, and perhaps the human, story.
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On June 26, presidential candidate Robert F Kennedy, Jr hosted a "health policy roundtable" on Rumble. His guests included Joe Mercola, Sherri Tenpenny, Mikki Willis, and a host of other anti-vax luminaries. Very little policy was discussed, though RFK put forward plenty of ideas about executive orders, including blackballing scientists and researchers behind FDA-approved drugs and censoring scientific journals. Derek breaks down some of the more egregious moments.
Show Notes
Health Policy Roundtable on Rumble
Joe Rogan's worst misinformation yet, with RFK Jr.
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Matthew narrates the first three sections of the audiobook, Conspirituality: How New Age Conspiracy Theories Became a Health Threat.
More information on our book here.
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Derek discusses the new Conspirituality book with filmmaker and podcaster Mike Hull at Powell's Books on June 26, 2023.
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Friend of the pod and historian of American fitness culture, Natalia Petrzela, joins Matthew to shed light on a new development in RFK Jr’s campaign to disrupt the Democratic Party: his recent workout campaign videos from the barbell patio of Gold’s Gym in Venice beach.
Topics include the iconic status of Gold’s, why Bobby Muscles is in Wranglers rather than lycra, how he’s both drawing on and distorting the Kennedy fitness legacy, body mastery as the ultimate American frontier, political pissing contests, the ableist “sweatwashing” of complex health policy problems, the body-shaming of soft, flabby, unpatriotic liberals, and how the whole scene—pumped by biohackers and tech bros—has some alarming political echoes.
Show Notes
Fit Nation: The Gains and Pains of America’s Exercise Obsession
Matthew’s Twitter thread on Bobby Muscles echoing body fascism.
"Go, you chicken fat, go!" — Meredith Wilson
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Chaos in Russia! Wagner’s pagan neo-Nazis. Is conspirituality unique to a failing American empire in the internet age? Does it require Californian New Age spirituality, with conspiracy theories that weave around alternative medicine, for-profit pharma with no social safety net, and the reactionary politics of White Christian Nationalism?
This week, Julian explores a different version of Conspirituality. This form translates QAnon for a European audience and calls for a return to the golden age of the Russian empire, but also to an ancient pre-Christian Slavic identity united across borders in pagan faith.
Show Notes
The Everyday Religious Life in Wagner PMC, via Observatoire
Candance Rondeaux on Wagner, Pan-Slavism, al-Qaeda
Jan Zabka’s piece on QAnon in Czech/Slovakia, Prophets of Freedom and Doom
Sofia Cherici’s piece on QAnon’s cross-cultural evolution, Translating QAnon
Marlene Laurelle on the Rodnoverie Movement
Fake News sites centered in Veles, Macedonia had Russian and American ties
A Photographer and an Artist Walk into a Fake News Factory from Coda Story
Original Book of Veles forgery
Main interstitial music: Bus Ride to Gulu — Pete Kuzma
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Today in our Listeners’ Stories installment, Lynn Short joins her partner Justin to discuss how they met, grew up in, and grew out of a branch of “Gnosis,” a theosophical cult founded in the 1950s by Samael Aun Weor in Columbia.
Weor was a classic old-school spiritual pervert, with 60-plus (likely ghostwritten) books to his name, and a passion for meddling in his followers’ sex lives.
Lynn and Justin describe what it was like to wake up to each other again—and to normal lives—after 17 years of practicing non-orgasmic sex and missionary work. A unique and hopeful look into a relationship that survived coercive influence—a bond that didn’t become a trauma bond.
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“It’s much more interesting to live not knowing than to have answers which might be wrong," wrote Richard Feynman. But does curiosity end where awareness cuts off? Derek explores the positive and negative sides of the spiritual search, especially in light of the burgeoning eco-spiritual movement.
I’m “spiritual but not religious.” Here’s what that means for a physicist
How to hold onto a sense of wonder
‘Big Earth energy’: A new era of nature spirituality is here
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To celebrate book launch month, we started a little “takeaway” series two weeks ago. First, Derek led us through “Science and Sensibility,” in which he shared some really good practices for science literacy, along with examples of how conspirituality maximizes social stress and struggling medical systems to exploit wellness consumers.
Last week, Julian addressed the aching questions asked by those in love with the positive gifts of contemplative practice, but who now see the cognitive fallacies and naive psychology at play in many spiritual communities.
This week, Matthew sets pseudoscience and spiritual bypassing into the social context of cultic relationships, reviewing some of the tortured dynamics we monitored during COVID, laying out a few cult-resistant hygiene rules, some pointers on avoiding stigmatization, and asking tough questions about where the whole cult discourse thing is going in this parasocial era.
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The exiled cult leader, the MAGA mastermind, the Chinese con-artist billionaire, and the CCP. Insatiable dragons, all. Each claims to be at war with evil, as their fiery propaganda melts the minds of far-right media consumers. Julian connects the dots on these overlapping stories of life in the “Dharma-ending times.”
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We've spent three years tracking the slide from online wellness influencer to red-pilled conspiracy promoter, from yoga and breath work teacher to anti-vax ivermectin slinger, from vegan raw chocolate aficionado to anti-immigrant, transphobic, election denial. Turns out, the roots of this phenomenon run deep.
Along the way we've gotten a lot of praise, plenty of pushback, and a slew of sincere and heartbroken questions about what may be left for those in love with the positive gifts of contemplative practice and community, who now see the pitfalls we've pointed out. We speak to these today.
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From Ron DeSantis's anti-woke presidential campaign to Bari Weiss's FAIR war on woke, the concept of "wokeness" has become an ideal devil in right-wing and right-leaning politics—even if (or especially because) no one can really define it. But as Derek discusses, a recent deep dive into FAIR shows, anti-woke crusaders are suffering from internal conflicts and coming up with troubling non-solutions, while monetizing their platforms along the way.
Show Notes
Is it possible to be both moderate and anti-woke?
Daily Wire host defends book bans
Journalist or Heretic? | Bari Weiss | EP 175
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How can we protect ourselves and our children from online hate and misinformation? Julian interviews Imran Ahmed about the latest work the Center for Countering Digital Hate has done on TikTok, Twitter, and Facebook ads for state-sponsored antisemitic propaganda from Iran.
Show Notes
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How did “following the science” get so confusing during the pandemic? As the publication of our book draws closer, Derek shares his best practices for science literacy, and examples of where grifters and conspiracists maximized confusion to exploit wellness consumers.
This is the first in a three-part series on what we’ve learned though writing our book and working on the podcast. Each episode is piloted by one host with commentary by the other two.
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After reviewing how Mother Marianne and Bobby Kennedy Jr are set to disrupt the race in Part 1, we turn now to Mr. “Coronavirus is a Coronation for all,” Charles Eisenstein, has just disclosed that he’s working on Bobby’s campaign as Director of Messaging. Holy shit.
It’s like our book is so accurate that Steve Bannon fed a digital ARC into a LLM to spit out AIs of all the characters in it so he could play them like chess pieces across the 2024 electoral map.
Matthew and Julian take stock of this new stage: the routinization and institutionalization of conspirituality.
A Major Life Change - Charles Eisenstein
https://twitter.com/jack/status/1247343782279839744
Charles Eisenstein | Zika and the Mentality of Control
The More Beautiful World Our Hearts Know Is Possible w/Sayer Ji
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On Monday, May 29, Danielle Smith, the leader of the UCP of Alberta, seized the reigns of majority government power with the help of a right-wing antivax group called Take Back Alberta.
Jeremy Appel, founder of The Orchard, joins Matthew for a masterclass on how things got so bad in Alberta, and how conspirituality played a key role.
Show Notes
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Medical Medium, aka Anthony William, gained many of his 4.4M IG followers thanks to his declaration that celery juice can heal you from many ailments that science hasn’t figured out. William proudly displays his numerous celebrity endorsements and hundreds of anecdotal healing stories on his library-esque website. Yet when one reporter—Vanity Fair’s Dan Adler—had the audacity to report on one now-deceased confidante of William, the self-proclaimed medium went on the defense, releasing a four-part podcast series and posting on social media in a frenzy about how there’s a plot to “take down Medical Medium.”
Yes, William speaks of himself often in the third person, and wears his lack of any medical training whatsoever as a badge of honor. Today, we look at some of the most outrageous claims that he’s made and discuss the rhetorical techniques that have made him an alt-health celebrity. We’re also joined by Dan Adler to discuss his in-depth reporting on the man who claims angels give him medical advice decades ahead of modern science—and somehow gets away with it.
The Medical Medium and the True Believer
Medical Medium: Miracle Healer or Quack? (The Celery Juice Guy)
Why Is Everyone Drinking Celery Juice as if It Will Save Them From Dying?
The Truth About The Celery Juice Craze
Everyone Is Drinking Celery Juice — But Is It Healthy? We Dive Into The Science Behind The Trend
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Marianne Williamson—New Age matriarch and popularizer of A Course in Miracles—is polling at 9%. Muscular Catholic antivax entrepreneur Bobby Kennedy Jr is polling at 20% or more: Rasmussen has him in a dead heat with Biden.
And Mr. “Coronavirus is a Coronation for all,” Charles Eisenstein, has just disclosed that he’s working on Bobby’s campaign as Director of Messaging. Holy shit.
It’s like our book is so accurate that Steve Bannon fed a digital ARC into a LLM to spit out AIs of all the characters in it so he could play them like chess pieces across the 2024 electoral map.
Matthew and Julian take stock of this new stage: the routinization and institutionalization of conspirituality.
Show notes available on Patreon.
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Another Kennedy is running for President. But discussion of his anti-vaccine activism often overlooks how it affects people with autism. Julian talks to Eric Michael Garcia, political correspondent for The Independent, and author of We're Not Broken: Changing The Autism Conversation, about the human cost.
Show Notes
We’re Not Broken: Changing the Autism Conversation — Eric Garcia
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What "really" happened during the pandemic? Conspiracists have decided to take a victory lap. They were right, you see? The vaccines failed, and besides, they were super dangerous. COVID obviously came out of a lab. Masks were useless, and the lock-downs were completely unnecessary forms of totalitarian oppression. The authors of the Great Barrington Declaration, who were censored on social media, were right all along.
Not so fast.
Our guest today is Dr. Jonathan Howard, who not only did grueling service at Bellevue Hospital in NYC (as the first wave raged, and corpses were stacked in meat trucks) but has put in the time to create a comprehensive document of how contrarian doctors shaped cultural perceptions during the pandemic. He takes the title of his new book, We Want Them Infected, from a quote found in a series of emails from July 2020.
Trump-appointed science-advisor to the HHS, Paul Alexander, urged officials there and at the FDA, and the CDC, to pursue a herd immunity strategy for COVID-19. "There is no other way," he wrote. "We need to establish herd, and it only comes about when we allow non-high-risk groups to expose themselves to the virus. PERIOD. Infants, kids, teens, young people, middle-aged with no conditions have zero to little risk. So we use them to develop herd. We want them infected."
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In 1970, farmer, writer, and environmental activist Wendell Berry published his essay, "Think Little." In it, he writes about the dangers of not making your public causes private causes as well, depending too much on outside organizations to make decisions, and—this is key—of how autonomy should lead to the greater good and the recognition of interdependence.
Many of these messages resonate in the conspirituality world. Derek frames the essay before reading it in full.
Show Notes
The World-Ending Fire — Wendell Berry
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In the post-truth world, journalists who report facts are disparaged as perpetuating the narrative while candidates who hold the appropriate qualifications are smeared as deep state operatives. Likewise, a career spent studying terrorism, online conspiracy theories, and digital propaganda becomes "evidence" of opposing free speech and the American way.
Our guest today became the "main character" on Twitter in April, subject to information requests from Congress and labeled the "leader of the Censorship Industrial Complex" from her perch at the center of a conspiracy web in which Big Tech, government intelligence agencies, and woke university think tanks secretly silenced free speech online.
Her name is Renée DiResta, and Julian talks to her about her extensive study of online propaganda. She tells us about the unfolding digital information crisis, of which the Twitter Files is just be the most recent example.
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What the hell happened between the Dalai Lama and that Indian boy? The internet served up a raft of painfully inflammatory takes, so I took a month to talk with Tibetologists and review the literature on sexual abuse in Tibetan Buddhist contexts.
This is a deep, tangled dive. Content warnings apply.
Chapters:
Full Show Notes on Patreon
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We've seen it over and over again: somehow, in some way, globalists are involved. George Soros is pulling the strings. Jews will replace us, with other minorities, or fund the interests that are against "us."
Derek talks with The Banter founder, Ben Cohen, about the modern state of antisemitism. They also discuss Russell Brand's meteoric rise into right-wing celebrity, as well as Aubrey Marcus's uninformed takes on vaccines and politics.
Show Notes
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Did you know that it’s not the sun that causes cancer, but sunscreen? Or that sunscreen is actually a Big Pharma creation to keep you from receiving the sun’s magical healing properties? How about the fact that sunscreen molecules can be found in your brain 10 years after application? And don’t even get me started on the life-changing effects of exposing your asshole to direct sunshine.
Ok, I promise that’s the last time I’m going to mention asshole sunning during this episode. As for the rest of those equally-absurd claims, I’ll be talking to cosmetic chemist, Michelle Wong, aka Lab Muffin Beauty Science, to dispose of the gibberish and give me a serious 101 on sunscreen. Before that, I’ll be talking to disinformation analyst Sara Aniano about the connection between the anti-sunscreen movement and antisemitism—because yes, that’s a thing, too.
Show Notes
Sara Aniano on Twitter
Michelle Wong on Instagram | TikTok
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Florida governor Ron DeSantis appointed right-wing propagandist, Christopher Rufo, along with other conservative Christian education-activists, to the board of the tiny, progressive New College in Sarasota, FL this past January.
They fired the president, installed prayer at the board meetings, forbade personal pronouns in faculty email signatures, and claimed DeSantis’s electoral victory gave them a constitutional mandate to make whatever changes they want.
The invaders frame this hostile take-over as a test-case model to “recapture” universities across the state and the country.
But who is Rufo really? He’s the guy behind the manufactured moral panic over Critical Race Theory that set conservative media, school boards and city council meetings ablaze with fear-mongering over “woke Marxism” in 2021.
New College is the latest conquest in his explicit long-game to remake the fabric of America, one sadistic lie at a time.
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Marianne Williamson? Inexperienced? Not at all.
In fact, she does have a ton of experience… in New Age, on-stage pseudotherapy, where she solves the problems of the troubled with memorized lines from A Course in Miracles. She’s been doing these sessions at workshops and retreats for decades, and the schtick is always the same: if only the person would change their minds about their problem, the world would be healed.
While this may fly on the workshop circuit, if you listen carefully you’ll hear that she gives the same answer on the stump.
It comes through most clearly when she’s pressed on questions of strategy. She will instantly pivot to talking about the spirit and the soul. The effect is a disarming oscillation between the political and the personal. Are we talking about defeating fascists? No, no, that’s too worldly! We’re talking about opening our hearts. And if that feels good during a politically tense exchange, it’s because she changed the subject.
To see how this sleight-of-hand works, Matthew examines two classic Williamson encounters to show that the answers she gives on the stump aren’t much different from the answers she gives on her New Age retreats.
Show Notes
That Time Byron Katie Gaslit a Follower about Trump | by Matthew Remski
I'm Afraid of Trump—The Work of Byron Katie
Being Rejected for Your Spiritual Beliefs | Q&A With Marianne Williamson
Mindfulness can make you selfish: A pioneering new study examines the social effects of mindfulness
Marianne Williamson with TYT's John Iadarola & Francesca Fiorentini
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What does it mean for a prominent American politician to come into power as the sleeper cell of an eccentric Hindu-American cult? Does she act independently, or has her God-man got her on speed-dial? Can she bridge the divide between left and right with the radiant glow of Krishna consciousness?
Joining us today to help answer these questions is Nitai Joseph. He shares some heritage with Gabbard, because he also grew up in a Hare Krishna sect. He holds an MSc. in the Psychology of Coercive Control and has worked across a range of issues connected to ideology and manipulation, including cultic awareness, child sexual abuse prevention, adverse meditation experiences, and organizational ethics and accountability.
Show Notes
Gopala Govinda Rama Chant by Jagad Guru Siddhaswarupananda Paramahamsa Chris Butler
QAnon Anonymous Episode 211: Tulsi Gabbard P1 (The Cult) feat Mike Prysner
QAnon Anonymous Episode 212: Tulsi Gabbard P2 (The Fascist Turn) feat Mike Prysner
Tulsi Gabbard Had a Very Strange Childhood
What Does Tulsi Gabbard Believe? | The New Yorker
Chris Butler Siddhaswarupananda Paramahamsa: on “freedom”
An Insiders Perspective on Tulsi Gabbard and her Guru | by Lalita | Medium
Tulsi Gabbard 2016 Janmashtami Message
Definition of Betrayal Trauma Theory
Archived ex-Hare Krishna message board
Nitai can be reached via LinkedIn
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Apocalyptic language is everywhere: in the marketing copy of wellness influencers and pseudo-documentary makers selling spike protein detoxes and vaccine fear-mongering videos, and in the fervent anti-trans panic stoked by right-wing Substackers.
How we use language — and we use that how language to inspire actions — is everything.
Derek imagines a better use of language, and of understanding, through the lens modern secular Buddhism.
Show Notes
The World-Ending Fire — Wendell Berry
A Paradise Built in Hell — Rebecca Solnit
After Buddhism — Stephen Batchelor
Confessions of a Buddhist Atheist — Stephen Batchelor
Buddhism — Alan Watts
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How, in the name of the Holy Virgin Mary, did Michelle Remembers—the book that started the Satanic Panic—come to be written? Who was Lawrence Pazder really? Did he encourage and exaggerate Michelle Smith’s recovered memories of ritual abuse? Did Smith tell him what he wanted to hear? Or was it a little of both?
Canadian filmmakers Sean Horlor and Steve Adams have a new documentary out called “Satan Wants You,” and it fills in a lot of the blanks in our prior “Swan Song Series” reporting with incredible archival footage and brave interviews from friends and family members.
Today it opens at Toronto’s Hot Docs Festival, which means the reviews embargo is lifted… and our review is: “Incredible work. Must see.”
PS! If you haven't pre-ordered our fabulously interesting book, Barnes and Noble are running a 25% off pre-order promo. You can use "PREORDER25" as the discount code at checkout. Good from now till Friday!
Show Notes
Conspirituality: UNLOCKED: Swan Song Series 4 | Michelle Remembers: Context & History
Conspirituality: UNLOCKED: Swan Song Series 5 | Michelle Remembers: Themes & Framing
Conspirituality - UNLOCKED: Michelle Remembers: Literal Symbols
Conspirituality - UNLOCKED: The Courage to Heal Pt. 1 on Stitcher
Conspirituality - UNLOCKED: The Courage to Heal Pt. 2 on Stitcher
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FOX News says he wants to destroy America. Candace Owens is scared to speak his name out loud. Mikki Willis is making a film about his assault on the American family. Dr. Christiane Northrup claims he caused the pandemic. Trump called DA Alvin Bragg a "Soros-funded animal."
Who is this billionaire Jewish banker, a man so diabolical he can simultaneously be the greatest capitalist of all time and a communist chaos agent, so deceptive that he founded philanthropic organizations in 120 countries while supposedly being the "most evil man in the world?" And how does his financial influence in American politics actually stack up against the machinations of disciplined religious right-wing powerbrokers, supercharged by dark money?
The right’s obsession with Soros
Soros on right-wing conspiracies against him
GOP dark money
Democrat dark money
2022 biggest disclosed donor list
Barre Seid donates $1.6B
Harlan Crow and Justice Thomas
Sheldon Whitehouse on dark money and SCOTUS
Leonard Leo and SCOTUS
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Jennings Brown is becoming the Dr. Who of cult journalism. Every few years he pops up on a very different planet in the cultiverse, and tries to repair the timeline.
These days he’s deep into the story of a cult leader who seems to have no “presence” at all. Liana Shanti has managed to recruit about 180 women into her lucrative fever dream of Satanic Panic, recovered memories, starvation diets, and family destruction—all from behind a keyboard and a podcast microphone.
Who is Liana Shanti, and why isn’t she Liane Wilson any more?
Show Notes
Inside Liana Shanti’s Lemurian Mystery School — Jennings Brown
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Julian and Matthew go big-picture in this tour through all the elements that construct and drive spiritual Influencers.
At the center of the parasocial storm is charisma, which covers over the intellectual and moral bankruptcy of wellness content. Charisma is the only real currency in unregulated spaces. It’s compensatory, and very anxious.
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Our Listener Story this week comes from Dr. Jaigris Hodson, Associate Professor and Canada Research Chair for Digital Communication for the Public Interest at Royal Roads University in Victoria, British Columbia.
Dr. Hodson shares her pandemic journey with inflammatory breast cancer, and how, even as a misinformation researcher, she was vulnerable to the hope sold by alt-health grifters. After completing treatment, she turned her research attention to cancer misinformation, and is now innovating research methods for analyzing how emotion drives misinformation consumption and virality.
Show Notes
Jaigris Hodson | Royal Roads University
The Podcast: Digital Public Interest Collective
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Though not specifically a psychedelic — ketamine is a dissociative anesthetic — ketamine therapy is being touted as a depression treatment and, for some, a new form of spiritual healing. And indeed, some of the results are promising. But with Ketamine Wellness Centers and Field Trip Health both shutting down ketamine clinics across the country, leaving clients scrambling to find relief. Are these psychedelic entrepreneurs placing too much emphasis on scaling and shareholders and not enough on healing, even though their marketing efforts claim the opposite?
Derek looks into the sordid developments of ketamine therapy, including the botched trials that ultimately received FDA approval.
Ketamine infusion: The new therapy for depression, explained
New analysis claims the FDA rushed ketamine’s approval for depression treatment
Excessive drinking costs $249 billion. Can one dose of ketamine curb alcoholism?
‘I’m terrified’: Patients scramble for treatment after 13 ketamine clinics shut down
How ketamine-fueled dreams can promote a spiritual approach to mental health and therapy
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“I would pursue transcendence and live with its inevitable close cousins, disappointment and heartbreak, for most of my life.” So writes “Steven” (not his real name) in the first of our six spiritual heartbreak stories from our Patreon supporters.
“The spiritual by-passing of folks like Marianne Williamson and Eckhart Tolle kept me spinning in a cycle of abuse and unable to see clearly enough to end an abusive marriage with a Unitarian minister.” That’s from Katherine—story number three.
And in our final story, Lynn writes: “I will say even though I've been through a really awful trauma and still have to deal with that residue, I am now happier than I've ever been in my life. I enjoy just being a simple person now, without the ever exhausting pressure of having to perform my religion, to awaken my consciousness.”
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JP Sears is selling CBD. His new company, Awaken, recently sent out a marketing email extolling the benefits of CBD. Derek looks at the science behind the claims.
Show Notes
CBD is everywhere. But is it a scam?
Pioneering UAMS Study Warns of CBD Supplements’ Harm to Gut Health
The Impact of Cannabidiol on Human Brain Function: A Systematic Review
Cannabis, Cannabinoids, and Sleep: a Review of the Literature
Cannabidiol (CBD): What we know and what we don't
Antioxidative and Anti-Inflammatory Properties of Cannabidiol
Cannabidiol (CBD): a killer for inflammatory rheumatoid arthritis synovial fibroblasts
Immune Responses Regulated by Cannabidiol
Can CBD Benefit Your Immune System?
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Why do so many inflammatory culture war issues crystallize around vaccines and masks? What is so compelling about these forms of public health and mutual aid, that they become central to the right-wing imagination?
For some, straight-up libertarianism might be a sufficient answer: the knee-jerk allergy to being asked to do anything as a social player. And beneath that might lie conspiratorial notions of Fauci being a Red, Bill Gates monetizing polio, or George Soros controlling Congress.
Matthew argues that even those are surface stories, covering over a trembling anxiety about the status of the body in relation to the State, and God.
Show Notes
Rudolf Steiner on Traditional Childhood Illnesses and Vaccines
Biss, Eula. On Immunity: An Inoculation. Minneapolis: Graywolf, 2015
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Is Marianne Williamson’s promotion of A Course in Miracles any more relevant to her political persona than Biden’s Catholicism? If it demonstrably informs her every instinct and communication (as we expect it would given she sermonizes out of it every day), then yes, it is. If it leads her to suggest that meditation can help contain nuclear waste, divert hurricanes, heal the “scam” of clinical depression, or “boost the immune system” against COVID19, then yes, it is.
Is it sexist to highlight Williamson’s reported history of interpersonal abusiveness, when male politicians get away with far worse? There is definitely a double standard to resist. But when a candidate builds a political persona on being a love-and-light wayshower, it’s important to evaluate what that actually looks like ground-level. It’s also important to consider whether immature behavior might be a plausible outcome of following the Jesus of A Course in Miracles, who is a huge asshole.
Finally: if Williamson is the only candidate out there talking about reparations and M4A, is it reactionary to dismiss her on religious or behavioral grounds? Not if you’re actually interested in a functional progressive politics, free from magical thinking and charismatic bafflement.
Show Notes
Williamson’s COVID meditation, Facebook Live
Read: Pope Francis’ May prayer to Mary for the end of the pandemic | America Magazine
Marianne Williamson’s ‘abusive’ treatment of 2020 campaign staff, revealed - POLITICO
Marianne Williamson is a controversial AIDS-crisis figure for gay men.
MARIANNE'S FAITHFUL | Vanity Fair | June 1991
Project Angel Food Rocked by Feuds
The Power, the Glory, the Glitz - Los Angeles Times
Marianne Williamson Bows Out as Pastor - Beliefnet
Marianne Williamson responds to Politico article alleging abuse toward staff - BBC News
Here Are The Presidential Candidates Women Have Been Donating To
Marianne Williamson on Her Insurgent Campaign Against Joe Biden ❧ Current Affairs
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Why did Trump kick-off his 2024 presidential campaign in Waco, Texas? Who were the Branch Davidians, anyway?
Julian unpacks the incendiary streams of far-right anti-government militia history and religious apocalypticism that our former president is tapping into as he faces legal jeopardy. It all goes back almost 300 years to the original Great Awakening that QAnon and New Age channelers tried to remix in 2020.
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Listen… Can you hear it?
All across the propagandist right and the free speech center, there's a new rallying cry: it's time to fight the “censorship industrial complex!”
Researching and documenting digital disinformation—and coordinating to combat its malevolent agendas—is now all being described as a pseudo-academic scam, a hoax covering up an authoritarian liberal campaign of vile and secretive censorship. Now, as it turns out, this gnashing of teeth and shedding of tears at the cruel injustice of social media censorship, and the swift, brutal cancellation of anyone daring to go against the mainstream narrative is actually not new.
We’ll look at the broader topic today, as well as some specific variations on the victim of censorship gambit, which uncannily often precedes being handed an even bigger megaphone.
Show Notes
Conspirituality + Glassbox Media
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Recording the audiobook at a swanky Toronto studio sends Matthew down a memory hole to wonder about performance, self-awareness, and anxiety, and their relation to charisma.
“Whatever charisma I have or project into the world has always been both prompted and tempered by the belief that becoming larger, that reaching out and creating an impression would soothe a confused or immature sense of self. That if I could be seen, I would be loved, and if loved, I would be real.
“If there is an anxiety at the core of the influencers we study, it might be related to this. This week I had the opportunity to meditate on it, to remember how charisma formed around and within me, first through an arts education, and then as a yoga and wellness entrepreneur. It’s made me wonder whether and how I’ve been that much different than Zach Bush, or Mikki Willis, or Katie Griggs. I know how to project that voice, I know how to put on my resting guru face.”
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Conspiritualists are not wrong that Jeffery Epstein’s downline has so far evaded justice. Or that the highest levels of the Catholic Church aided and abetted child sexual abuse for generations. They are not wrong about the existence of child sexual abuse materials circulating online, and that children are coerced, abducted, and sometimes killed in order to make them.
But their narratives are contorted by panic, mythology, stereotypes, paranoid and grandiose assumptions, and the antisemitic conspiracy theorizing of QAnon, which spread like wildfire through yoga and wellness social media during the pandemic and has now normalized as the “groomer” meme. They say that child sexual abuse is a planned, nefarious, top-down attack on innocents. They say that its purpose is to turn the world away from God, to starve humanity of hope.
Matthew sits down with Håkon Høydal, an investigative journalist in Norway who has spent years researching and exposing the most abject behaviors on the dark web. His work reveals a very different landscape. It’s a banal world, close to home, hiding in plain sight, presided over by young men who are making reckless choices after having decided that their pathological and criminally harmful impulses will never be understood, much less treated.
Show Notes
VG exposed the largest child sexual abuse forum. It was run by the police.
Porn site founder accused of sex trafficking arrested in Spain - The Globe and Mail
Sex offender treatment scheme led to increase in reoffending | UK news | The Guardian
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Matthew sits down with Sam Binkley, Professor of Sociology at Emerson College in Boston to discuss his 2007 book Getting Loose: Lifestyle Consumption in the 1970s.
We cited this very helpful work as we dug into the sociology of conspirituality for our own upcoming book. Here’s a thumbnail of Binkley’s argument:
The 1970s ushered in a period of “getting loose” in relation to the body, work expectations, family relations, and political allegiances. This happened as the great moral and political questions of the 1960s deflated without resolution, even as they enshrined looser social mores around sex and finding meaningful work. The cultural yearning for structural change found its home in the project of the self, facilitated by an accelerated consumerism that expanded the conflation of agency with consumption. Getting Loose characterizes this inward turn as a retreat from the terrors of revolutionary freedom.
Show Notes
Getting Loose — Binkley
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There are a number of philosophies presented in yoga spaces as "universal truths" that turn out to be little more than directives in an echo chamber. And there are protocols presented as therapeutic in wellness spaces that blur the line between spiritual rhetoric and pseudoscience — and some are quite dangerous.
Derek looks at his experiences as a student at Jivamukti Yoga as well as the recent "ozone enema" podcast between Gwyneth Paltrow and Will Cole to discuss spiritual rhetoric and pseudoscience. He opens with his experiences as an international music journalist to provide a framework for thinking outside of your box, be it a local yoga studio or the websites you treat as gospel.
Show Notes
Gwyneth Paltrow Admits to Getting Ozone in Her Rectum
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When Disneyworld becomes DeSantisland, Eric Weinstein will be in charge of the Epcot Planetarium, JP Sears will headline the Family Values comedy stage, Jordan Peterson and Jonathan Pageau will build an Orthodox cathedral for male transformation rituals. And Cinderella Castle will be remodeled into a Potemkin Capitol where Mikki Willis will choreograph and film daily insurrections.
The groundwork is being laid now, as we explore the institutionalization of QAnon. Moms for Liberty, egged on by Mike Flynn, is taking over school boards throughout the Sunshine State. Chris Rufo is now a college trustee, and Bret Weinstein is holding court in state medical committees. All while our conspirituality influencers, from Sears to Northrup to Avocado Wolfe, cheer on the dissolution of every social contract, every veneer of democracy.
The propaganda and sadism is so despairing that Derek might need religion, and Matthew might lose himself in retro fantasies of Disneyworld. Luckily, Julian talks with Sarasota anti-DeSantis activist Terra Kater about fighting the good fight under the hot sun.
Show Notes
CBD is everywhere. But is it a scam?
Dear Conservatives, I Apologize
The Paranoid Style in American Politics
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QAnon ain't over—it's on your television. It's been mainstreamed, networked, and remixed. Senior online extremism and disinformation researcher, Alex Kaplan of Media Matters joins Julian to share his reporting on the latest developments. 2024 is fast approaching. Under the looming shadows of legal calamity, Trump is rallying the Anons on Truth Social while Mike Flynn and his grifter-entourage roadshow preaches hellfire and ivermectin anti-vax election denial at an evangelical church near you. Can't make it? Sit back and grab the remote.
Show Notes
Alex Kaplan's Media Matters archive
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In this listener story, Julian talks to disabled rights activist and journalist Abby Mahler about how the fake COVID-cure grift endangers people who really need hydroxychloroquine to survive.
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"Cleansing is no longer an option, it's a necessity.”
From wellness influencers obsessed about the meat-body, to Christofascists obsessed about the body politic, rhetoric bombards us from all sides.
Professor of Rhetoric Colleen Derkatch joins Julian to discuss the techniques of the meaning miasma. Her focus is on wellness rhetoric specifically, and how it points to incipient illness, encourages recreational diagnostics, and describes daily routines as liturgies that grant membership in divine communities.
Also we can't avoid talking about Russell Brand on Bill Maher. Sorry.
Show Notes
Meet Colleen Derkatch
Gish Gallop: When People Try to Win Debates by Using Overwhelming Nonsense
Pharma Wants In - Rina Raphael
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Can Marianne Williamson maintain street cred as a progressive while promoting New Age Jesus?
Can she hammer out functional policy while preaching out of A Course in Miracles—the most anti-political pseudospiritual text on the planet?
Can she advocate for public health despite a history of waffling on vaccine science? Can she make a strong argument for health care reform while giving sermons from a book that says people get sick because they are not spiritual enough?
Can she really help fat people with her book that says that fatness is a "repository of twisted thoughts and feelings?"
Matthew doubts it, but hey—miracles happen!
Show Notes
William Thetford's CV (MKUltra reference)
Marianne Williamson's Democratic debate performance raised eyebrows. But she's no friend of the left.
Marianne Williamson is a controversial AIDS-crisis figure for gay men.
Kevin Sessums on MW, FB post: "I am an HIV+ man who lost lots of friends to AIDS and I know the harm she did conning many into believing they deserved their biological condition - and even their deaths- because they weren't spiritually fit enough to visualize the AIDS virus away."
Marianne Williamson on Twitter: "Let’s not forget that masks aren’t our only protection against Covid. Strengthening the immune system is also very important: recommendations like vitamins C and D, healthy food and exercise, positive/spiritual consciousness." / Twitter
A Course in Weight Loss: 21 Spiritual Lessons for Surrendering Your Weight Forever
Marianne Williamson promoted anti-vaxxer theories on her radio show in 2012 episode | CNN Politics
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Answering the current wave of confusing vaccine misinformation. Julian is joined by molecular biologist Dr. Dan Wilson. "Died Suddenly," correlation vs. causation, the vaccine court, and the recycled anti-vax tropes gaining fresh traction are all addressed in this succinct PSA.
Correction: Julian incorrectly calls Dr. Dan a "microbiologist" at the start of this Brief—but he actually holds a PhD in molecular biology.
Show Notes
Vaccinated/Unvaccinated Viral Load Study
Vaccination Reduces COVID Transmission
Standard Child/Adolescent Schedule
Vaccine Court and Lawsuit Realities
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So much suffering occurs because we romanticize a past that never actually existed in the belief that it's destined to become the future. In the middle we sit, here, now, with time marching forward. Derek explores how wellness influencers weaponize this psychological phenomenon and describes his personal remedy for such thinking.
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Continuing a conversation from EP142, Derek looks at the cultural damage done when musicians co-opt musical styles to promote their own propaganda, which is often at odds with the social struggles of the oppressed class that created the music.
After briefly investigating the history of reggae through the lens of indentured servants from India, he discusses artists using two genres—reggae and hip-hop—in such a way that strips the original intention of the music of all value.
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Do visiting inter-dimensional spirits and stowaway UFO passengers use the LAX Airport to touch down among us? Well they do if they're in town for the Conscious Life Expo, conveniently located at the LAX Airport Hilton for those who rely on otherwise mundane modes of travel.
The Valentine's Day weekend crystals and angel cards fest of disjointed spirituality meets dodgy science just celebrated its 21st year as the premiere gathering point for awakened seekers choosing to come out of sovereign superposition and manifest in space-time reality.
But, as visiting Vice News correspondent Anna Merlan tells us, it turns out the organizers have grappled for years with how to reconcile the tensions between obvious charlatans and those who really, truly can talk to the dead, psychics who can diagnose your dog's mystery ailments, and those making artificial claims about all-natural elixirs, prophets of light and love, and QAnon promoting anti-vax conspiritualists.
This year's solution? Tuck the most radicalized New Age hate-preachers away in the Rabbit Hole Room, and charge top-dollar for the red-pilled faithful to swoon at their feet.
Show Notes
Thrive review by Eric Johnson
COVID-19 misinformation contributed to 2800 Canadian deaths, report suggests
Fault Lines Report: Canadian Council for Academics
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How does it feel to grow up in a back-to-the-land house that vibrates with the anxious passion of conspiracy theories?
What would happen when the world began to disconfirm the conspiratorial lore? How would you maintain your relationships, nurture the good, and gently let go of everything else?
Maggie joins Matthew for this Listener Story to explore these questions in relation to her journey from childhood to today.
Note: my question about conspirituality being an ethnicity was inspired by a conversation with listener Lilium Rajan, a writer who I hope to learn more from.
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Is Canada trying to euthanize the mentally ill?
Self-professed "theocratic fascist" Matt Walsh says so. So does the OG anti-woke agitator, James Lindsay. Both cravenly distort Canada's proposed expansion of its Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD) laws to include people suffering from mental illness.
But are they entirely wrong? From the left, Jeremy Appel writes in Jacobin:
I’ve come to realize that euthanasia in Canada represents the cynical endgame of social provisioning within the brutal logic of late-stage capitalism — we’ll starve you of the funding you need to live a dignified life, demand you pay back pandemic aid you applied for in good faith, and if you don’t like it, well, why don’t you just kill yourself?
Psychologist and ethics professor Dr. Taslim Alanii-Verjee joins Matthew to discuss the ethical labyrinth of MAiD expansion, and how the altruistic quest for patient autonomy and dignity can run afoul of the neoliberal state's failure to provide the necessaries.
Show Notes
Federal government moves to delay MAID for people suffering solely from mental illness | CBC News
The Problems With Canada’s Medical Assistance in Dying Policy
Special Joint Committee on MAiD - Dr. Sonu Gaind
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Hot yoga tycoon and sex offender Bikram Choudhury was set to teach his sweaty pseudoscience in Vancouver starting on February 20th. But a team of yoga allies, led by a woman who has sued Choudhury for rape, said "Fuck off."
So that's that.
Or is it? We have many questions.
Why was this cursed event planned in the first place? Who on earth is continuing to support this clown, and trying to make money off of him? Who would cover themselves in sweaty shit in order to prop up this Simpsons-level caricature of a yoga megalomaniac? And how did Bikram Yoga become the de facto exercise method and spiritual practice of "Freedom Convoy" supporters?
Matthew takes a sweaty tour through a land of pseudoscience and rape culture, hot yogis and truckers, anti-vaxxers and frog-lickers to find out.
Big thank you to Colin Hall of Bodhi Tree Yoga for stopping by!
Show Notes
Canadian yoga competition stretches into Edmonton | CBC News
Controversial Bikram yoga founder's planned Vancouver workshops raising flags
Jill Lawler's 1st-person account
Petition · Stop Predator Bikram Choudhury from hosting Yoga Seminar in Vancouver · Change.org
Woman speaking out against Bikram Yoga event gets disturbing pushback from organizer
Bikram yoga event no longer planned for Vancouver hotel
Bikram Yoga Creator Loses It When Asked About Sexual Assault Allegations | HuffPost Women
Sponsor: https://www.gardomlakeyoga.ca/
WATCH: Justin Trudeau cross-examined by Convoy lawyer
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The Twitter Files are the grift that keeps on giving. This week, Derek and Julian look at Alex Berenson's recent appearance on Russell Brand's Rumble channel to talk about the conspiracies that only exists in their heads—and the misinformation they share along the way.
Show Notes
The Pandemic’s Wrongest Man
Russell Brand: Elites Are Using Liberal Ideas to Justify Inequality
How anti-vaxxers monetize misinformation
URGENT: A federal database offers more evidence the mRNA Covid jabs may have serious cardiovascular risks
For red and blue America, a glaring divide in COVID-19 death rates persists 2 years later
Scathing evaluation of Sweden's COVID response reveals 'failures' to control the virus
Large, real-world study finds COVID-19 vaccination more effective than natural immunity in protecting against all causes of death, hospitalization and emergency department visits
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Today, Hulu releases a 3-episode doc series called “Stolen Youth,” directed by Zach Heinzerling.
The pole star for this low-dopamine, low-cortisol, non-true-crime, survivor-centred documentary is Daniel Levin’s painful and radiant memoir, Slonim Woods 9. In 2010, Levin was drawn into an extended-family domestic abuse group led by Larry Ray, the father of one of his friends at Sarah Lawrence College. It took him years to leave, years to begin to recover, and years to become the de facto subject coordinator for this film.
Matthew talks with Zach and Daniel about what it takes to really listen to survivors of group abuse, and how the arts of memoir and documentary can be doorways to reconnection and integration.
In an interview debrief, Julian and Matthew discuss why reviewing Stolen Youth is such a relief in the current Wild West cultsploitation landscape.
Well-told stories in this zone—and we need more of them—educate, de-sensationalize, and de-stigmatize. They humanize every step of the journey: from recruitment, to enmeshment, to complicity, to recovery, to creativity.
Show Notes
Slonim Woods 9 by Daniel Barban Levin
Rough Cut: What do filmmakers owe their subjects? w/Souki Medhaoui
Larry Ray and the Stolen Kids of Sarah Lawrence
How Did Larry Ray Run a Cult at Sarah Lawrence?
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Sure, a big question: one Derek explores in the context of this nearly three-year-old Conspirituality project. Criticism and awareness are essential tools in a critical thinking kit, but to what end? As he prepares upcoming presentations on the topic of misinformation in public health, Derek reflects on the value of identifying charlatans and quacks while also speculating about how to move forward.
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Those who fly high, fall hard. Pole dance company S-Factor crashed and burned in 2021 amidst a stack of complaints. Detractors said the company was conducting unlicensed group therapy, cosplaying enlightenment by co-opting the labour of sex workers, and whitewashing issues of racial equality.
Created by former actor Sheila Kelley, S-Factor monetized pole dancing as a path of feminist and spiritual awakening.
In this 2-part Listener Story, Matthew speaks to Jessica Hopper about her 13 years learning and teaching in the now-defunct company. Hopper paints a picture of a confusing, high-demand group, and tells us how she made her way out.
NOTE: During our discussion, Jessica recounts a tense all-hands S-factor staff meeting to discuss PR strategy at a crucial moment as the company cracked-up over issues of white fragility. I wasn't able to secure a recording of that call before my interview with Jessica, or since. But after we recorded, I did confirm what Jessica reports about it with 3 of the other participants on that call. MR
Show Notes
Stripped Down: The Undoing of Hollywood's Favorite Pole-Dancing Studio —Hollywood Reporter.
"Strip Down, Rise Up" | Official Trailer | Netflix
Faces of Fierce Femininity—online conference organized by Kelly Brogan
Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema—Laura Mulvey, 1975
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Can you believe that Nancy Pelosi paid people to attack the Capitol on Jan 6 in order to make Republicans look bad? Actually, I mean, Jan 6 was the most peaceful gathering of a million patriots in history. Wait, hold on: Jan 6 was an antifa operative to act as cover for the fact that the election was, indeed, stolen.
Do any of these stories sound familiar? Now imagine hearing them all, and dozens more like them, all in the same day, and you’ll get a glimpse of what Daily Show correspondent and host of the podcast, Fingers the Conspiracy, Jordan Klepper, endures on a regular basis. Today Jordan joins us to talk about the cursed world of conspiracies that he’s witnessed, up close and in person, with the people who spread them, what it was like to be at the Capitol on Jan 6, and the bewildering intersection of comedy and politics.
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Katie Griggs. Katie Day. Kundalini Katie. Guru Jagat. We hardly knew you.
The late "Queen of Conspiracy Theories" is now memorialized on NPR through Emily Guerin's LAist podcast "Imperfect Paradise."
Matthew sits down with Emily to explore how we cover figures like Griggs, what it was like to interview her family, and what we can ultimately say about the compromised feminist empowerment she offered her followers—and whether she could have taken another route.
Show Notes
She was a popular yoga guru. Then she embraced QAnon conspiracy theories — NPR, LAist
36: Guru Jagat’s Pandemic Brandwash (w/Philip Deslippe & Stacie Stukin)
37: Guru Jagat Cultjacks Kundalini Yoga (w/Philip Deslippe & Stacie Stukin)
(PDF) From Maharaj to Mahan Tantric: The Construction of Yogi Bhajan’s Kundalini Yoga — Philip Deslippe
Yogi Bhajan Turned an L.A. Yoga Studio into a Juggernaut, and Left Two Generations of Followers Reeling from Alleged Abuse — Stacie Stukin
Inside the Dubious World of RA MA Yoga, and Its Girl Boss Guru to the Stars — Cassidy George, VICE
Guru Jagat Dies. A Saint Is Born. | by Matthew Remski | Aug, 2021 | Medium
Guru Jagat Mourned in Person with Breathing Exercises, No Masks — Matthew Remski
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What do you do when your psychotherapy clients suffer from conspiracy theory anxiety?
What do you do when the conspirituality-based therapy advice they get from TikTok is compelling, but also misleading?
Toronto-based Registered Psychotherapist Alessia Caputo joins Matthew for this Listener Story installment to discuss the changing therapeutic landscape, in the office and online.
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Using a combination of Alexa, Siri, and your extensive search history, we've been able to scan your bio energetic field, and are sending personalized quantum rebalancing and immune-boosting frequencies your way as you listen. Can you feel it?! Can your pet feel it? Because, dear listener, there’s a program for them, too. In fact, there’s a program for everything and everyone because frequencies don’t discriminate—as long as you’re not into Big Pharma, that is. All you need is to invest in this little $1,000 machine—$4,000 if you want the “professional edition”—that clips onto your Lulu gear and injects quantum vibes straight into your soul.
That’s right, this week we’re talking about the Healy. Our correspondent, Mallory DeMille, has scanned the ethereal social media frequencies to find a greatest hits collection of influencers attempting to energetically guide you into their downline. Derek offers a bit of Healy history, which is rooted in the anti-EMF movement, while Matthew and I wonder: why is it that the same wellness crew that’s afraid of 5G and vaccine technology is so willing to wear this mysterious device?
Show Notes
Healy World Official on YouTube
Marcus Schmieke explains the Technology and Science behind Healy
@trusting_birth questioning Healy
See conspirituality.net/episodes for screenshots mentioned during this episode
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Did the Matrix kidnap Top G? Or is Andrew Tate the Matrix himself, now unplugged and shorting out in a Romanian jail?
While his self-confessed crimes against women come home to roost, the online spectacle his arrest has generated provides a litmus test for just how fast the cognitive dissonance of culture war chaos can plummet.
Welcome to the broader “Tate crime”: a spectacle of acute reality-reversal, fueled by reactionary politics and driven by a cultic network of devotees and SEO managers, where culture war punditry is funded by bogus self-help courses and online pornography.
Show Notes
The PHD Program (“Pimping Hos Degree)
Andrew Tate said he broke a woman's jaw and that his business was a 'scam' ahead of Romanian charges
Part One: Andrew Tate, and the Mythopoetic Men's Movement - Behind the Bastards | iHeart
The Dangerous Rise of Andrew Tate
A Coordinated Group Of 4,500 Bots Tweeted In Support Of Andrew Tate
Teachers Warn That Misogynist Andrew Tate Has 'Radicalized' School-Age Boys
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Ok, the title is a bit outlandish, but for a reason: many of Russell Brand's Rumble videos feature titles like "HERE WE GO" and "THE FALL OF FAUCI." When everything is at volume 11, nothing seems to make sense—which is a bit how Derek and Julian feel after listening to his recent interview with Bari Weiss.
Not that Bari isn't a solid presenter—she is, even if we don't agree with everything she says. We'll pick apart her portion of the Twitter Files, while also continuing our investigation into Russell's always-on and always-loud tactics that disorient as much as obscure.
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Perhaps you’ve seen the Rumi quote repeated on social media memes: “The wound is the place where the Light enters you.” The wounded healer is a popular archetype in wellness spaces, and indeed, sometimes experience teaches wisdom, enabling the victim to overcome their trauma and help others. But in conspiritualist spaces, the wounded healer can also begin a monetization stream where everything becomes evidence of trauma, only to be healed through this book, or that course, or a brand-new brand of meditation that’s only the marketing scheme of an old form.
Speaking of brands, we look at the wounded healer through the lens of Russell Brand, among others. This leads to Derek’s interview with YouTuber and podcaster, Chris Boutte, aka The Rewired Soul, who happens to be in recovery and watched firsthand as Russell went from helpful figure to shadowy archetype. Can an addiction to drugs be healed, only to lead to an addiction to clicks and likes? Stay tuned…
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In part two of Derek and Julian's deconstruction of the Russell Brand/Matt Taibbi Twitter Files Rumble Session, Matt and Russell swoon over their interactions with Elon Musk, discuss how the MSM unfairly maligns Vladimir Putin and his invasion of Ukraine, and chat about the old regime at Twitter being in service of the sinister agenda of global institutions like the IMF.
Strap in.
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How do the screams of the Satanic Panic echo in anti-woke politics?
This past week, New Age Satanic Panic influencer Teal Swan released a new video to 1.5M YouTube subscribers about the dangers of "Wokeism." Yesterday, Rep. Jim Banks (R-IN) announced plans to form a Congressional Anti-Woke Caucus.
We know by now that conspirituality is a machine charismatics can use to generate mystical solutions to exaggerated or imagined crises. With Swan’s pivot into anti-woke discourse, she is taking the next logical step in broadening and secularizing her message.
What's not entirely clear is the pathway Swan has taken from Satanic Panic influencer to a New Age starseed, to unlicensed trauma recovery expert, to this potential future as a culture warrior. This Brief connects some of the dots, as the entanglement between New Age wellness objectives and reactionary populism tightens.
Show Notes
"Wokeism" and Today's "Woke" Society
109. Who’s Afraid of Teal Swan? (w/Jon Kasbe)
111: Who's Afraid of Teal Swan (pt 2) (w/Jennings Brown)
UNLOCKED: Swan Song Series 1 | Close to Home (please search "Swan Song Series to find all unlocked episodes)
From QAnon to Anti-Woke. A New Age guru pivots to a new… | by Matthew Remski
Qanon - The Great Awakening: PsyOp or the Real Deal? - Piercing the Veil of Reality Bernhard Guenther
The January 6th Capitol Siege has indelibly linked QAnon to domestic terrorism.
The deletion of vast networks of QAnon influencers and groups from social channels like FB and Twitter
Cullen Hoback’s Q: Into the Storm documentary
Rep. Jim Banks announces the Anti-Woke Caucus
Fighting the Woke Agenda in Congress - The American Mind
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Where have all the strongmen gone, long time scrolling? Where have all the strongmen gone, long time ago? Where have all the strongmen gone? Gone to posting, everyone. Oh when will they ever turn off their phones? Not anytime soon. Trump on Truth Social, Modi on Instagram, Bolsonaro tweeting from a Kentucky Fried Chicken in Miami.
Today we’re looking at the new strongmen at the top of our political circuses. According to our guest, strongman-whisperer historian Ruth Ben-Ghiat, they’re of new breed. They’re not the steampunk fascists of 100 years ago. They’re not Cold War autocrats, installed by the CIA. These guys are posters. They do not need to seize the means of production. Their goal is to disrupt the production of meaning.
Julian’s interview with Ben-Ghiat gives us a great opportunity to look at the strongman fetish in conspirituality, and to rate the top male influencers in our book on a scale of 10 Gaddafis.
Show Notes
Twitter’s moderation system is in tatters
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In November, the College of Psychologists of Ontario (CPO)—through which Jordan Peterson must be licensed in order to treat private clients—opened an investigation into complaints over his Twitter behavior. A few days ago, he publishing the disciplinary paper trail to Twitter, but failed to properly redact the names of complainants.
Mystery questions:
Can you shitpost at public servants, dox complainants, misgender people, call doctors who provide gender-affirming care “monsters,” cavort with fascists, and fat shame random swimsuit models to millions of people on Twitter and continue to be a licensed psychologist in the province of Ontario?
Dr. Taslim Alani-Verjee joins me to do some 101 work on JP’s commitments to the profession that gives him clout and credibility. She is a clinical psychologist and the Director and Founder of Silm Centre for Mental Health. She teaches psychology and ethics at Adler Graduate Professional School, and is adjunct professor at Lakehead. Some of her concentration areas include intimate partner violence, stigma, social justice, and cultural competence.
Show Notes
Howard Levitt: What's happening to Jordan Peterson could happen to anyone now
When Your Psychologist Goes Viral: How Jordan Peterson's Fame Affected His Private Practice
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While the Twitter Files revealed...not much at all...the right continues to push Elon Musk's "revelations" as hard as Hunter Biden's magical laptop, which seems to absorb every ill in society like Pandora's infamous box. And then there's Russell Brand, who can't turn away from a good conspiracy, or a bad one. He talks about Hunter's laptop and more with Matt Taibbi in a recent hour-long Rumble session.
This week is part one of Derek and Julian's deconstruction of what went down, why it ultimately doesn't matter, and why it matters very much to both Brand's and Taibbi's brand building.
Show Notes
Will the Real Tesla Founder Please Stand Up?
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Matthew and Julian sit down for the second of a two-part examination of the 1988 bestseller at the heart of the recovered memory movement. This is episode 10 of the Swan Song Series.
Show Notes
Controversy Behind the False Memory Syndrome Foundation
The Courage to Heal: A Guide for Women Survivors of Child Sexual Abuse
Truth and reconciliation
Cases That Have Resulted in Convictions
Why The Courage to Heal Isn't on My Recommended Reading List
Creating Hysteria
25 Years of Trauma Treatment Networker 2014
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Happy New Year, Conspirituality listeners!
As with the much anticipated midterm elections, the holiday season is now officially behind us. Which means that in addition to any of the colds, flu, and COVID strains circulating, many of our listeners may still be in recovery mode from family time.
We're specifically referring to political tensions over the holiday dinner table. You know, the vegan sister insisting on a land acknowledgment before the QAnon uncle says grace, while the anti-vax aunt rants at her to take off her mask. Can somebody pass the apple pie?
Our guest today is journalist, author, and political analyst, Anand Giridharadas. Julian spoke with him about his new book, The Persuaders, in which he profiles people on the ground working to change minds, bridge divisions and fight for democracy. The Persuaders offers inspiration to those who refuse to accept that a rigid polarization in which no one ever changes their mind, is the new normal.
Show Notes
How to Become a Better Persuader
Understanding Your Circle of Influence: Calling In with Loretta Ross
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The Hodgetwins’ brand of comedy relies on punching down, not nuance or storytelling—or being based in reality in any meaningful way. They’ll take a subject, make fun of it, then sometimes moralize about why they’re right on a topic—especially when it comes to their version of masculinity.
Derek looks at these twins' vitriolic humor and places it in the context of competition. Whether they're preaching transphobia, fat-shaming, or other forms of bigotry, what they're revealing is really male fragility, not the all-important masculinity they profess.
Show Notes
The Racist Roots of Fighting Obesity
The Bizarre and Racist History of the BMI
Breaking Down the ‘Wellness-Industrial Complex,’ an Episode at a Time
Frans de Waal: The surprising science of alpha males
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Chaya Raichik of Libs of TikTok calls the LGBTQ+ community a cult. Does this mean the term has lost all meaning?
Searching for the roots of Raichik's abuse of cult discourse leads Matthew back through a cursed gender critical message board to an ill-conceived Twitter thread by cult expert Steve Hassan.
A Conspirituality Brief on what happens when fascists seize control of highly-charged explanatory tools.
Show Notes
Libs of TikTok has become central to right wing politics - The Washington Post
Twitter account Libs of TikTok blamed for harassment of children's hospitals
The artificial growth of hate speech
The Happy-Go-Lucky Jewish Group That Connects Trump and Putin - POLITICO Magazine
Cross-Dressing - Parshat Ki Teitzei - Chabad.org
Secret LGBTQ Chabad Group Fills Void - Jewish Telegraphic Agency
'Social contagion' isn’t causing more youths to be transgender, study finds
Meet Chris Elston, the BC Man Taking Anti-Trans Hate On Tour Across Canada
Chris Elston: Woman followed by man demanding trans health 'education'
Study finds 2.5% of transgender kids go through detransition
Detransition Facts and Statistics 2022: Exploding the Myths Around
Hassan's main detrans Twitter thread
Hassan's other detrans Twitter thread
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Matthew and Julian sit down for the first of a two-part examination of the 1988 bestseller at the heart of the recovered memory movement—which played a central role in validating Satanic Panic testimonials. This is episode 9 of the Swan Song Series 9.
The basic premise of The Courage to Heal, by creative writing instructors Ellen Bass and Laura Davis, is that memories of childhood abuse, especially child sexual abuse, can be recovered and articulated by survivors who are given the proper space, tools, and validation. The book explores how this be facilitated within the context of journaling, writing poetry, and writing memoir, and what the therapeutic benefits of full confessional articulation can be.
While countless people affirm that this book was a lifeline during a time in which recovery resources for child abuse survivors were rare, there are substantial problems with the book's method, claims about memory, dodgy sources, and endorsement of outright Satanic Panic propaganda.
Show Notes
Controversy Behind the False Memory Syndrome Foundation
The Courage to Heal: A Guide for Women Survivors of Child Sexual Abuse
Truth and reconciliation
Cases That Have Resulted in Convictions
Why The Courage to Heal Isn't on My Recommended Reading List
Creating Hysteria
25 Years of Trauma Treatment Networker 2014
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Part 2 of Matthew's conversation with Sarah.
Sarah grew up in the Church of Scientology. But she also grew up in a small town. And, in a neurodiverse family.
We come from so many places. Exploitative, hierarchical, hypocritical. Generous, tender, and odd.
It is an honor to present this installment of Listeners' Stories. We're tickled to learn that Sarah's awakening from Scientology was quickened by that South Park episode. And we're humbled to learn about how her mother, despite being deeply enmeshed in a coercive cult, still managed to kindle both compassion and common sense in her children.
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The second part of Julian and Matthew's long look at the 1999 film Teal Swan was reportedly obsessed with as a teen. Girl, Interrupted is a freewheeling adaptation of a 1993 memoir by Susanna Kaysen about the 18 months she spent undergoing treatment for Borderline Personality Disorder in a Massachusetts psychiatric facility in the late 1960s. This episode 8 of the Swan Song Series.
This study is provoked by a memory recounted by Swan's childhood friend, Diana Hansen Ribera, that Swan identified with the character of Lisa Rowe in the film. Angelina Jolie won an Oscar for her searing performance of Rowe, a sociopath.
In this second episode, we explore several characters that Swan may have (and may yet) identify with, discuss the awkwardness of portraying mental health narratives on the big screen, and what it would really take for such an intense film to be digestible for typical teenagers. Matthew ends with a meditation on immersive/claustrophobic media—which Swan goes on to master—compared with the relief of developing a meta-view capable of inhabiting many stories, as opposed to imitating one.
Show Notes
SENECA THE YOUNGER, HERCULES FURENS - Theoi Classical Texts Library
Hercules (Seneca)
Girl, Interrupted — Susanna Kaysen
1607: Growing up with Teal Swan - Diana Hansen Ribera
Mad, Bad, and Sad: Women and the Mind Doctors by Lisa Appignanesi
Brittany Murphy: Inside Her Sudden Death at 32 That Still Confounds Hollywood
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Elon, Elon, who are you? Where is your essential self? Where are you as you soar through your space fantasies, as you track and hedge and bet your billions, wondering if all those emeralds gave you an unfair advantage in life?
What is the weather like on Mars? Have you found yourself yet, hiding in millions of lines of self-driving code? Have you found your own face as you surveil your quivering workforce, bunking in the San Francisco headquarters you stopped paying rent on?
Is the real you playing endless video games, getting stoned with Joe Rogan, making an eleventh baby with a fourth partner? Do you feel you’re connected to everything when you post at the speed of light?
As Musk teeters on the brink of ego death and financial annihilation, Matthew wonders about his inner life, especially after he dropped a Buddhist-type Easter Egg in a tweeted photo of his bedside table.
Is Elon Musk a Buddha-bro? No surprise if he was. After all, a big chunk of American Buddhism lines up perfectly with Musk's reactionary centrism, performative transcendence, bog-standard conspiracism, and culture war shitposting.
Here to help us understand this strange world—and what kind of Buddhism could make Elon Musk a better human, if he gave a shit—are Dr. Ann Gleig, Aassociate Professor of religion and cultural studies at University of Central Florida, and independent scholar Brenna Artinger. We’ll be focusing on their awesome paper, “#BuddhistCultureWars: BuddhaBros, Alt-Right Dharma, and Snowflake Sanghas,”
Show Notes
Adam Jensen | Deus Ex Wiki
Mindfulness in Silicon Valley | Religion and Public Life at Harvard Divinity School
#BuddhistCultureWars: BuddhaBros, Alt-Right Dharma, and Snowflake Sanghas
Reactionary White Buddhists Have Joined The Fight Against Critical Race Theory
Why Are White Buddhists So Angry?
A Murky Scandal Involving a Powerful Punk Rock Dharma Teacher Is Dividing a Major Buddhist Community
Leaked Internal Report: Famous Buddhist Leader Noah Levine Was Accused of Rape and Assault
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Sarah grew up in the Church of Scientology. But she also grew up in a small town. And, in a neurodiverse family.
We come from so many places. Exploitative, hierarchical, hypocritical. Generous, tender, and odd.
It is an honor to present this installment of Listeners' Stories. We're tickled to learn that Sarah's awakening from Scientology was quickened by that South Park episode. And we're humbled to learn about how her mother, despite being deeply enmeshed in a coercive cult, still managed to kindle both compassion and common sense in her children.
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Remember way back to the beginning of this podcast, shortly after “Plandemic” dropped, when wellness influencers immediately began selling supposed “immune supporting” supplements? That trend has only intensified in recent months, with grifters like Peter McCullough and Mikki Willis getting in on the supplement game. In part three of his trilogy on supplements, Derek talks with dietician Kevin Klatt about what supplements are actually good for—as well as how this unregulated industry is monetizing fears around future viruses.
They also discuss the wild west of nootropics, supposed brain-enhancing substances that don’t scare you about pandemics, but instead make you believe that with just a little more optimization you’ll be the most perfect you possible…until another product drop, that is. To discuss the world of lack that other influencers capitalize on, we’ll discuss the annual A Fest, a TED-style wellness gathering for millionaires that banks on you never actually feeling content in your life, but instead chasing a promise of unachievable eternal betterment.
Show Notes
Inside the Wellness Festival for Millionaires
Human Rights Watch: Jordan
Kevin Klatt on Instagram | Twitter
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In this special report, Julian examines how the machinery of right-wing propaganda engineers the necessary conditions for stochastic terror. The recent waves of dehumanizing anti-LGBTQ bigotry heighten the probability of extremist violence. When it happens—as in November's tragic mass-shooting at Club Q, pointing this out leads right-wing media to quickly accuse the left of exploiting tragedy. Worse still, we're supposedly defending "groomers" and "child mutilation."
Meanwhile literal swastika flag-waving Nazis, as well as Proud Boys, Patriot Front, and other armed militia-types are increasingly showing up outside LGBTQ venues across the country. Terrorists deliberately sabotaged a North Carolina power grid, in an act many believe was designed to stop a drag show. Forty thousand people were without power for four days in early December as a result.
At the epicenter of this latest toxic culture war shock-wave is The Daily Wire. Funded by idiosyncratic religious fundamentalists who believe abortion and homosexuality are not only sins, but should be crimes—their roster of edgy, slickly produced personalities, like Ben Shapiro, Matt Walsh, Candace Owens, and now, Jordan Peterson, all go hard on the ugliest characterizations, both of LGBTQ people, and of the teachers and doctors who care for them. Julian shows how they have picked up on James Lindsay's outrageous conspiracy claim of a "handshake agreement" between communists and pedophiles, and how the "grass roots" moral panic org. with super PAC funding, Moms for Liberty, is hijacking school boards in Red states and Blue.
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Those who fly high, fall hard. Pole dance company S-Factor crashed and burned in 2021 amidst a stack of complaints. Detractors said the company was conducting unlicensed group therapy, cosplaying enlightenment by co-opting the labour of sex workers, and whitewashing issues of racial equality.
Created by former actor Sheila Kelley, S-Factor monetized pole dancing as a path of feminist and spiritual awakening.
In Part 2 of this Listener Story, Matthew speaks to Jessica Hopper about her 13 years learning and teaching in the now-defunct company. Hopper paints a picture of a confusing, high-demand group, and tells us how she made her way out.
NOTE: During our discussion, Jessica recounts a tense all-hands S-factor staff meeting to discuss PR strategy at a crucial moment as the company cracked-up over issues of white fragility. I wasn't able to secure a recording of that call before my interview with Jessica, or since. But after we recorded, I did confirm what Jessica reports about it with 3 of the other participants on that call. MR
Show Notes
Stripped Down: The Undoing of Hollywood's Favorite Pole-Dancing Studio —Hollywood Reporter.
"Strip Down, Rise Up" | Official Trailer | Netflix
Faces of Fierce Femininity—online conference organized by Kelly Brogan
Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema—Laura Mulvey, 1975
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Julian and Matthew take a long look at the 1999 film Teal Swan was reportedly obsessed with as a teen. Girl, Interrupted is a bold adaptation of a 1993 memoir by the writer Susanna Kaysen about the 18 months she spent undergoing treatment for Borderline Personality Disorder in a Massachusetts psychiatric facility in the late 1960s. This is episode 7 of the Swan Song Series.
This study is provoked by a memory recounted by Swan's childhood friend, Diana Hansen Ribera, that Swan identified with the character of Lisa Rowe in the film. Angelina Jolie won an Oscar for her searing performance of Rowe, a sociopath.
Show Notes
Girl, Interrupted — Susanna Kaysen
1607: Growing up with Teal Swan - Diana Hansen Ribera
Mad, Bad, and Sad: Women and the Mind Doctors by Lisa Appignanesi | Goodreads
Brittany Murphy: Inside Her Sudden Death at 32 That Still Confounds Hollywood
Girl, Interrupted at her Music. Vermeer. 1660.
It’s the painting from whose frame a girl looks out, ignoring her beefy music teacher, whose proprietary hand rests on her chair. The light is muted, winter light, but her face is bright. I looked into her brown eyes and I recoiled. She was warning me of something—she had looked up from her work to warn me. Her mouth was slightly open, as if she had just drawn a breath in order to say to me, “Don’t!” I moved backward, trying to get beyond the range of her urgency. But her urgency filled the corridor. “Wait,” she was saying, “wait! Don’t go!” — Susanna Kaysen, Girl, Interrupted
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We didn't have tracking BDSM Easter eggs in fashion shoots or Ye’s Jew-hating Christofascism on our bingo card. But here we are, covering a cluster of cursed images and hypomanic clips.
We’ll stare right at the train wreck this week, but we refuse to feel hopeless. Because we can always learn—in this case about how the psychic and bodily impacts of this churn of bizarre hatred relate to the function of propaganda. And we can always be inspired by people who slow down and do the hard work of understanding the spectacle.
From our side of the progressive aisle, it's easy to assume that consumers of Ye and conspiracy theories are gullible cultural dopes. But our guest today, sociologist and media scholar at UNC, Chapel Hill, Francesca Tripodi says "not so fast!" To understand how right-wing propaganda functions, she spent months consuming a conservative digital news-diet and went undercover in hard-right circles.
Show Notes
Kanye "Ye" West—The Emperor w/No Clothes (TimbahOnToast)
Balenciaga and the long history of "shockvertising"
Jewish Allies Denounce Trump's Dinner w/Antisemites
Masked Ye West Praises Hitler on Alex Jones' InfoWars
Proud Boy Founder Gavin McInnes Hosts Ye West
QAA 210: Balenciaga, Ye, Club Q
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Those who fly high, fall hard. Pole dance company S-Factor crashed and burned in 2021 amidst a stack of complaints. Detractors said the company was conducting unlicensed group therapy, cosplaying enlightenment by co-opting the labour of sex workers, and whitewashing issues of racial equality.
Created by former actor Sheila Kelley, S-Factor monetized pole dancing as a path of feminist and spiritual awakening.
In this second installment of Listener Stories (part 2 next week), Matthew speaks to Jessica Hopper about her 13 years learning and teaching in the now-defunct company. Hopper paints a picture of a confusing, high-demand group, and tells us how she made her way out.
Show Notes
Stripped Down: The Undoing of Hollywood's Favorite Pole-Dancing Studio —Hollywood Reporter.
"Strip Down, Rise Up" | Official Trailer | Netflix
Faces of Fierce Femininity—online conference organized by Kelly Brogan
Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema—Laura Mulvey, 1975
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Matthew checks in with investigative journalist Alexi Mostrous on his fantastic work digging up the Hampstead Hoax.
Show Notes
Hoaxed — Tortoise Media
Re P and Q (Children: Care Proceedings: Fact Finding)
Jacqui Farmer's "Hampstead Research"
Charlotte Ward’s conspirituality.org About page
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Did you know, right now, as you sit there listening to this, your body is filled with parasites that need to be cleansed? Of course, that’s if you live in America, since every other country on the planet cleanses four times a year. Seriously. We heard it on TikTok.
Scrolling through the gutters of TikTok is challenging for us Gen Xers, and so our TikTok correspondent, Mallory DeMille, has done the dirty work for us. After laying out an all-too-common supplement scam, she looks at the shitty world of parasite cleanses where budding influencers snap strange shots of their feces before scaring you into their downline. I’ll also preview a bit of my upcoming conversation with dietician Kevin Klatt, who’s been tracking this TikTok trend with dismay as well. He’ll bring the science while Mallory breaks down the techniques.
Show Notes
Mallory DeMille on Twitter
Kevin Klatt on Instagram
Parasite cleanses are ‘modern snake oil.’ Experts explain why.
Mason Kuhr on TikTok
Stampede Network on TikTok
Kim Rogers on TikTok
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Are you ready for the bestest, purest immunity-boosting supplement in the history of the world? No, not that one. Only I have discovered what really works, and I'll share it with you this week.
Ok, not quite, but Derek looks at a recent JAMA study that found many of the top 30 supplements sold on Amazon don't contain what they claim. He opens by looking at Mikki Willis's latest best supplement ever, as well as a naturopath and her binder filled with detoxing supplement protocols.
Show Notes
Wellness influencers don't understand history
Does Z-Stack multivitamin work to boost the immune system, and is it safe?
Analysis of Select Dietary Supplement Products Marketed to Support or Boost the Immune System
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Well jeez. What can we say? We're totally honored to host and learn from Aubrey Gordon, author and co-host of Maintenance Phase. She gives us the rundown on anti-fat bias, its links to racism, the soft eugenics of the BMI, the insincere "concern" of the slender, and the intellectual and moral dead end of "being fat is a choice." We also get into some psychothinalysis. Oh yes we do.
It's super inspiring to interview someone with a deep command of crucial material, plus the ability to pivot in startling directions, plus the skill to listen as fluently as they speak, plus all that warmth and welcome and empathy and accessibility. Thanks Aubrey!
Show Notes
Your Fat Friend website
What We Don't Talk About When We Talk About Fat
“You Just Need to Lose Weight” AND 19 OTHER MYTHS ABOUT FAT PEOPLE—Preorder
Maintenance Phase
Correction section: The NHS was limiting care for fat people and smokers *before* the pandemic (The Guardian), but backed off of that stance *during* the pandemic (NYT) before naming weight loss as one of its primary COVID strategies (Time Magazine).
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Matthew and Julian sit down for the second of a two-part examination of the 1988 bestseller at the heart of the recovered memory movement. This is episode 10 of the Swan Song Series.
Show Notes
Controversy Behind the False Memory Syndrome Foundation
The Courage to Heal: A Guide for Women Survivors of Child Sexual Abuse
Truth and reconciliation
Cases That Have Resulted in Convictions
Why The Courage to Heal Isn't on My Recommended Reading List
Creating Hysteria
25 Years of Trauma Treatment Networker 2014
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The homestretch of our study of Michelle Remembers zeroes in on the literal symbols—and symbols gone literal—of the Satanic Panic. (This is episode 6 of the Swan Song Series.)
Archetypes, gore, anxieties about sex and babies and filth: Lawrence Pazder mined it all, using modes of abstraction and dehumanization as old as religion itself to weave a story he claimed was all about Michelle—but was really an exercise of his own fetishes.
Michelle Smith could have received proper care for her understandable stresses. She could have offered up her feelings and sensations and images from dreams for discussion and contemplation, and an actual therapist would have held that material safely for her to explore. But in Pazder, Smith found someone who wasn’t interested in common human complexity. He was interested in cosmic warfare, and the role he could LARP within it.
But Pazder was so blind to his craven narcissism that he couldn’t help but tell on himself. In the final passage we analyze, Pazder records Smith demanding to end therapy. “If I could tear out my tongue,” she says, “I would never have to speak again.” But in the very next paragraph, the man who is forcing her to “remember” symbolically tears out her tongue, rejecting her plea to end the sessions, interpreting her demand as though it were coming from Satan himself.
She imagines herself getting in a car and driving and driving, anywhere. Away from this psychiatrist who wanted to be an exorcist, away from his story, perhaps to find her own.
Show Notes
HIGHEST GAME IN TOWN
‘I See His Blood Upon the Rose’
How to Lose Weight (Weight Loss and Obesity) - Teal Swan
The Cause of Obesity - Teal Swan Articles
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American-style white Christian Nationalism tells of a promised land given by God to the Puritan settlers. Their divine mandate for political dominance sanctifies a violent history that stretches from the 1690's all the way through to modern right-wing politics.
Our interview today is with sociologists, Philip Gorski and Samuel Perry, authors of The Flag and The Cross. We discuss their study of Christian Nationalism as a white supremacist phenomenon that has always leaned into conspiracism and a primordial obsession with blood purity and blood sacrifice.
With the dreaded midterm elections now in our rearview, Derek covers the Muscular Christian masturbation rules of bro-science influencer Ben Greenfield, while we reflect on the prophesied red wave that never crashed.
Show Notes
The Flag and the Cross—Gorski and Perry
Is Christian nationalism growing or declining? Both.
Most Republicans Support Declaring the United States a Christian Nation
Rally Urges US Midterm Voting Connected to Christianity
Ben Greefield: How I Practice The Spiritual Disciplines, Practical Ways To Build Your Spiritual Muscles, Listener Q&A On God, Religion, Reincarnation, Masturbation & Much More.
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Antisemitism is in the news again, as Candace Owens defends Kanye West and Kyrie Irving, while her boss, Ben Shapiro shakes his head in dismay. In this Bonus special report, Julian looks into the Assembly of Yahweh family, which funds conservative new media giants, The Daily Wire and PragerU.
How do we make sense of the racial and religious tensions created by the strange bedfellow alliances of right-wing propaganda?
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An ancient text at the root of the culture that gave birth to the yoga tradition says that if an outcaste person—a Dalit—dares to learn the holy language of Sanskrit, they must be tortured. Molten lead must be poured into their ears. Their tongue must be cut out.
In the Ramayana, a Shudra (caste oppressed) who dared to practice yoga was murdered so that the sickly child of a priestly family might regain his health. In the Mahabharata, an Adivasi (South Asian Indigenous) boy is commanded to cut off his own thumb for the sin of being self-taught and skilled above his station. The pious are told that these obscene retributions maintain the divine order.
Indian wisdom traditions have globalized to the extent that its evangelists have laundered the spiritualization of caste-based violence, and hidden its history from erstwhile progressives. Many of those evangelists have either been caste privileged, or caste apologists. The yoga they constructed for export has become a form of soft power, serving Hindu nationalist objectives.
The Trauma of Caste: A Dalit Feminist Meditation on Survivorship, Healing, and Abolition by Thenmozhi Soundararajan puts this history under a microscope. It pulls back the curtain on the carceral impacts of terms like dharma and karma, and concepts like purity, pollution, and reincarnation.
In terms of our work here at Conspirituality, Soundararajan's text cuts through the romantic Orientalism used by influencers, cult leaders, and nationalists to exploit emotional vulnerabilities. It also points to—and updates—a vision of spiritual practice first articulated by the Dalit leader B. R. Ambedkar, rooted in the ancient Buddhist call to compassion and equality.
Show Notes
The Trauma of Caste by Thenmozhi Soundararajan
Thenmozhi Soundararajan: Transmedia Artist, Theorist & Futurist
B. R. Ambedkar
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Matthew and Julian sit down for the first of a two-part examination of the 1988 bestseller at the heart of the recovered memory movement—which played a central role in validating Satanic Panic testimonials.
The basic premise of The Courage to Heal, by creative writing instructors Ellen Bass and Linda Davis, is that memories of childhood abuse, especially child sexual abuse, can be recovered and articulated by survivors who are given the proper space, tools, and validation. The book explores how this be facilitated within the context of journaling, writing poetry, and writing memoir, and what the therapeutic benefits of full confessional articulation can be.
While countless people affirm that this book was a lifeline during a time in which recovery resources for child abuse survivors were rare, there are substantial problems with the book's method, claims about memory, dodgy sources, and endorsement of outright Satanic Panic propaganda.
Show Notes
Controversy Behind the False Memory Syndrome Foundation
The Courage to Heal: A Guide for Women Survivors of Child Sexual Abuse
Truth and reconciliation
Cases That Have Resulted in Convictions
Why The Courage to Heal Isn't on My Recommended Reading List | HealthyPlace
Creating Hysteria
25 Years of Trauma Treatment Networker 2014
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In the second of three episodes on Michelle Remembers, we recap its Catholic contexts, and Lawrence Pazder's quest to transcend the limitations of psychiatry through mystical nightmares. We then explore the front matter: how Pazder introduces his project (and himself), and the ambivalent endorsement of Remi de Roo, Archbishop of Victoria. In Pazder's many clerical alliances, a crucial theme is established: the rapprochement between psychiatry and the priesthood, in which the former submits to the latter to restore the reality of the supernatural.
We also look at the pre-emptively defensive intro penned by the publisher, Thomas B. Congdon Jr. He claimed to have verified the substance of the book through interviews, and thought that Pazder and Smith were very earnest and forthcoming people when he hosted them for editorial meetings. Okay sure.
Show Notes
Remi De Roo
Thomas B. Congdon, Editor of Best Sellers Like 'Jaws,' Dies at 77
The Beginning of a Community
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Mark Roseman opens Lives Reclaimed, his compelling history of the “Bund”—a leftist communitarian group that resisted fascism and protected Jews during the Reich—with a quote from Michael Ondaatje’s novel The Cat’s Table: “That was a small lesson I learned on the journey. What is interesting and important happens mostly in secret, in places where there is no power.” Roseman, a professor of Jewish and German Studies at University of Indiana at Bloomington, joins Matthew to paint a picture of methodical, relational, and spiritual resistance to the speed and terror of fascism. At the center of the conversation is the quandary of how the Bund made generative use of many of the same naturalistic and spiritualist ideals and practices that were central to the physical culture of fascism. Joining the panel are Peter Staudenmaier, professor of modern Germany history at Marquette, and Rebecca Carter-Chand, historian at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Peter and Rebecca add their expertise on the tangled ferment of religious and ideological passions in the background of Nazism, and how persistent, even through the worst of times, our flickers of altruism and empathy can be.
But before all that: we’ll cover the Q-pilled assassination attempt on Nancy Pelosi that has left Paul Pelosi in urgent care, and far-right media scrambling to overwrite the facts.
Show Notes
Lives Reclaimed — Roseman
Dr. Rebecca Carter-Chand — United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
Dr. Peter Staudenmaier - History
The Futurist Manifesto Filippo Tommaso Marinetti
The Awful Truth: Paul Pelosi Was Drunk Again, And In a Dispute With a Male Prostitute Early Friday Morning.
Pelosi attack suspect David DePape shared conspiracy theories
Criminal complaint: David Depape
Depape’s archived site
Pelosi attacker was immersed in 2020 election conspiracies
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Imagine a technology so powerful it's been directly downloaded from spirit during a Scorpio eclipse. This revolutionary tool can cure burn victims, remove cysts from dogs, and endow you with ultimate productivity. Thanks to phase conjugation, this bioenhanced scalar tech will change the way you view medicine and healing forever—provided you don't have any expectations and remain open to source, that is. And whatever any of that means, Derek will try to decipher—and fail, though some other aspects become clearer in the process.
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Listeners: today’s episode marks a turning point for us all here at Conspirituality HQ.
Humbled by a recent quantum download, we realize that we have for too long been relying on our critical faculties. For too long we have insisted that words mean things. Our poisoned irony has calcified our throat chakras and burned your ears to the point you may never trust a spiritual influencer again.
Today we release our addiction to meaning, our fetish for precision in words. We begin to trust the inner babbler of heart-language. We hearken to the oracles, the speakers in tongues, the oompa loompa doompety doos, the glossalalics who trimper the ainions with seedgly refurns. Our hope is that with their help, we can begin to scrize the colong of wolfile stenoses.
But we cannot enter this new world of activated communication alone. Our guide today is correspondent Mallory DeMille, who comes to us from the land of TikTok, where Light Language has gone viral, and is making bank, bank, bankity bing bong bank.
Show Notes
Mallory on Instagram | Twitter
Kundun - Nechung oracle
Blonk performs Ursonate with real-time typography
Sofia for anxiety: Reply to @jennam1127 anxiety relief
Sofia: “Removing Darkness”
Sofia helping with everyone’s kidneys
Sofia’s light language was “opened up” by ayahuasca
Sofia has her activations turned into tie dye wraps so awesome
“Become a Light Language Practitioner” with Sofia
Sofia provides light language for loneliness
Sheryl presents: Light Language Love
Sheryl needs you to sit TF down
Sheryl’s waiver
Lily on
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A departure today, as Matthew eulogizes his teacher and friend Luciano Iacobelli.
From the opening:
This story may be a little personal and indulgent, but I’ll take a risk on it because I think it hints at an answer to a question we often get on the podcast about our own beliefs in the existential or spiritual categories.
We spend a lot of time eviscerating bog-standard hypocrisy in the economy of spirituality. Listeners resonate with this, but the project is also depressing, and in the parasocial contract they form with us, finding out that we still believe in something, or that something still provides relief—this becomes important.
It’s never a comfortable question to answer in the abstract. It's a gift when something comes along that shows instead of tells.
Show Notes
Conversation with Luciano Iacobelli
SEED Part One – Michael Barker
IN MEMORIAM: Remembering Luciano Iacobelli – Accenti Magazine
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What is the state of the documentary film in the age of manipulative online propaganda? In the hands and eyes of a documentarian like Amy Berg we find a journalistic commitment to the truth combined with the artistry of compelling and intimate story-telling. Along the way, her projects are guided by an obsession with justice. In two cases—that of the West Memphis Three, and more recently the murder trial of Adnen Syed— her film-making played a role in changing the real-world narrative; leading to the release of those wrongfully convicted via cultural bias, moral panic, and conspiracy theories. In other instances Amy's work has embodied investigative journalism to show how real conspiracies hide the awful abuse of innocents, while protecting the powerful. We ask her how she measures her instincts against the evidence, how she gains the trust of people who have been ignored for decades, how she managed to log days of interview time with an abusive ex-priest, and how she keeps her mental health intact amidst all the uncertainty.
In This Week in Conspirituality, Matthew covers an example of the co-optation of trauma-informed jargon by women in the land of the Three Percenters.
Show Notes
Pro-Trump brand is fined by FTC for incorrect ‘Made in the USA’ labels
The Lion: Sean Whalen Is Empowering Thousands to Take Accountability for Their Lives
Aubrey Marcus's "Code of the Sentient Savage"
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The second part of Julian and Matthew's long look at the 1999 film Teal Swan was reportedly obsessed with as a teen. Girl, Interrupted is a freewheeling adaptation of a 1993 memoir by Susanna Kaysen about the 18 months she spent undergoing treatment for Borderline Personality Disorder in a Massachusetts psychiatric facility in the late 1960s.
This study is provoked by a memory recounted by Swan's childhood friend, Diana Hansen Ribera, that Swan identified with the character of Lisa Rowe in the film. Angelina Jolie won an Oscar for her searing performance of Rowe, a sociopath.
In this second episode, we explore several characters that Swan may have (and may yet) identify with, discuss the awkwardness of portraying mental health narratives on the big screen, and what it would really take for such an intense film to be digestible for typical teenagers. Matthew ends with a meditation on immersive/claustrophobic media—which Swan goes on to master—compared with the relief of developing a meta-view capable of inhabiting many stories, as opposed to imitating one.
Show Notes
SENECA THE YOUNGER, HERCULES FURENS - Theoi Classical Texts Library
Hercules (Seneca)
Girl, Interrupted — Susanna Kaysen
1607: Growing up with Teal Swan - Diana Hansen Ribera
Mad, Bad, and Sad: Women and the Mind Doctors by Lisa Appignanesi
Brittany Murphy: Inside Her Sudden Death at 32 That Still Confounds Hollywood
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For the prophet and the revolutionary alike, the time is always now. Gird up your loins brave heroes, and show your true faith! The signs portend that The Last World Emperor is rising to do battle against the AntiChrist. The time is always now, but in that flat circle of iterative history, no bad idea is really new under the Black Sun—it's just been engineered to go more viral.
Our guest today is history professor Thomas Lecaque, who writes about how medieval ethnonationalist holy war is woven into hugely popular video games, right-wing political rhetoric, and even how assault weapons are marketed. Julian talks with him about the Hobbit-fetish of new Italian PM and heir to Mussolini, Giorgia Meloni, as well as the American right’s obsession with the Templar Knights, and the troubling midterm election trend of open White Christian Nationalism.
For TWIC, Matthew muses on the overlaps between conspirituality and neo-fascism, but first Derek reports on the battle between testicular cuisine and buttery coffee.
Show Notes
Manclan Episode 1: Liver King vs the Soy Boys
Cornell Expert Warns Against Megadosing Vitamins
Dietary Supplements Market Size, Share & Trends Analysis Report
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Methylene blue will give you more energy! It’s neuroprotective! Your skin will never look better! Your bunghole will never be bluer!
This week, Derek investigates one of biohacking’s hottest trends: a textile dye that does, in fact, have medical applications—just not the ones optimizers are promoting, and optimizing. He’ll look into this organic compound’s history, how it’s being marketed by the butter coffee guy, and finally, reading from Aubrey Marcus’s latest newsletter on blue buttholes.
Show Notes
So You Want to Pop Into a Hyperbaric Oxygen Chamber to Rid Yourself of Wrinkles?
Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy: Get the Facts
When Medicines Go Rogue, Part 1: Methylene Blue
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There's no Teal Swan without the Satanic Panic. And there's no Satanic Panic without the 1980 publication of Michelle Remembers, by Lawrence Pazder and Michelle Smith.
In this first of three segments on this melted book, Matthew and Julian cover its historical, cultural, and mass media context. We start with a review of a 1985 20/20 episode called “The Devil Worshippers” for a taste of how mainstream outlets hosted cranks like Pazder, giving him a hall pass on evidence, and overlooking how his Catholic fetishes and paranoias played a huge role in the fictions he spun.
The post Vatican 2 context is crucial, especially as we bear witness to the current political triumphs of Trad-Cath propaganda and politics in our post-Roe, QAnon -fried world. For help, we look to an excellent essay by social historian Bernard Doherty about the genre and elements of the Catholic Horror Film, which begins with Rosemary's Baby in 1968. This reactionary genre attempted to respond to modernizing—or postmodernizing, as Jordan Peterson might say—changes in Church doctrine.
Bottom line? The Satanic Panic largely begins in and is sustained by Catholic-flavoured conspirituality anxiety about secularization, sex, babies, and abortion.
CORRECTIONS: My dad informs me that I've made some Pope mistakes! Pius X was the last legitimate Pope according to the sedavacantists, and John XXIII, not Paul XXIII, opened the Vatican 2 proceedings. Thx dad. MR
Show Notes
Michael Hobbes and Sarah Marshall cover Michelle Remembers with great skill.
"20/20" the Devil Worshippers - May 16, 1985
West of Memphis movie review & film summary
Mel Gibson: The man without a pope
The Smoke of Satan on the Silver Screen: The Catholic Horror Film, Vatican II, and the Revival of Demonology | Journal for the Academic Study of Religion
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Mystery topic today. Emergency episode. Breaking story. Amazing if true! Totally transformative plot twist. You gotta listen through for the big reveal, and then hit smash for more.
Spoiler alert: QAnon was foreshadowed by Pizzagate, but Pizzagate was foreshadowed by a moral panic in London, England that was driven in part by someone the three of us are karmically bound to, for good or ill, forever.
But first, Derek’s got a This Week in Conspirituality segment on the boom times for pseudoscience telehealth. Psychic healing for Zoom, as he calls it.
Show Notes
Network of right-wing health care providers is making millions off hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin, hacked data reveals
The Anti-vax founder of America’s Frontline Doctors now has a license to practice in Florida
US cardiologist makes false claims about Covid-19 vaccination
Hoaxed
Teal Swan allegations documents
Re P and Q (Children: Care Proceedings: Fact Finding)
Jacqui Farmer's "Hampstead Research"
Illuminati Party! - Reasons Not to Be Scared of the Illuminati.
Charlotte Ward’s conspirituality.org About page
Full article: The Emergence of Conspirituality
Hoaxtead Research
Charlotte writing as Jacqui on conspirituality.org
Charlotte Ward denounces ‘Hampstead psy op’ | HOAXTEAD RESEARCH
Charlotte Ward - Academia.edu
Ward cites Icke
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Julian and Matthew take a long look at the 1999 film Teal Swan was reportedly obsessed with as a teen. Girl, Interrupted is a bold adaptation of a 1993 memoir by the writer Susanna Kaysen about the 18 months she spent undergoing treatment for Borderline Personality Disorder in a Massachusetts psychiatric facility in the late 1960s.
This study is provoked by a memory recounted by Swan's childhood friend, Diana Hansen Ribera, that Swan identified with the character of Lisa Rowe in the film. Angelina Jolie won an Oscar for her searing performance of Rowe, a sociopath.
Show Notes
Girl, Interrupted — Susanna Kaysen
1607: Growing up with Teal Swan - Diana Hansen Ribera
Mad, Bad, and Sad: Women and the Mind Doctors by Lisa Appignanesi
Brittany Murphy: Inside Her Sudden Death at 32 That Still Confounds Hollywood
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The book is filed. Our mental health is in check. And, as it turns out, Matthew found a new guru. We return to trio work by investigating his fellow Canadian's cure for, uh, anything, or maybe something, as well diving into two biohacking conferences and the conspiritualist's new favorite fascist on the block.
Show Notes
Tip of the iceberg: erectile dysfunction and COVID-19 | International Journal of Impotence Research
Will in the News, TV & Internet Culture
Umberto Eco Makes a List of the 14 Common Features of Fascism | Open Culture
The Cruelty Is the Point
Alessio Di Giulio's Racist Selfie With Roma Woman Enrages Italy
Meloni holding melons
CPAC: The Whole World is Watching - Giorgia Meloni
Dal rugby allo yoga, tutto lo sport di Giorgia Meloni
Pierre Poilievre rubs his old wood
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If you tune into your favorite Instagram wellness influencer or financial life coach, you’ll learn that money is really a state of mind—right? Thinking the right thoughts is the truest judge of character, and therefore indicative of your bottom line. This week Derek looks at research from behavioral economics, which found the perceived relationship between wealth and morality dates back to post-WWII America—and has damaged the poorest among us for generations. He weighs evidence from this field, which looks at the real societal and political causes of wealth disparity, against the metaphysical bullshit that proponents of the “mindset creates wealth” uber-text, A Course in Miracles, try to sell you.
Show Notes
Why we shouldn’t push a positive mindset on those in poverty
The Causal Effects of Place on Health and Longevity
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Some of the most valuable material that come to us from Paula Marino's Open Shadow film of 2017 is an extended interview with Swan's parent's, the Bosworths. They speak about Swan's sensory sensitivity as a young child, and how that morphed into a staunchly independent but sometimes isolated social life. They describe Swan's secret runic writing, their belief in her capacities as a medical intuitive, and discuss the gaps in psychiatric care that failed them all when her mental health needed help. This episode examines this interview, and then cross-checks some aspects against the account of Swan's childhood friend, Diana Hansen Ribera.
Here we have the unique insight into parents speaking vulnerably and transparently about their baffling child—which means we can really lean into the primal material that pre-exists the charged questions about whether Teal Swan is running a cult or encouraging suicide. What we find, between the accounts of the Bosworths and Ribera, is a collection of commonplace phenomena: high sensitivity, parents learning as they go, the intrusion of internet pornography, and a likely abusive figure who was too close to the family.
In this episode, Matthew and Julian discuss the mystery of familial memory, idealizing vs. pathologizing children, the appeals of fantasy as a mode of relief, whether the Satanic Panic was a collective cry for help to resolve commonplace domestic and community abuse, and the possibility that cult formation is a social form of post traumatic play.
Show Notes
Open Shadow — Paula Marino
Do You Cry Easily? You May Be a 'Highly Sensitive Person'
The science behind why some of us are shy
Study: Pornography does not cause violent sex crimes
When Children Act Out Sexually: A Guide for Parents and Teachers
1607: Growing up with Teal Swan - Diana Hansen Ribera
“Forbidden Games”: Post-Traumatic Child's Play — Lenore Terr
Valerie L. Dripchak (2007). Posttraumatic Play: Towards Acceptance and Resolution. , 35(2), 125–134. doi:10.1007/s10615-006-0068-y
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Are you ready to biohack your brain with buttered coffee? How about going “within” at the Drybar of acupuncture? What if we told you that cannabis will catapult your chakras into higher consciousness—all it costs is a $5,000 retreat entry fee, not including airfare and hotel? In the $4.4 trillion wellness industry, is any cost really too expensive to achieve true self-care—even if it never really seems like you arrive anywhere at all?
Rina Raphael was getting burnt out as a millennial digital news producer at NBC News. And so she did what anyone would do: she moved to Los Angeles in search of that self-care. Yet she could never shake her journalistic chops, and so she ended up writing about the wellness industry for the NY Times, the LA Times, Fast Company, and other publications. Her skeptical eye and earnest curiosity lead her to write her brand new book, The Gospel of Wellness: Gyms, Gurus, Goop, and the False Promise of Self-Care. And she’s here this week to talk to us this week about her adventures in modern spirituality—its teachings as well as its traps.
Show Notes
The Gospel of Wellness
Well To Do — Rina Raphael
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Christina Flinders returns for the second of a two-part tour through her experience with cultic dynamics, conspirituality, and the long road towards finding her place in the world.
Picking up where she left off, Flinders discusses breaking free of the sexually abusive cult of Eknath Easwaren, finding ambivalent agency as a stripper, and then graduating to yoga teaching—where she then had to dodge being redpilled.
Thanks again to Christina for her generosity and lucidity, and her family for their support.
If you'd like to share your story with us and our Patreon community of listeners, please get in touch.
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Did you know that Joe Biden is a Satanic alien Nazi pedophile intent on bringing about the New World Order? Or that Donald Trump is the only thing that will save us from complete tyranny? How about the fact that COVID vaccines are bioweapons destroying the global population? But that’s okay, because colloidal silver is the magic bullet that will boost your immune system to help you fend off this scamdemic. Add that to your herbal stack alongside Lung Health Organic Herbal Spray which is definitively proven to boost your immunity even though it’s never been clinically tested.
Oh, and have we mentioned that chocolate is an octave of the sun?
Strap in, folks, because this week we’re finally looking at David “Avocado” Wolfe, whose paranoid Telegram channel boasts all of the above claims and much, much more. And we’re not just clipping recent podcast talks and driver’s seat rants. We’re joined by longtime journalist, health food marketing guru, and co-founder of the website, Ethos, Jill Ettinger, who worked side-by-side with David for many years. She’ll tell her side of it—and honestly, it’s not all bad, except for recent years. In effect, we’re looking at a conspiracy-prone health food guru turn full conspiritualist over the last two decades. Bonus: Jill brought Derek along to many events across the country in the aughts, and David was often there, so we’ll hear about this descent from people who watched it happen.
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Christina Flinders is our honoured guest today for the first of a two-part tour through her experience with cultic dynamics and conspirituality. Matthew and Julian learn about her family's enmeshment in the cult of Eknath Easwaren, and her subsequent journey through rebellion, self discovery, and political awakening.
We'd like to thank Christina for her generosity and lucidity, and her family for supporting her in this.
We hope that this will be the first in a series. If you'd like to share your story with us and the Patreon community of listeners here, please get in touch.
Show Notes
Comment from Pratik Joshi on Easwaren's abuse history in India
PEOPLE v. RUPPENTHAL
Eknath Easwaran on the Training of Attention
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On May 31st, 2014, Morgan Geyser stabbed her onetime best friend Bella Leutner nineteen times, while her new best friend, Anissa Weier, looked on. All three girls were twelve years old.
Geyser was living with schizophrenia, and Weier had introduced her to the crowd-sourced internet phantasm known as Slenderman, who first appeared on Something Awful, the message board at the root of chan culture. Together, Geyser and Weier came to believe that Slenderman was demanding a sacrifice in exchange for his protection. Their crime, at once naïve and brutal, sparked a moral panic.
Author Kathleen Hale joins Matthew to discuss her reporting on this story in her riveting and compassionate new book, Slenderman: Online Obsession, Mental Illness, and the Violent Crime of Two Midwestern Girls.
Slenderman is brimming with tenderness for these girls, who are all creative, confused, scared, and ultimately bound to each other through social contagion and mental illness. Hale's writing is accessible but elliptical as it uncovers jagged details, but never easy answers, about a world that predicts our own.
On this podcast we spend a lot of time on the virtual demons that animate conspirituality and QAnon, driving some devotees to violence. Hale's work is good medicine for those who know that internet chaos and mental precarity will remain locked in feedback loops for the foreseeable future. Her meticulous investigation—enriched by hours spent interviewing Morgan Geyser—shows that the road to understanding is always paved with empathy.
Show Notes
Slenderman — Kathleen Hale
Am I being catfished? An author confronts her number one online critic | Books | The Guardian
Folklore, Horror Stories, and the Slender Man: The Development of an Internet Mythology
The Slender Man Wiki | Fandom
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As we're all with family over the holiday weekend, here's a 2018 interview that Derek conducted with neuroscientist Michael Gazzaniga after the publication of his last book, The Consciousness Instinct: Unraveling the Mystery of How the Brain Makes the Mind. Michael revolutionized the field of neuroscience in the 1960s with his work on split-brain patients and remains a towering figure in his field.
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Do you ever stop to think about whether or not you can afford organic food—and then consider that many people don’t have such an option? Is Goop’s $295 incense holder a sign of feminine empowerment or merely another Gwneth Paltrow grift? Will that $32 spin class that features an endless litany of positive affirmations make you more likely to slip $5 to the homeless person camped outside of the studio—or does it increase your happiness or contentment levels at all, once the endorphins wear off?
These are just some of the questions posed by CTZNWELL founder, Kerri Kelly, in her new book, American Detox: The Myth of Wellness and How We Can Truly Heal. Beginning with her own transformational moment after 9/11, Kerri has long asked difficult questions of both herself and the industry she’s spent decades immersed in. In fact, while Derek and Julian were co-founding the Conspirituality pre-cursor, YogaBrains, over a decade ago, Kerri was an integral member of yoga-activist organization, Off the Mat, Into the World. She joins us this week as co-host to discuss her own origin myth and to tell us exactly how she’s detoxing from America these days.
Show Notes
American Detox: The Myth of Wellness and How We Can Truly Heal
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The homestretch of our study of Michelle Remembers zeroes in on the literal symbols—and symbols gone literal—of the Satanic Panic. Archetypes, gore, anxieties about sex and babies and filth: Lawrence Pazder mined it all, using modes of abstraction and dehumanization as old as religion itself to weave a story he claimed was all about Michelle—but was really an exercise of his own fetishes.
Michelle Smith could have received proper care for her understandable stresses. She could have offered up her feelings and sensations and images from dreams for discussion and contemplation, and an actual therapist would have held that material safely for her to explore. But in Pazder, Smith found someone who wasn’t interested in common human complexity. He was interested in cosmic warfare, and the role he could LARP within it.
But Pazder was so blind to his craven narcissism that he couldn’t help but tell on himself. In the final passage we analyze, Pazder records Smith demanding to end therapy. “If I could tear out my tongue,” she says, “I would never have to speak again.” But in the very next paragraph, the man who is forcing her to “remember” symbolically tears out her tongue, rejecting her plea to end the sessions, interpreting her demand as though it were coming from Satan himself.
She imagines herself getting in a car and driving and driving, anywhere. Away from this psychiatrist who wanted to be an exorcist, away from his story, perhaps to find her own.
Show Notes
HIGHEST GAME IN TOWN
‘I See His Blood Upon the Rose’ | Franciscan Media
How to Lose Weight (Weight Loss and Obesity) - Teal Swan
The Cause of Obesity - Teal Swan Articles
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Fitness is the beating heart of America. No, wait, that’s opportunistic capitalism. But opportunistic capitalism, as it turns out, is the beating heart of fitness. Yet fitness has a soul too—in fact, mysticism, capitalism, and fitness have been dancing together for a very long time, while politics calls the tune, as historian and assistant professor at The New School, Natalia Petrzela, is here to tell us about today. We should also note that Natalia is our only four-time guest.
She’s also the author of an incredible new book, to be published this December by the University of Chicago Press, titled Fit Nation: The Gains and Pains of America’s Exercise Obsession. The book spans over a hundred years, chronicling shifting cultural attitudes, gendered expectations, political inflections, and jackpot innovations in how Americans have celebrated, reviled, bought, sold, and been turned-on or enlightened by rituals of exercise.
Like us, Natalia loves physical culture, but contradictions abound in the collisions between embodiment, politics, and commerce. If, as the marketing has told us over the years, recreational running is better for the mind than psychotherapy, moonlit naked hottubing at Esalen can save the world, women can simultaneously embrace dance studio fitness as a path of feminist liberation and a way to titilate the male gaze, and yoga can promise freedom from ever needing drugs or surgery, is it any wonder that a country so obsessed with exercise is so notoriously unhealthy?
Show Notes
Fit Nation: The Gains and Pains of America’s Exercise Obsession
From Performance to Participation: The Origins of the Fit Nation
Working On The Work of Working Out: A history of fitness in America
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JP Sears constantly refers to himself as a freethinker. His increasing religiosity is counter to critical thinking, however. Derek responds to two recent videos that detail his religious thinking and transphobia, showing how a specific strain of Christianity—and binary thinking—is not freethought, but propaganda.
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In this episode of the Swan Song Series, Matthew interviews Paola Marino about why she found Teal Swan a fascinating subject to film for 2018’s “Open Shadow.” They discuss aesthetics, the mystery of personality, why Swan’s parents agreed to sit down with her. Matthew also surprised her with the newly-revealed translations of Swan’s coded journal pages.
Prefacing the interview is a discussion between Julian and Matthew about art, artifice, the risks of doing and not doing hard journalism on the subjects we cover. They discuss James Joyce’s proverb about noble art, in which he describes “aesthetic arrest” as the middle way between propaganda and pornography.
Marino’s work attempts to find that path, while Jon Kasbe’s The Deep End falters to both sides. On one hand Kasbe’s film titillates viewers with high drama. On the other hand it tells viewers what they should think. And in both cases it creates a story where the truth would suffice.
The feelings excited by improper art are kinetic, desire or loathing. Desire urges us to possess, to go to something; loathing urges us to abandon, to go from something. These are kinetic emotions. The arts which excite them, pornographical or didactic, are therefore improper arts. The esthetic emotion (I use the general term) is therefore static. The mind is arrested and raised above desire and loathing. —James Joyce, Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
Show Notes
Open Shadow—Paola Marino
Gizmodo Launches 'The Gateway,' an Investigative Podcast About a Controversial Internet Spiritual Guru
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In the second of three episodes on Michelle Remembers, we recap its Catholic contexts, and Lawrence Pazder's quest to transcend the limitations of psychiatry through mystical nightmares. We then explore the front matter: how Pazder introduces his project (and himself), and the ambivalent endorsement of Remi de Roo, Archbishop of Victoria. In Pazder's many clerical alliances, a crucial theme is established: the rapprochement between psychiatry and the priesthood, in which the former submits to the latter to restore the reality of the supernatural.
We also look at the pre-emptively defensive intro penned by the publisher, Thomas B. Congdon Jr. He claimed to have verified the substance of the book through interviews, and thought that Pazder and Smith were very earnest and forthcoming people when he hosted them for editorial meetings. Okay sure.
Show Notes
Remi De Roo - Wikipedia
Thomas B. Congdon, Editor of Best Sellers Like 'Jaws,' Dies at 77
The Beginning of a Community
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Traditional Chinese Medicine is an ancient medical system that has persisted in its homeland for countless generations before being exported to the rest of the world—right? Well, not exactly, but that doesn’t mean the varying sets of practices have not made an impact in China and abroad.
This week, historian Tamara Venit-Shelton joins the podcast to talk to Derek about the history of Chinese Medicine in America. The author of Herbs and Roots: A History of Chinese Doctors in the American Medical Marketplace, they discuss the xenophobia and racism that Chinese encountered in the 19th century West, how early Chinese doctors used the exoticism of their system to their advantage when advertising to disaffected Americans who were suspicious of the dominant health care system, the moment that these varying practices became unified by Chairman Mao in the middle of the 20th century, and how the acupuncture needles we use today are not actually Chinese in origin—we can thank the Japanese for the world’s recent widespread adoption of that practice.
Show Notes
Herbs and Roots: A History of Chinese Doctors in the American Medical Marketplace
Tamara Venit-Shelton gets to the roots of Chinese medicine in America
Evidence Map of Acupuncture review of systematic reviews on 1,500 RCT’s.
David Gorski “Acupuncture is a theatrical placebo, retconned beyond recognition.”
$2.5 Spent—No Alternative Cures Found by the NCCIH
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There's no Teal Swan without the Satanic Panic. And there's no Satanic Panic without the 1980 publication of Michelle Remembers, by Lawrence Pazder and Michelle Smith.
In this first of three segments on this melted book, Matthew and Julian cover its historical, cultural, and mass media context. We start with a review of a 1985 20/20 episode called “The Devil Worshippers” for a taste of how mainstream outlets hosted cranks like Pazder, giving him a hall pass on evidence, and overlooking how his Catholic fetishes and paranoias played a huge role in the fictions he spun.
The post Vatican 2 context is crucial, especially as we bear witness to the current political triumphs of Trad-Cath propaganda and politics in our post-Roe, QAnon -fried world. For help, we look to an excellent essay by social historian Bernard Doherty about the genre and elements of the Catholic Horror Film, which begins with Rosemary's Baby in 1968. This reactionary genre attempted to respond to modernizing—or postmodernizing, as Jordan Peterson might say—changes in Church doctrine.
Bottom line? The Satanic Panic largely begins in and is sustained by Catholic-flavoured conspirituality anxiety about secularization, sex, babies, and abortion.
Show Notes
Michael Hobbes and Sarah Marshall cover Michelle Remembers with great skill.
"20/20" the Devil Worshippers - May 16, 1985
West of Memphis movie review & film summary (2012) | Roger Ebert
Mel Gibson: The man without a pope - Where Peter Is
The Smoke of Satan on the Silver Screen: The Catholic Horror Film, Vatican II, and the Revival of Demonology | Journal for the Academic Study of Religion
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We can't understand Teal Swan without understanding the Satanic Panic. And we can't really understand that historical disaster with out feeling our way into the mysteries of memory, fantasy, shame, and terror.
Many of you will have heard about therapists interfering in a family constellation by insinuating the client has has memories of abuse to uncover, and that they can’t go forward in their lives without doing that work. This is the bread and butter of Swan's technique, with the result being that many of her close followers come to tell stories about their childhoods that echo hers. Swan's own story of childhood abuse crystallized after she goes through treatment with a leading Satanic Panic therapist, Barbara Snow.
Those are stories on the page. But today, to kick off the Swan Song Series, Julian shares the moment-by-moment mechanics of how this disastrous parody of therapy turned his own life inside out, and alienated him from his family for a decade.
Content warning for listeners: we’ll be talking about stories of child sexual abuse.
Show Notes
The Gateway
Michelle Remembers, covered by Sarah Marshall and Michael Hobbes
Forrest Yoga students ask A. Forrest to stop using the Zia Nation symbol
A. Forrest's ostensible mentor
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Matthew sits down with ace journalist EJ Dickson to explore her deep archive of reporting on the policing of women's bodies, and how it reflects on her own experience of childbirth.
This episode opens and closes with reference to the essay that first introduced Matthew to this world, "Giving Birth in Yogaland," written by his partner Alix, after two C-section deliveries.
Show Notes
"Giving Birth in Yogaland" —Alix Cale
raggapunzel on Instagram —water birth on the beach
Covid-19 Vaccine: How Dommes Are Convincing Submissives to Get Jabs
Matt Gaetz, QAnon Followers, and the GOP Are Exploiting the #FreeBritney Movement
Are Sex-Negative 'Puriteens' Actually Taking Over the Internet?
'Pastel QAnon' Is Infiltrating the Natural Parenting Community
Princess Diana Struggled With Bulimia. Does 'The Crown' Do Her Justice?
The Baby-Formula Shortage Has Spawned a New Brand of Mom-Shamers
Roe v. Wade: Top Influencers Avoid Abortion Debate - Rolling Stone
Amber Heard, Johnny Depp: TikTok Reenactments of Testimony Goes Viral
Michelle Phan: How YouTube Beauty Guru Fell in With Bullshit Peddler
There Are a Million Reasons to Get An Abortion. This Was Mine.
Bentinho Massaro: Instagram Guru 'F-king' His Followers 'To Freedom'
In Minnie Mouse's D
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A recent review questioning the serotonin theory of depression has revived a generations-long debate over the very notion of "chemical imbalances." While there are plenty of important debates about the roles of pharmacology and psychotherapy in mental health disorders, conspiritualists from both wellness spaces and the far right have been using mental health to promote (and monetize) their own agendas. Derek investigates.
Show Notes
The serotonin theory of depression: a systematic umbrella review of the evidence
The New Study on Serotonin and Depression Isn’t About Antidepressants
Inside Kelly Brogan’s Covid-Denying, Vax-Resistant Conspiracy Machine
The Far Right’s Next Target for a Bullshit Moral Panic: Antidepressants
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Life is scary. Natural disasters, violent intruders, and deadly viruses threaten our survival and endanger our loved ones. When ordinary solutions and institutions are not trusted, we may reach for talismanic help; crystals, herbal remedies, ritual prayer and magical thinking, or we might consult the charismatic oracle who channels prophecies from the Great Beyond—right on your iPhone.
But what about weaponry? Even though guns exert devastating real-world impact, our guest argues that they also carry an important symbolic power. While most may never use it, the knowledge that cold hard steel is nearby is one attempt at managing an anxiety that is all-too human. In fact, coping strategies both magical and militaristic are woven into the American political psyche—and as the pandemic has demonstrated, flare up dramatically during social crises; even at times becoming strange bedfellows.
Philosophy and religion professor Alan Levinovitz calls this "empowerment epistemology" and describes it as a connective tissue between the seemingly distant domains of gun culture and the wellness sphere. In both cases, this longing for empowerment in the face of helplessness motivates us to cleave to what we believe protects us, regardless of evidence to the contrary—or the tragic consequences in our middle schools and medical ICUs.
Show Notes
Oprah's 'happiness guru' designed apartments to maximize joy — and they start at $5 million
Killing does not come easy for soldiers - The Washington Post
Hanns Johst “Schlageter”
Quote/Counterquote: “Whenever I hear the word 'culture'…”
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Some of the most valuable material that comes to us from Paula Marino's Open Shadow film of 2017 is an extended interview with Swan's parent's, the Bosworths. They speak about Swan's sensory sensitivity as a young child, and how that morphed into a staunchly independent but sometimes isolated social life. They describe Swan's secret runic writing, their belief in her capacities as a medical intuitive, and discuss the gaps in psychiatric care that failed them all when her mental health needed help. This episode examines this interview, and then cross-checks some aspects against the account of Swan's childhood friend, Diana Hansen Ribera.
Here we have the unique insight into parents speaking vulnerably and transparently about their baffling child—which means we can really lean into the primal material that pre-exists the charged questions about whether Teal Swan is running a cult or encouraging suicide. What we find, between the accounts of the Bosworths and Ribera, is a collection of commonplace phenomena: high sensitivity, parents learning as they go, the intrusion of internet pornography, and a likely abusive figure who was too close to the family.
In this episode, Matthew and Julian discuss the mystery of familial memory, idealizing vs. pathologizing children, the appeals of fantasy as a mode of relief, whether the Satanic Panic was a collective cry for help to resolve commonplace domestic and community abuse, and the possibility that cult formation is a social form of post traumatic play.
Show Notes
Open Shadow — Paula Marino
Do You Cry Easily? You May Be a 'Highly Sensitive Person'
The science behind why some of us are shy
Study: Pornography does not cause violent sex crimes
When Children Act Out Sexually: A Guide for Parents and Teachers
1607: Growing up with Teal Swan - Diana Hansen Ribera
“Forbidden Games”: Post-Traumatic Child's Play — Lenore Terr
Valerie L. Dripchak (2007). Posttraumatic Play: Towards Acceptance and Resolution. , 35(2), 125–134. doi:10.1007/s10615-006-0068-y
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We spend so much time on this podcast discussing the wellness industry’s paranoia around anything from the medical “establishment” or the Luciferean nature of “Big Pharma,” but there’s another devil that’s lurking around every corner: the Mainstream Media.
Derek has long argued that there’s no such thing. Media organizations are competing businesses, and while there can be sloppiness when trying to break a story or laziness when rewriting press releases for clicks, the notion of a media “Deep State” is usually part of the conspiritualist’s sales technique, not the reality of modern media.
Derek began his career as a religion journalist, and this week he interviews Sam Kestenbaum, who’s made a career in this field. Sam has written for the NY Times and the Washington Post, where he recently published an expose on Christiane Northrup. Derek asks him about this story in particular, as well as his process of reporting on religion, the differences between spirituality and religion, and the coming post-pandemic spirituality surge—and how conspiritualists are already monetizing it.
Show Notes
Christiane Northrup, once a New Age health guru, now spreads covid disinformation
Life After Proclaiming a Trump Re-election As Divinely Ordained
Godspeak Calvary Church Defies Quarantine, Attendance Soars
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In this episode of the Swan Song Series, Matthew interviews Paola Marino about why she found Teal Swan a fascinating subject to film for 2018’s “Open Shadow.” They discuss aesthetics, the mystery of personality, why Swan’s parents agreed to sit down with her. Matthew also surprised her with the newly-revealed translations of Swan’s coded journal pages.
Prefacing the interview is a discussion between Julian and Matthew about art, artifice, the risks of doing and not doing hard journalism on the subjects we cover. They discuss James Joyce’s proverb about noble art, in which he describes “aesthetic arrest” as the middle way between propaganda and pornography.
Marino’s work attempts to find that path, while Jon Kasbe’s The Deep End falters to both sides. On one hand Kasbe’s film titillates viewers with high drama. On the other hand it tells viewers what they should think. And in both cases it creates a story where the truth would suffice.
The feelings excited by improper art are kinetic, desire or loathing. Desire urges us to possess, to go to something; loathing urges us to abandon, to go from something. These are kinetic emotions. The arts which excite them, pornographical or didactic, are therefore improper arts. The esthetic emotion (I use the general term) is therefore static. The mind is arrested and raised above desire and loathing. — James Joyce, Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
Show Notes
Open Shadow—Paola Marino
Gizmodo Launches 'The Gateway,' an Investigative Podcast About a Controversial Internet Spiritual Guru
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This podcast was born in response to COVID and vaccine disinformation that, while bubbling up for some time, flooded the population with the release of the pseudodocumentary, “Plandemic.” Ever since then, we’ve wondered how to combat the constant tides of pseudoscience masquerading as “natural remedies” that conspiritualists champion, then sell for a profit.
One of our earliest champions was the Southern California-based cardiologist, Danielle Belardo, who built up a large social media following even before the pandemic ravaged the world. Not only was she on the actual frontlines of COVID wards, but she’s been leading the charge on providing evidence-based information on her social media feeds, as well as her excellent podcast, Wellness: Fact Vs Fiction.
Derek was recently a guest on that podcast, and now Danielle returns the favor, joining him to discuss her thoughts on being a science communicator and a female cardiologist in a male-dominated field, as well as many of the wellness myths circling around social media, including supplements, statins, sunscreen, veganism, organic foods, and GMOs.
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Derek steps back from conspiracies and wellness this week to discuss something very healing and personal to him: music. Specifically, how music has shaped his career, as well as the story behind the music you hear every week on this podcast.
Show Notes
EarthRise SoundSystem on Spotify
Earthrise SoundSystem vs Nina Simone: Come Ye
Bole 2 Harlem
Pete Kuzma
Global Beat Fusion: The History of the Future of Music
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Our guest today, Jennings Brown, is a bright light in an increasingly chaotic cult-content economy. His 2018 podcast on Teal Swan, The Gateway, produced with Gizmodo, sets a high-watermark standard for research, fairness, and sensitivity. A lot has happened since that pod dropped: #MeToo, MAGA, QAnon, COVID, and now a post-reality Supreme Court in which Justice Thomas publishes a concurrence in which he states that COVID vaccines use the tissues of aborted fetuses. All of which is to say: we don’t know how intensely the insanity of the era will escalate, but we do know that clear, ethical reporting on difficult issues is a very thin lifeline back to sanity, communication, and trying to do something.
If you listened to episode 109 (if you haven’t we encourage you to stop here and go there), you’ll hear our criticisms of The Deep End docuseries about Teal Swan. You’ll hear us interview the director, Jon Kasbe. We lean on him, maybe too gently, on the numerous integrity issues with his film. Bottom line: with deceptive edits and a vacuum of expert commentary and research, we feel that this project is a real setback for everyone trying to understand cultic dynamics in the online age. And as we’ll report at the top of the show, before our interview with Brown, the story of this embedment is only getting messier.
Our interview with Jennings steers clear of the muck, because what we really wanted to hear was all about his process, his editorial decisions, and the help he got from his producers. We were also very lucky to have him drop some previously unreported data into the mix. Spoiler alert: it’s about the types of things that Swan used to write in her secret runic alien language.
Show Notes
Jennings Brown — About page with tip line contact info
Episode 109: Who's Afraid of Teal Swan? w/ Jon Kasbe
Jon Kasbe wishing Teal Swan happy birthday
Bits Sola rapping Teal Swan happy birthday
Gizmodo Launches 'The Gateway,' an Investigative Podcast About a Controversial Internet Spiritual Guru
Open Shadow — Paola Marino
Paola Marino on The Deep End (clip)
Jennings Brown — Revelations
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We can't understand Teal Swan without understanding the Satanic Panic. And we can't really understand that historical disaster with out feeling our way into the mysteries of memory, fantasy, shame, and terror.
Many of you will have heard about therapists interfering in a family constellation by insinuating the client has has memories of abuse to uncover, and that they can’t go forward in their lives without doing that work. This is the bread and butter of Swan's technique, with the result being that many of her close followers come to tell stories about their childhoods that echo hers. Swan's own story of childhood abuse crystallized after she goes through treatment with a leading Satanic Panic therapist, Barbara Snow.
Those are stories on the page. But today, to kick off the Swan Song Series, Julian shares the moment-by-moment mechanics of how this disastrous parody of therapy turned his own life inside out, and alienated him from his family for a decade.
Content warning for listeners: we’ll be talking about stories of child sexual abuse.
Show Notes
The Gateway
Michelle Remembers, covered by Sarah Marshall and Michael Hobbes
Forrest Yoga students ask A. Forrest to stop using the Zia Nation symbol
A. Forrest's ostensible mentor
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Rosaries made of shell casings. A breakaway Unification Church sect that holds rituals with gilded ARs. JP Sears on the gun range. The unholy American trinity of conservative politics, religious extremism, and gun culture is deep into its liturgical calendar. And it looks like conspiritualist influencers in the yoga and wellness space are setting up their juice bars outside the temple of the gun.
Is Christiane Northrup LARPing when she talks about murdering political enemies? What would Mikki Willis wear to tactical boot camp? Amidst the carnage of Uvalde and the Supreme Court, are conspiritualists gearing up to offer logistical or merely symbolic support for political violence? Does it even make a difference? When does the Temple of the Gun become a firing range, and then a staging ground?
We’ll cover these questions this week in part one of our look at guns and spirituality. Then in three weeks, Julian will talk to sociologist of religion Alan Levinovitz about how New Age spirituality and US gun culture shake hands through an “epistemology of individual empowerment,” which, he argues, has emerged amidst a crash in social solidarity.
Show Notes
New York Times report on Guns in GOP Ads
How Many Lives Were Saved by The Assault Weapons Ban?
Christian Nationalists and the Holy Gun Crusade
Rod Of Iron Ministries Buys “Spiritual Retreat” Property in Tennessee
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Matthew introduces Julian to the solipsism of an old Catholic catechism. Julian remembers meditating on non-duality. What spaces in our brains do these exercises create? Did we need those spaces for safety, or to hide from ourselves and the world? What happens to these spaces when we no longer need them? If we learned how to take pleasure in “cognitive closure” through religion or spirituality, can we use that skill forever, but detached from the ideologies that want to steal that fire?
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If the world has become too much to bear—and the bots know it from your search history— you will likely find Teal Swan. She will appear, an angel of the algorithms, part icon and part anime avenger. Against a backdrop of flowing water or turning constellations, she will gaze into your despair. She will speak in a drone at once hypnotic and relieving, giving words to feelings you thought were taboo. At 3am, this might feel like mystical luck, but it’s no accident. Swan is open about recruiting suicidal seekers to her content, and she has the tech chops to do it.
Now, with Jon Kasbe’s series, “The Deep End” airing on Hulu, Swan has entered some A-list limelight. But what do we really learn from this docutainment event, radiating out from an embedment in Swan’s inner circle? According to Kasbe’s own words, we don’t learn the “Capital T Truth” of Swan’s day-to-day, but rather the immersive feeling of what it is like to be under her spell.
Or do we? Swan accuses Kasbe of casting his own spell, with deceptive editing that scrambles timelines and conflates interactions, and even different people. And it appears she might not be wrong. We talk to Kasbe in this episode about his vision and blindspots, and the ironic risk of creating a film of Satanic-Panic level false memories about an influencer who says she specializes in retrieving past trauma.
This episode will pilot a series of Patreon bonus episodes in which we’ll study the Teal Swan spectacle in detail, and how important it is to not only report on it well, but to be fair to an influencer like Swan and her dedicated followers, lest they lose even more trust in the real world.
CORRECTION: Matthew referred to Jennings Brown's role on The Deep End production incorrectly during the episode. His title is "Development Executive Producer."
Show Notes
The Deep End
The Gateway Podcast
Teal Swan 2014 interview on her backstory.
Teal Swan: Gucci Guru article by Be Scofield
Barbara Snow’s seminal Satanic Panic article: Ritualistic Child Abuse In A Neighborhood Setting
Recovered Memory Therapist Placed on Probation
Michelle Remembers & The Satanic Panic
Teal’s Responses to The Deep End Start HERE
Teal Swan Defense :Testimonial Deep End Defamation—Sylvan
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After becoming global leaders in gun manufacturing in the 16th century, Japan banished all guns from their country for two centuries. How did this happen? And what were the results? Well, even today, the nation of 127 million experiences under 10 gun deaths every year.
Derek looks back at this period in history to find out what happens when a society seems to move backward when in reality progress is made. He also looks at the psychology of warfare while noting that as bad as society can become, nothing is inevitable.
Show Notes
Giving Up the Gun: Japan's Reversion to the Sword, 1543-1879
The demographics of gun ownership
America's gun culture - in seven charts
Packy McCormick: Optimism
Japan has almost completely eliminated gun deaths — here's how
A Terrible Love of War: James Hillman
War is a Force That Gives Us Meaning: Chris Hedges
Tribe: Sebastian Junger
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Half-a-million Facebook followers. Hundreds of videos in a series called “The Great Awakening.” Christiane Northrup, the matriarch of New Age women’s wellness, warns her followers about fake viruses, and tells them to avoid sex with their vaccinated partners. She stumps alongside QAnon celebrities, shovels campaign contributions to Trump, and dotes over sovereign citizen sheriffs. To ease your symptoms of ascension, she offers bath recipes of alfalfa greens and Dr. Bronner’s soap. You can have a good soak and listen to her golden harp.
But in this nowhere world, where oh where is Christiane Northrup? Who is she? Is she flesh and blood, or a social media hologram generated by a Louise Hay AI? Is that mansion she broadcasts from a sound stage, or is there real soil and manure and flowers there? Our guests today know Northrup as super-real, because they live in her home state of Maine. Alyce Ornella, Andy O’Brien, and Mooncat have known her as a doctor, an MLM diva, antivax rabble rouser, and QAnon tour promoter.
Now, they tell us, another Northrup may be crystallizing on Maine’s rocky shore, floating past the lighthouses and over the cranberry bogs on a cloud of essential oils. She’s been seen haunting the blueberry patches, wearing a chunky necklace of lobster claws. As Northrup begins to hold revival meetings in Down East churches, and openly fantasize about murdering political enemies, they wonder if she is assuming her ultimate form—as an IRL cult leader.
Show Notes
Dear Dr. Northrup
Dr. No: Christiane Northrup
Republican barred from inviting guests into State House
Naomi Wolf: “Five Freedoms” speech, April 2021.
Arise USA rally draws crowds inside, outside Crosby Center
Arise USA Meets Maine Stands Up
Inside the Disastrous Conspiracy Roadshow That Likely Killed a COVID-Denying Ex-CIA Agent
Maine Republican compared the governor to Nazi Josef Mengele
ME state rep compares COVID vaccine mandate to Nazism
Northrup bo
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Julian recently attended his first Catholic funeral and found himself equal parts supportive friend and atheist anthropologist. This week, Matthew draws on his Catholic upbringing and experience as church organist (for close to 1,000 funerals) to help unpack this experience.
In hindsight, it turns out that the rote blandness of organized religion may serve communities more honestly than the monetized performative charisma of New Age ritual. The conversation touches on the mythological and social dimensions of religion, as well as both Julian and Matthew’s experience of corporal punishment at school, meted out by the same authority figures who donned ceremonial robes for church.
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Aubrey Marcus really wants to not be a cult leader. He really wants Fit For Service to not be labeled a cult. He’s come out and said so, in a bold but vague response to criticism of his content from our podcast. Matthew takes him at his word, and puts on his cult research hat to give some pointers on how Aubrey can avoid abusing his power. Key bits of advice include: rejecting high intensity recruitment techniques, not depicting the world outside Fit For Service as “upside down” or insane, and not platforming alleged child molesters like Marc Gafni.
While this open letter is addressed to Aubrey, his Fit For Service clients might also find it useful as they decide whether to keep spending up to 20K USD per year participating in the program. Also, if Aubrey feels that this episode contains information that will help current and future participants assess whether he is really making good on his promise to provide “radical self-sovereignty,” we at Conspirituality Podcast would happily give permission for this episode to be included with Fit For Service materials, pro bono.
This letter is also open in a broader sense, because it contains solid tips for all earnest charismatic influencers who want to improve their ethics game. We believe you can do it, influencers! You can dig deep, and live your better life, by fucking over fewer people!
Show Notes
A Holocaust Denier Is Travelling Across Canada Building Up The Country's Newest Far-Right Militia Movement - Canadian Anti-Hate Network
'I Was 13 When Marc Gafni's Abuse Began' – The Forward
Former Rabbi Accused of Improper Sexual Conduct Now Rising Star in U.S. Spiritual Movement
Gafni Faces Fallout From New Age Community
Marc Gafni Named In Latest Sexual Abuse Lawsuit Against Yeshiva University
Popular New Age author Marc Gafni molested 13-year-old girl in 1980, lawsuit says
Sara Kabakov lawsuit docket
“Jane Doe” lawsuit
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An audio essay from Matthew about how anti-trans ideology can so curdle the soul that an otherwise progressive eco-activist—Derrick Jensen of Deep Green Resistance—can blow up his entire career over it, disrupting the very thing he says he lives for, and destroying the movement he spent years building up.
The story starts more than a decade ago, but comes to its peak absurdity, for Matthew at least, on Facebook. He posted some thoughts about Jordan Peterson freaking out over that woman on the cover of Sports Illustrated. And then Jensen visited his page.
Show Notes
The New Age / Medieval Mortifications of Jordan Peterson | by Matthew Remski | Medium
That FB post about Peterson and Yumi Nu
Yumi Nu cleverly responds to Jordan Peterson's 'not beautiful' comment' | indy100
Simulacra and Simulations — Baudrillard
Government Bill (House of Commons) C-16 (42-1) - First Reading - An Act to amend the Canadian Human Rights Act and the Criminal Code - Parliament of Canada
Canada's gender identity rights Bill C-16 explained
Four years on, past critics are silent on whether fears around transgender human rights bill were founded
An Act to amend the Canadian Human Rights Act and the Criminal Code
Jordan Peterson: The right to be politically incorrect
I Was in the Room While Jordan Peterson and Senators Debated My Human Rights
Lies of the land: against and beyond Paul Kingsnorth's völkisch environmentalism
What Speaking Like Jordan Peterson Probably Feels Like
J
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We've gone deep on yoga communities infected by conspiracy theories. We've looked at essential oils and supplements influencers peddling in misinformation. There are channelers and astrologers and chiropractors. But there's another world we've only mentioned in passing: martial arts practitioners, which turn out to be another influential vector for disinformation.
This week, Stephan Kesting, longtime BJJ black belt and instructor (and so much more) joins Derek to look at the conspiratorial frame of Joe Rogan, Dana White, and many other figures peddling misinformation in the arts.
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Matthew and Julian have to thank Kelly Brogan for hanging out on an episode of Aubrey Marcus's podcast, where she lays bare the emotional avoidance and cruelty that conspirituality attempts to sublimate—or dispel the guilt of.
Here's the pull quote for the ages:
So when I am sick, right, chronically sick, what do I get? I get compassion built in to my life from others who pity me. Right? And who offer me that surrogate hit of love. I get to say no without having to actually learn to assert my boundaries and express my desires in this clear, indirect way because of course, I'm limited by my illness. I can't do that. I get to say no all the time. I get to experience the validation of this felt sense of wrongness and brokenness that's always lived within me out of all my patients told me that the first time they got a diagnosis, they felt like See, I knew something was wrong with me. Yeah. And it's like, you know, ends up being like the prison number you know, that's put on their vest, but it feels in the moment like it's somebody's finally seeing their hurt. And when, you know, we end up over identifying with that wound with the cancer diagnosis with the, you know, the mental illness…
She goes on in the episode to say: "victim consciousness is the only human pathology."
Show Notes
Premka Memoir
If you want to STAY SICK, Don't Watch This | Dr. Kelly Brogan MD on Aubrey Marcus Podcast
Lesson 136: Sickness is a defense against the… | ACIM
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Is humanity doomed to repeat the mistakes of the past?
This week, Julian traces a timeline from the bright-eyed early days of the internet to the dark message boards where QAnon emerged—and that still foment white supremacist mass shootings. to the dizzying infinite scroll on TikTok. Each new evolution of social media exploits innate human vulnerabilities more effectively, delivering more potent strains of deceptive manipulation to receptive young minds.
No surprise, then, that a crew of talented dancers with huge TikTok audiences appears to have been recruited into a high-demand evangelical group with a divine mandate to conquer all aspects of American life for Jesus. We'll hear from friends and family anxiously wondering what is going on.
For today's interview, Abbie Richards returns. She's the the mis and disinformation researcher with special expertise on the "clock app."
Show Notes
How Lonelygirl15 Changed The Internet
Analyzing TikTok Usage and Growth
Is "The Garden" a TikTok Cult?
Dancing In The Name of The Lord
Inside the $2.5M LA Mansion Where Alleged TikTok "Cult" Shoots Videos
Shekinah Church "About" Page
The Modern Apostles Who Want To Want To Reshape America Ahead of the End Times
HBO Recruits Instagram Independent Reporters
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Julian and Matthew decompress after the interview with Gavin Ryan and discuss the "alt-med treadmill" and what it means to never quite know where the threshold of evidence lies.
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Cortney and Shana can’t remember exactly how they first became aware of the New Age promises and anxieties that would come to dominate every aspect of their lives. Their mom brought it into the house and their daily rhythms bit by bit.
As kids in the early 1980s, they would fall asleep to visualizations by the self-help guru Wayne Dyer, on audiocassette. Or mom would read passages from Autobiography of a Yogi, by Paramahansa Yogananda, after tucking them into bed. Cortney remembers an eerie photograph of the yogi’s corpse in a glass coffin in the mortuary. The lore was that he just wouldn’t decay. “Mom had a real fascination with beating death,” she told us.
When the girls were still in elementary school, mom took them to an “attunement”, which must have made them the youngest Reiki Masters in Green Bay, Wisconsin—if not the whole midwest. “She was on a search,” Shana told us.
And at some point the local massage training, the flyers in the health food stores, and the mail-order books weren’t enough. Mom started going to events, a long way from home—all the way out in Washington State. One time she came home with a VHS tape and played it for the girls. It showed a woman named J.Z. Knight transform into someone she called “Ramtha,” who she said was 35,000 years old, and carried the wisdom of the ages. She also brought audiocassettes of Ramtha, which they played in the car.
This was their introduction to “channeling.” They were young teens, and didn’t know what to think. Was it magic? Was it funny? Ramtha sounded like the Great Gazoo, after all. When mom wasn’t home they’d show the VHS tape to their friends and giggle. But they also felt strange about it. Embarrassed.
“I remember yelling at my mom, ‘Why can't you be normal?’” Shana said. What they understand now is how much she desperately needed to find something that was meaningful.
“She was really struggling in the Catholic religion,” Shana said, “And her marriage,” Cortney added. “And midlife. It was the perfect storm.”
Matthew sits down with Cortney and Shana as they share their story publicly for the first time.
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As the crew is in the final stages of submitting their forthcoming book, Julian and Derek reflect on how yoga has evolved in their personal lives. In Part 2, they talk about yoga in aging bodies, the pursuit of philosophy, and leaving the damn cell phone out of yoga studios.
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Since day one, we've been covering medical disinformation on this podcast, always wondering where it would move next. Our collective breaths were stolen when learning about the seemingly inevitable overturning of Roe v Wade last week—and the extensive implications that could have for American society.
Mother Jones senior editor, Kiera Butler, has been reporting on medical disinformation in parenting groups for years. Her most recent piece points out the next potential freedom to be stripped from women: the use of contraception. She joins Derek this week to talk about this seemingly dystopian present we're moving into, as well as the continued merging of the Christian Right and wellness influencers—which is very much a part of this movement.
Show Notes
The Anti-Abortion Movement’s Next Target: Birth Control
The Terrifying Story of How QAnon Infiltrated Moms’ Groups
The Death of Roe Is Going to Tear America Apart
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As the crew is in the final stages of submitting their forthcoming book, Julian and Derek reflect on how yoga has evolved in their personal lives. In Part 1, they discuss the origins of their yoga practices, what led them to teaching, and some ideas about yoga philosophy in general.
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After we published episode 98 on “Placebo Joe” Dispenza, an Australian artist named Gavin Ryan posted a comment to Facebook in response:
“My wife was full of this stuff, when she stopped taking all the treatments that had finally turned her breast cancer around, right up to the day she died of it. Still fully convinced she was going to heal herself by sheer force of wishful thinking.” We reached out, and Gavin agreed to an interview.
Fey was 47 years old when she died under the coconut palms and stars of Ubud, with Gavin at her side. She’d spent six years feverishly trying to keep ahead of breast cancer with alternative medicine and New Age spirituality. She received several turns of evidence-based care that had served her body well. But she would always return to the energy work, herbs, and meditations that spoke to her soul.
Gavin was there with her all the way. He found himself stretched thin between advocating for treatments that worked, and honoring her need for magic.
We're really grateful that he has shared this story with us.
Show Notes
Here's the full recording of Fey reciting "Karuna Breath."
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Manifestation workshops. MLM downlines. The supplement grift. Cash is king everywhere in the conspirituality sphere, even—especially—when disguised in the jargon of spiritual-ese. Derek and Julian step back and discuss the cash grab impulse, as well as talk about their own feelings on money and its value.
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In this conversation, Beatrice Adler-Bolton—disability justice advocate and co-host of Death Panel Podcast—says something twice:
"Under capitalism, you’re only entitled to the survival you can buy."
Her forthcoming co-authored book is called, provocatively, Health Communism. Part of its argument is that we have to imagine a society in which everyone is entitled to the survival we can share.
How disquieting it is that the natural instinct we have as individuals to ask: "What is this going to cost me?" is microcosmic to neoliberal obsessions—austerity, productivity, and dreams of a better future purchased with moral sacrifices in the present. It’s microcosmic to the brutal decisions our societies are now making about who is worthy of protection and who isn't, and which political constituencies we can't afford to piss off by appealing to the small amount of generosity and humility it takes to wear a mask.
We're living in a culture of What is it going to cost me? And that's not really a culture at all.
If we don't do better, then how exactly are the conspiritualists wrong? Not about the details, but about the existential condition. They imagine a Cabal at the top of everything, making nefarious decisions, and this is easy to dismiss. Less easy to dismiss is the feeling they articulate, that many of us share: that unseen and impersonal forces are working against the spirit of human generosity. They know that sometimes we all feel ourselves participating in that process, which means we have to do something—perhaps as radical as waking up. Not to the magic of turmeric, or the realization that we’re starseeds. Something far more radical than that, and much more mundane: that we can organize ourselves in more fair and loving ways.
Beatrice Adler-Bolton is a blind/low vision and chronically ill artist, writer, and disability justice advocate. Beatrice studies radical patient groups and the capitalist political economy of health as an independent researcher and is earning a master's in Disability Studies at CUNY. She is the co-host of the Death Panel podcast with Artie Vierkant and Phil Rocco.
Note from Beatrice:
If you'd like to give your listeners a little more info on Disability Justice (DJ), I would recommend this link from Sins Invalid, which is a short and foundational DJ text and a really quick primer on what it is written by Patty Berne and Sins Invalid: tinyurl.com/DJ10Principles.
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Derek and Julian discuss the literary influences and yogic practices that led them to yoga in the first place, while also discussing what spirituality in a post-pandemic world could look like.
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In July 2020, just as we were finding our sea legs with this podcast, Imran Ahmed joined to discuss the state of disinformation occurring around the world. As the founder of the UK’s Center for Countering Digital Hate, he had just produced a report that found anti-vax organizations were reaching 58 million people on social media—and this was well before the COVID vaccines were developed. The total amount of money spent by anti-vax groups and advertisers targeting their followers on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube turned out to be roughly $1 billion.
Imran’s group kept reporting and we kept covering them. You probably remember the Center thanks to its Disinformation Dozen report, which profoundly impacted awareness of just how much anti-vax leaders were monetizing their supplements, seminars, and other supposed COVID “interventions.” The report even reached the White House where Joe Biden called out the Disinformation Dozen during a press conference.
What’s changed in the nearly two years since we had Imran on? Well, a lot—and in some ways, not much at all. Julian interviews Imran this time around after having met up in person at the Defeat the Mandates rally in downtown Los Angeles. Imran discusses what’s changed, what hasn’t, and how the bottom line remains the same: namely, the conspiritualist’s bottom line. They also talk about the nature of free speech in an internet filled with disinformation.
Before hearing from Imran, Derek and Julian briefly discuss the state of disinformation and free speech online, which Derek frames in terms of urban planning and the concept of legibility.
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The Sermon of the Sardines is etched into our very souls. Picture the scene, as dreamboat doctor Zach Bush recounts his shimmering story of swimming off the coast of Tulum with thousands of tiny heroic fish, for Rich Roll’s Tuscany retreat participants. In this week’s Bonus episode Matthew and Julian connect the dots between Zach’s quivering amphibious ecstasy, his fascist notions of holy sacrifice in warfare via “non-empathic presence,” how he praises his hospice staff for using reiki as opposed to pain meds, and inspires his listeners to have no fear of death. After all—it’s the ultimate upgrade. From Sardine to Salvation, Bush has it covered.
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Listeners: there’s a revolution going on. Legions of Twitter counselors and Instagram therapists has risen up to offer unsolicited sermons on cults, cult leaders, and cult recovery. With COVID closing down the studios, every third yoga teacher has become an expert in trauma. They’re starting Facebook groups. They’re selling courses. They’re doing their Family Systems work out in the open, displaying heroic levels of vulnerability. We’re just waiting for the first QAnon recovery MLM to launch on Kickstarter. We know it’s coming. There will be oils, and breathing exercises, and some very long emotional check-ins on Zoom.
Meanwhile, Netflix is distinguishing itself from GaiaTV, the Netflix of cults, with an explosion of cult documentaries. There’s a gold rush on. Scouts for all of the streaming companies are lined up outside of the ashrams, vetting survivors to see who has the chops to carry a series. We seem to love them, but sometimes not as much as the sociopaths themselves. The cult doc is the new true crime chill.
Beneath the feeding frenzy, there’s real work to be done. The QAnon Casualities subreddit has 235K followers as of today. We get dozens of emails and DMs from people who have had their lives upended by conspirituality and cults. We have hints and whispers to offer them, but no answers. Yes, we live in a capitalist hellscape in which emotional turmoil of the people is commodified and sold back to them in the form of workshops and bingeable series. But we are also able to host Rachel Bernstein, cult recovery therapist, to get some clarity on the basic phenomena that dominate our commons today.
Program note: We’re going to try to stretch this out to 90 minutes so that we can each say we got a 45-minute free consult on why TF we’re doing this job.
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Since early on in this conspirituality experiment, Derek has been using the catchphrase that is the title of this week's bonus episode. Julian joins in to discuss exactly what the phrase means in the landscape of conspiritualists, who the most egregious offenders are, and the origin story of the term. If you think your coffee is moldy or those glasses are really blocking blue light, think again.
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If you get treated by someone who says they’re a doctor, but they’re not, can they still have a placebo effect? That’s the question we’d like to ask Dr. Joe Dispenza, who’s not a doctor, but who plays one on the internet, treating one and all with the placebo of his bafflegab about Quantum healing and TimeSpace.
Placebo Joe. Who is he? How do you take the measure of a Quantum Man? We’ll shine our browsers into the slit experiment and observe a particle here, a wave there. The particles of video clips, the waves of affiliate links. We’ll run our signature experiment: Schrodinger’s Influencer, to find out just how many parallel Joe Dispenzas are populating the multiple universes he is trying to crack back to alignment with his chiropractic panache. There’s the Joe of the Ramtha School of Enlightenment, Joe who starred in “What The Bleep Do We Know?” There’s faith healer Joe, and Joe who now headlines, alongside David Icke, for the Netflix of conspirituality, Gaia TV.
Joking aside: in episode 89, we heard from Mary, whose husband almost gave up on chemotherapy for aggressive pancreatic cancer under the influence of Placebo Joe. And today we’ll watch him pretend to be able to cure infertility, and romance Aubrey Marcus. We’ll also puzzle over his strangely undramatic origin story. We’ll suss out the normalizing impact Joe has on a whole raft of bullshit. We’ll wonder why this boy from a nice working class famiglia in Jersey wanted to be a doctor so badly, he was willing to talk himself into it.
Show Notes
Gaia Acquires Yoga International, a Leading Digital Yoga Service
You Are The Placebo
Why Some People Are More Susceptible to Placebos
$2.5B Spent by the NCCIH
Placebo Myths Debunked
Feedback Monday Bonus: Responding to Lissa Rankin
Merv Griffin Show JZ Knight As Ramtha - 1985 - 14 minutes
RSE: 4 axioms
Life University loses accreditation
Dispenza Quantum University bio
Joe Dispenza "I am the Placebo"
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Matthew and Julian draw back the curtain to take you behind the scenes of the book-writing process. They step back to consider the pantheon of conspiritualists we’ve covered over the last two years; the kaleidoscope of themes they represent, and the key moments they’ve had on the big cultural stage as the pandemic has unfolded. Who among them is worthy of being cast in the rogue’s gallery we will include in the book that will officially document all of our work over almost 100 episodes now?
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This week we’re “just asking questions.” You probably recognize that quip from Joe Rogan, of course, but today’s focus is another actor and comedian turned popular podcaster, Russell Brand. As with Rogan, who he recently said he loved being compared to, Brand is amassing an increasingly large following—trust us, he’ll remind you of that number at the top of every episode—thanks to his high-energy solo rants about the conspiracy of, well, seemingly everything.
But what’s Russell really saying? We’ve listened to hours of his podcasts and watched further hours of videos and, to be honest, we can’t really tell. Pseudo-spiritual musings mesh with benign revolutionary politicizing with a healthy dose of his live performance schedule and reminders to smash the subscribe button thrown in. Russell is exceptionally good at evoking emotions and firing listeners up with his high-energy, seemingly stream-of-consciousness diatribes, yet when you break down the sentences, you find that he’s pretty content-free. Well, except when he’s marketing himself, which, at the end of the day, seems to be the only thing Russell is truly interested in.
Show Notes
Hybrid immunity offers increased protection that is longer-lasting against Covid-19 reinfection, studies show
Russell Brand: My Response
Russell Brand: How Did We Miss This?
Russell Brand & Nigel Farage clash over immigration on Question Time
Russell Brand: 'I've never voted, never will'
Johnson & Johnson Announces Real-World Evidence and Phase 3 Data Confirming Strong and Long-Lasting Protection of Single-Shot COVID-19 Vaccine in the U.S.
Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Vaccine Boosting in Persons Already Protected by Natural or Vaccine-Induced Immunity
Effectiveness of the BNT162b2 Vaccine after Recovery from Covid-19
Protection against SARS-CoV-2 after Covid-19 Vaccination and Previous Infection
World Economic Forum: Digital Identity
Watch Russell Brand Read From A Couple Of My Articles
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Hey everyone... Matthew and Julian here with a more relaxed format. We'll be periodically checking in on feedback going forward, starting with a look at some shade thrown by Lissa Rankin at the pod. We're not entirely buying what she's selling, but it does give us pause to reflect on communication styles, satire, and empathy.
Here's what Rankin had to say: https://www.facebook.com/lissarankin/posts/521303766024162.
And here's how Matthew responded: https://www.facebook.com/matthew.remski/posts/10166401550575602
(Apologies about Matthew's sound quality. Kittens knocked over the mic stand and snapped the connectors. Derek is shipping out a hand-me-down for Thursday!)
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You might have heard some revolutionary news: germs don’t exist. Ok, they exist, but they only make you sick after you ruin your relationship with your environment—the terrain. Actually, the idea isn’t new. Initially floated in the 19th century, terrain theory was never proven in real-world experiments, and so fell dormant—until now. As with many terrible 19th-century science metaphysics, conspiritualists are feeling nostalgic. And do we have a group to introduce you to this week.
To help us debunk this funk, Dr Dan Wilson returns to the pod to offer his keen ear in breaking down the bullsh*t being shoveled by Tom Cowan and Andrew Kaufman during The Event 2021. First, Derek offers a brief history of the battle between germ theory and terrain theory—one that produced a clear winner in Louis Pasteur, which, as conspiritualists now spin it, is just further evidence of the Deep State conspiracy holding us all back.
Show Notes
Dan Wilson on YouTube | Instagram | Twitter
This pseudoscience movement wants to wipe germs from existence
Germ theory denialism is alive and well – and taking the nuance out of scientific debate
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The world's top life coach has a new book, Life Force. Seemingly bulletproof to criticism due to connections in high places (and a litigious legal team), Tony Robbins's new book is a perfect example of the conspiritualist grift: mix science with sciencey sentiment and package it in a shiny revolutionary marketing package that promises much and delivers little more than confusion. Derek reviews.
Show Notes
A single blood test claims to detect dozens of cancers. Skeptics wouldn’t bet your life on it.
The 700-calorie breakfast you should eat if you want to live forever, according to a futurist who spends $1 million a year on pills and eating right
What supplements does Ray Kurzweil take and why?
Instagram: Low testosterone is one of the most underdiagnosed conditions in American men
Epigenetics: It doesn't mean what quacks think it means
Siddhartha Mukherjee: The Gene
Detox: What “They” Don’t Want You To Know
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The mystical politics of Aleksandr Dugin, the mercurial philosopher and geopolitical strategist hovering behind Vladimir Putin, is front and center this week. Last week, we covered the phenomenon of Western conspiritualists folding the Russian invasion of Ukraine into their fact-free claims about what's really going on. It turns out that once you're all-in on the cabal, the Great Reset, mole children, and vaccine genocide, whatever happens in the world means you were right all along.
Conspiritualists are claiming that, just like Donald Trump, Putin is really a light worker fighting to save the children and destroy Anthony Fauci's secret bioweapons labs in Ukraine while heralding the true Great Awakening. But an entirely different prophecy, one promising a Soviet spiritual rebirth, appears to be inspiring Vladimir Putin's actions—as well as Russia's disruptive interference in American politics.
Julian unpacks the perennialist religious movement, Traditionalism, and how it speaks to fascist political actors around the world, including Steve Bannon. This is especially relevant in light of tragic events in Europe, a stark reminder of those of us who remember the Cold War. This time, Dugin and Putin dream of a new Russian Empire.
Show Notes
Aleksandr Dugin Ukraine Invasion Press Conference
Moscow Patriarch Stokes Religious Tensions with Ukraine Remarks
Dugin, Putin & The 2016 Election
The Rise of Traditionalism by Benjamin Teitelbaum
Steve Bannon’s Ideological Soulmate
Dugin Fired from University Post for Inciting Genocide
The London Dinner that Brought Europe’s Far-Right Together
Bannon Cites Julius Evola
Inside The Strange Origins of Bannon’s Nationalist Fantasia
Dugin’s Foundations of Geopolitics Reviewed
Dugin’s Eurasianism & The Am
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Matthew brushes off and polishes stories and analyses we’ve only had the time to glance at in various episodes. A second or even 3rd instalment may be forthcoming.
Presented in chronological order, dating from a year before the WHO declared the pandemic, up to just after they did.
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After two years of being lied to about COVID, are you really going to believe the mainstream media about what’s happening in Ukraine? Didn’t you know that Ukraine is a child-trafficking hub? That it’s full of US-funded bioweapons labs? Do you really think Putin is evil, or do you just think what you’re told to think? Look at you, with your all-new, personalized, more terrifying feed to doom scroll. Only it’s not new, just more intense. If it wasn’t, how would the powers-that-be keep your attention while they instantly convert your money into social credit and make you pay $10 for a gallon of gas? Wake up! See through the green-screen battle scenes and crisis actors covered in stage blood. The explosions are revelations, the flashes of light are miracles waiting to be recognized.
Yes, dear listeners: Conspirituality influencers have gone to war, and they’ve dragged us kicking and screaming to the front lines. But now that we’re here, we’re committed to understanding and negotiating this liminal space. We are podcast peacekeepers. Our rations are non-GMO. We have our helmets of analysis securely fastened; our flak jackets will protect our vital organs. Most importantly, our hearts will stay intact.
To you at home: we urge you to plant your victory gardens now and keep the faith. Conspiritualists have launched a brutal, illegal attack on a humanitarian crisis. They’re monetizing a war in which starving 19-year-olds are killing civilians. Our influencers may well meet the reality of their empty souls on this battlefield. When they come home bandaged, they will need soup and real jobs—and that will be up to us.
Show Notes
Who is Gene Decode?
Signposts On The Road To Ascension Trailer #1 — Witzeman
Ukraine Invasion & Putin’s Spiritual Advisor Alexandr Dugin
Teal Swan on The War Inside
Christiane Northrup Shares Patriot Underground on the Khazarian Mafia
JP Sears Hot Tub Hot Take
Pro-Publica on Fake Fact-Checks About Invasion
Maajid Nawaz on Facebook and Azov Battalion
NATO on National Women’s Day
BBC on Claims of “crisis actors” in Ukraine
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Matthew takes a break from the news to expand on the possible origins of conspirituality—as being related to intergenerational trauma.
What is conspirituality, if not the mobilization of forced, fragile, and ultimately empty spiritual aspirations, made to temper hypervigilance?
It's also just a relief and a pleasure to spend time away from the feeds, and immersed in this brilliant film.
Show Notes
Dr. Nerurkar on the glorification of trauma
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A few weeks ago, you couldn’t turn to a social media platform without seeing that Joe Rogan was trending. The diversity of topics boggled the mind: COVID disinformation; misogyny, pseudoscience; transphobia; and, of course, racism, thanks to the infamous N-word mixtape. Then a parallel argument came through: fair pay for musicians on Spotify. Given that Rogan was given $100 million for his podcasting contract—a number we’d later find out was closer to $200 million—the economic discussion brought another dimension into the conversation. But given all of the topics being discussed, which dimension should we have focused on?
That thought led Derek to write a series of tweets on the topic, followed by a more in-depth Substack article contemplating the three main issues of concern: scientific misinformation, racism, and fair pay. The tweets led to a lot of pushback, which we’ll be looking at through the lens of conversation and debate, as well as a 2021 Pew Research poll on American political typologies. It also led to today’s guests—infectious disease epidemiologist and science communicator, Jessica Malaty Rivera, and civic product leader and community activist, Daniel Latorre—offering their own views on the topics, first on social media, then here on the podcast. But first, we’ll discuss the implications of intersectionality and progressive politics in a world in which social media can distort as much as it amplifies. Matthew will dish on how much he loathes everything Joe Rogan stands for, and why—but also wonders about how pragmatic his seething hatred is, or could be.
Just a note before we begin. Between our last episode—in which Julian caught up with Sara Aniano and dappergander on current events in the QAnon world—and today, Russia has invaded Ukraine, and all of the news is terrible and terrifying. Since the first rockets hit, we’ve been monitoring how conspirituality influencers are responding, and we’ll bring you that data next week, as it continues to show the adaptability of the movement and the willingness of its influencers to say literally anything to remain at the center of the attention and outrage economy.
Show Notes
Joe Rogan: We are in Kali Yuga
Joe Rogan shares Sadhguru: “It is fashionable to suffer”
Matthew Sheffield on Right-Left “balance” on Rogan.
McInnes appearance on Rogan “instrumental” to Proud Boys’ growth: Rolling Stone
Beyond Red vs. Blue: The Political Typology
Race & Class at Spotify
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The Left-Right political spectrum doesn't really capture the breadth of political sentiment in America. Derek looks at a 2021 study by Pew Research on political typologies—as well as Jean-Pierre Faye's horseshoe theory—to better understand the multivariate dynamics at play, as well as its implications for democracy in America moving forward.
Show Notes
Pew Research: Beyond Red vs. Blue: The Political Typology
Rational Wiki: Horseshoe Theory
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"Freedom Convoy" leader, Pat King, recently live-streamed his arrest on Facebook. His racist public incitements to violence belie claims that the convoy was non-partisan and peaceful. As with other conspiracy-based events, inner circle communications and public relations messaging prove to be contradictory.
From RFK Jr appearing at a Far Right rally in Berlin and militias storming the US Capitol on Jan 6 to anti-vaxxers gathering at the Lincoln memorial and the Ottawa truckers tying up traffic and trade for over a month, QAnon appears everywhere.
This week, Julian pilots solo to interview extremism experts Sara Aniano (who regularly reports on the alt-tech far-right cess-pool, Telegram) and dappergander about recent developments in the Q-adjacent conspiracy sphere, implications for the planned American convoy, and the coming midterm elections in America. They also discuss surviving the emotional toll of their research and offer advice for those trying to help themselves—or someone they love—escape.
Show Notes
dappergander on Twitter
Sara Aniano on Twitter
Grid.News Reporting on Planned American Trucker Convoy
Q-Adjacent Convoy Protestor Arrested in Ottawa Cries Out “I’m Being “Stuck with a Vaccine”
Convoy Leader Signs Off Her Speech at Occupation with WWG1WGA Rallying Cry
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They couldn’t be more different: the self-made, self-help guru to the stars, the antisemitic Black-separatist, the blue-blood anti-vax lawyer, and the founder of a science-fiction religion. But in the cult-conspiracy economy, strange bedfellows are often the norm.
Julian investigates how—underneath cultural, racial, political, and even religious differences—opportunistic grifters can always find common cause in the pursuit of wealth and influence. In the end, they’re all carpetbaggers dressed up as pharaohs.
Show Notes
The Lies of RFK Jr’s Medical Racism Documentary
Samoan Measles Outbreak
Somali Measles Outbreak
Measles Outbreak Amongst Brooklyn Orthodox Jews
RFK Jr. At Berlin protest with Neo-Nazis
Weaponizing Racism for Anti-Vax Activism
Werner Erhard: Father of Self-Help
Anti-Vax Infiltrates Nation of Islam
Scientology Money Project
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When Stephanie Sibbio, owner of Glowing Mama Fitness in Toronto, livestreamed herself harassing workers in her local health food store over COVID policy, the world was introduced to a now-familiar archetype: the petulant anti-masker who cares as little about science as she does about others. Sibbio has since developed this role with gusto, becoming a minor celebrity in the Canadian antivax movement. Recently, she threw her support behind the Occupation of Ottawa.
But everyone comes from somewhere: a family, a network, a circle. Beneath a persona hardened by the social media spectacle, there’s a person to be known, remembered, and perhaps welcomed back.
Today Matthew sits down with four friends who have known and loved Stephanie since junior high school. They share stories of the bonds they nurtured growing up, and how quickly and violently antivax ideology and social media smashed their circle.
An honest and transparent discussion about the emotional and social costs of conspirituality.
Show Notes
Glowing Mama Anti-Masker. Toronto Influencer Socially Toilets in…
The Unbearable Feelings of the Anti-Masker
Oppression Fantasies of White Anti-Vax Moms
That Time When I Was in a Cult and Got a Loving Letter from a Friend
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"An essential pleasure of white liberal identity in Canada is the schadenfreude of looking down our noses when we consider what’s south of us. It’s an unearned pride that says: “We’re not like that.” It’s delusional. We are absolutely like that, with tougher gun laws and the moderating effect of the Parliamentary process—but absolutely like that. We want to say “QAnon wouldn’t find a foothold here.” and it does. We want to say “We’re a long way off from Jan 6,” but we’re not. Democracy is as fragile as the human body."
An editorial piece from Matthew on a harsh awakening in the Great White Liberal North.
Show Notes
Land acknowledgments meant to honor Indigenous people too often do the opposite – erasing American Indians and sanitizing history instead
Harsha Walia on historical continuity
Ottawa police discover children living in protesters' trucks | The Star
Land Acknowledgement – City of Toronto
Toronto Cops Say They Did 'Tremendous Job' After Beating People, Destroying Homeless Camp
Nearly $2 million spent on clearing encampments should have gone to housing, advocates say
300 people trapped. 4 hours. Pouring rain. The day I was kettled by police in Toronto.
'We regret that mistakes were made': Toronto police acknowledge 'unacceptable' mass arrests at 2010 G20 protests
Lawsuit filed against convoy organizers, seeking damages on behalf of downtown Ottawa residents
We're not Tragically Hip fans — and yes, we're Canadian
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We cover a lot of ground in this episode. But to introduce it in seed form, we want to draw your attention to a 15-second video we’ve posted to our Instagram. It shows a little boy, clearly stressed, sitting in the cab of an expensive black pickup truck with the window open, holding his ears against the incredible noise of the air horns as his mother takes a triumphant pan-shot video of a convoy rally.
The clip encapsulates the surreal chaos of a deceptive, astroturfed, funded-from-outside, social-media-driven catastrophe that is right in line with the worst of the conspirituality world. A torrent of misinformation, co-opted trauma, and “freedom-fighters” LARPing, in which children are weaponized by super-pilled parents, in which we can witness the cycles of social neglect and psychic violence turning in real time.
We open today with a review of the Occupation of Ottawa and what we know so far, and a discussion of how our conspirituality friends are co-opting and distorting events in ways that are not only craven, but will increase the chances that this event will end in violence. Finally, Matthew interviews Elizabeth Simons of the Canadian Anti-Hate Network on the deep background, the big picture, and the horizon.
CORRECTION: Matthew incorrectly stated that The Branches Yoga in Kitchener Waterloo hosted a workshop by Selam Debs. They did not host it, but they did promote it to their community.
Show Notes
New Age Healers and Right-Wing Militants Come Together in Ottawa
Canadian Yoga Teacher and Anti-Racism Educator Targetted
The 'Freedom Convoy' Is Nothing But A Vehicle For The Far Right
Mayor of Windsor: “Some occupiers are willing to die.”
Canada's “Freedom Convoy” Is a Front for a Right-Wing, Anti-Worker Agenda
Ottawa police discover children living in protesters' trucks | The Star
Freedom Convoy Brings the Far-Right
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Despite the binary conversations around vaccinations, healing has never been an either/or dependent on one factor. What works for one person isn't necessarily the correct course of action for someone else. One criticism of modern health care certainly stands out: the ritual of healing has been sacrificed for the convenience of scripts and hasty dialogues between doctors and patients.
Derek looks at the intersection of healing and ritual through the lens of placebo studies and psychedelics, arguing that regardless of the discipline, "therapy" is a holistic endeavor.
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Mary joins Matthew for an extended interview about the last year of her husband’s life. Louis died of pancreatic cancer almost exactly a year ago, at the age of 45. Mary—who has asked that her last name be kept off the record for privacy concerns—loved him and cared for him throughout that journey. It was hard, not only for the reasons we all share, but because Louis spent his last months under the influence of quantum chiropractor Joe Dispenza. At one crucial point, he was on the verge of stopping his chemotherapy treatment, believing that a Dispenza meditation technique might be more effective.
Mary is an Applied Psychologist with a science background and an evidence-based mindset. She didn’t share Louis’s beliefs or ideals, and at points was terrified that his death would be hastened by conspirituality. But of course, she loved and served him nonetheless. And it seems he had a good death, perhaps blessed by beliefs that made Mary wonder if they might provide relief for her as well.
If we’ve learned one thing over the course of this project, it’s that we’ll be living and dying together for a long time at the crossroads of data and imagination, science and spirituality, evidence and the unknown. We’re grateful that Mary has shared this love story of how she navigated it all.
Note: If you have recently lost someone close to you, you may find this episode difficult to listen to.
Show Notes
John-Roger, New Age Spiritual Leader in California, Dies at 80 - The New York Times
ARCHIVE Cult Leader John-Roger, Who Says He's Inhabited by a Divine Spirit, Stands Accused of a Campaign of Hate
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Last week’s Defeat The Mandate March in Washington D.C. saw a who’s-who of conspiracists address thousands from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. Live-streaming and mic’d up— some fresh from massive exposure on the Joe Rogan Experience—they complained about censorship and tyranny, and compared vaccine mandates to the Holocaust.
They present themselves as bold outsiders who reveal forbidden knowledge and stand up against the corrupt establishment. But scratch the surface of anti-vax celebrity and Covid-conspiracism and you’ll find the well-oiled machinery of affiliate marketing and global quack-medicine sales networks.
Julian reports on Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Simone Gold, Pierre Kory, and Sayer Ji. He follows the money and asks, “What’s the difference between a misguided activist and a cynical grifter?”
Show Notes
Kennedy Xmas Party Hypocrisy
Ravens’ Theory of Mind Research
Primate Theory of Mind
Goldfish-Broccoli Study
$1M in PPP Loans for Anti-Vax Groups
CCDH Pandemic Profiteers
Grandview Research on CAM Global Market
NCCIH Spent $2.5 on Failed Alt-Med Studies
Skeptical Inquirer Report on CAM Grants
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Snap. Crackle. Pop. That’s the release you’ve been waiting for—the ecstasy of small gas bubbles being “cracked” along your spine. While it’s debatable how much good chiropractic adjustments are doing for your body—there’s some evidence that it alleviates lower back pain, alongside a litany of unsubstantiated claims—what’s not debatable is the number of anti-vax, pseudoscience-prone chiropractors clogging the conspirituality pipeline these days.
This isn’t a “chiropractor takedown” episode, as both Derek and Julian have benefited from treatments in the past. Indeed, there’s a whole realm of “mixers” that try to follow best practices and clinical science. Yet there’s a strong conspiritualist lean among a number of chiropractors and we want to know why. To that end, Derek offers a history of the practice, which is, perhaps unsurprisingly, rooted in an anti-vax, anti-medicine strain of 19th-century vitalism. Julian discusses some of his experiences while Matthew questions consent and harm in the industry. The team then breaks down chiropractor Melissa Sell’s discussion of the antisemitic Germanic New Medicine, which she recently championed on the pseudopalooza of online disinformation conferences, The Event 2021.
Show Notes
U.S. Judge Finds Medical Group Conspired Against Chiropractors
Chiropractors Charged in Insurance Scam
Can Indecision Cause Hemorrhoids?
Goodbye to All Yoga Bullies. | by Matthew Remski | Medium
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Inspired by a recent discussion on psychoanalysis and politics with Pat Blanchfield on Know Your Enemy, this brief meditation focuses on two aspects of the conspirituality landscape that have lurked in the unconscious of the pod:
Matthew looks at how the contradictions of Kelly Brogan and JP Sears make sense. Brogan rails against "mommy medicine" while installing herself as "mommy shaman." Sears tells us "Don't outsource your truth," while he absorbs data from Bitchute and Rogan.
Brogan's followers are attracted by the simultaneous rejection and reconstitution of authority. JP Sears is a hollow husk of a man, telling his followers to look inside.
But when you meet a contradiction or a defence that is harmful, you can’t just argue it away. You have to work towards a better answer to the condition the defence is trying to ease.
Show Notes
Freud and Politics (w/ Pat Blanchfield)
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When we left our Austin conspirituality heroes in the last episode, Charles Eisenstein, New Age Q, was locking in his position as the philosopher—or jester—in the court of Aubrey Marcus.
But what of this court? Matthew’s scene by scene analysis of some prime Marcus marketing porn will give us some clues. The video in question is for Marcus’s life-coaching programme, which is called “Fit for Service.” The visuals centre around what looks like a haka ritual dance, through which customers release their inner warriors, nurture their affiliate links and jazz up their socials.
On point for the influencer age, the ritual plays out in a narcissistic hall of mirrors, choreographed for performance by programme participants in order to promote the programme they are performing in. Naturally, Matthew will be using the analytical frameworks of spectacle and simulation from Guy Debord and Jean Baudrillard to make sense of it. He’ll also apply Renato Rosaldo’s concept of “imperialist nostalgia” to explore the ugly conflicts in Marcus’s indigenous cosplay.
Show Notes
Fit for Service homepage
fit.for.service: A Dandelion In A Field Is Un-killable
A poet’s plea to save our planet | IN-Q | TED Institute
"Revolution": The FORGOTTEN Voices of The Pandemic Will Have You In Tears
The 5 Desires: Marcus on FFS promises
Aubrey Marcus - Fit For Service Mastermind - Review – Max Hug
The Wellness Pornographers. Gamifying intimacy, abusing public… | by Matthew Remski | Medium
Heresy Labs on Heilung
Renato Rosaldo: Imperialist Nostalgia
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Charles Eistenstein has had quite the pandemic. Essays read by millions, retweeted by Jack Dorsey, quoted by Ivanka Trump, held up as the poet philosopher of conspirituality—hell, he’s even been on the podcast!
Given the response to this bonus episode, we've decided to release it into the wild as an important companion to Conspirituality 86. Julian tracks the transformative arc of malformed ideas garnished with spiritualized language that has made Eisenstein the romantic mascot of anti-vax, Covid-contrarian wellness. This is how he finds himself now poised to become the mythic storyteller-in-residence of an emerging Austin-based cult of psychedelic bro science and “medical freedom.”
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In 2017, Charles Eisenstein addressed the SAND (Science And Non-Duality) Conference on our "obsession with measurement." A clip of that talk, published in 2019, put forward the question Is Science a Religion? Charles answered yes, offering a number of supposed parallels.
Only—most of them don't hold water. Derek responds to his talk, breaking down Charles's analysis point-by-point. He also bookends the episode with clips from a thinker who brilliantly drew parallels between science and religion without conflating them: Oliver Sacks.
Show Notes
Is Science a Religion? — Charles Eisenstein
Oliver Sacks on Humans and Myth-making
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Up to this point, we’ve understood Charles Eisenstein as the poet-philosopher of conspirituality, lending his Burning Man ritual workshop chops to the antivax faux-freedom movement. Out of deference to his apparent sensitivity and respectable writing skills, we’ve given him the benefit of the doubt—we even invited him on this show for two episodes to see whether we could find common ground. We didn’t.
In our last Bonus episode, Julian tracked how Eisenstein has accelerated and intensified his rhetoric. Today, we’ll see how he’s fortifying his money networks, and starting to say the quiet parts out loud. He’s no longer “just” dog-whistling violence and QAnon.
We’re reviewing a recent video he’s co-produced with Onnit multimillionaire and Austin bro-poet Aubrey Marcus. It’s an anime rendition of the ending of his 2013 bestseller, The More Beautiful World Our Hearts Know is Possible. In the book, Eisenstein presents “The Gathering of the Tribe” as a kind of personal mythology. As he levels up to the big leagues, this story about belonging to a group of blessed alien shamans sent to wake up humanity carries clear real-world literalness—and a culty vibe.
If the high-end video doesn’t convince you, a tape from a hipster New Year’s Eve party in Ithaca NY might do the trick. As he holds guru-court for All the Big Questions, Eisenstein tells an Iraq vet that he has special gifts to deploy against the (fictional) building of COVID concentration camps in Rhode Island. Then he says he hopes the “pedophile elite” will just stop. Sound familiar?
Eisenstein’s content is poetic and vague. Its implications are plausibly deniable. It pours out through an endless stream of radiant and inscrutable essay drops. He has mastered the cryptic prompt that either speaks to your soul, to your appetite for disrupting public health, or to your recent tactical training regimen. Who can really tell? His skill is to stand beside and above it all. He can avoid being pinned down. It’s almost as if he’s not really there, but only reflecting the zeitgeist of our broken moment. It’s time to just name him for what he is: New Age Q.
Show Notes
A Gathering of the Tribe | POWERFUL Short Film by Charles Eisenstein w/ Jon Hopkins & Aubrey Marcus
A Gathering of the Tribe | Reality Sandwich (original, 2009)
A Gathering of the Tribe (full version Charles’s site)
Interview with Charles Eisenstein | Inner World Press | Shift in Consciousness Ezine
In the Miracle (Eisenstein essay, 2009)
Charles Eisenstein at Resonance NYE
The Man Behind th
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Charles Eistenstein has had quite the pandemic. Essays read by millions, retweeted by Jack Dorsey, quoted by Ivanka Trump, held up as the poet philosopher of conspirituality—hell, he’s even been on the podcast!
Julian tracks the transformative arc of malformed ideas garnished with spiritualized language that has made Eisenstein the romantic mascot of anti-vax, Covid-contrarian wellness. This is how he finds himself now poised to become the mythic storyteller-in-residence of an emerging Austin-based cult of psychedelic bro science and “medical freedom.”
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On the day after the Winter Solstice, as the world tucked in for an Omicron staycation, a news flash came over the wire. Yoga International—one of the largest yoga media companies in the world—had been acquired by Gaia—one of the largest pseudoscience, pseudointellectual, conspiracy theory platforms in the world. While the CEO of Yoga International immediately assured nervous content providers that the platform will remain editorially independent, only time will tell.
What we do know is that countless print articles written by earnest yogis and thousands of hours of classes created by earnest yoga instructors will now share space with David Icke, an antisemitic conspiracy theorist who believes lizard people have coopted world governments—and that’s only the start.
The acquisition predicts even more brain-melting in yogaland, exposing even more vulnerable and credulous seekers to a dumpster fire of meaning dressed up in a simulation of spirituality. Julian covers some Gaia history. Derek makes us suffer through some Gaia content. Matthew opens by tracking the century-long descent of yoga media to this conspiritualistic nadir.
Show Notes
Rob Price Interview on Gaia and Conspiracy Theories
Gaia Acquires Yoga International, a Leading Digital Yoga Service
Yoga guru in compromising position / Celebrity instructor Rodney Yee faces allegations of misconduct with students
The Case against Swami Rama of the Himalayas
How to Respond to Sexual Abuse Within a Yoga or Spiritual Community
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In 1969, Swami Vishnudevananda pioneered what has become a life transition ritual for the GenX and Millennial precariat: the Yoga Teacher Training (YTT) Programme. He was a cult leader rapist who thought yoga would help the world understand messages sent by UFOs. Not exactly confidence-inspiring.
Not every YTT programme is bad—today's bonus host Matthew has worked in some good ones for over a decade. But on the whole, we're talking about an industry that has graduated up to 500K ppl over 50 years through a pseudo-educational process that has greased the epistemological pipeline towards conspirituality.
YTTs are unregulated by any academic or professional consensus. They are driven by the anxious charisma of urban yoga studio entrepreneurs who need to sell big-ticket products to counter the rising overheads of the gentrification they're helping to drive. Their curricula offers a pastiche of uncited resources. They pad contact hours with sermons and meditation sessions.
The typical YTT training manual is an unironic postmodern meat-grinder in which Iron Age philosophy and high school anatomy are blended with quotes from Carl Jung and Rumi. As an example, Matthew looks at a Jivamukti Yoga School manual from a 2007 training hosted at Omega Institute.
Again: not all YTTs are bad, or lead to QAnon. But the ritual and charismatic pedagogy that most offer has a lot in common with the sacrament of redpilling—albeit more socially acceptable and aspirational.
Conspirituality went viral in 2020. It's time to ask whether the YTT industry compromised a culture's immunity to it.
Show Notes
Hello, YogAnon! Selfish Care Rituals | by Matthew Remski | Medium
How a #MeToo Facebook Post Toppled a Yoga Icon | by Matthew Remski | GEN
Shielded for Decades, a Leader of Sivananda Yoga Finally Comes Under Fire for Alleged Abuse | GEN
John of Fraud. How did slack journalism and New Age… | by Matthew Remski | Medium
Practice and All Is Coming – Matthew Remski
Jivamukti sexual harassment lawsuit says the yoga studio is a cult.
Jivamukti, Dark and Light: Holly Faurot, Sharon Gannon, and David Life Speak Out - Decolonizing Yoga
Terry Eagleton in the New Statesman Re
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"When we don't avoid people who think differently than we do, we gain an opportunity for growth and national renewal." So opens Red State Christians: Understanding the Voters Who Elected Donald Trump, a fascinating and insightful book by Lutheran pastor and journalist Angela Denker.
Denker spent years on the road talking to Christians who voted for Donald Trump—listening to their motives and writing honestly, but not uncritically, about their reasoning. To her surprise, she discovered a much more diverse coalition than you’d likely imagine—just like the Left is not the monolith that conservatives sometimes paint. From abortion rights and racial issues to immigration and football, Denker offers an inside look at the American mindset.
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Derek investigates the origins of language through thinkers like David Crystal, Michael Corballis, and others, to investigate how two popular figures—Deepak Chopra and Rick Warren—sell their spiritual wares. Their patterns reveal the model many conspiritualist influencers use today.
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The global pandemic response is a microcosm of the global climate collapse response. In both we get to see what’s really under the hood when the pressure is on. In the face of endless and relentless odds and near-constant demoralization, what stories do we turn to, what bonds do we form, and who do they help?
Climate journalist emeritus George Monbiot joins Matthew to discuss the never-ending road of empathy and activism, and what happens on that road when otherwise brilliant and sensitive people “lose their mirror,” or sense of responsibility to the commons. What happens when they aestheticize grief. What happens when they have enough privilege to fetishize renunciation.
Their discussion orbits around the recent conspirituality spiral of a writer who has been a hero to many in the realm of climate literature and consideration. Paul Kingsnorth has recently converted to Romanian Orthodox Christianity... and vaccine skepticism. He's also wondered aloud whether the virus is not "a delicious little sign from God" that humanity deserves punishment.
Show Notes
The Dark Mountain Manifesto
Earth Talk: Five years on a mountain - Paul Kingsnorth and Dougald Hine
Is there any point in fighting to stave off industrial apocalypse? | Paul Kingsnorth and George Monbiot | The Guardian
After the failure of Cop26, there is only one last hope for our survival | George Monbiot
The Vaccine Moment, part one - by Paul Kingsnorth
The Vaccine Moment, part two - by Paul Kingsnorth
The Vaccine Moment, part three - by Paul Kingsnorth
George Monbiot on Twitter: "I've read Paul Kingsnorth's anti-vaccine essay on Substack, and I suspect it might contribute to quite a few deaths. Why? Because his writing is elegant and powerful, but some of his facts are simply wrong. Here's a very small sample: Thread/"
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In the 1990s, Westerners searching for enlightenment flocked to India. The pilgrimage represented an affirmation of status and authority in the burgeoning yoga economy. Julian reflects on his three months in the “middle circle” of the Osho Ashram in Pune, where he chased a destiny seeded years before in a South African basement. As an earnest yet skeptical seeker passing though cultic territory, he points out the overlaps between meaningful experience and group indoctrination.
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While Americans were transforming esoteric strains of yoga into a commodifiable industry in 1980, a young naval officer named Steve Bannon was picking up theosophical texts in metaphysical bookstores and practicing Zen meditation in secret while stationed in Hong Kong. He was wary of his countrymates liberal explorations of Eastern philosophies, aware of the nationalistic roots upon which these “mystical” systems were founded. Then he stumbled into Traditionalism, a perennial philosophy that consumed all world religions, as popularized by the likes of French metaphysicist René Guénon and Italian antisemitic conspiracy theorist Julius Evola.
This week we welcome Benjamin Teitelbaum, an Assistant Professor of Ethnomusicology and International Affairs at the University of Colorado, Boulder, and author of the book, War for Eternity: The Return of Traditionalism and the Rise of the Populist Right. Teitelbaum gained access to leading right-wing figures around the world, including Steve Bannon. He’s got their number and brings receipts. Get ready for a long, strange trip.
Show Notes
The rise of the traditionalists: how a mystical doctrine is reshaping the right
Covid-19 Is the Crisis Radical ‘Traditionalists’ Have Been Waiting For
The People Who Pray for the Apocalypse | Benjamin Teitelbaum | The Glenn Beck Podcast
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Matthew responds to the robust feedback on the Sam-Harris-is-a-highbrow-conspiritualist bonus, and then stretches the terms around harm in the conspirituality sphere in another way, by looking at the spectrum of agency offered by different wellness/spirituality products. He interrogates the premise implicit in some of our reporting that the cognitive errors and magical thinking of alt-health and New Age paradigms are all on a slippery slope to ruin. TLDR: isn’t it always more about sociology than ideology?
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When Mike Flynn posted a video on July 4, 2020 in which his family recited QAnon slogans, it cemented the disgraced former National Security Advisor and U.S. Army lieutenant general as a MAGA patriot super-hero. On September 17, just 14 short months later, Flynn took the stage, bathed in light at the Lord of Hosts Church in Omaha, Nebraska to lead a political prayer that was a fiery angelic call-to-arms. But, oops! It turns out that this prayer traces back to New Age doomsday cult leader, Elizabeth Clare Prophet. Now the Q-faithful have turned on their hero, accusing him of being in league with the Satanic cabal. We’ll ask today’s guest host, Sean Prophet—who happens to be the eldest son of that cult leader—how he got out, and how we got here.
Show Notes
The Radical Secular podcast with Sean Prophet
Relevant episodes:
9: QAnon and Conspirituality: with Matthew Remski - 08.24.20
16: Before Q, There Was CUT: with Joe Szimhart - 10.19.20
22: Getting out of Cults and Harmful Religions - Bonus Episode
54: Blavatsky, the I Am, and The Summit Lighthouse - 07.19.21
Black Sun Journal » Happy Birthday, Mom!: 2006 Article by Sean Prophet on final interaction with Elizabeth Clare Prophet
Church Universal and Triumphant - Nightline - May 17th 1990
CUT/Summit Lighthouse on Oprah 5 with Streiker and Hassan
QAnon Fall Out from Mike Flynn using I Am Prayer
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Derek shares a story from his time as a Lululemon brand ambassador to highlight the toxic merging of spiritual practices and consumerism. Not only does he detail Lulu's post-Chip Wilson pivot in an attempt to "own yoga," he also explores the histories of branding, money, and markets in an attempt to understand how we arrived at the influencer culture that dominates social media today.
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We've talked a lot on this podcast about the selfie sermon: the kind of iPhone video native to Instagram influencers. Easily weaponized by conspiritualists, this sermon is equal parts intimate confessional, prophecy download, and motivational coaching, directly transmitted from your favorite self-anointed maverick expert. Social media seems perfectly designed for such hypnotic performances and spiritual darshans. But in the brick-and-mortar world, yoga teachers have long blurred the line between acting and teaching, space holding and theater, and ritual ceremony and fitness. If all the world's a stage, as Shakespeare had it, the wooden planks of the yoga studio—and the digital platforms built in ether—demand that teachers embrace a role, adopt a script, and sell a story to their audience. What we want to know is: where does the performance end and yoga begin, or perhaps more to the point, is there even a difference?
Our guest host today is Jill Miller, who many listeners will know from her hugely influential body of work in yoga and movement as founder of Tune-Up Fitness. She's also a former actor, which played an important role in her transition to full-time yoga instructor. We're going to start today with an excerpt from her 2017 TED-style talk that she gave in Toronto titled, “Lights, Camera, Yoga."
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Kyle Rittenhouse walks away from the courthouse while Ahmaud Arbery's killers were found guilty and "QAnon Shaman," Jacob Chansley, was received significant jail time. Our opinions on each of these cases are likely determined by our political affiliations, which in turn are a reflection of how we think about morality, crime, and punishment.
Julian draws on scientific research into how genetics and the brain shape our politics, thought experiments in moral philosophy, and the work of moral psychologist Jonathan Haidt.
As he questions whether or not any of us have freely chosen to be the good ones, he wonders if a way out of our toxic polarization might be found through understanding the underlying moral values and emotional reactions that drive one another's political beliefs.
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COVID has been a recruiting windfall for hate groups in Canada, with new alliances and networks forged between white supremacists, xenophobes, and ethnonationalists in the fire of accelerated conspiracism. Joining Matthew to map out this landscape are street-level anti-hate activists Elizabeth Simons, the deputy director of the Canadian Anti-Hate Network, Dan Collen, a researcher with the Neuberger Holocaust Education Center's Online Hate Education and Research Project, and Morgan Yew, a video journalist and DJ from Kamloops, whose coverage of Toronto's anti-lockdown protests has been rich and revealing.
We cover a lot in this one: the “irony poisoning” white nationalist recruiting tactics that target 14 year-old boys, the rogue’s gallery of extremists wreaking havoc at anti-lockdown rallies, racists trying on “sovereign citizen” pseudolaw in the courts, and their craven appropriation of Indigenous rights discourse when they lurch into “Pretendian” territory. We’ll also look at the People’s Party of Canada, and discuss why it is not very smart to write it off as QAnon foolishness.
Content Warning: analysis of hateful views, including notes from a white supremacist recruiting manual that is instructing followers on how to indoctrinate children.
Show Notes
Canadian Anti-Hate Network
Dan Collen’s fantastic articles on Medium: dancollen.medium.com
Morgan Yew’s awesome Twitter feed
Canadian Anti-Semites and Far-Right Conspiracy Theorists Try New Tactic: Aligning with Indigenous Communities
Mediasmarts
Learning for Justice | Education Resources
Wisdom2Action – Facilitate Change. Strengthen Communities.
The 519- nonprofit promoting 2SLGBTQ+ inclusion serving Toronto - The 519 - Space For Change - The519
Egale Canada - nonprofit promoting 2SLGBTQ+ inclusion serving Canada Home - Egale
CASSA - Council of Agencies Serving South Asians - http://cassa.on.ca/
The Neuberger Holocaust Education Centre - https://www.holocaustcentre.com/
Chinese Canadian National Council for Social Justice - https://ccncsj.ca/
Timeline cleanse. Some of Morgan’s video nurturance journalism.
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Bonus episode, piloted by Matthew.
There is a subtle form of conspirituality that rides on the familiar dialectic of political cynicism and spiritual promise—but it's dressed for a button-down salon dinner in Harvard Square. No crystals in sight, no essential oils wafting through the room.
Sam Harris isn’t sounding the alarm about the Cabal or the Illuminati: his bugaboos are Islam, or “wokeism,” or “cancel culture.”
And he isn’t saying that starseeds will save the day, or that a Great Awakening is upon us. He’s not so low-brow.
His salvation product is meditation, which he says can validate his political insights. And hey, there's an app for that!
Show Notes
Celebrity Crusaders For Empire
Towards a geopolitics of atheism
Why the arguments of the 'New Atheists' are often just as violent as religion
Harris daydreaming about a nuclear strike
Meet the Renegades of the Intellectual Dark Web
Will the "University of Austin" ever actually exist?
Sam Harris & Charles Murray
Harris. “A Few Points of Confusion.”
Decoding the Gurus: Sam Harris & Meditation is all you need
Gurometer— Kavanaugh and Browne
Buddhist Studies Has a Whiteness Problem
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Conspiracy theories flourish during uncertain times. They're always with us, passed down through generations like alternate histories, yet they’re constantly reinvented when collective stress levels peak. Julian reports on the QAnon spin-off group that’s been camped out in Dallas’s Dealey Plaza for two weeks, hoping to catch a glimpse of a pantheon of resurrected dead celebrities. In light of the Astroworld concert tragedy, which killed 10 people, being interpreted as a ritual Satanic sacrifice on social media, Derek wonders if conspiracies are just how we process everything now. Matthew points out the legitimate reasons conspiracy theorists have for their paranoia while warning against the media's tendency to titillate by misusing the terminology of cult research. And he also reads a bit from Paradise Lost. A conversational recap week as we’re working on some Big Shows in the next few weeks.
Show Notes
Riots, deaths, sexual assault: Maybe Woodstock was always a nightmare
The Bizarre Travis Scott Claims Show That Conspiracies Are Just How We Process Things
TikTok and QAnon Panic Over ‘Satanism’ Conspiracies at Deadly Travis Scott Concert
QAnon’s Refuse to Leave Dallas After JFK Jr. Fails to Appear
Inside The QAnon Cult Waiting for JFK Jr.
On The Ground At Dealey Plaza
Twitter videos/thread on Michael Brian Protzman
What Biden is keeping secret in the JFK files
QAnon Influencer Recruiting Secretary of State Candidates
Academic Research on Conspiracy Theories in Times of Social Crisis
Karen Douglas PhD on The Psychology of Conspiracy Theories
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Privilege is often blind and rampant across societies. But is the term also overused?
Derek looks at two examples of privilege in wellness spaces, the danger of its overuse, and a possible reframing of how to approach the topic.
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To prepare this curative episode, we listened carefully to alternative health consumers for many hours, taking an exhaustive history of life challenges on physical, mental, and emotional planes. We scanned the symptoms against our compendium of disease states and prescribed the precise substances that would mirror them.
Then, we took minuscule audio samples from our podcasting apothecary — skepticism, melancholy, and empathy. We mixed these, diluted them a thousand times, to the point at which they became completely inaudible. Then we shook them up and down while chanting the spell of this bespoke remedy: Conspiritualitis investigarium.
Please don’t try to turn up your volume on this episode. You can’t actually hear it, and that’s what makes it so powerful.
But seriously folks. Welcome to our long-awaited homeopathy show — and not a week too soon. NFL’s leading quarterback Aaron Rodgers has just admitted to endangering the entire league by opting to be “immunized” via homeopathy rather than complying with the league’s vaccination requirements. (He’s also a lying liar.) There are reports of homeopaths selling COVID19 remedies — through both small ops in the U.S., and federally-approved dispensers in India, where Narendra Modi’s Hindu Nationalists mingled sugar pills with astrology to help disguise their negligent pandemic response.
Derek takes us on a tour through the strange history of this medicine that isn’t there, and interviews Jonathan Jarry of the McGill Office for Science and Society on why it haunts us. Julian contextualizes homeopathy against the broader “Complementary and Alternative Medicine” landscape. And Matthew wonders about the uses of magic.
Show Notes
A brief history of homeopathy
Vaccines and Homeopath
Homeopathy: A History
Berlin Wall pills: a cure for emotional trauma – or royal-endorsed quackery
Jonathan Jarry's homeopathy video
Jonathan's articles for McGill University
Homeopathy And Its Founder: Views Of A British Researcher
MEASURING MYTHOLOGY: Startling Concepts in NCCAM Grant
$2.5 billion spent, no alternative cures found
Complementary And Alternative Medicine
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Are emotions really separate from rationality? Is trusting science similar to religious faith? Do poetry and mythic archetypes disclose a reality beyond the material world? What might characters like Mr. Spock reveal about logical thinking?
Julian explores the relationships between scientific and religious world views through the lenses of emotions, metaphors, and the brain. He draws on clips from neuroscientist Antonio Damasio, philosopher Julia Galef, linguist George Lakoff, biology professor Robert Sapolsky, and neurologist Vilayanur Ramachandran.
Show Notes
This Time With Feeling: David Brooks and Antonio Damasio
40/40 Vision Lecture: Neurology and the Passion for Art
George Lakoff - How Does Philosophy Illuminate the Physical World?
24. Schizophrenia
The Straw Vulcan, Julia Galef Skepticon 4
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There is no avoiding the fact that conspirituality plays out against a backdrop of racially-charged politics and the echoes of colonialism. And from the beginning of this podcast project we’ve tackled things like the origins of yoga and wellness being tangled up with European fascist movements and racist eugenics. We’re speaking from and into a culture that is predominantly white, and has the disposable income to afford boutique health ideologies. We know it’s naturally allergic to the project of public health. We know that it ignores the social determinants of health — because if it didn’t, it couldn’t sell its green-smoothie-based hero’s journeys.
But reporting on race and conspirituality is only going to get harder. In this episode, Matthew reviews a new volume of essays that might help. A Field Guide to White Supremacy, edited by Drs. Kathleen Belew and Ramon Gutierrez, brings together a pile of resources for journalists and policy-makers who want to engage thoughtfully with issues of equality. And he interviews Dr. Belew on best practices, The Great Replacement conspiracy theory, and why there are no “lone wolves.”
In a debrief discussion, Derek and Julian join in to puzzle out the complexities of reporting on Robert F. Kennedy Jr. platforming Black anti-vax activists, how the sources of vax-hesitancy shown by Aaron Rogers and Kyrie Irving might be coming from different places, and how to think empathetically about vaccine hesitancy in Black liberation movements.
Show Notes
Kathleen Belew
A Field Guide to White Supremacy by Kathleen Belew, Ramon A. Gutierrez
RFK Jr is one of the Disinformation Dozen, and He has actively courted and collaborated with Black communities and leaders
Twitter thread of Barclay's Center protest clips
The Creator Of 'The Punisher' Wants To Reclaim The Iconic Skull From Police And Fringe Admirers
Kyrie Irving hints at redpilling followers on IG
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Okay, maybe the title is overstated. But, as Matthew explores in this bonus episode: what are the contours of social comfort and habitus — supported by faith and ritual — that haunt any layperson's relationship to science? When the pressure is on, be it acute or existential, do we really display "critical thinking" — or are we really skilled at post-hoc rationalizing choices that embody the social status we wish to identify with?
What are the psychosocial scents that waft from institutional actors vs. influencers, and what does it say about history and personal experience that one or the other is inviting, or terrifying?
Finally: both Steve Hassan and Lee McIntyre have proposed that careful 1:1 conversations can re-establish interpersonal trust with the indoctrinated. But when we're talking about making vulnerable populations less susceptible to pseudoscience and conspiracy theories, is this really sufficient? Or must we consider broader forms of social atonement, like reparations?
Show Notes
Sapolsky: Religious Ritual is OCD
B.C. health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry on COVID-19
333,000 children were abused within France's Catholic Church, a report finds
Santa Claus and Dr. Tam have a video chat
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What happens when a philosopher of science shows up at a flat earth conference to test out his theories about changing people's minds? This story catapults you into Lee Mcintyre’s new book, How to Talk to a Science Denier.
As anti-vaccine and anti-quarantine protests flare up around the world, and the pandemic drags us all through financial and emotional destruction, discussing science communication has become more necessary than ever. Mcintyre's 2018 book, Post-Truth, examined the manipulative world of “alternative facts.” As a sort of addendum, his latest charts a boots-on-the-ground course to understanding and engaging with false beliefs. Julian's interview with Lee is the main focus of today's episode. After we run the interview, the crew debriefs and discusses.
Show Notes
Talking to science deniers and sceptics is not hopeless
When Corrections Fail: The Persistence of Political Misperceptions
Santa Claus and Dr. Tam have a video chat
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It's been over a century since Dale Carnegie began teaching the importance of extroversion, bringing with it a cultural shift that champions an aggressive social and work style. Gone were the days of championing introspection.
Derek explores his own relationship with introversion in Yogaland, wondering how a quiet form of self-investigation that often champions the loud and bombastic on social media. The influence of the extrovert has dominated many domains, but none more insidiously than the wellness influencers feigning compassion in an attempt to influence people but not necessarily win friends.
Show Notes
People Aren’t Meant to Talk This Much
Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking
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What happens when MLM sales and neoliberal life coaching collide with a yoga charisma that oozes with pseudofeminism? Where do we even begin? Exploitation. Heartbreak. Toxic mimicries of therapy, mentorship, political awareness, and community.
In this investigative report, Matthew digs into the background of a recent article posted to Medium called “Open Letter to Elena Brower.” He interviews the author, Tatum Fjerstad, who Brower mentored from 2014 to 2016, and Liz Fullen, who worked as Brower’s unpaid yoga class assistant for approximately three years. He’ll also play excerpts from a legally-recorded Zoom call in which Brower gives non-consensual “coaching” to a stranger.
Friend of the pod Dr. Natalia Petrzela joins the story to recount her personal brush with the Handel Coaching Method. Brower is a Handel “expert coach”, and has merged the Method with her yoga training to produce peak cognitive-dissonant messaging:
You’re fabulous, but you're fucked. You’re already perfect and you know what’s right for you, but you have a lot of work to do, and I can show you how to do it.
Other themes include “performative therapy abuse”, the perils of unlicensed therapy, and how the power pyramids that hide in plain sight may be more vulnerable than we know, especially when we begin to talk about them clearly.
Show Notes
Open Letter to Elena Brower. CW: spiritual and emotional abuse | by tatum fjerstad | Sep, 2021 | Medium
mlmtruth.org's killer list of research and resources
New Presidential Diamond announcement: Brower
Conspirituality Instagram post on "Performative Therapy Abuse"
Yoga Teachers Are Not Doctors, Doctors Are Not Priests
IYNAUS independent investigation of Manouso Manos
The American Yoga ReVolution with Iyengar disciples Manouso Manos and Patricia Walden
“Betrayal of Trust”: 1991 Mercury News Investigation of Sexual Assault Allegations Against Manouso Manos — by Bob Frost
The Yoga Mogul: John Friend, Creator of the Anusara School
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With a new variant of QAnon circulating through white evangelical churches, protests against masks and vaccines are becoming more aggressive around the world. In Germany, a gas station attendant who asked a customer to mask-up was shot dead this week, and a Maryland man allegedly killed his pharmacist brother and sister in law, believing that they were poisoning people with vaccines.
Demonstrations have turned violent in Australia; in New York, a mobile-free Covid-test site was up-ended. In LA, Beverly Hills protest organizer Shiva Bagheri was caught on video punching a breast cancer patient outside a clinic and harassing parents and kids as they walked into an elementary school, yelling that vaccines are a form of child-rape.
For this week’s Bonus, Julian looks at these developments through the lens of research on radicalization and fascist political movements. While Westboro Baptist Church tip-toes right up to the edge of violence with their hateful fundamentalist activism, the anti-abortion movement has included terrorism in the form of bombing, kidnapping, and murder.
But it’s not all bad news. This episode ends with data from a recent study on what supports de-radicalization, as well as a hopeful personal account of how compassionate online interactions led one woman to exit a hate group she was born into, and advocate now for tolerance.
Show Notes
What does Radicalisation Look Like? Four Visualisations of Socialisation into Violent Extremism
Watch a Beverly Hills Anti-Vaxxer Scream at School Kids Vaccines Are ‘Rape’
‘It’s evil’: Jim Acosta reacts to Trump’s remark during interview
The Link Between the Capitol Riot and Anti-Abortion Extremism
What Do Former Extremists and Their Families Say About Radicalization and Deradicalization in America?
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Meat is toxic. Dairy is toxic. Eggs? As dangerous as cigarettes. Garlic stokes the hormones. Avoid nightshades at all costs. Organic or bust. Eat according to your blood type. Eat according to your chronotype. Cacao resonates with the frequency of the sun, but never, ever add sugar to it. Sugar is toxic. Juice cleanses lead you to your highest self.
If you’re exhausted already, so are we. This week, Derek anchors our look at how the wellness world disguises eating disorders as purity tests and pathways to “clean” eating. He opens up about his 15-year-battle with orthorexia, an eating disorder he believes to be rampant in yoga and wellness, as well as the broader fitness world, where men hide their own eating disorders with protein shakes and ketogenic fasting. Matthew adds kitchen notes from the spiritual cult front lines.
Julian talks with Chelsea Roff, founder of Eat Breathe Thrive, about her own struggles with food before discussing her decade of experience working with eating disorder victims in Yogaland. Derek then chats with Dr. Jason Nagata about the challenges of treating boys and men in clinical settings, and what to do about a phenomenon so many suffer from yet so few are able to find a language for.
Show Notes
This Is What It’s Like For Men With Eating Disorders
Eating Disorders in Teens Have ‘Exploded’ in the Pandemic
Eating Disorders Surged Among Adolescents in Pandemic
Men obsessed with building muscle mass have higher mental health risks
Uncovering and Destigmatizing Male Body Dysmorphia in Popular Culture
Doctors alerted to dangerous dry scooping workout trend
Prospective health associations of drive for muscularity in young adult males
What Is Orthorexia?
Body dysmorphic disorder
Film Theory 101 – Laura Mulvey: The Male Gaze Theory
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An audio essay loosely based on conversations Matthew has while parenting. Content is possibly appropriate for ages 7 to 11 — although who really knows. The main point is to deflate the media persona and cut back on the cynicism and hot-takery to discuss these things in a way that leaves the door open for growth and hope. Rules: use simple sentences, many examples, frame bad news within good news, and never call anyone stupid. Don’t give a kid a story that has no way out. Don’t people their world with hopeless cases.Questions include:
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Whatever one’s conception of “God” is, “John of God” should now be a nauseating name. For decades, João Teixeira de Faria pretended to heal an endless stream of pilgrims to his center in rural central Brazil through the Spiritist practice of “psychic surgery.” In reality, the miracle healing claims worked to cover up an obvious truth. João was sexually assaulting and raping women, in public and in private, likely every day of his “working” life. As he did so, he amassed a vast fortune in affiliate businesses, farming operations, real estate, referral rackets, and sales of crystals and fake remedies.
In this episode we won’t retell this history, now poignantly captured by a new Brazilian-made documentary on Netflix. Instead, we’ll look at how lazy and motivated journalism shook hands with the entrepreneurial New Age to validate and accelerate the absurd claims of a monster. In addition to original reporting on how João made his mark in the U.S., Matthew is joined by former New Age publicist Lisa Braun Dubbels and Brazilian journalist Mirna Wabi Sabi to discuss the globalization of magic and abuse.
Trigger warnings for this episode: rape, sexual assault, fraud, spiritual abuse.
Show Notes
Biles, Maroney, Raisman and Nichols opening statements before Congress
Chico Xavier | Obituary
Is ‘John of God’ a Healer or a Charlatan?
John of God — Skepdic
James Randi ABC comments debrief
The trouble with Dr. Oz
John of God 2006 Atlanta Program
About Heather Cummings
Oprah March 13, 2010: “Do You Believe in Miracles?” (webarchive)
Leap of Faith: Meet John of God — Susan Casey (webarchive)
Part One: John of God: Oprah’s Favorite Ghost-Channeling Rapist Surgeon – Behind the Bastards
Famous Brazilian spiritual healer accused of sexual abuse | 60 Minutes Australia
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During Thursday’s episode, Derek briefly described Flow States in the context of a universal form of spirituality. He explores that concept in a little more depth, pulling audio from Hungarian-American psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi’s 2004 TED Talk about the social ramifications of Flow States.
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We’re grounding down. We’re letting go. We are going deep. We are finding the metta in our meta and tuning in to Source. This week we’ll either answer or transcend the core questions our listeners post in moments of parasocial vulnerability:
Do you guys believe in anything at all? Are there any wholesome spiritual communities out there? Are all spiritual teachers toxic?
This four-hour immersive encounter between three white guys is not to be missed!
(Seriously tho: we’ve got some huge interviews and investigative pieces coming up in the next few weeks, so we’re kicking back a little here to talk basics and regroup.)
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Julian traces the roots of today’s pandemic-era conspirituality back to What The Bleep’s quantum woo, The Secret’s privileged denial and grandiosity, and the dark lessons of why beliefs really matter, as revealed by James Arthur Ray’s deadly Spiritual Warrior Retreat.
Show Notes
Laura Tucker’s response to Nine Perfect Strangers
Guru: The Dark Side of Enlightenment
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Daniel Sherrell is the author of an extraordinary memoir and prayer book, Warmth: Coming of Age at the End of Our World, in which he recounts how, as a climate activist born in 1990, he has fought to manage, digest, and even celebrate the desperate tasks of the only age he’s known: the Anthropocene. The book is his homage to the resources that help him meditate on weaning ourselves from the dissociations of Twitter and doing the hard work of transforming climate grief into climate integrity.
In our feature interview this week, Matthew sits down with Daniel to discuss the real conspiracy of climate denialism, and how conspiracy theories provide relief to those who cannot contemplate our condition.
We start the show with Derek’s contemplation of Amitav Ghosh’s “The Great Derangement” and Julian’s notes on climate denialism dwarfing the disinformation we typically interrogate in the wellness world.
Show Notes
Warmth by Daniel Sherrell
Sherrell and Dorothy Fortenberry on Know Your Enemy
Why Grief can be Strength in a Warming World | Daniel Sherrell |
Learning How to Die in the Anthropocene – Scranton
Laudato si’ (24 May 2015) | Francis
Tucker Carlson on Military Vaccine Mandate
Dr. Wilson (Debunk the Funk) on Mike Yeadon
Big Oil’s War on Science
UCSA Climate Skeptic Disinformation List
The Climate Disinformation Playbook
Desmog Database
Steven Koonin, the “Obama Scientist”
Daniel Sherrell’s Reading List
Ducks, Newburyport — Ellman
The Summer Book – Jannson
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On his family’s yearly trip to Manitoulin Island, Matthew detoxes from conspirituality influencer garbage, and returns with parts of a new plan.
Show Notes
Warmth by Daniel Sherrell: 9780143136538 | PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books
Living at the End of Our World (w/ Daniel Sherrell & Dorothy Fortenberry) | Know Your Enemy
Lives Reclaimed — Mark Roseman
What Conspiritualists and Anti-Vaxxers Get Right | by Matthew Remski | Aug, 2021 | Medium
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This week, California Governor Gavin Newsom rode sane pandemic messaging to victory against the Republican-led recall election by a huge margin. Unsurprisingly, voting patterns perfectly matched the state COVID heat map, with fans of the recall suffering the worst outbreaks. Meanwhile, a strict lockdown in Australia, which is experiencing a Delta outbreak, led to American libertarians and right-wing commentators screaming fascism! We talk to Decoding the Gurus co-host (and real-life Australian) Matthew Browne about the situation on the ground. Later in the episode, Julian interviews another Aussie, Dr. Izzy Smith, about her online anti-conspiracy theory activism and science advocacy.
In the Ticker, Derek looks at JP Sears’s new cryptocurrency grift, which appears to be inspired by fellow Austinite Mikki Willis—who also announced a supplement grift this week. Matthew talks briefly to Toronto video journalist Morgan Yew to begin making sense of the alarming convergence of racist alt-right groups with aggressive anti-mask, anti-vaccine protestors at medical facilities in Canada.
Show Notes
How the media helped fuel the anti-vaxx movement
The Non-Fungible Freedom Column
Atlantic article “Australia Traded Away Too Much Liberty”
Josh Szeps Twitter thread response to The Atlantic
Federalist article Pursuing Covid-Zero Has Turned Australia into an Authoritarian State
Opinion | Meet the police chief turned yoga instructor prodding wealthy suburbanites to civil war
Ex-La Habra police chief Alan Hostetter, 5 others charged in Jan. 6 Capitol riot
When QAnon Came to Canada
Glowing Mama Anti-Masker. Toronto Influencer Socially Toilets in… | by Matthew Remski | Medium
Morgan Yew (@weynagrom)
Morgan Yew interviewing Sarah Choujounian of Canadian Frontline Nurses
Morgan Yew: Plan to “Interview” Racist Anti-Lockdown Influencer Ends in Violence
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In June, Planedemic creator Mikki Willis appeared on Living 4D with Paul Chek to discuss what “really happened” at the Capitol on Jan 6. During the long-ranging talk, Willis took some time to attack a VICE News article that we were featured in. Unfortunately for Willis, we have the audio from the Election Night party in Austin being referenced. Derek updates Willis’s memory.
Show Notes
Living 4D With Paul Check, EP 141 – Mikki Willis 2: What’s Really Going On?
The Election Night audio
Leading New Age Conspiracy Influencers Plan Their Retreat to Utopian Lagoon
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Paul Chek will tell you how much he’s influenced the fitness industry. He’ll tell you that he popularized Swiss Balls, and about his time working with the Jordan-era Chicago Bulls and then the championship Lakers. The kinesiologist and founder of the Chek Institute, which offers numerous training programs under the slogan, “We teach the science of living well,” claims that he’s always taken a holistic approach to weightlifting and the gym. In fact, the man does not mind telling you how vast his influence is.
Embedded in Chek’s holistic approach is a penchant for conspiratorial thinking. He trained JP Sears, traded podcasts with biohacker Ben Greenfield, hung with anus sunshiner Troy Casey, and hosted Mikki Willis twice in the last year on his own podcast, Living 4D with Paul Chek. Today’s co-host, NYC-based fitness expert Antonio Valladares, also trained with Chek, but unlike many of Chek’s acolytes, Antonio has used his time and knowledge debunking conspiracy theories in nutrition and fitness, not adding to the fire.
In this week’s closer, Matthew reviews and contextualizes a Facebook post from the charismatic dissectionist Gil Hedley. Hedley’s post leaned into familiar anti-vax territory. But he deleted it — and, in a positive email exchange, revealed some earnest motivations and empathetic impulses. A good lesson that you never quite know where people are coming from, or where they’re going.
Show Notes
Deconstructing Paul Chek
Who is Paul Chek: Holistic Lifestyle Coach
Plandemic Director Mikki Willis Explains His Presence at Capitol Riot — Matthew Remski
About Gil Hedley
Gil Hedley: Fascia and stretching: The Fuzz Speech
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A QAnon-themed Stop The Steal, anti-vax, Covid-denial roadshow came to an untimely end in mid-August with their fearless leader succumbing to COVID pneumonia on a ventilator in Florida. He denied the virus was real until his last breath.
This week, Julian chronicles the 84-stop Arise USA Resurrection Tour led by the recently deceased former CIA agent, Robert David Steele.
Characters on this Ill-fated tour include the aging wanna-be rock star slam-poet conspiracist Sacha Stone, anti-vax Urban Health Alliance leader Kevin Jenkins, cowboy-costumed MC Trent Loos, and a presidential impersonator named Lincoln Bob.
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Psychedelics are all the rage in the investment world, with hundreds of millions of dollars pouring into research-based startups in the hope of finding interventions for addiction, depression, PTSD, end-of-life anxieties, and much more. But is it too much? Are we, as has happened with numerous substances in the past, placing too much faith in plant medicine? Will investors expecting a return on investment skew the research? And, more to the point of this podcast, is the burgeoning crop of yoga instructors turned shamans promising more than they can deliver?
With Matthew on a much-deserved vacation this week, Julian interviews Derek about these topics based on Derek’s 2020 book, Hero’s Dose: The Case for Psychedelics in Ritual & Therapy.
In the Ticker this week, Julian looks at the growing list of anti-vax, COVID-is-a-hoax conservative radio hosts dying of COVID. We begin with the obvious: Joe Rogan recently contracted COVID, and admitted to undergoing what might be the most insane drug regimen to date.
Show Notes
Robert David Steele Dies from Covid, While Denying Covid
Anti-Vax Conservative Radio Hosts Dying from Covid
Caleb Wallace, 30-year-old Freedom Rally Organizer Dies from Covid
Texas GOP official who Mocked Covid, dies from it
Hero’s Dose: The Case for Psychedelics in Ritual & Therapy
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After watching the Almost 30 podcast hosts bond over Zach Bush’s Jesus-like qualities, Matthew explores the barren friendship landscape of wellness gigworkers.
From the transcript:
Show Notes
About Lindsey & Krista: Almost 30
SoulCycle changed fitness. Its culture and toxic work environment made growth impossible.
The Wellness Pornographers. Gamifying intimacy, abusing public… | by Matthew Remski | Aug, 2021 | Medium
Anti-Vax Doctor Manifests as Jesus. Wellness Ladies Weep with Joy. — Matthew Remski
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Spirituality, ill-defined a term that it is, often implies both an emptying out and an addition. What leaves is the vacuous clinging to achievements that are supposedly preventing us from seeing our true nature. What’s granted is a new mindset, a novel way of being, one in which you are at peace with both yourself and the world.
Where does the drive for status play into this quest? As journalist Will Storr points out in his new book, The Status Game: On Social Position and How We Use It, you can’t escape our impulse for achieving status. You can learn to dampen its hold on you, however. Derek catches up with Will to discuss how status plays a role in anti-vax groups, spiritual communities, and political groups.
We start this week with a Ticker by Matthew, who previews a bonus episode on the friendship porn we see on the Almost 30 episode in which the hosts share tears after being snowjobbed by Zach Bush.
Show Notes
Almost 30 podcast, Ep.451: Dr. Zach Bush on Fear, The Immune System, & The Real Meaning of Life
The Status Game by Will Storr review — how the fight for status defines our world
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One of the most debated topics in spirituality (and beyond) involves the origins of consciousness. Most neuroscientists agree that it’s emergent—the physiological systems of the body create what we call “consciousness.”
Derek revisits his 2018 conversation with Michael Gazzaniga, whose 1961 studies on split-brain patients revolutionized the discipline of neuroscience.
Show Notes
Neuroscientist Anil Seth: ‘We risk not understanding the central mystery of life’
VS Ramachandran: 3 Clues to Understanding Your Brain
Decoding the Brain’s Cacophony
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Santa Barbara surf coach Matthew Coleman murdered his two young children in Mexico nearly two weeks ago. He told the FBI that he was “enlightened by QAnon and Illuminati conspiracy theories and was receiving visions and signs revealing that his wife possessed serpent DNA and had passed it on to his children.”
Beneath the peak chaos of this story lies a social fabric torn to shreds by QAnon and related conspiracy theories. Marriages are ending, custody battles are raging, and parents and children are negotiating painful silences or estrangements.
Joining us today as a co-host is Jitarth Jadeya, one of the few ex-QAnon followers so far who has been willing and able to discuss what this fever dream did to him and his family. Marriage and Family therapist Rachel Bernstein, the host of the brilliant IndoctriNation Podcast, also joins to discuss her experiences working with cult survivors and providing recovery resources.
In this week’s closer, Derek examines the scientific hipsterism of Zach Bush, who has recently co-opted Malcolm X as a posthumous endorser, when Malcolm would have probably hated his gut biome.
Show Notes
Surf Instructor Killed His Children and Claimed QAnon Made Him Do It, F.B.I. Says
QAnon: a timeline of violence linked to the conspiracy theory
Former QAnon follower Jitarth Jadeja on “The Takeout” — 2/12/2021
Former QAnon believer says following the conspiracy “was absolutely a drug”
He went down the QAnon rabbit hole for almost two years. Here’s how he got out
How Ex-QAnon Followers Escaped The Cultish Conspiracy Theory
He’s a former QAnon believer. He doesn’t want to tell his story, but thinks it might help.
Rachel Bernstein’s excellent IndoctriNation Podcast
QAnon Casualties on Reddit
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Conspiritualists amp up their victimhood-fetish by comparing anti-vaxxers to Jim Crow-era African Americans and Jews under the Holocaust. Meanwhile, Tucker Carlson questions vaccines, bangs the CRT red-scare propaganda drum, and swoons over Hungarian fascist Viktor Orban.
ulian compares Fox News’s idealizing coverage of Orban to how they treat another famous Hungarian, boogeyman of the far-right, George Soros. He also tells the tragic tale of Trofim Lysenko—Stalin’s “barefoot scientist,” to illustrate how pseudoscience actually flourishes (to everyone’s detriment) under real totalitarianism.
Show Notes
The Soviet Era’s Deadliest Scientist Is Regaining Popularity in Russia
Under fascism, a generation of scientific knowledge was lost in Spain
Hungarian scientists are on edge as country is poised to force out top university
Say it with statues: Brick-and-mortar revisionism in Orban’s Hungary
Orban shocks the world again: He admits to being a Nazi pilot, calling him a knight and a hero
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With guests: Philip Deslippe, Jules Hartley, Janja Lalich, and Stacie Stukin
We’ve convened an expert panel this week to remember and discuss Katie Griggs, aka GJ. She died in an LA hospital on the evening of August 1st. LA Magazine was the first outlet to confirm the death with the RA MA Institute, which Griggs co-founded in Venice, CA.
The cause of death has not been confirmed, but according to a eulogy film put out by the RA MA Institute, Griggs reportedly broke her ankle in Berlin on July 11th, and on the 15th had surgery to repair it in Los Angeles. Subsequently, she developed a pulmonary embolism, which proved fatal.
In episodes 36 and 37, Philip and Stacie joined me to discuss Griggs’s adopted culture and religion, Kundalini Yoga, and where she stood in relation to the legacy of KY’s abusive founder, Yogi Bhajan. They are uniquely equipped for that background: Philip is an expert in KY history, and Stacie has published excellent investigative work on the #metoo wave that swept through the community to uncover long-suppressed stories of Bhajan’s abuses.
Joining us today to dig even deeper are former Kundalini Yoga student Jules Hartley, and renowned cult expert Janja Lalich.
In our earlier episodes, we discussed how Griggs went on the offensive in the midst of the Kundalini abuse scandal, publicly attacking Bhajan’s survivors. We also discussed how she quickly pivoted into conspiracy theories about COVID and BLM when the pandemic hit. We also discussed the culture and cultural impact of Griggs’s RA MA Institute.
We continue that discussion in somber tones today.
Show Notes
Philip Deslippe’s website
Jules Hartley on IMDB
Janja Lalich’s website and 2021 Recommended Reading List
Stacie Stukin on Twitter
LA Magazine Griggs death notice
Inside the Dubious World of RA MA Yoga, and Its Girl Boss Guru to the Stars — Cassidy George, VICE
Guru Jagat Dies. A Saint Is Born. | by Matthew Remski | Aug, 2021 | Medium
Guru Jagat Mourned in Person with Breathing Exercises, No Masks — Matthew Remski
(PDF) From Maharaj to Mahan Tantric: The Construction of Yogi Bhajan’s Kundalini Yoga — Philip Deslippe
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This past week, Matthew defined “Wellness Pornography”, working from the ideas of C. Thi Nguyen and Bekka Williams in their essay “Moral Outrage Porn.” In this bonus episode, he asks:
Show Notes
The Wellness Pornographers. Gamifying intimacy, abusing public… | by Matthew Remski | Aug, 2021 | Medium(PDF)
Moral Outrage Porn — Nguyen and Williams
Kohut and the self-objectAndrea Dworkin’s Testimony to the Attorney General On Pornography (all trigger warnings)
Hunger Strike: Starving Amidst Plenty by Susie Orbach
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The YogaVaxGate Instagram post turns out to have been a bellwether for the $88B industry packed with science skeptics and spiritual bypassers. When Wolf Terry got trolled for daring to argue in Yoga Journal that getting vaccinated was an act of non-harming, the stormfront was clear. As thousands of yoga studios ponder opening amidst the stop-and-start waves of Delta and beyond, one question dominates staff meetings: “Will we ask our returning clients for proof of vaccination?”
Matthew interviews Sarah Garden and Colin Hall of Bodhi Tree Yoga in Saskatchewan, who made national news when they announced that yes, they would. Bodhi Tree clients will have to show their card; if they can’t or don’t want to be vaccinated, online classes are still available. Simple, right? Not in Yogaland. We’ll be reading from emails describing the backlash — from the absurd to the abhorrent — faced by studio owners who are taking the no-brainer Bodhi Tree path.
In the Ticker, Derek looks at Antisemitism in vaccine disinformation campaigns while Julian checks in with Joseph Mercola, who announced he’ll be removing all content from his website this week. In the Jab, Julian lays out the “base-rate fallacy” anti-vaxxers are using to falsely claim that vaccinations are not helping to stop COVID-19. And off the top, we’ll briefly flag the topic for next week: the sudden death of conspiritualist Kundalini leader Katie Griggs.
Show Notes
How About Not Using the Holocaust to Spread Vaccine Disinformation?
Mob Morality and the Unvaxxed
Inside the Dubious World of RA MA Yoga, and Its Girl Boss Guru to the Stars
Griggs LAMag obit
Matthew: Guru Jagat Dies. A Saint is Born.
Regina yoga studio requiring proof of vaccination to attend classes
Lawyer says yoga studio should be legally allowed to ask clients for vaccination status
Bodhi Tree Yoga, Regina SK
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A recent uptick in Holocaust-related memes around the COVID vaccine is fueling further anti-Semitic thought and behavior. Derek investigates a crop of wellness influencers guilty of this charge.
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The genius parade continues this week with co-host Dale Beran, author of It Came from Something Awful: How a Toxic Troll Army Accidentally Memed Donald Trump into Office. All three of us writers are legit blown away by Beran’s layered and penetrating coverage of the chan-verse-to-Capitol Riot pipeline.
After last week’s journey led by Dr. Annie Kelly through the anti-feminism of the high-testosterone sites that prepped cyberspace for QAnon, Beran takes us deep into the cosplayed souls of the man-child nihilists who created an online politics of chaos, and served it up to the MAGA movement.
Equal parts deep-internet history, social psychology, and critique of late capitalism, Beran’s lamentation to based and wasted youth still manages to hold out some hope for the future — and we’re going to ask him why.
Show Notes
The Return of Anonymous
Who Are the Incels of 4Chan, and Why Are They So Angry?
It Came From Something Awful: How a Toxic Troll Army Accidentally Memed Donald Trump into Office
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QAnon emerged out of a perfect storm of evolving technology, social psychology, and global crisis. But it exploited pre-existing neural architecture already easily hijacked by addictive drugs, junk food, porn, persuasive marketing, and cultish religions. It also relied on how mobile social media, running on cellular and wifi technology, amplifies and speeds up the algorithmic impact of hyper-contagious cultural memes on the material world. Maybe 5G was the real threat all along?
Julian explores our conspiritualist tendencies toward patternicity and apophenia, which can be super-stimulated by well-adapted memes, complex puzzles, and grandiose in-group purpose—and suggests a possible antidote.
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It takes patience, empathy, and a steady hand to paint a detailed landscape of the politics and culture that connect anti-feminism to ethnonationalism to the broader obsessions of conspirituality.
Dr. Annie Kelly’s scholarship in these spaces reveals a network of “subversion anxieties”: that patriarchy will be replaced by social justice autocrats, that the privileged will be brought low, that feminism will destroy hetero freedoms and pleasures, that human bodies will become cyborgs, that collectivism will replace capitalism. As our guest host this week, she’ll be our tour guide through the last decade of hot internet garbage, and explain how she’s kept her manners and wits intact enough to gain the trust of QAnon moms on the front lines of the U.K.’s anti-lockdown movement. We’ll also talk about her new brilliant podcast “Vaccine: The Human Story,” which takes the history of smallpox and its eradication as an object lesson for the COVID era.
On the vaccine tip, our brief Ticker will address how the yoga world showed its anti-vax ass by trolling a Yoga Journal writer who dared to argue that getting vaccinated was a practice of non-violence.
Show Notes
Wolf Terry: Getting the COVID-19 Vaccine Was My Act of Ahimsa
Matthew Remski: How Yoga Journal Set Off an Anti-Vax Backlash
Kelly: Opinion | The Housewives of White Supremacy
Kelly: The alt-right: Reactionary rehabilitation for white masculinity
QAA Episode 110: Mothers For QAnon w/ Annie Kelly by QAnon Anonymous
Kelly: Vaccine, the Human Story
Anti-Vaxxers Could Be Helping Create Deadlier Versions of Covid
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A closer look at the content and constellations of Josh Rainer Goldstein, who livestreams himself eating raw meat.
Presented in three parts:
Show Notes
Eating Raw Meat, Dreaming of Fatherhood — Matthew Remski on Medium
Goldstein’s raw lamb mukbang.
“You own your land. You defend your land.”
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Are you crypto-curious? This past year has shown that an increasing number of people are dreaming of becoming crypto millionaires. But what is blockchain and this strange new digital currency and, more pertinent to this podcast, how are conspiritualists trying to exploit it, even when they don’t understand what “it” is?
Matthew drills Derek, who worked in blockchain for over two years with two different companies, on the basics, before Derek interviews David Morris, the Chief Insights Columnist at Coindesk who also just happens to have a longtime interest in MLMs and cults. Matthew also reviews the 1996 essay, “The Californian Ideology,” the famous 1995 study of the bizarre Silicon Valley-fueled fusion of cultural bohemianism and free-market utopia rhetoric.
In the Ticker, Julian reconsiders the definition of free speech in an age of digital misinformation through the lens of anti-vax champion RFK, Jr, Vandana Shiva, and returning Conspirituality champion, Russell Brand.
Show Notes
The Lesson of Bitconnect: Promoters Can Be Liable
China’s Anti-Crypto Crackdown Is Different This Time
Of Course China Is Anti-Bitcoin: Look What Happened to Jack Ma
Biden’s New FTC Chair Could Be a Big Web 3.0 Ally
23-year old who kept QAnon online
Italy’s Five Star Techno-Utopians
RFK’s Children’s Health Defense article on Brand and Shiva
Seeds of Doubt New Yorker article about Vandana Shiva
Stanford U. Letter on Shiva’s Anti-Science Rhetoric
“Bill Gates Agenda” viral article
Gates New Agriculture Non-Profit
Barbrooke and Cameron, 1995: THE CALIFORNIAN IDEOLOGY
Richard Brautigan, 1967: All Watched Over By Machines Of Loving Grace
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Derek investigates a recent NY Times essay by Michael Pollan as an entry point to discuss big questions in psychedelics and conspirituality: How do we honor indigenous traditions as psychedelics are legalized (and monetized)? What dangers lie ahead as pharmaceutical companies and charismatic influencers exploit psychedelics for profit and power? How can we create psychedelic rituals that suit our current time and societal temperament?
Show Notes
How Should We Do Drugs Now?
Is This Peter Thiel–Backed Startup Trying to Monopolize the Astral Plane?
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What should a global network of popular and private schools do when faced with evidence that the foundation of their pedagogy was laid by a racist, proto-fascist pseudoscientist? What should they do when it becomes clear that they are evangelizing while pretending to teach secular humanism? These are the sticky questions raised by Dr. Jennifer Sapio in today’s interview with Matthew. Sapio taught for three years at the Austin Waldorf School. She was hired from her secular training, but gradually found herself drawn into what she calls an “inherently racist cult.” Her mentors pushed her towards accepting the 19th-century babblings of Rudolf Steiner, who, among other exploits, read the “Akashic Records” to learn why the spirit world disapproved of vaccines. They discuss the long shadows of racist and metaphysical nonsense that hang over the otherwise wholesome project of Waldorf education.
In the Ticker, Derek and Julian review a recent episode of Ben Shapiro’s podcast, in which he mutually masturbates with Russell Brand to consummate their brands, but they don’t quite come together.
Show Notes
The Ben Shapiro Show Sunday Special Ep. 116
The gun control debate is complex, but there are things we can do
Movement against critical race theory is deeply necessary
Dr. Thomas Cowan: Viral video claiming 5G caused pandemic easily debunked
Dr. Sapio’s Waldorf memoir: Waldorf Schools Are Inherently Racist Cults
Austin Waldorf School, Tuitions & Fees
Prof. Staudenmeier: “Anthroposophy and Ecofascism”
Protesting too much: Myths about Waldorf education
Matthew on: The “Akashic Records” to “Do Your Research” Pipeline
APTN: Residential Schools Archives
NYT: Unmarked Graves at Residential Schools in Canada: What to Know
Anishnabek.ca: An Overview of the Indian Residential School System
Woops.
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Julian reflects on unchosen racial complicity and how moments of moral courage in the face of oppressive power can reveal one’s true colors. He traces the history of Apartheid as it intersects with the stories of his youth in South Africa.
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How do we avoid being the subject of—and feeding the market for—trauma porn? If anyone knows, it’s India Oxenberg, who in less than two years (while under the unforgiving glare of a media firestorm) went from cult victim to survivor to anti-cult activist. Matthew sits down with her to discuss her recovery journey: learning to box, learning to love food, learning about “the strong yes” from her therapist. They also discuss the behind-the-scenes expertise that went into the documentary series India starred in and co-produced: Seduced.
In the Ticker, Derek wonders why wellness influencers are falling back on bad habits as the world reopens while Julian tracks how Bret Weinstein’s cries of censorship exponentially boost the exposure of his anti-vax, pro-Ivermectin science hipsterism.
Show Notes
How Dangerous Is the Delta Variant, and Will It Cause a COVID Surge in the U.S.?
Sah D’Simone: Transmission Hotline
6 facts about economic inequality in the U.S.
The Pandemic Is Turning the Natural World Upside Down
With almost 50 million Americans traveling on July 4 weekend, you may need to pack your patience
June 28 Ivermectin Systemic Review and Meta-Analysis
Slavoj Zizek — Is Jordan Peterson the real Postmodernist?
SEDUCED: INSIDE THE NXIVM CULT
A Timeline of the Nxivm Sex Cult Case
Judge Says Allison Mack ‘Willingly Enslaved, Destabilized and Manipulated’ Women
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Matthew debriefs after the Mike Rothschild interview, looking at QAnon’s “Conspiracy Theory of Everything” as a hyperobject and spiritual dilemma.
Show Notes
‘A reckoning for our species’: the philosopher prophet of the Anthropocene
Conversations with Cornel West | Glenn Loury, Cornel West & Teodros Kiros | The Glenn Show
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It’s only been eight months since Q stopped posting, but Mike Rothschild has been able to corral the firehose of data into the first major journalistic study of the fever dream that has tortured millions since 2018. He joins us as co-host this week just as his new book, The Storm is Upon Us: How QAnon Became a Cult, Movement and a Conspiracy Theory of Everything, drops. We’ll ask him about researching a “conspiracy of everything, what a leaderless cult means, how an online religion worships, and how, amidst catastrophic disconfirmation and deplatforming, we’re seeing new delta QAnon variants emerge.
Show Notes
The Storm Is Upon Us: How Qanon Became a Movement, Cult, and Conspiracy Theory of Everything
QAnon Is Not Dead, It’s Evolving Into Something Far Worse
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The race to capitalize on the world’s wellness needs in a post-pandemic society—well, at “post” as we can pretend to be—was unavoidable. Derek reflects on the continually unrealistic marketing promises being offered by wellness influencers, discussing how we’d benefit from more honest ad copy than the hyperbole attempting to be passed off as destiny.
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In June 2020, equity consultant and journalist Dax-Devlon Ross—who you might remember from Conspirituality 4 that very same month—published an essay called “A Letter to My White Male Friends of a Certain Age.” In it, he applied his decades of experience as a nonprofit executive and program facilitator to have an honest discussion with, as the title suggests, his white male friends.
A year later and the book version of that essay, called “Letters to My White Male Friends,” has been published by St. Martin’s Press. There couldn’t be a better time for this conversation, given the heated skirmishes around the meaning and manipulation of Critical Race Theory in our politics. Dax joins this week as a co-host, nearly a year to the day since his last appearance, to discuss the topics in his book, including the many years of lived experiences that cut through the academic rhetoric and political posturing concerning race in America today.
Show Notes
A Letter to My White Male Friends of a Certain Age (the original essay)
Letters to My White Male Friends
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Humanity has an apocalypse fetish. But wrapped up In the doomsday death wish is a utopian fantasy of the ascension that comes after a fallen and sinful world is purified by cataclysmic fire. Whether the longed-for intervention is supernatural or extraterrestrial, spirituality porn hijacks our neurobiological wet-ware to bond cults together in a shared and singular climactic focus.
For this week’s Bonus, Julian traces the recurring themes between the 19th-century Great Awakening, the Heaven’s Gate mass suicide, the New Age fascination with 2012, and the QAnon fever dream.
Might our vulnerability to these narratives stem from evolutionary side-effects—which, like the space between medieval cathedral archways that are decorated with ornate trumpeting angels and burgeoning flowers, serve no structural purpose, but somehow draw a hyper-focused otherworldly fixation?
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This episode is co-hosted by Dr. C. Thi Nguyen, a philosopher who teaches at the University of Utah. His breakthrough book is about agency in games, in which he shines a light on disquieting aspects of our gamified lives and the question of whether we’re still able to act on our own values. We’ll talk about Dr. Nguyen’s key ideas, all of which are super useful for navigating conspirituality: the gamification of Twitter and other systems of “value capture,” the feeling of knowing something really clearly can foreclose on the desire for nuance, and the pleasures and perils of “moral outrage porn.”
Show Notes
Polarization or Propaganda? (Boston Review)
Why We Call Things ‘Porn’ (New York Times)
Escape the Echo Chamber (Aeon Magazine)
Why Games are Good but Gamification is Terrible (Conceptual Foundations of Conflict lecture)
Who Trains the Machine Artist? (Daily Nous)
The Gamification of Public Discourse (Royal Institute of Philosophy lecture)
How We Can Understand Ourselves Through Games (OUP)
Group-Strapping, Bubble, or Echo Chamber? (SERRC)
Am I in an Echo Chamber? (Open for Debate)
On gurus and seductive clarity (Decoding the Gurus podcast)
What’s in a game? (Philosophy Talk radio show/podcast)
Games: Agency as Art (New Books in Philosophy podcast)
Cheap talk (Escape the Void podcast episode, talking about clarity porn)
Echoes in the void (Escape the Void podcast episode, talking about echo chambers)
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News from Alabama: after a 23-year ban on yoga in schools, generated by a Republican moral panic, Governor Kay Ivey signs a bill that lets kids do yoga again, but with some restrictions:
“All instruction in yoga shall be limited exclusively to poses, exercises, and stretching techniques. All poses shall be limited exclusively to sitting, standing, reclining, twisting, and balancing. All poses, exercises, and stretching techniques shall have exclusively English descriptive names. Chanting, mantras, mudras, use of mandalas, induction of hypnotic states, guided imagery, and namaste greetings shall be expressly prohibited.”
Those who promote yoga as a universal good will welcome this Indian art form being made more accessible for children in a State with terrible educational markers. Hindu nationalists, on the other hand, may be outraged at a secularized version of yoga, stripped not only of references to Hinduism, but of signs of any type of Indian spirituality. And a lot of white yoga progressives will look at this policy—mostly from the urban North— and worry about authenticity and appropriation.
How will the children feel?
In considering who wins and loses with this new development, Matthew reviews recent U.S. yoga-war history: battles between the Hindu American Foundation and Yoga Journal, the rise of Christian non-yoga-yoga “Praise Moves”, and Encinitas Union School District got sued for allegedly violating the Establishment Clause by contracting devotees of Pattabhi Jois to teach the kids yoga.
It’s not a stretch to see an overlap between this theme and the medical-moral panic over vaccines. In both cases, the focus is on the imagined corruption of children, whether by poison, politics, or inner quiet.
Show Notes
Alabama lifts three-decade-old ban on yoga in public schools—with a catch.
New study ranks Alabama as 43rd for student achievement, grade of D+
12 Reasons Why Yoga is NOT Good for Christians
Hindu Group Stirs Debate in Fight for Soul of Yoga
Hindu American Foundation: Hindu Roots of Yoga
Shukla’s letter: Is Hindu a bad word?
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Matthew sits down, across 9,000 miles of mostly ocean, with journalist Anke Richter and reporter and Māori rights activist Joe Trinder to discuss the mind-bending rise of Māori MAGA in the COVID-free sanctuary of Aoteoroa, aka New Zealand. Led by former blues musician Billy Te Kahika, conspirituality has seeped from music and cultural festivals and straight into national politics, where white supremacists manipulate Māori post-colonial distrust of settler governments to boost vaccine hesitancy and milk paranoia.
In the Ticker this week, Derek dunks on Deepak Chopra’s “Lovetuner” penny-whistle, which will change your DNA for $58 and a few toots. Julian reports on Bret Weinstein and Heather Heying as they drift farther into conspiratorial pseudoscience and advocate for whiz-bang COVID cure-alls over vaccines.
Show Notes
Exploring the Actual Science Behind Why Music Makes Us Feel Good
Anke Richter bio
Anke Richter on cults
Anke Richter on conspiracy theories in New Zealand
How alternative festivals became platforms for conspiracy theorists
Luminate Festival organisers criticised for promoting far-right conspiracy theorists
Anti-conspiracist campaigners take aim at ‘Mothers for Freedom’ event
The self-proclaimed ‘political prisoners’ in managed isolation
Anti-lockdown group of academics criticised for promoting conspiracy theorists
The scientist and the rabbit hole: How epidemiologist Simon Thornley became an outcast of his profession
E-Tangata The rise of Māori MAGA
Billy TK: False Profit
Sue Grey
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Derek looks back at three important historical figures with unsavory pasts to ask the question: who gets to decide who gets canceled, and why?
Show Notes
Great Soul: Mahatma Gandhi and His Struggle with India
How would Gandhi’s celibacy tests with naked women be seen today?
John Muir Is Canceled. Who’s Next?
Don’t Cancel John Muir
I’m an MLK scholar – and I’ll never be able to view King in the same light
A judge gave a drug dealer a second chance. Sixteen years later, he swore him in as a lawyer.
Sponsored Content: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver
The Unbearable Feelings of the Anti-Masker
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We’re extremely pleased that someone who isn’t a Boomer — and is younger than us — is making a serious but accessible contribution to this golden age of cult literature. Linguist Amanda Montell joins Julian for an engaging interview about her new book, Cultish: The Language of Fanaticism, which examines the power of language in high-demand groups, from The People’s Temple to the local Young Living dinner party. In a debrief, we discuss not only Montell’s study, but also our own run-ins with spiritual mumbo-jumbo.
In the Ticker, Matthew wonders what Sayer Ji does when he loses his Facebook privileges and is relegated to the armpit of Telegram. Why, he goes full Satanic Panic, of course!
Show Notes
Deplatformed for Anti-Vax Propaganda, Sayer Ji Turns to Satanic Panic Content
Amanda Montell’s website
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Julian and Matthew discuss words, world views, and how productive disagreement can lead to mutual understanding. In today’s overheated discourse, social media posturing can make the culture wars feel like pro wrestling and political conversation like tip-toeing through a hair-trigger minefield. While these two co-hosts share a healthy skepticism for conspiracy theories, pseudoscience, and New Age grift, some of their underlying philosophical and political beliefs hold interesting tensions. On the table this time: postmodernism, science, cultural sensitivity, Enlightenment values, social constructionism, and grand narratives about the arc of moral history.
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This week we learned that Melinda Gates was disturbed by Bill’s men’s-club relationship with Jeffrey Epstein all the way back in 2011. And for fuck sake: when Bill visited Epstein’s Manhattan lair, reports say, he counseled the predator on image rehab while Epstein counseled Bill on his loveless marriage. Are the conspiritualists right, and about what? Matthew will revisit an earlier essay on Gates, and fill in some blind spots.
Derek tackles the obscene co-optation of trans activism by anti-vaxxers who now pledge to lie about their status by “identifying as vaccinated.” In keeping with our musical theme, Julian reminisces about playing protest rock under an assumed name and the threat of a bomb under the stage during the Apartheid years in South Africa.
In our feature interview, world-weary rock star Alex Ebert—frontman for Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros—joins Derek to map out the late 20th-century slide into infinitely co-opted creativity and revolution. They discuss the reasons America could use death rituals, the rise of Trump as the ultimate New Ager, wellness influencers as “the clerical class of the right,” and to ask if critical thinking and open-eyed spirituality are the new punk rock—and for how long.
Show Notes
The NYT reported in the fall of 2019 that Gates was a frequent guest of Epstein in Manhattan
A description from Town and Country of Epstein’s mansion
Sources at many meetings describe the Gates-Epstein vibe
Sex Redefined: The Idea of 2 Sexes Is Overly Simplistic
The Gene: An Intimate History | Siddhartha Mukherjee
Inside the Republican Anti-Transgender Machine
Gender-affirming surgery linked to better mental health, study finds
“Identify As” Twitter thread
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Matthew had a plan for this week — a 4K word essay on what could be learned from studying the content of an outrageously offensive conspiritualist… but then he shelved it. Why?
A last-minute, off-the-cuff discussion on what it means to indulge or not indulge moral outrage porn. What it means to punch up or down, and how we decide. How we might confront an influencer who has managed to monetize mental illness.
Produced with an enormous debt of gratitude to the work of C. Thi. Nguyen.
Show Notes
“Moral Outrage Porn“: Nguyen and Williams
Nguyen’s public scholarship on gamification, value capture, narrowed morality, and the seductions of certainty.
Nguyen on the gamification of public discourse
Aaron Rabinowitz on cheap talk
Matthew’s elegy for Michael Stone
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As our access to vaccines eases the pandemic in the Global North, U.S.-based conspiritualists keep riding the wave of covid-denial influence—all the way to the bank. This week, Julian reports that Gen-Z spiritual entrepreneur Jason Shurka has launched a new media hub, The Academy of Divine Knowledge, and affiliating with the predictable rogue’s gallery—Christiane Northrup, Del Bigree, Sayer Ji, David Icke, and Judy Mikovits among them. This confederacy of dunces charges a $33 monthly membership because “33 is a Master Number that holds many divine meanings” that leads to “infinite possibilities,” such as magically draining your bank account.
Of course, the pandemic is far from over. India is still going through the worst of it, and as Matthew discusses, one reason appears to be the influence of astrologers on Narendra Modi’s decision-making. Meanwhile, Derek unpacks the repeated fat-shaming being done by conspiritualists when boasting of their awesome immune systems.
In this week’s interview, Derek talks with Venezuelan-American singer/songwriter Devendra Banhart about global music, anti-vaxxers, conspiritualist ideology, and paying $24 for a smoothie in Malibu. Next week will continue the theme, as we look at music’s influence in cult worship and indoctrination, with Alex Ebert of Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros joining the discussion.
Show Notes
The Racist and Problematic History of the Body Mass Index
Fat shaming, BMI and alienation: COVID-19 brought new stigma to large-sized people
Fat-shamers have felt enabled by Covid, and it’s hard to fight back
CDC: Obesity, Race/Ethnicity, and COVID-19
The Bizarre and Racist History of the BMI
Uncovering and Destigmatizing Male Body Dysmorphia in Popular Culture
Jewish Star article about Jason Shurka’s “miracle Torah”
Signature Investment Group team page w/Jason Shurka as VP
Matthew on Modi and the stars
The Indian government is cracking down on harrowing
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Derek discusses a forthcoming interview with Alex Ebert, which will be featured on Conspirituality 52. They discuss the dearth of death rituals in America. In this bonus episode, Derek meditates and, more to the point, our anxiety around aging, including a modern incarnation of that age-old fear: the quest for perpetual youth through wrinkle-free skin.
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When the drones hum over the improvised cremation grounds of Delhi, what will the conspiritualist see in the livestream—if they even look? Will their Orientalist spell, fixated on fire ceremonies and mantras, finally be broken? In our interview this week, Matthew speaks with sociologist Sheena Sood about the hubris of Hindu nationalism as its yoga-boosting ministers show their pious ineptitude, telling their gasping citizens to stop being crybabies and consider drinking holy cow urine against COVID.
What about when other supposed zealots show their sell-out colors? Austin’s biohacking guru, Aubrey Marcus just sold his hipster supplement company to Unilever, of all companies. Derek breaks down the insanity of the COVID-contrarian set taking the buyout from the big-Ag, big-Pharm mack daddy. Julian looks at how, in the very same week, Marcus’s biz partner Joe Rogan, excuses his vax-hesitant comments by admitting he’s a moron. But isn’t the joke on us?
Priests and punks, preaching spirit and stockpiling cash. When will this be over?
Show Notes
Super-spreader events in India
Maha Kumbh Mela 2021
Oxygen express trains in India
Waiving Vaccine Patents at the WTO
Anti-Vax Firebombing in Italy
Aubrey Marcus announces Unilever sale
Art of Manliness Podcast #93: Total Human Optimization With Aubrey Marcus
A British Skin Care Brand Pressured Asian Influencers To Promote Its Skin Whiteners. They Fought Back.
Unilever South Africa to pull all TRESemmé products for 10 days over racist ad
World must tell India’s government to stop religious gatherings during COVID
Oxygen Express trains deliver supplies as India hit by covid-19 surge
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By the 1990s, the sadistic cult leader who claimed to be God on Earth had already fled the United States to avoid a stack of lawsuits and potential criminal charges. Even still, highly influential spiritual intellectual Ken Wilber was calling him the “greatest living realizer,” privately saying he was “happy about how many people had found their way to Adi Da through reading my books.”
Wilber later modified his model of stages of spiritual development to try to account for supposedly enlightened beings who were awful people. In this week’s Bonus episode, Julian recounts this story of a sociopathic holy man and his brilliantly naive enabler—which culminates in a wickedly illustrative thought experiment!
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On the road to the screen, a rich story can flatten into propaganda. On the road to the influencer economy, a complex teaching can degrade into a conspirituality meme. As the Oscar glitter fades, we look at how Amazon could never have signed off on a real nomadland story any more than Gaia TV could have ever done justice to the spiritualities it exploits.
In the Ticker, Julian looks at new research into correlations between huffing essential oils and seizures. Matthew looks at Miami’s Centner Academy’s announcement that they’ll fire vaccinated teachers—and wonders whether Kelly Brogan and Christiane Northrup sending kids and grandkids to this elite private school has something to do with it. In the Jab, Julian reviews the state of the nation re: vaccines, and offers three key principles to inject into conversations with the hesitant.
Our interview this week is with TikTok anti-disinformation activist Abbie Richards, whose “Conspiracy Pyramid” and tea-time QAnon explainers have gone viral on the next-gen platform. Matthew talks with Abbie about her process, challenges, why she hates golf, and what GenXers (and older cohorts) should keep in mind when they wonder if the kids are alright.
Show Notes
Jim DeFede breaks the Centner Academy story
Centner’s Medical Freedom from Mandated Vaccines (disinfo warning)
Biscayne Times profile of the Centner’s: The Privileged Class
Tour of the Centner’s Miami penthouse
Preethaji and Krishnaji, proprietors of O&O Academy
Krishnaji’s culty dad, Kalki Bhagavan: Mystic and the moolah
‘It’s Baffling’: Parents Confused After Centner Academy Announces They Won’t Employ People Who Have Been Vaccinated
The Case Against Nomadland
What Nomadland Gets Wrong About Gig Labor
Amazon’s Minimum Wage Hike Comes With Cuts To Other Compensation
“Strategic Transparency”: Ann Gleig. “From Sweeping Zen to Open Buddhism: Sex Scandals, Social Media, and Transparency in Western Buddhism” for Buddhism in the West Group. American Academy of Religion, Denver, November 17-20, 2018 (forthcoming)
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Survivor shame over what has been lost, and how one has been complicit.
Apologist shame: turned inside out and externalized as aggression.
Popular shaming, which tries to deflect attention from how close to home cultic dynamics really are.
In the cult landscape, shame is a common denominator. In this contemplation, Matthew unpacks various aspects, with help from the writing of cult theorists and recovery counselors Alexandra Stein, Daniel Shaw, and Holocaust survivor Primo Levi.
Show Notes
Music: Spiegel im Spiegel and Pari Intervallo: Pärt
Primo Levi: The Drowned and the Saved
The Relational System of the Traumatizing Narcissist — Shaw
Rachel Bernstein’s “One More Thing” at the end of Betrayal and Power w/ Nitai Joseph, former Hare Krishna — S4E5.
All of Rachel Bernstein’s IndoctriNation podcast.
What’s Behind the Blowback You’ll Get When You Engage Cult Members
“Deception, Dependence, Dread of Leaving” — Langone
Selected Bibliography:
Ainsworth, Mary D. Salter. Patterns of Attachment: a Psychological Study of the Strange Situation. Routledge, 2015.
Arendt, Hannah. The Origins of Totalitarianism. Penguin Classics, 2017.
Freyd, Jennifer J. Betrayal Trauma: the Logic of Forgetting Childhood Abuse. Harvard University Press, 1998.
Freyd, Jennifer J., and Pamela Birrell. Blind to Betrayal: Why We Fool Ourselves We Arent Being Fooled. Wiley, 2013.
Hassan, Steven. Combating Cult Mind Control: the #1 Best-Selling Guide to Protection, Rescue, and Recovery from Destructive Cults. Freedom of Mind Press, 2016.
Kramer, Joel, and Diana Alstad. The Guru Papers: Masks of Authoritarian Power. North Atlantic Books/Frog, 1993.
Lalich, Janja, and Madeleine Landau. Tobias. Take Back Your Life: Recovering from Cults and Abusive Relationships. Bay Tree Pub., 2006.
Lalich, Janja. Escaping Utopia: Growing up in a Cult, Getting out, and Starting Over. Routledge, 2018.
Langone, Michael D. Recovery from Cults: Help for Victims of Psychological and Spiritual Abuse. W.W. Norton, 1995.
Lifton, Robert Jay. Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism: a Study of “Brainwashing” in China.W.W. Norton, 1961.
Miller, Alice
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Teal Swan’s suicide-teasing trauma pseudo-therapy has cast a spell over millions. Kaia Ra is an up-and-coming contender, selling divine jewelry and a channeled text about how to transcend QAnon-type nightmares. Both claim to be survivors of long-term Satanic Ritual Abuse and alien ambassadors. Both have capitalized on the chaos of 2020.
We discuss the trend of trauma exploitation, Satanic Panics throughout the decades, and social media entertainment finding cover through the pretense of therapy. Then we’ll hear from the pros: licensed psychologists Hala Khouri and Kyra Haglund join Julian to discuss the importance of trauma-informed yoga and cases of abuse in wellness spaces.
In the Ticker, Derek examines the snake oil of Luke Storey, Julian reviews the “Health and Freedom” conference recently held in a Bible college in Tulsa, and Matthew worries about QAnons in Toronto who have started speaking in tongues. We’ll also discuss a new phenomenon amongst anti-vaxxers: “Reverse Contagion Anxiety”, which leads them to believe that merely being around vaccinated people will make them infertile or re-organize their DNA. (We can only hope.)
CW: Audio clips from Lin Wood and Kaia Ra describing sexual / satanic ritual abuse of children in the context of QAnon mythology (Wood), and personal origin story (Ra).
Show Notes
Luke Storey wants to sell you a pyramid scheme
Electromagnetic Fields & Parental Panics: A case study in how science can bring comfort
Reporter Sean O’Shea gets yelled at in tongues
Sgt. Brown gets suspended for hugging anti-maskers
When QAnon Came to Canada
@selfhealingmama Chloe Angeline with a dire womb-warning
Christiane Northrup as Vaccine Lysistrata
Gizmodo investigative podcast series on Teal Swan
Backstory on Barbara Snow
Affidavit: Snow threatens family members, trashes house
Snow tes
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We don’t get “well” until everyone has an opportunity to tap into the resources needed to live. This week, Derek reads a 2006 essay from one of his closest friends, Dax-Devlon Ross, about being pulled over twice in the same stretch of NJ highway in a manner of minutes—all due to an air freshener dangling from his rearview mirror.
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How do we tease apart the gold from the dross? What can be salvaged from a subculture marred by charismatic con-artistry, power abuses, and the toxic ingredients that lead to conspirituality? Founder of the Flow Genome Project, Jamie Wheal joins Derek for a wide-ranging interview about his new book, Recapture the Rapture. Following up on his Pulitzer-nominated bestseller, Stealing Fire, Wheal makes an ambitious argument for a dazzling renewal of meaning and mystery through sacralized biohacking. Rapture can be recaptured, Wheal argues, through awe-thumping music, blessed sex, moderate psychedelic use, and conscious community, or as he puts it “ethical cults.” After the interview, we’ll discuss.
In the Jab, Julian looks at clotting issues and emerging reports of vaccine impacts on women. In the Ticker, Matthew reviews the NY Times investigation of Alan Hofstetter’s wife and her January 6th adventure. Derek covers conspiritualism in fitness bro culture while Julian reports on Christiane Northrup’s latest junk science infomercial.
Show Notes
New Jersey gym owners offer free membership to those who don’t get COVID-19 vaccine
What We Know About Ian Smith, the New Jersey Gym Owner Defying Gov. Phil Murphy’s Executive Orders
Anti-mask gym fined
Fitness centers are struggling to rebound from the pandemic
A Teacher Marched to the Capitol. When She Got Home, the Fight Began.
White women’s role in white supremacy, explained
Recapture the Rapture — Jamie Wheal
Cult Dynamics 101: a primer
Hypnotic Da Free John — Svengali of the truth-seeking set (San Francisco Examiner, 1985)
Guru hit by sex-slave suit (San Francisco Examiner, 1985)
Original Oregonian investigation into Osho and R
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With over a half-million paying subscribers, Gaia is the world’s largest spiritual media streaming service. Have they have played a role in redpilling the Q-Age demographic? With a little help from Ken Wilber, Lewis Carrol, Jorge Luis Borges, and Jean Baudrillard, Julian maps out their landscape of ascension narratives, UFOs, cryptozoology, conspiracy theories, channelers, and yoga classes. He also tells the story of being part of the early LOHAS social media website they gobbled up in 2007.
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Our EP10 guest, Center for Countering Digital Hate founder, Imran Ahmed, has been bringing the heat. His “Disinformation Dozen” white paper made a huge splash, prompting a conference call with Nancy Pelosi’s team ahead of their biannual grilling of Zuckerberg and Dorsey. Ahmed’s paper spotlights the fact that 65% of anti-vax content originates from just 12 social media figures. Conspirituality superstars Sayer Ji, Kelly Brogan, and Christiane Northrup hold positions 8, 9, and 10. Ahmed wants them deplatformed—and he’s making it happen. In response, the Dozen are raising money and having themselves caricatured as superheroes.
Who have they been deceiving and emotionally abusing? This week Matthew interviews Heather Simpson and Lydia Greene from Back to the Vax, an anti-disinformation think-tank they founded after fleeing the online cult of anti-vax propaganda. In their first interview together, Simpson and Greene recount how mother-centered anti-vax social media spaces drew them in and exposed them to all manner of anxious conspiracism—and what it cost them to leave. They’ve got a very clear message about how public health communications can meet this entrenched challenge.
In the Ticker, Julian tracks the Dozen’s emerging strategy, Derek finally addresses the English elephant in the room, Russell Brand, and Matthew takes an early look at the big reveal of Cullen Hoback’s Q: Into the Storm on HBO.
Show Notes
What “Causes” Covid? The Virus or The System?
Decoding the Gurus: Russell Brand: Spiritual Transcendence and Anarchic Revolution is Praxis
Mike Rothschild on Hoback’s Q: Into the Storm
Episode 136: Into The Storm feat Cullen Hoback by QAnon Anonymous
I’m Cullen Hoback, the guy who made that QAnon series on HBO Max. AMA! : television
Rothschild on the HBO reveal: Ron Watkins QAnon: The Truth Has Always Been There
Back to the Vax
Lydia on NPR: She Resisted Getting Her Kids The Usual Vaccines. Then The Pandemic Hit
Heather on CNN: Why this former anti-vaxx influencer is getting the Covid vaccine
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Matthew offers a meditation on Brandolini’s Law — “the amount of energy needed to refute bullshit is an order of magnitude bigger than to produce it” — and accepting the hopelessness of altruistic reporting, whether on disinformation or climate change. With a haunting clip from ex-journalist Dahr Jamail. Also: a memory of visiting a Benedictine monastery, where there were no screens, and where the ancient rule understood that because work is never done, it only becomes sustainable through contemplating time itself.
Show Notes
Primer on Extra Corporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO)
Brandolini’s Law
Cuomo covers up nursing home deaths
Sexual harassment allegations against Cuomo
Dahr Jamail and Barbara Cecil on Last Born in the Wilderness
Abbaye de Saint-Benoît-du-Lac
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Conspiritualists hide their grifts in mantras. MLMs market themselves as communities, while cults preach freedom. When a research firm spotlights Sayer Ji as a disinformation super-spreader, he calls them a hate group. When Lil Nas X spins a catharsis of gay-goth dreams, he embodies MAGA disgust. It’s an age of misdirection.
It’s also an age of transference. Living and breathing people become memes. The impulse to communicate gets devoured by the need to perform. Drives to justice adopt dominant affects. Real conspiracies get overshadowed by myths. We’re keeping ourselves very busy while the world burns,'
This week we’re releasing a bonus episode into the wild that speaks to a small wedge of the transference game. Matthew contemplates what it means, in both helpful and unhelpful ways, to be named as or reduced to “cis white men”, and how important issues can get lost in the dead zone between culture wars and cults.
Both conspirituality and social media influence are driven by the hot take, the keyword, the avatar, and the speed of emotional reactivity. And cults are glued together by intense, non-negotiable emotional demands on participants. So far we’ve shown how all of these elements degrade our chances to evaluate evidence and resist being conned by charismatics or cult leaders. Our hope is that we contribute to a slower and open-ended exploration of how to balance the rhetoric of social change with the nuance of interpersonal empathy.
In the Ticker, Derek looks at the retraction crisis plaguing scientific research. Julian watches Lil Nas X lap-dance through the MAGA homo-pocalypse. Matthew looks at a new cult scheme for recruiting anti-vaxxers, while the Jab examines the conspiritualist love of contrarian experts with scientific credentials but no evidence for their claims.
Show Notes
Lil Nas X’s ‘Satan Shoes’ trolled some Christians. But ‘Montero’ is about more than that.
Lil Nas X’s unofficial ‘Satan’ Nikes containing human blood sell out in under a minute
Long-retracted papers are still cited in major journals
Retracting publications doesn’t stop them from influencing science
The ex-Pfizer scientist who became an anti-vax hero
A rare clotting disorder may cloud the world’s hopes for AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine
Marketplace
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Social psychologists and evolutionary psychologists have been studying the origins, neural networks, and role of intuition for decades. Wellness influencers cling to the belief that intuition is a mystical force. Derek looks at the research while celebrating the importance of this hard-won skill.
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It was inevitable: QAnon has stormed HBO. Less inevitably, Conspirituality Podcast has been invited to an academic conference Down Under. In this episode, we’ll review how the first two episodes of Cullen Hoback’s “Into the Storm” lands, and wonder about what happens when conspiracy movements come under big-screen and academic scrutiny.
Cullen embedded within the labyrinthine Q-world for almost four years. He globetrotted, gaining incredible access to a network of social avoidants and keyboard warriors. His sympathy is both touching and problematic. Our own embedding in the wellness world — sixty years between the three of us — hasn’t been quite so weird or dangerous. But it does raise a similar question: how clearly can we see the conspirituality of the world we’ve worked in for so long? As Cullen tries to draw out the humanity and intentionality of the QAnons, how are we understanding — or missing — our own subjects? Then there’s the question of impact. Will America understand itself more clearly after Cullen’s work? And where will the scholarship on conspirituality go after we dump our research on that conference table?
In the Ticker this week, we review the new Lululemon mat, report on how Imran Ahmed’s team at the CCDH identified the social media Disinformation Dozen and succeeded in partially deplatforming conspiritualist power-couple Sayer Ji and Kelly Brogan. In the Jab, we’ll be looking at the woes of Astrazeneca Covid vaccine as they approach applying for FDA approval.
Show Notes
Lululemon gives the yoga mat a clever makeover
Lavrence and Lozanski on Lululemon’s neoliberal schtick
Workers making £88 Lululemon leggings claim they are beaten
CCDH’s “Disinformation Dozen” Report
Matthew’s thread on Zen and the Art of the Q-drop
On Psychological & Influence Ops in the Info Age: Q in the Crosshairs (CW: disinformation site)
Hyperobjects: ‘A reckoning for our species’: the philosopher prophet of the Anthropocene
First we take Deakin, then we take Berlin
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Julian recounts the wild and touching journey of four close friends in a self-directed spiritual group therapy session—super high on Ecstasy.
Content Warning: this story includes accounts of traumatic events.
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Back in December, a certified anesthesiologist named Dr. Madhava Setty posted a long critique of our podcast to the New Age website Collective Evolution. While cordial and apparently well-meaning, Setty’s essay failed to quote a single episode. Setty filled in his own blanks with outright misrepresentations, leading with: “Matthew, Derek and Julian… assume that there are no large conspiracies in play in our world at this time. To state it flatly, to them the idea of a large conspiracy is so preposterous that they cannot even see that they are making an assumption when dismissing the possibility.”
There’s no planet on which any of our episodes have said anything of the kind. In fact, we’ve repeatedly affirmed the opposite: that conspiracy theories and conspiritualists that monetize them exist because real conspiracies traumatize people. Tuskegee happened. MKUltra was real. #savethechildren took hold in part because Jeffery Epstein’s network has not yet been fully understood or prosecuted.
Setty is so well-mannered and convincing, however, that New Age influencers who might be feeling a little defensive about how the yoga and wellness world has shown its ass in 2020 have welcomed his dulcet tones with open arms. In one appearance, he guested on J. Brown’s Yoga Talks podcast, and provided a master class on how to lead an anxious and altruistic yoga devotee into conspirituality.
We didn’t respond to Setty’s initial essay because there was nothing to respond to: he didn’t offer any data. But now we think it’s worth examining in detail how, in real time — and before he winds up on Joe Rogan — he seductively spins together theories about divine consciousness, 9/11, COVID, and how everything is not as it seems.
In the Jab, Julian reviews the scare-mongering of the newest seemingly-qualified anti-vax doc, Geert Vanden Bossche. In the Ticker, Derek looks at the empty religions of Instagram and the truth seekers of tomorrow—and today.
Show Notes
Who is Geert Vanden Bossche?
Dr. Mobeen Syed on Vanden Bossche.
Dr. Zubin Damania on Vanden Bossche.
America Without God
The Empty Religions of Instagram
The Truth Seekers Are Coming
Madhava Setty distorts our podcast content
Madhava Setty redpills J Brown i
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This episode follows up on earlier discussions on the podcast about how we manage privilege. Our exploration of cancel culture — specifically that part of it that is really a form of horizontal violence — isn’t motivated by any shift to the right, but by a desire to unpack the rhetoric, jargon, and performative behaviours, that, so often in the reductive rhythm of social media, serve to shut down learning, and polarize progressives that might otherwise work together.
Here, Matthew focuses on how a rhetorical device in social justice relates to our project: what it means, in both helpful and unhelpful ways, to be named as or reduced to “cis white men”.
Reduction and essentialism are key aspects of the meme-ification of our politics, and potent weapons in the arsenal of conspirituality. None of the influencers we study on this podcast would have gained their social power without labelling and essentializing their opponents in black-and-white terms, without taking black-and-white positions on things like vaccines, big Pharma, and whether or not a person is “awake”.
Both conspirituality and social media influence are driven by the tag, the hot take, the keyword, the avatar, and the speed of emotional reactivity. And cults are glued together by intense, non-negotiable emotional demands on participants. So far we’ve shown how all of these elements degrade our chances to evaluate evidence and resist being conned by charismatics or cult leaders. Our hope is that we contribute to a slower and open-ended exploration of how to balance the rhetoric of crucial social change with the nuance of interpersonal empathy.
Show Notes
ContraPoints on Cancelling
Robin diAngelo defining “white fragility"
“Peggy McIntosh’s White Privilege Knapsack“
That time I didn’t get shot
Minimization as a patriarchal reflex
Cedric Michael Williams on DiAngelo
Daniel Bergner on DiAngelo
Tada Hozumi, Selfish Activist
Log the Fuck Off, Jacobin
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Imagine that you’re 25 years old. You grew up Irish, gay, and online. When the Orlando Pulse massacre explodes, you go to YouTube for the news. You watch Milo Yiannopolous and Gavin McInnes fake-kiss in front of the police-taped club and say that the Muslims are coming to kill all gay people. YouTube’s algorithm spins you downward into anti-Islamic content. Before long, you’ve left your marketing job with a mission: to make slick propaganda videos for some of the most despicable alt-right ghouls on the planet. You believe they’ll stand up for you.
How did you get here at such a young age? What does it feel like? If you have a change of heart, if you want to fight back against your old life and its consequences, who will believe you? Should they believe you? How will you help them believe you?
Today Matthew asks Caolan Robertson these difficult questions. After years of being the PR man for people like Tommy Robinson and Laura Southern, Robertson has shaken it off and started to collaborate with other ex-alt-right members on a deradicalization project called Future Freedom.
In the Ticker, Julian reports on the new QAnon variant infecting telegram, Sabmyk. Matthew reviews how Christiane Northrup and a Gen Z priestess in a Greek eco-fascist group flip their positive orientalism on its head to diss the Dalai Lama for getting vaccinated. Derek looks at one of the strangest grifts around: pet psychics.
Show Notes
What Do Dogs Really Think? Pet Psychics Are Standing By
The Sabmyk Network: How a mysterious disinformation network is hijacking QAnon – HOPE not hate
What is Sabmyk? QAnon Followers Targeted By New Messianic Mythology
Also: QAnon was big in Iran
The Dalai Lama Gets A COVID-19 Shot And Urges Others To Get Vaccinated
Aeifaron on Instagram
Sofia Katsaiti aka Sofia Tara on Instagram is very worried about the Dalai Lama’s vaccine
Aeifaron looks like a totally normal eco-fascist group
Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine neutralizes Brazil variant in lab study
Future Freedom project on
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Humans will never be cats. In his new book, Feline Philosophy: Cats and the Meaning of Life, the philosopher John Gray argues that we can learn a lot about how to live from them—namely, how to calm our anxiety around existential distress. In this sample of a Patreon bonus episode, Derek shares what he’s learned from his three cats, as well as how Gray’s advice applies to the conspiratorial-minded (i.e. metacognition gone awry).
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Two episodes in our catalog haunt this podcast. In episode 6, Steve Hassan advised listeners to treat people under the undue influence of QAnon and conspirituality with welcome and respect. Castigation won’t work. Shame will make things worse. He told this story about how his elderly neighbor brought him homemade cookies when he finally returned home after years in the cult of Rev. Moon. No questions asked—just cookies.
But in episode 10, Imran Ahmed pointed out that any engagement of disinformation peddlers is actually a win for them because it boosts their visibility. His strategy—and he has the data to prove it works—is to block, isolate, and clear the public space for content that is actually helpful. Where Hassan offers an open hand, Ahmed says, “Talk to the hand.”
We’re nine months on from those interviews. Are we living up to either of them? Are we isolating and deplatforming propagandists? Are we adding good vibes to the scene and leaving the door open for earnest people to be forgiven? Or does the frustration of the content trend us towards cynicism and snark? A recent Instagram thread by dedicated listeners really brought the point home for discussion.
In the Ticker, we cover the whitewashing of global cuisine by wellness influencers, bauhauswife’s upleveling of COVID denialism with yellow journalism, and Target-store QAnon vandal Melissa Lively trying to make amends-with-benefits for past outbursts. In the Jab, Julian looks at the facts around the PCR test. (Hint: it works.)
Show Notes
Lost in the Brine
A Death in Yolande Norris-Clarke’s Free Birth World
Kelly Brogan ditches her psychiatry cred with COVID-denialism
Who wants to eat magic dirt from a COVID minimizer?
Melissa Lively un-cancels herself from QAnon
Bauhauswife free births the news in Canada, from Costa Rica (video)
Bauhauswife free births the news in Canada, from Costa Rica
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One-hundred-and-twenty seekers filled the LA hotel ballroom. We sought the life-changing experience that could only happen by holding in our pee, being religiously on-time, and taking full responsibility for creating the lives we said we wanted, but hadn’t achieved… yet.
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Around 2015, the alt-right movement erupted online to both provoke and monetize MAGA momentum and distort and defame the real-world progress symbolized in Barack Obama and agitated by Black Lives Matter. Young white supremacist poster-boy Richard Spencer and edgy internet crypto-racists like Lauren Southern, Mark Cernovich, and Gavin McInnes led the viral charge, racking up subscribers while lining their pockets on the side. Daniel Lombroso of The Atlantic embedded with their ilk from 2016-18, collecting enough footage to release the award-winning documentary, White Noise. Julian sat down to talk with him about the movement, and about making this film while Jewish.
Was any of this a surprise to anti-oppression activists on the ground? Not according to Michelle Cassandra Johnson, author of Skill in Action: Radicalizing Your Yoga Practice to Create a Just World. While the white supremacy Lombroso whistleblows is spectacular and absurd, the white supremacy Johnson and other justice activists feel in their bones has been a centuries-long war of attrition against equality. Matthew sits down with Johnson to discuss how the yoga and wellness worlds in particular are (and are not) responding to the intensification of both calls to justice, as well as the blowback.
In the Ticker, we wonder if Gwyneth Paltrow’s new long-COVID Goop merch—and her “longer-term detox” that includes selling Goop-approved $500 blankets and $8,000 necklaces—heralds a dawning era in high-end disability consumerism.
Show Notes
It took a year, but Gwyneth Paltrow figured out how to exploit the pandemic
Gwyneth Paltrow Is Selling Vibrators
Healing My Body with a Longer-Term Detox
The NHS dings Gwyneth’s long COVID cures
Lauren Southern hides the face of her biracial baby
Daniel Lombroso’s White Noise
Southern Poverty Law on Cernovich
Southern Poverty Law on Southern
Richard Spencer, white subsidy sucker
Michelle Cassandra Johnson’s website
Michelle Cassandra Johnson’s
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One of the precious bright spots for our family in this long dark winter of COVID has been outdoor skating. Other than the walking trails, it’s the only thing that the city has kept open. I take our boys, 4 and 8, while my partner is working. The older one has developed a speed-skater’s stride. He’s not crossing over yet as he turns, but he’s close to it. The younger one has amazed us all with learning to glide easily in this, his first winter on skates…
As per the city regulations, we stay masked and distanced as we’re lacing up, and while skating. But two weeks ago, an anti-masker started showing up, and openly ignored the attendants who asked him to comply.
This audio essay is about all of the feelings that came up for me as I a watched this unfold, tried to intervene, and tried to make sense of it all for myself, and the boys.
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What are we learning about conspiracies, conspiracy theories, and those who hold them? How are we maintaining our optimism that facts are real, that they can be discovered, and shared? How will we continue to communicate with those who are confused? In this episode, we continue our rich conversation on the proximity of conspiracism and spiritual paths and the ways in which we fall into and climb out of fever dreams.
In the Jab, Julian looks at concerns about vaccines and pregnancy. In a Ticker segment, Matthew ponders the British Wheel of Yoga’s “neutral” stance towards the COVID vaccine, and how it unintentionally welcomes conspiratorial thinking.
Republic of Lies author Anna Merlan sits down with Derek to discuss the process of embedding with conspiracy consumers and peddlers, and the challenges faced when reporting on them. Discussing the interview, Julian uses the ideas of George Lakoff to think about containment and reframing. Matthew looks at how yoga and wellness influencers can play both sides of the consumer/peddler coin through the paradoxical private spectacle of social media.
Show Notes
‘I Miss My Mom’: Children Of QAnon Believers Are Desperately Trying To Deradicalize Their Own Parents
British Wheel of Yoga indulges vaccine “neutrality”
Dr. Victoria Male on vaccines and pregnancy
Anna Merlan on the Austin Influencer Movement
Anna Merlan on PBS’s Open Mind
Yoga podcaster J. Brown expresses doubts about COVID and the vaccines
Charles Eisenstein is turning to fiction
Abbie Richards and her Conspiracy Chart
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The medium of social media is both relatively new and socially challenging. But this doesn’t mean we can’t have healthy debates. In this sample from our Monday Patreon bonus episode, Derek investigates three areas of research about how—and why—we need robust and progressive debates on our platforms.
1. Your brain on political arguments.
2. How to become a master negotiator.
3. Can social media be fact-checked? A new study offers one way of doing so.
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Many of us came to yoga and wellness spaces to heal or flee from the alienation of modernity. We wanted something untouched by our cities and factories and labs; something that reminded us of a world we never really knew. “Nature” was in such short supply that we had to invent it to colonize it anew, in exotic lands and mystical beasts: the deer whose antler gave longevity, the cow whose milk strengthened our family bonds. How many of us knew that our fetish for the “natural” could lead towards a consumerist cul-de-sac or fascist ideology?
In this episode we contemplate the meaning, practice, delusions, and hypocrisies of the “natural.” Derek talks to “Sea of Shadows” director Richard Ladkani about how the hunt for Traditional Chinese Medicine remedies has devastated the ecology of Baja California. Julian thinks about the disenchantment of the lab coat and how it drives so many to the warm regard of the “natural healer.”
To find out more about how some practitioners of complementary medicine are attempting to bridge the evidence and ideological gap with conventional care, Matthew interviews Naturopathic Doctor Juniper Martin and fourth-year student Adriana Berusch Gerardino about their efforts with the Naturopathic Alliance to dispel COVID misinformation and to challenge racism in their profession.
Show Notes
Gina Carano fired by Lucasfilm (and publicist and agent) for antisemitic Q-Trump social activity
RFK finally gets deleted by IG
Turn Off Your Mind, Relax—and Float Right-Wing?
Chairman Mao Invented Traditional Chinese Medicine
QAA shines on with Episode 128
Dale Beran’s extraordinary book It Came from Something Awful
Decoding the Gurus launches the Gurometer
Shouting out to Katya Weiss-Anderson of Kumbaya Confessional
Chinese gov and state media boost TCM COVID treatments at home and abroad
Article: Acupuncture Doesn’t Work
Dr. Lad’s kindly but rather banal Ayurveda advice re: COVID (August)
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In this sample of our weekly Patreon bonus episode, Julian travels back in time to the 80s. He finds that when it comes to the fear of diabolical evil, the appeal of conspiracy patterns, and the missionary zeal of cults, everything old is new again.
*Content Warning: Briefly contains one disturbing account of ritual abuse and one reference to suicide.
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Today we forge ahead with part 2 of Matthew’s interview with Kundalini Yoga scholar Philip Deslippe and journalist Stacie Stukin on the tragic past, chaotic present, and future relevance of the cult of Yogi Bhajan. Matthew looks at Guru Jagat’s (Katie Griggs’s) pseudo-Tibetan mystical poem dedicated to her ex-con mentor, Harijiwan (Stephen Hartzell), whose current wife, Mandev, is about 30 years his junior and makes RA MA propaganda films. Will RA MA survive lockdown with COVID-busting mantras? Will Yogi Bhajan’s crimes be washed away by the ringing of the RA MA gong?
We know by now that cults never let a good crisis go to waste. We’ll also examine how, when there are no global panics for cults to monetize, it’s up to the leader to create one. With RA MA we see the cycle go intergenerational as it cultjacks Yogi Bhajan’s legacy of fantasy and paranoia.
For the Ticker this week, Derek and Julian review Bill Maher’s platforming of Bret Weinstein and Heather Heying as they trot out vax-doubt and the Wuhan lab conspiracy. Julian will cover breaking vaccine news — especially on Phase III data! — to keep you inoculated against your alt-wellness news feed.
Show Notes
A Campus Argument Goes Viral. Now the College Is Under Siege
The Campus Mob Came for Me—and You, Professor, Could Be Next
Decoding Bret and Eric Weinstein via Decoding the Gurus
Moderna vaccine complications are rare
Astrazeneca Phase III looks good
Pfizer and BioNtech Phase III results
Adenoviral vectors
NYT on Astrozeneca
CDC Vaccine contrast/compare
The Pfizer recipe
AP on the “lab release” theory
Fauci dunks on Trump’s lab release babble
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Episodes 36 & 37 cover how Guru Jagat (Katie Griggs) and her Venice Beach RAMA Institute have pivoted in the COVID era to a new area of focus: anti-lockdown, anti-“woke” rhetoric, anti-masking, and anti-vax propaganda. As the center of her own weather system in the wider Kundalini Yoga / 3HO cult, this serves Griggs in a number of ways, from driving engagement to obscuring 2020’s revelations of just how criminal her umbrella organization is.
Cults will never let a good crisis go to waste. Back in the summer, Matthew noticed that Michael Roach, who led the cult he was recruited into from 1996-99, also pivoted to COVID content. He does it with a lot more credibility than Griggs does, but in some ways, this makes it even more obnoxious. In this bonus episode, Matthew analyzes his late-summer “Love in the Time of the Virus” content as a retread of what he’s put out there for more than 20 years now.
Sinking into Michael’s vibe again after all these years brings up old questions for Matthew around earnestness and delusion, altruism and manipulation. It makes him wonder whether a cult’s dogged fixation on doctrine can sometimes be an artifact of the leader’s arrested development.
Show Notes
Nina Burleigh’s profile in Rolling Stone
Scott Carney’s investigation of the death of Ian Thorson (originally in Playboy)
My own somewhat cranky review of Carney’s work
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What happens when a charismatic yogalebrity rises to prominence in LA’s fashion and wellness scene, gets exposed as an inheritor of a notorious cult, and then gets sideswiped by a pandemic? Meet Katie Griggs, aka “Guru Jagat,” who, instead of reassessing her channelled “downloads” from the charlatan rapist Yogi Bhajan and lending a hand to public health, has chosen to boost her online game with COVID contrarianism and by platforming David Icke.
Our guests this week are Philip Deslippe and journalist Stacie Stukin. Philip’s penetrating and bulletproof research into the dodgy history of Kundalini Yoga and its criminal founder Yogi Bhajan shook the modern yoga world in 2012. Stacie’s 2020 LA Magazine feature investigation into Kundalini corruption and abuse gathered decades of buried evidence. Together they paint a lucid, non-sensationalized picture of how a high-demand religious group navigates new opportunities for manipulation.
The larger picture is that COVID has been a challenge for the brick-and-mortar assets of cults, which, like every other business, rely on pedestrian traffic and the “retail space” of ritual conversion. But in other ways, COVID is the best thing that could have happened to cults.
Kundalini Yoga was built on promising perfect health, the conversion of fear into love, and a golden age free from atheistic biotech. For people like Griggs—and her ex-con mentor Harijiwan—COVID is an opportunity to hide dirty laundry and market the same empty promises with heightened panic and passion.
Show Notes
“From Maharaj to Mahan Tantric: The Construction of Yogi Bhajan’s Kundalini Yoga” for Sikh Formations by Philip Deslippe (2012)
“Yogi Bhajan Turned an L.A. Yoga Studio into a Juggernaut, and Left Two Generations of Followers Reeling from Alleged Abuse” by Stacie Stukin for Los Angeles Magazine (2020)
“Yogi Bhajan, yoga guru and founder of 3HO, ‘more likely than not’ sexually abused followers, says report” by Philip Deslippe and Stacie Stukin for Religion News Service (2020)
Text of Katherine Felt’s 1986 lawsuit against Bhajan for assault, battery, false imprisonment and more
Text of Pamela Dyson’s 1986 lawsuit against Bhajan for assault, battery, false imprisonment and more
“Wacko World of Yogi Bhajan” archived here
Be Scofield’s
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We decided to release this Monday patron bonus episode publicly after receiving a great response on Patreon. Julian draws heavily on the work of neurologist and author V.S. Ramachandran in an attempt to explore Conspirituality after the Capitol insurrection. How might an understanding of synesthesia, epilepsy, super-stimuli, hyper-reality, and fascism help us make sense of the overlap between the QAnon fantasy timeline and real world blood and guts?
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Joe Biden was inaugurated as the 46th President of the United States yesterday, proving the long-awaited QAnon prophecy false. It’s the perfect time to talk about where mystical or deceptive knowledge comes from, how it works, and what happens when it fails. We may never know who Q was, but we can take a close look at a core feature of conspirituality technique: the transmission of secret knowledge.
Welcome to our channeling episode.
Today we discuss three Q-adjacent channellers: JZ Knight, Lorie Ladd, Elizabeth April, and also Paul Selig. What do they say they’re doing? What does it sound like? And where can we go to figure it out?
Derek looks at consciousness studies through the lens of Rodolfo Llinas, Stanislas Dehaene, Michael Gazzaniga, and other renowned researchers. Julian reviews the philosophical arguments of Daniel Dennett and Susan Blackmore. Matthew plays angel’s advocate and interviews Professor Susannah Crockford about her anthropological fieldwork amongst the New Agers and channelers of Sedona. TL;DR: “There’s never a single answer for anything.”
In the Ticker we look at a tragic anti-vax related father-son murder-suicide in California, anti-vax groups grifting PPP money from the feds, and the Anons, exiled even from Parler, suffering from the collapse of their dream of a Great Awakening.
Show Notes
Father-son murder-suicide over anti-vax stress
The Trump administration bailed out prominent anti-vaccine groups during a pandemic
Scientists Investigate Spiritualist Mediums: Why Some People Report “Hearing the Dead”
Hydroxy-pusher Simone Gold arrested for part in Capitol Siege
QAnon will be scrutinized by National Intel Agencies
Parler refugees prepped for Doomsday
QAnon implodes online
QAnon admins nuke then restore threads
QAnauguration meltdown
Arg
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It’s been eight days since the Capitol was ransacked by a mob of MAGA supporters, Proud Boys, ex-military with tactical gear, and Nazis wearing disgustingly anti-Semitic t-shirts. The death count is six (for now), with a second police officer dying by duty-related suicide on Saturday. As more footage streams in—and the FBI says there’s still more to come—it will get uglier.
So what have our conspiritualists been up to? We’ll run it down this week. Quick story: not a single one has walked back any of their bullshit in the aftermath of the Capitol siege. Some have doubled down.
An unmasked Mikki Willis was involved in the siege as a “journalist,” giving an impassioned anti-vax, pro-liberty speech at a sideshow MAGA event in which he called the ransack that he had just taken part in “beautiful.” Christiane Northrup cheered on the alt-health berserkers during the end of her water fast. Zach Bush took to Instagram to sermonize, saying, “Just as viruses do not take down healthy humans, revolutions do not take down healthy governance.” Lori Ladd spoke in radiant non-sequiturs.
Amber Sears announced she was “preparing for civil war” while her husband JP whined about free speech as his Parler account got nuked and Trump got booted off of Twitter. Meanwhile, Kelly Brogan said nothing publicly about the Capitol siege that we could find, but cashed in on the vibes with a bloated essay on “spiritual warfare.”
We also learned a lot about Jacob Anthony Chansley nee Angeli, the Q-shaman, and his interdimensional conspirituality performance art—as well as his three-day jail fast that was resolved after a sympathetic judge guaranteed a Whole Foods delivery.
Derek interviews RP Eddy, CEO of strategy and geopolitical intelligence firm, Ergo. Eddy previously served as Director at the White House National Security Council under Bill Clinton, Chief of Staff to US Ambassador Richard Holbrooke, and Senior Policy Officer to UN Secretary Kofi Annan. He shares his thoughts about the current state of national security.
Show Notes
Susannah Crockford on the Q-Shaman’s spiritual potpourri
Matthew’s Twitter thread on Q-Shaman fasting
COVID and tribal elders
Eugene Goodman’s fateful genius
Christiane Northrup’s prosperity gospel affiliate
Northrup as Auntie Good Death
Lorie Ladd everything i
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Christiane Northrup addresses her followers as “angel warriors.” JP Sears counsels his supplement customers to never “outsource their own truth.” Mikki Willis says he was once a “hero of the left”, and now tells audiences that he’s willing to die for the truth of his message. It’s all very grand, and it doesn’t come from nowhere. Trendy spiritualities of the privileged and disconnected have always focused on the heroic triumph of the individual, which has made them easily co-optable by the right.
But what is a real hero? Joseph Campbell contextualized their journey as a ritual of selfless wandering, undertaken on behalf of the community. The concept of the monomyth, which Campbell defined as the Hero’s Journey, has stages, and they have influenced popular culture in profound and, at times, troubling ways.
In this episode, we’ll look at how certain influencers confuse heroism for megalomania and forget that heroes and their societies are interdependent. Derek and Julian measure some of the usual suspects against Campbell’s ruler while Matthew asks questions about what makes a theory vulnerable to distortion.
In The Jab, Julian looks at the three top questions vaccine-hesitant folks have about the mRNA vaccines currently approved for COVID. In a closing essay, Matthew reflects on a space where the painful splits of conspirituality might be calmed: how the home hospice can bring together public health and private spirituality.
Show Notes
Jake Angeli, “Q-Shaman”, describing his New-Age services
CNN on Angeli, “Baked Alaska” and Barnett
The Q shaman — conspirituality runs riot on Capitol Hill
Barnett and “Save Our Children” event in AR in October
JP Sears echoes a justification for ransacking Pelosi’s office
Anti-maskers Storm California Mall, Harass Shoppers and Refuse to Leave
Why Lisa Guerrero Abruptly Ended Interview With Anti-Mask Wearer
Tommy John Sr. hospitalized for COVID
Dr. Tommy John denies his father hospitalized with COVID has COVID
(Tommy’s follow-up post shows his son (?) playing a video game in a COVID-denyi
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A rough tally of our labor from the inception of this podcast in May puts us at over 1,100 hours of treading water in the content sea of JP Sears, Mikki Willis, Christiane Northrup, and the rest of the gang. Are we getting our bearings yet? Will we see land soon?
This episode is centered on Part 2 of Matthew’s discussion with Charles Eisenstein — a bellwether for the possibility that wellness and spirituality culture can communicate clearly about conspirituality. In the discussion and analysis that follows the interview, we look at who gets to say what and from which platform, what it means to be brave versus what it means to be evidence-based, and whether South Park really did predict the Trump-Biden choice.
In the Ticker, we’ll peek into the bizarro world of Guru Jagat, run down what anti-vaxxers believe about ingredients, ogle at Michael Flynn’s QAnon merch shop, and dive into Lori Ladd’s recent video where she rallies the troops after a revelatory nap. In The Jab, Julian unravels the facts around the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program. Finally, in a New Year’s Eve closer, Matthew wonders, from the quietude of a recent home hospice experience, about how we might be able to slow down.
Show Notes
Guru Jagat camp grace talk
Weaving Dharma Art: Guru Jagat x Mandev
Mandev’s Yogi Bhajan propaganda film put out to counter abuse testimony
Harper’s profile on Jagat (pre abuse scandal)
Deslippe rocks the Kundalini backstory
An Olive Branch’s independent investigation into KY and 3HO historical abuse (an initial effort)
Harijiwan’s hagiography of Bhajan via Mandev’s video skillz (one example)
Harijiwan, “toner bandit”
@ramawrong’s excellent IG feed
Phil Good Life discloses three mental health related hospitalizations
Here’s How the Anti-Vaxxers’ Strongest Argument Falls Apart
Why the Government Pays Billions to People Who Claim Injury by Vaccines
Vaccine Court: The Law an
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As two coronavirus vaccines roll out we’re being flooded with more disinformation than ever. Wellness gurus are cashing in on home-made “natural” remedies by spreading unjustified fears about this vaccine, and vaccines in general.
This week, we look at Dr. Christiane Northrup’s “line in the sand,” Mikki Willis revealing that he recently helped out the kids of Covington High and Kyle Rittenhouse, JP Sears getting retweeted by Donald Trump, and the QAnon breeding ground that is the MMA. During The Jab, Julian looks at the newly emerged Covid mutation and investigates whether it nullifies the vaccines.
For the main discussion, Julian and Derek sift through the piles of vaccine and health propaganda spread by Robert F Kennedy, Jr and Zach Bush on a recent Instagram Live. Derek interviews Jonathan Berman, author of Anti-Vaxxers: How to Challenge a Misinformed Movement, about trying to build a bridge. Finally, Matthew reports from a family hospice experience on the generosity, discipline, and grace of frontline health care workers.
Show Notes
The Coronavirus Is Mutating. What Does That Mean for Us?
The Duesberg Phenomenon
Mikki Willis at the Red Pill Expo
My Polio Story is an Inconvenient Truth to Those Who Refuse Vaccines
History of Polio
The Denialist Playbook
Pharmacies Partner With HHS to Provide COVID-19 Vaccines
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This episode dropped for our Patreon supporters on the darkest day of the year. We’re unlocking it as a holiday gift to all of our listeners.
In this meditation, Matthew reflects on the roots and implications of “blazes of light” that punctuate the speech of both spiritualists and conspiritualists, from the spaces of patriarchal religious ritual to the claustrophobia of the manosphere. One key question: How does the manosphere shape conspirituality and its emotional disorders?
This is a tour through the trance states that charismatic men love and manipulate—how they carry streams of emotion that can never be transparently shared. Matthew investigates the means by which the podcast format squeezes entranced speech into a man-cave so that the speaker can be endlessly extroverted, but also self-protected, and mostly unaccountable.
It is an ethereal and frictionless technology, imposing no limits on the impulse to hold court or to dominate. It allows Alex Jones, Jordan Peterson, Dr. Tommy John, JP Sears, and many others to create limitless self-centered content with almost no feedback. The lack of reality-checking makes their discourse aggressive, but it’s also tragic to watch men believe they are forming relationships while they talk into the void.
No solstice bonus wouldn’t be complete without a nod to the light, however. Matthew climbs back out of this episode with some good man-news about his podcast colleagues, the Mandolorian, and the possibility that his own boys might grow up differently.
Show Notes
Jordan Peterson weeps over individualism
Instagram isolation curated by Dr. Tommy John
JP Sears plays toady to Tim Kennedy’s alpha-fashy rant
Kennedy implies he’s helping disappear protestors in Portland
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Who gets to take up space in critical times? How do we orient ourselves toward expertise? In a culture dominated by “experts” on social media, do charismatics outperform fact-checkers?
This episode marks a milestone for our podcast, as Matthew interviews Charles Eisenstein, whose essay “The Coronation” has cast a long shadow on our ongoing critique of how New Age and spiritual spaces interact with public health. It’s a respectful but robust conversation about the limits of what laypeople can know about science and journalism, the intersection between conspiracy theory and myth, what the word “narrative” really means, and whether activism on the left and conspiracy theories on the right can be equally misguided. The conversation ran long: we dish up and comment on the first hour here.
In the Ticker, we cover Gaiam TV—Netflix for the Q-adjacent—and JP Sears keeping it classy by using the birth announcement of his son to punch down at trans people. On The Jab, Julian reports on Robert F Kennedy Jr’s role in flooding social media with anti-vax ads, and targeting propaganda at minority and immigrant communities, to their detriment.
Show Notes
Suzanne Humphries on Rational Wiki
Why Dr Suzanne Humphries, an anti-vaccine activist, is lying to you about measles
JP Sears’s transphobic post
JP Sears’s squat workout / Bill Gates post
Overlap between conspirituality and anti-trans politics
Invite from the “Awarehouse”, oh and this one too
Why this mainstream yoga site is now a hub for QAnon influencers
A Thrive interviewee regrets his participation
Bell’s Palsy, Allergic Reactions, and Deaths in Covid Vaccine Trials
Funding for anti-vax ads on Facebook
RFK is
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Here’s an episode that’s been micro-brewing for a while: Bro Science: where conspirituality meets the manosphere.
We’ve even got a working definition! Here’s a taste.
Bro Science is junk science spewed by men who believe their charisma is a substitute for training. It brags, mocks, overreaches. It’s self-serving and self-interested. It can carry hints of toxic masculinity: entitlement, unearned confidence, no qualms about taking up space, repressing emotion or hiding it behind humour or grandiosity. It preaches individualism and self-sufficiency from the lonely triumph of Bro.
We’ll listen to some top “Bro scientists” to see how bro-ness reduces, minimizes, and mocks science. We’ll listen to pearls of bro-dom from JP Sears, Kyle Kingsbury, Aubrey Marcus, Sayer Ji, Toronto’s very own BBQAnon, Adam Skelly, and Zach Bush, doctor to the bros.
Dear listeners: you might feel at the end of our tour like you need a coffee colon cleanse or testosterone nootropic. But we’ve got something better: an interview with Dr. Dan Wilson, who does the opposite of Bro Science. He’s a molecular biologist who by day works in the lab at Carnegie Mellon University, but by night crushes out Dr. Wilson Debunks the Funk videos, cutting conspiritualists down to size.
Show Notes
The Lonely Descent into QAnon, Pt 1
Analysts create AI tool that can distinguish between conspiracy theories and real conspiracies
Former Israeli space security chief says aliens exist, humanity not ready
In 2020, Disinformation Broke the US
BBQAnon thinks he knows something about PCR tests
Public Health Ontario: false positivity rate is 0.01%,
Sayer Ji geeks out with Michael Sandler
Sayer Ji’s GreenMedInfo cherry-picks a vaccine study report
Here’s the actual source that GMI distorted
Dr. Maria Sundaram Twitter thread on how to talk with vaccine-hesitant people.
Covid-19, Remote Work
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This week we inaugurate “The Conspirituality Ticker,” a weekly bullet-point rundown on the ongoing pandemic of influencers who spread medical misinformation to sell disaster spirituality. We’ll also continue with “The Jab”, our segment on conspirituality-driven vaccine hesitancy.
The big news this week is the resurrection of Jordan Peterson. After surviving a medically-induced coma in a Russian rehab facility, and then COVID on top of that, Peterson has re-emerged, weakened but resolute, as both hero and provocateur. The announcement from Penguin Canada that his new book of another dozen self-help rules prompted Penguin employees to protest their involvement in an emotional town hall.
In this episode, we’ll dive into Peterson’s imaginarium. We won’t totally discount his button-down commonsensical advice, but we will explore how it has lent intellectual support to the alt-right. Is he a conspiritualist pioneer as he wars against the Neo-Marxist Cabal and dreams of a Jungian promised land? Matthew will add a view from Peterson’s hometown of Toronto, where the messianic prof has been open about his ambitions in right-wing Ontario politics. Julian interviews dissociation debunker Jeff Brown, who champions “enrealment,” and has a heartfelt critique of what he calls the “new cage” movement.
Show Notes
JZ Knight Called for ‘Military Coup’ After Biden Took Lead in Presidential Bid
Defiant Night: Hundreds Gather at Pier Bowl for Mask-Burning Rally
Toronto public health shuts down Etobicoke restaurant for allowing indoor dining in defiance of COVID-19 measures
Adam Skelly’s GoFundMe
Skelly hauled off by the po-po
$15,000 Fine After Secret Hasidic Wedding Draws Thousands of Guests
Splitting 5 to 4, Supreme Court Backs Religious Challenge to Cuomo’s Virus Shutdown Order
Supremes’ opinions
Canadian Bar Association on c16, which Peterson didn’t understand
Peterson co-presents with Proud Boy founder Gavin McInnes
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Do famous people become famous for staying in their lane? Do some find fame by carving out a lane that never existed before? What is the disruptive promise of charisma in this wellness space, which draws consumers burdened by a double disillusionment? They arrive, disillusioned by conventional medicine and conventional religion. What can the charismatic influencer offer them, and how do they do it?
In this last free bonus episode, Matthew explores the charismatic logic of wellness, in which yoga teachers can become famous by playing at being doctors, and doctors can become famous by playing at being priests. Starting with the strange tale of BKS Iyengar (and how he stretched his way into all three roles through sheer will), this journey will lay out how the basic schtick of the 20th-century the wellness personality has primed the ground for our current explosion in conspirituality.
Matthew will look at how MDs like Tom Cowan, Kelly Brogan, Christiane Northrup, and Zach Bush all run the “Iyengar Arc” in reverse. Where the yoga master was unschooled in medicine, these doctors are unschooled in spirituality. But that doesn’t stop them from pretending to be experts in a weird cocktail that fails both. In their aspirations to spiritual leadership, they each screw the pooch. Cowan ends up shilling for Rudolf Steiner, who knew nothing about viruses, and even less about how not to be a racist. Brogan thinks that Kundalini Yoga is “thousands of years old” even though it was invented by a sociopath in the 1970s. Northrup seems to think that angel channelers are qualified to tell people how to live. And Zach Bush recounts a mystical experience to a group of retreatants in Italy, in which he became a sardine, and realized he wasn’t afraid to die—partly why he uses Reiki instead of pain medication when he’s on the hospice shift.
Ultimately, the “charismatic collapse” between doctor and priest distorts medicine and makes spirituality banal. Perhaps if we see this clearly, we’ll look for better leaders.
Show Notes
Iyengar’s Light on Yoga wiki
Foucault’s Les Mots et Les Choses wiki
Brogan’s Vital Life Project
Anne Cushman interviews BKS Iyengar for Yoga Journal, 1997
About Siddha Yoga
Tom Cowan’s disciplinary rap sheet
Cowan’s disinfo vid
CBC debunks Cowan
Dr. Wilson
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Though we’re all staying put this holiday season, we continue to super-spread our conspirituality vibes. This week we’re fielding listener questions for our first-ever non-Patreon AMA. During this episode, we’ll be talking about our own spiritual beliefs, finding meaning in crisis, Matthew being canceled, and more.
For a holiday treat, Matthew interviews friend of the pod, the fabulous Alex Auder, about what it means to satirize free-birth influencer @bauhauswife, who’s putting the fash back into fashion.
Show Notes
Four Quartets — TS Eliot
Is Stephen Mitchell a translator? He “translates” so many languages!
Then there’s Jan Van Buitenen, the unknown
Matthew’s elegy for Michael Stone
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Diversity has lost some of its strength as a term in our bifurcated world, and yet in nature diversity has always mattered. Our apprehension of using the word points to our further alienation of nature—and ourselves. Derek discusses the power of diversity in three realms he has spent decades studying: international music, fitness, and psychedelics. He also contemplates why diversity matters when considering the growing influence of conspiritualists.
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Trump’s personal pastor Paula White seizes the podium to speak in tongues and prophesize that angels from Africa will certify her master’s electoral victory. Evangelical Kenneth Copeland laughs maniacally at the devilish proposition that Biden has won. They both yearn to squeeze some drop of ecstasy from the husk of conservative politics. How much of the emotional terrorism rolling through these times is the return of the repressed?
In our weekly reporting, Derek looks at Australian chef Pete Evans and his nostalgia for fascist mysticism, hidden beneath green shakes and doTerra downlines. Julian covers Dr. Northrup’s latest viral science fictions, as well as the bizarre Nazi comparisons trending on conspiritualist pages. Matthew looks at nested repressions returning with a vengeance: QAnon resurrecting the Satanic Panic, Bill Gates as the return of the vampire, and the strange new phenomenon of the Aggro-Spiritual Boss Babe Rage Witch, whose coin seems to be on the rise just as the Mark Walsh Spiritual Pick-Up Artist currency tanks. He also considers distinctions between canceling and punching sideways, picking up from last week’s episode.
Then, in a rich interview with author of The Immortality Key, Brian Muraresku, Derek explores the ancient psychedelia of Christianity, both forgotten and repressed, and hopes for its return, as it would probably make Paula White and Kenneth Copeland chill TF out.
Show Notes
Pete Evans says COVID-19 isn’t contagious
Pete Evans fined $25,000 by Therapeutic Goods Administration over coronavirus claims relating to BioCharger
Controversial celebrity chef Pete Evans canned by Seven Network
Healing hubs, a ‘sacred geometry hub’ and solar-powered cabins: Inside the new hippy commune promoted by Pete Evans where people pay to live off the grid in ‘earth ships’
Pete Evans, Truthseeker
Pete Evans shares the Nazi symbol, Black Sun
Christiane Northrup’s Nazi tweet
Northrup’s COVID vaccine interview
COVID-19 Vaccine To Alter DNA? 5 False Claims By Christiane Northrup
Nazi comparison
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As more of the world has gained access to mobile internet, populism, and the perception (rightly or wrongly) of government, corruption has steadily increased. But what is “populism?” How do populist ideas on both the Right and Left identify “the people” and their enemies? With the size of the online megaphone and Balkanized social media audiences, what role does the word magic of emotionally-manipulative language play in perpetuating division, even when claiming to do otherwise?
Show Notes
Vox Eu on mobile internet, populism and government confidence
Steve Bannon’s far right “school of gladiators“ for young populists in Italy
Populism is Morphing in Insidious Ways via The Atlantic
Coleman Hughes review of “How To Be An Anti-Racist” and open letter To Ibrahim X. Kendi
John McWhorter’s review of White Fragility
In Defense of Looting —one author’s controversial opinion via NPR
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On Election night, Mikki Willis, JP Sears, Del Bigtree, and the conspirituality glitterati gathered in Austin for a prayer meeting for Donald Trump. Willis pitched his new documentary and complained about Marxist professors pied-pipering children towards BLM before a new-age preacher sold allotments in a new alt-health ranch community in Texas. Derek covers this ultimate reveal of the conspirituality grift: predict the apocalypse, then sell off-grid cribs on a five-acre manmade lagoon. Fill the swamp, indeed.
Meanwhile, Julian covers the election of Marjorie Taylor Greene and Madison Cawthorn, QAnon arrests in Philly, and the shitstorm of irate comments against YogaGirl as she stands up for decency.
The election over, our critical work continues. How do we keep it on target? How do we make sure that we don’t become so cynical—or so attached to the process of criticism itself—that we can’t find solidarity? And how do we look for solutions while enthralled by social media, as opposed to being invested in society?
Our guests this week are Clementine Morrigan and Jay from Fucking Cancelled. Matthew will be asking them about the work that the digital Left can do to foster solidarity, loyalty, and freedom. It’s an important conversation because we have to assume that some of the redpilled were already being pushed out the door. Why? Because among the woke-ish, it can be easier to fight each other than to punch up and get things done.
Show Notes
Yoga Girl boosts Black girls as President on Instagram
My Dark Journey Into the Soul of a Model Young Republican Candidate
QAnon goes to Washington: two supporters win seats in Congress
Armed QAnon follower arrested in alleged Philly convention center threat linked to far-right Va. senator
Karl Marx: The Fiddler
Why Silicon Valley billionaires are prepping for the apocalypse in New Zealand
Clementine Morrigan on Instagram and her website and Patreon
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Mark Walsh, the proprietor of The Embodiment Conference, was recently challenged by cultural somaticist Tada Hozumi in an Open Letter, penned by Hozumi in lieu of accepting the invitation to speak at the Conference. Hozumi proposed that Walsh look more closely at the exclusionary economy of his ambitious project — specifically, at how it centers white men as the heroes of the somatic techniques that colonialism handed them. The letter, dignified and sincere, offered a concise and workable framing of a fraught issue. Walsh did not respond directly, but on his personal Facebook shitposted about being oppressed by “c*ntery” of social justice “twats.”
Those familiar with this aspect of Walsh’s online persona were not surprised. He has openly risen to market dominance in the online somatasphere as a kind of Black Belt culture warrior, a Jordan Peterson in a jock-strap. In this bonus episode, Matthew reviews some of Walsh’s past online hits as a case study of how the wellness world can confuse acting out for freedom, somatic dominance for discipline, and allow charismatic men to weaponize unhealed wounds in the name of authenticity.
Show Notes
Open Letter to Mark Walsh and The Embodiment Conference
The Embodiment Conference and “somafascism”: commentary from Ben Spatz
Mark Walsh to 2020 TEC invited presenter (the audio is from 2019)
Statement: We need to divest from Mark Walsh and The Embodiment Conference
Yes, Mr. Walsh, there are Black people in Hungary. One of them was born there, in 1980, and is now an MP.
Mark Walsh documentation
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This week could have been worse; what comes now must get better. If we’ve learned anything over these six months, it’s that QAnon is to conspirituality as Trump is to the political status quo. We can debunk or vote out the fever dream, but the virus will remain.
In our first post-election episode we take stock of work yet to do. Derek checks in on QAnon mysticism. Julian speaks on the populism and language games that horseshoe right and left together, and how strong communities cannot afford horizontal violence anymore. We review a new podcast out of Montreal that studies “The Nexus” — the toxic intersection between identitarian activism, social media, and cancel culture.
Matthew crystal-balls the precarious future of post-COVID yoga, and interviews cultural somaticist Tada Hozumi on why Andrew Yang offered attachment politics, decolonizing wellness, and WTF is going on at The Embodiment Conference. “The future of global embodiment,” Hozumi says, “is also the future of global politics. Because the mind always follows the body.”
Show Notes
Sapolsky: Religious Ritual is OCD
Behave: The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst — Robert Sapolsky
Most Yoga Teachers are Not Online Producers. They Have a Deeper Gift, and Now Is the Time to Trust It.
Dr. Northrup continues: now the conspiracy is electoral fraud
Fucking Cancelled podcast
Molly Meehan’s 5-part “zine”.
Molly’s podcast: “Out of the Woods”.
Exiting the Vampire Castle by Mark Fisher (who tragically died by suicide after a lifelong struggle with depression).
Open Letter to Mark Walsh and The Embodiment Conference
Why I, as a therapist, support Andrew Yang
The Ritual As Justice School
Whiteness as trauma in the body
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Derek talks with Dr. Ali Haider about being on the frontlines of COVID-19.
Dr. Haider is an Assistant Professor of Medicine at Tufts University Medical School. He received his medical degree from Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York. Dr. Haider is board-certified in Internal Medicine, Cardiovascular Diseases, Echocardiography, Nuclear Cardiology, Interventional Cardiology, and vascular ultrasound. He is well versed in all aspects of cardiology, and his areas of interest include coronary angioplasty and interventions, and the treatment of peripheral vascular disease as well as structural heart disease.
Show Notes
Doctor Responds to COVID Over-Diagnosis Claims by White House
Ali Haider on YouTube and Instagram
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When we started this project six months ago, we could feel the cliff-edge of the election on the horizon. We could sense that our footholds of community, reasonable conversation, and consensus reality were eroding. As veterans of spirituality and wellness spaces, we’ve always known that the reality has never lived up to the hype. But the intensification of conspirituality themes, incubating during lockdown into the peak fever-state of QAnon, has made this period especially demoralizing. What do we need now, on the eve of uncertainty? What will we need going forward?
This week, we take some time to explore thoughts and feelings about this menacing week, and how we’re contemplating and committing to the long haul through our work, relationships, and self-care. We’re joined by special guests Hala Khouri, Tara Stiles, and Lissa Rankin, who all offer their wisdom.
Show Notes
Lissa Rankin takes a stand with Rebekah Borucki
Heal at Last: the nonprofit aimed at democratizing healing
Alchemizing Uncertain Times Through Writing
10 New Age Beliefs We Need To Debunk If We Want To Be Social Justice Allies
The Psychology Of People Who Believe Conspiracy Theories
Mind Over Medicine — Lissa’s book
QAnon’s Predictions Haven’t Come True; So How Does the Movement Survive the Failure of Prophecy?
The Republican strategy for every Supreme Court nominee: Hide what you believe
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Coming off of Conspirituality 22 with Rebekah Borucki, Matthew casts a wider net over Hay House’s cultural influence in two parts: a brief survey of some of their top authors, and then an examination of a root text in the Hay House world: A Course in Miracles.
ACIM’s corrupt and emotionally manipulative philosophy is the basis for the work of authors Marianne Williamson and Gabby Bernstein, overlapping almost perfectly onto “The Work” of Byron Katie. Louise Hay, for one, was fond of quoting it. Matthew proposes that A Course in Miracles is the unacknowledged in-house bible for Hay House. He has a lot to say about it as a former member of a cult called Endeavor Academy in Wisconsin Dells, which used A Course in Miracles as its core text, and primary tool of psychological abuse.
Show Notes
Louise Hay quotes A Course in Miracles
Wayne Dyer quotes A Course in Miracles
How Byron Katie emotionally dominates
Bryon Katie on feeling God as babies die and how Hitler maybe brought people to enlightenment (pp. 37-39)
Julian’s open letter to Northrup
Jivana Heyman on Louise Hay (and more)
Louise Hay and AIDS
Applying “The Work” of Byron Katie to the Pandemic
At the heart of ACIM’s influence on New Age wellness is the absurd contempt for the process of becoming sick expressed by “Jesus” in Lesson 136
Letter from Centre for Science in the Public Interest to the FDA detailing Joseph Mercola’s fraudulent COVID cures
An early marked version of A Course in Miracles
A history of A Course in Miracles editing
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Author and publisher Rebekah Borucki joins the Conspirituality team as our first co-host for this episode. She’s got a story to tell: the culture of her publisher, Hay House, was so resistant to taking a position on the racist attitudes of some of their leading cash-cow authors that she ditched her contract and her job with the company as a diversity mentor.
We’ll be talking about the money and politics of New Age media, as well as editorial standards, ghostwriting, cult apologetics, and the responsibility of publishers to deplatform authors that are hurtling toward QAnon. New Age media isn’t all love and light—it’s a pathway into consumers’ vulnerability, and sometimes a recruitment gateway for cults.
Also this week: Derek interviews Dr Jay Mohan on his gruelling COVID front-line work as an interventional cardiologist in a Detroit suburb.
Show notes
Rebekah on toxic White Women Wellness
Rebekah on the silence of Hay House authors
Rebekah on leaving Hay House
A Critique of Abraham Hicks & the Law of Attraction
Celery Juice: The big problem with a viral Instagram ‘cure
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More than 20 years ago, Richard Vaughan wrote Matthew a very kind and perceptive letter, asking him to reconsider whether his participation in a Buddhist cult would forever alienate him from the real world, and his real friends. Matthew reads this letter here.
It’s on his mind not only because there are so many people who are now struggling with having lost friends and family members, but also because Richard—only 55, and a hero of Canadian queer literature—has been missing for a week.
Show Notes
N.B. writers and LGBTQ community ‘very worried‘ about missing mentor Richard Vaughan
The Seven Good Reasons Why the Boys in the Band Could be a Musical or, I am the Dollar in the Dolorosa
QAnon Casualties
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We still can’t believe alt-health Bali retreat rockstar Sacha Stone called for the “evisceration” of public officials last week. Are conspiritualists really crossing over into militancy? Are the products of wellness so boring, and are the markets so saturated, that messianic influencers have no choice but to up the ante? Stone’s recent interview guest, Christiane Northrup, recently invoked the sacred power of the Sheriff as the highest law in the land for anti-lockdown folks who believe they’re being oppressed. That argument was first made by the white nationalist Posse Comitatus in the 1970s — the seed group for many of today’s militias.
This week, we investigate the means by which religious cults and conspiritualists rattle sabers and poison people. Derek reviews Japan’s AUM cult as a prelude to Julian’s riveting interview with AUM expert Sarah Hightower. Julian reports on the Northrupian intersection between militia movements and alt-health ideas of “sovereignty.” Matthew discusses violence in ISKCON as the Hare Krishnas parade mask-free through Glastonbury.
Show Notes
Rajneeshee leaders take revenge on The Dalles’ with poison, homeless
Cult Leaders & Psychopaths: Power Beyond the Grave
We Need to Talk about the Rise of White Supremacy in Yoga
Epic Yoga San Clemente
Alan Hostetter playing a singing bowl in a Trump t-shirt
Reddit thread on Q Casualties Dating App
Sex and Death on the Road to Nirvana
Amy Coney Barrett uses her children in different ways
What the Second Amendment really meant to the Founders
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Who’s right, who’s confused, who’s noble, who’s the bad guy?
Nothing exists in a cultural vacuum. The emergence of yoga as a hugely popular and lucrative phenomenon in the West is no exception.
In this bonus episode, Julian discusses a recent article that was posted, and enthusiastically liked, shared, and commented upon in sincere solidarity by yoga folks contributing to the conspirituality zeitgeist.
This despite the article being written by a respected brown scholar and activist and posted by an earnest white yogi—and being about a billionaire with some questionable history.
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The reality of a second COVID wave started back in the Spring. Now that With over half of American states are experiencing increased cases, the conspiracy theories are surging. At least 32 White House staff and allies, as well as the president and his wife, have tested positive, likely originating in an unmasked close-quartered super-spreader Rose Garden celebration of Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett.
As Trump poses for wheezing conquering hero propaganda following his questionable return from Walter Reed, another type of second wave is being led by brandwashed conspiritualists. Yoga and wellness loyalists are pushing back against criticism of their use of Q hashtags while reveling in mask opposition, anti-vaxxer agendas, and a distorted slacktivist approach to child trafficking that forms the foundation of QAnon. Pastel Q is surging.
This week, Julian investigates the terrifying Line In The Sand online conference, which featured friends of the pod, Mikki Willis, Zach Bush, Christiane Northrup, and many others. Matthew focuses on the chaos of charismatic leadership, weighing Trumpian tactics with the likes of Chogyam Trungpa and Yogi Bhajan. Derek explores the importance of creativity in the time of quarantine, leading into his interview with musician and former cult member, Ben Lee.
The entire crew also discusses Yoga Journal following the lead of the NY Times and Rolling Stone by reporting (and then bearing the backlash) on yoga community leaders taking a stand against QAnon—and getting trolled by Q devotees in the process.
Show Notes
Julie Salter describes Swami Vishnudevananda, abuser.
NewEarth Haven bio-resonant investment pitch
Trump Supporter Wears ‘COVID Diaper’ to Prevent Coronavirus Farts
Episode 94: The New Age to QAnon Pipeline by QAnon Anonymous
The Case against Swami Rama of the Himalayas
Future Self Summit
Reclaim Your Lives Conference
Leaders in the Yoga Community Speak Out Against QAnon
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Bill Gates is unknowable—except to close and estranged friends, family members, his therapist if he has one. His empire sprawls; his philanthropy is tangled. He’s clearly not any one thing. But what is the one thing conspiritualists fantasize him to be? What archetypal role does he play for those who hate him?
In this meditation, Matthew zeroes in on the briefly-mentioned biographical datum that Gates was bullied as a boy to unfold his symbolic power as neuroatypical scapegoat. If we listen carefully, he argues, we’ll hear something very high-school-ish, laced with homophobia and latent violence, in the lazy defamations slung at Gates.
Is it a surprise that Trump graduated from the New York Military Academy in 1964—the same year that a horrific hazing incident cost several administrators their jobs? Is it a surprise, given what we saw in that so-called debate, that Trump’s school had written hazing into their cadet manual? No, it’s not. And when Biden pauses and smiles, and shakes his head, and his gaze falls, is he remembering what it was like to have had a stutter in an all-boys school?
We spend a lot of time on this podcast unravelling the shoddy thinking at the heart of our conspirituality and political landscapes. These 24 minutes tackles primal cruelty that is up to men to address—if they can remember it, and challenge that sad assumption that it’s simply the way of the world.
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Thirty-two days out from the election and every hour reveals another layer of intensity. The more widely conspirituality and QAnon spreads, the more normalized mundane political violence becomes.
In this episode, Derek looks at how the virus of conspiracism is now overtly threatening the basic premises of voting, as Emperor Trump projects a fiction about electoral fraud, even as he loses his clothes. Matthew looks at a crucial part of this normalization: how Q himself, whoever he is, is now brandwashing, advising followers to abandon familiar Q-words. How then are resisters like Seane Corn to address this brainworm as it shape-shifts, co-opting the visuals of wellness and even the jargon of social justice? Julian steps back for a broader look, reviewing the pod’s discoveries and themes so far, and visualizing where they might lead.
We interview Mike Rains, one of the brave moderators of the 25K member subreddit QAnonCasualties, who has a lot to say about what the Q-hole feels like when it rips up hearts and homes.
Show Notes
Q suggests going stealth
Donate via QanonCasualties SubReddit to a real charity that does real work to help combat child trafficking
Insights into the Personalities of Conspiracy Theorists
Why Do Some People Believe in Conspiracy Theories?
People Drawn to Conspiracy Theories Share a Cluster of Psychological Features
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For our inaugural bonus episode of Conspirituality Podcast, we feature a single interview: a deep dive into the demonology of QAnon and Xtian evangelicalism with Dublin-based Religious Studies scholar Jonathan O’Donnell (pronouns: they/them).
O’Donnell took Matthew through a tour of modern demons: how they show up and how believers relate to them. They also explore the amazing world of “spiritual warfare handbooks,” which have a history in US evangelicalism, are bestsellers in Q-land, and in some ways resemble new-age self-help manuals. They discuss prophecy, speaking in tongues, and the impacts of demonology on marginalized identities.
Professor O’Donnell specializes in American Religious and Cultural Studies, with a focus on the religious right and systems of dehumanization. They study Islamophobia, antisemitism, transphobia, and religious nationalism. Their current research analyses the relation between evangelical demonology, authoritarianism, and “post-truth politics” in Trump’s America.
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Some wellness influencers offer compelling critiques of Big Pharma, factory farming, and psychiatric malpractice. What happens when their arguments become honeypots for snake oil? In this episode, Derek provides an overview of modern pharma practice and its discontents. Julian delves into the muddy culture of yoga and antidepressants—the bad advice, the stigma, the magical thinking. He also reviews the latest Q-adjacent content of Canadian self-help celebrity Danielle LaPorte, and checks in on Kate Northrup’s interview with Zach Bush.
Derek and Julian interview Matthew about his recent feature investigation on conspirituality power couple, Dr. Kelly Brogan and Sayer Ji. There’s lots of material that didn’t make the final copy, like how Brogan’s conspirituality could endanger the mental health of her online clients, and how her usage of Kundalini Yoga as a supplemental therapy is riddled with false historical and medical claims. Also: why didn’t Sayer Ji denounce QAnon when given the chance?
Finally, Derek digs into the podcast origin story with an interview of Jules Evans, who helped “conspirituality” become an almost-household term.
Show Notes
Inside Kelly Brogan’s Covid-Denying, Vax-Resistant Conspiracy Machine
Popular Health Guru Sayer Ji Curates the Scientific Literature with His Bachelor’s Degree in Philosophy
Matthew’s review of Brogan’s “review” of Yogi Bhajan survivor Pamela Dyson’s memoir
From Maharaj to Mahan Tantric: The Construction of Yogi Bhajan’s Kundalini Yoga
Cognitive Errors and Diagnostic Mistakes: A Case-Based Guide to Critical Thinking in Medicine
An Olive Branch Report on Yogi Bhajan, the abuser
White Bird in a Golden Cage: My Life with Yogi Bhajan
Trump Claims He Invented the Term “Fake News”—Here’ s an Interview With the Guy Who Actually Helped Popularize It
Lies, Damn Lies and Viral Content
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At this point, we can say for sure that American spiritual and wellness communities are not only vulnerable to conspiracy brainworms but they’re actively hosting and spreading them. Seane Corn joins us to discuss what to do when QAnon rhetoric and hashtags co-opts lurches through yoga communities.
But is this really unexpected from a historical point of view? Our second guest, cult researcher and historian Jared Yates Sexton joins us to talk about his new book, American Rule. He discusses the longstanding conspiracies that have influenced America since its very founding as well as the chronic problem of American exceptionalism.
We all add in our own reflections on 9/11: how close to home it came, how one of us was in a cult when it happened, and how we learn and manage fear.
Show Notes
Thread on Pastel QAnon
The Birth of QAmom
Wellness Influencers Are Spreading QAnon Conspiracies About the Coronavirus
Seane Corn’s anti-Q post swarmed by QAnons
Inside Kelly Brogan’s Covid-Denying, Vax-Resistant Conspiracy Machine
The Brightest Stars Shine In The Deepest Dark
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Yoga-crazed Hindu nationalists murder Muslims for eating beef, believing that the cow embodies the religious gift of India’s soil. American white supremacists chug gallons of local milk to prove their lactose tolerance and their claim that they alone should occupy the Global North.
Extreme examples aside: it’s clear that key elements of the alt-right and the New Age agree that the Earth is sacred. Bountiful and healing, the Earth preserves everything lost to industrialization, Big Pharma, and globalization. Home is where the soil is. But whose home? Who’s welcome here? Who can afford it? Who’s allowed to own it, and who has to slave-labor on it? For all the supposed concern for ecology, why aren’t we seeing conspiritualists and QAnon devotees marching against carbon emissions, celebrating the carbon drops of lockdown, supporting the migrant workers who pick their arugula, or starting community gardens in their food-desert cities?
This week Matthew reviews the soft-fascist “blood and soil” themes of conspirituality culture. Derek gives some background and context on the romanticization problem with agriculture. And Julian looks at the quasi-scientific premises and promises that podcast fave Dr. Zach Bush offers in response. We also bring you an interview with farming activist John Roulac, who’s incensed at how conspirituality is ripping up progressive foodie movements. In a recent article, he called out his old friends and associates (like Mikki Willis and Christiane Northrup) for what he calls their “body-snatching” beliefs. Matthew closes with a view from Manitoulin Island.
Show Notes
Is the Wellness Movement Being Tainted by QAnon and the New Age Right?
John Roulac tangles with Mikki Willis
John’s projects: Kiss the Ground | Nutiva | Rebotanicals
Matthew’s feature on Pattabhi Jois, yoga guru and serial sexual abuser
When The U.S. Government Tried To Replace Migrant Farmworkers With High Schoolers
A reflection on the lasting legacy of 1970s USDA Secretary Earl Butz
Why factory farms are a “perfect storm” for disease pandemics
Brian Rose on Zach Bush
Our COVID-19
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For decades, Neo-Tantra has focused on sex workshops and orgasmic bliss, overlooking the fact that the Kama Sutra is effectively a patriarchal instruction manual as well as Tantra’s grassroots origins in the lower castes in Indian society, which were responding to lofty metaphysical ideas with practical rituals everyone could partake in. From that perspective, a modern industry marketed with Shiva-Shakti figurines is yet another example of capitalist yoga in a privileged society.
Derek opens this week discussing a redpilled-lite video by Danielle LaPorte, while Julian discusses an intensely personal story related to Tantra; he also explores the role of the Aghoris. We break from Tantra talk during Matthew’s interview with Alex Auder, a veteran yoga instructor who uses comedy as a relief mechanism from the QAnon craziness in the yoga world. Matthew ends this week’s episode with a reflection on his history with Tibetan Buddhist Tantra, and how he sees echoes of its archaic elements showing up, in undigested form, in the QAnon imaginarium.
Show Notes
Danielle LaPorte’s video
How tantric sex trains people to have more intense orgasms, and why it’s so controversial
The Mysterious Death of a Tantric Sex Guru
Sex Messiah: A Tantric Odyssey
Not for the Faint of Heart: The Aghori and Their Unorthodox Path to Enlightenment
Reza Aslan (almost) loses his head
Yoga: An Evolving Story Of Cross-Cultural Innovation
Julian Feeld at the Hollywood Blvd QAnon rally
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This week we announce and discuss a refinement in our podcast’s direction. Real talk: conspirituality has clearly become both a front and a gateway for the fever-dream of QAnon. As mainstream news outlets wake up to the sordid reality that independent journalists have been tracking for two years, we find neither stream truly conceptualizing answers or methods for recovery and healing. Going forward, we’re going to concentrate not only on critique, but also offering solutions.
Our guest this week is Lorna Liana, publisher of Entheonation. She tells Matthew about the insurgence of conspirituality in the plant medicine and ceremony world. Some neo-shamans, she says, are redpilling plant worshippers during vulnerable states. Julian and Derek chime in with their own experiences of psychedelics.
Show Notes
Plants of the Gods: Their Sacred, Healing, and Hallucinogenic Powers
How to Change Your Mind: What the New Science of Psychedelics Teaches Us about Consciousness, Dying, Addiction, Depression, and Transcendence
What Are the Coronavirus Risks with Ayahuasca Ceremonies?
Can Ayahuasca Protect You From Coronavirus?
Is Tobacco Antiviral (& Can It Treat COVID-19)?
Plant Ceremonies and Your Safety in the Midst of a Global Crisis
COVID-19 Denialism is Rooted in the Settler Colonial Mindset
A Neuroscientist Explains What Conspiracy Theories Do To Your Brain
The Danger of Manipulative Love-Bombing in a Relationship
The Certainty Bias: A Potentially Dangerous Mental Flaw
Dopamine, cognitive biases and assessment of certainty: A neurocognitive model of delusions
The Dopaminergic Midbrain Encodes the Expected Certainty about Desired Outcomes
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Dr. Theodora Wildcroft joins us again to take us through the basics of contemporary Religious Studies. She discusses how the discipline approaches issues of ritual, value, meaning, charisma, and role-playing, while also leading us through the process by which objects, places, and people become sacred. Spoiler: it’s more about what we do than what we believe.
Wildcroft also dissects the chronic problem of conspiritualists weaponizing myths of rebellion and recovery.
Matthew gives a brief rundown on the trainwreck of Mikki Willis’s “Plandemic 2,” and also talks about the Q-map as an artistic (if delusional) landscape of comfort and connection. Derek contemplates the chemicals we don’t question while putting onto or inside of our bodies, while Julian homes in on one particular chemical: the pyramid scheme propped up by Big Essential Oil.
Show Notes
The QAnon map
How to spot a conspiracy theory – Expert guide to conspiracy theories part one
Mandala Offering – Ring Set Version
Lotsawa House: Mandala Offering
Deep State Mapping Project
Was Lewis Carroll a Pedophile? His Photographs Suggest So
Travis View on Twitter
2019 Plastic Surgery Statistics Report
Risk Associated with Bee Venom Therapy: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
Class Action: Young Living ‘Nothing More Than an Unlawful Pyramid Scheme’
Multi-Level Vaccine Refusal
Very simplistic visual example of how conspiracy theories can become transnational
Deconstructing the placebo effect and finding the meaning response
T
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Last week, we started to explore how the real issue of child trafficking is being weaponized by bad-faith actors. This week we’re joined by two experts that explain the overt and subtle impacts involved.
Regan Williams, CEO and founder of Seen & Heard, a nonprofit that provides youth in foster care with professional and personal development via the performing arts, offers a ground zero perspective of trafficked children and teens (and the people that actually care for them) being made even more invisible by conspiratorial clicktivism.
Religious Studies scholar and trauma-sensitive yoga consultant, Dr. Theo Wildcroft, joins us from England to discuss the consequences of trauma histories being hijacked for political and emotional manipulation. She offers insight into the mythic elements of conspirituality-to-Q that cannot be ignored if we want to understand how trauma is both stored and resisted.
On This Week in Conspirituality, Matthew considers the absurdity of David Wolfe accusing the medical community of not doing anything about cancer. Julian investigates anti-Semitic blood libel themes in QAnon and Derek discusses the chronic dangers of seeking utopia.
Show Notes
To report abuse/neglect, call the child abuse hotline: 800.540.4000 (LA county) / 800.422.4453 (National)
Epstein is a real pedophile. Why are QAnon and Pizzagate so focused on fake ones?
The Dark Virality of a Hollywood Blood-Harvesting Conspiracy
Just how anti-Semitic is QAnon?
QAnon isn’t newly anti-Semitic—it’s always been that way
Q supporters are incorrectly doxxing journalists who report on QAnon as Jewish
Nearly 600,000 people have voted for candidates who support QAnon
Here are the QAnon supporters running for Congress in 2020
QAnon Supporter Who Made Bigoted Videos Wins Ga. Primary, Likely Heading To Congress
Prominent Republicans back a conspiracy theory-promoting congressional candidate in Georgia
Argentino on
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Two of this podcast’s hosts have been involved in destructive cult dynamics. Matthew’s three years with Michael Roach and three years at Endeavor Academy are at the root of his cult research and journalism. Julian’s six years in the inner circle around what he describes as Ana Forrest’s incendiary and manipulative approach to yoga left him with repressed memories. Those experiences also left his family deeply scarred by some of the same Satanic Panic themes prevalent in the QAnon movement. His ongoing work advocating for critical thinking and community health is part of his recovery.
Derek describes himself as being “cult-adjacent”—not uncommon for a lifelong wellness industry professional. In this episode, he’ll interview Julian and Matthew about their cult experiences, the recovery process, and cultic dynamics in modern yoga, Buddhist, and New Age communities informing the growing field of conspirituality.
They’ll also discuss cultic organizations being ideally positioned to sell “Disaster Spirituality” (props to Naomi Klein) in times of crisis. Cult leaders understand the power of charisma, the attractiveness of transcendental ideology, and what it takes to make vulnerable people feel like every question is answerable with jargon, intrusive eye contact, and deeply deceptive shit. Matthew will ground the discussion with a synopsis of cult research, basic concepts, and useful definitions.
Show Notes
The David Wolfe video about pedophilia and Trump
United States of Conspiracy | PBS documentary
QAnon Casualties: stories on Reddit
Steven Hassan’s “Influence Continuum,” which is helpful for assessing the health of influence
Great podcast about James Arthur Ray and the question of undue influence
Tony Robbins’ PR defends him when people are injured at his firewalking events
Excellent podcast series on Heaven’s Gate
The conviction of Keith Raniere
Peter Georgiades on the legal barriers to cult litigation
Daniel Shaw on “Traumatic Narcissism“
QAnon Anonymous
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A recent report by the UK’s Center for Countering Digital Hate found that anti-vaxx organizations reach 58 million people on social media. The total amount of money spent by anti-vax groups and advertisers targeting their followers on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube is roughly $1 billion. The majority of the money funding the most prominent anti-vax groups is by just two men: osteopath Joseph Mercola and fund manager Bernard Selz. All of this makes you wonder: Why is so money being used to target anti-vaxxers?
Derek interviews Imran Ahmed, founder of the Center for Countering Digital Hate, about how anti-vax leaders and groups are using social media to target and recruit followers. The stakes are higher than ever, as the vaccine argument has transcended autism and is threatening to endanger public health during the pandemic.
Julian considers the vaccine fears of parents as well as the shadow of the Tuskegee Syphillis Study, and how anti-vax alliances are targeting black communities, which could be a disastrous Trojan Horse for COVID-19, while Matthew serves up his This Week in Conspirituality segment in the epilogue, looking at how the leader of the high-demand group he was indoctrinated into over 20 years ago, led by Michael Roach, is rebooting old content as a COVID-era grift.
Show Notes
History of Vaccines
A History of Measles in the United States
Measles Cases and Outbreaks
MMR Vaccination | What You Should Know
Mercury, Vaccines, and Autism: One Controversy, Three Histories
Aluminum in vaccines
Human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccines
CDC Global Health – Polio – Our Progress
Christiane Northrup: Triangulation, regret, Gardisil, civil disobedience
How the Public Learned About the Infamous Tuskegee Syphilis Study
Anti-vaccination leaders fuel black mistrust of medical establishment as covid-19 kills people of color
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Percolating alongside racism and classism, one of the most pernicious subtexts of conspirituality propaganda is ableism. Proponents spout accusatory mantras like: “You have an immune system!,” “You’d have nothing to worry about if you were vegan!,” and, of course, “Living in fear is the real cause of disease.”
Not only do these ideas have nothing to do with virology, they also condemn everyone who is immuno-compromised, living in a food desert, or managing trauma to the margins. COVID-19 has exposed the ugliest secret of wellness culture: the glorification of the self over concern about the community.
None of this is news for disability activists. In this episode, Matthew interviews Jivana Heyman, founder of Accessible Yoga and longtime AIDS activist, about walking the anti-conspirituality line between yoga and public health. Heyman also reveals how the past and present intersect in Tony Fauci, a leading figure in AIDS research during Reagan’s tenure who is now being muzzled by Trump.
In This Week in Conspirituality, Julian looks at the fear of death through the lens of Ernest Becker and Joseph Campbell, Derek discusses free speech after Twitter removes 7,000 QAnon accounts, and Matthew tries to empathize with the “awakened” aspect of conspirituality, i.e., What have they woken up to?
Show Notes
A Force In The Universe: Brad Ramsey
Advanced Asthanga practice video with Pattabhi Jois
The Prophecies of Q
Twitter Removes Thousands Of QAnon Accounts, Promises Sweeping Ban On The Conspiracy
What Does Free Speech Mean?
As Predicted: Parler Is Banning Users It Doesn’t Like
Statistics & Information on Childhood Sexual Abuse
Matthew’s tribute to Jivana Heyman
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As Christiane Northrup’s social media feed descends even further into the delusional zone — this week she retweeted explicitly identified QAnon content — we ask Professor Jacqueline Antonovich of Nursing Clio about the history of charisma, magic, and entrepreneurship in women’s wellness. When asked if she was surprised by Northrup’s conspirituality spiral, Antonovich was clear: “Not at all.” She carefully unpacks why.
We also look at the role of media in conspiritual thinking and discuss Northup’s enthusiastic endorsement of the movement to “make Americans free again” by becoming single-issue voters—the issue being vaccines.
Show Notes
Marshall McLuhan | The medium is the message
How Can the Press Best Serve a Democratic Society?
In 1947, the press reported on the Hutchins Commission report
Trump, QAnon and an impending judgment day: Behind the Facebook-fueled rise of The Epoch Times
Trump’s New Favorite Channel Employs Kremlin-Paid Journalist
Hundreds of hyperpartisan sites are masquerading as local news. This map shows if there’s one near you.
Make Americans Free Again | The New Normal: Citizens In Charge
Jacqueline Antonovich | Nursing Clio
Northrup’s retweet of a QAnon account boosting the red shoe conspiracy
Gilman’s “Yellow Wallpaper“
Ricki Lake’s “Business of Being Born“
Sarah Swedburg on Louise Hay
How New Age Guru Louise Hay Harmed a Generation of Gay Men
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OB/GYN Dr. Christiane Northrup has been a giant in women’s healthcare advocacy for decades. She has persuasively argued for lower-intervention childbirth, an end to circumcision, and policies that place family unity at the heart of health care. She’s known and loved for challenging her medical training with faith-based values and an intuition framed as feminine (if not feminist) and “sovereign.”
Northrup draws on astrology, feng shui, chakra theory, and “vibrational” healing as modes of resistance to what she sees as medical patriarchy. This resistance began seamlessly intersecting with COVID trutherism in April, when she started posting daily Facebook sermons to her half-million followers. The series is called “The Great Awakening” — a phrase first used to describe 18th-century American spiritual revival movements, but was recently co-opted by QAnon conspiracists to describe the inevitable triumph of Trump over the Deep State.
Northrup’s sermons, combined with her posts of Plandemic, Tony Robbins interviewing anti-vaxxers, and a podcast with “Andy” Wakefield in which she called COVID a “flu” and expressed concern about Bill Gates taking over public education, give a rich glimpse into the seduction of conspirituality in the hands of a wellness matriarch.
Most recently, Northrup has strengthened her alignment with QAnon by posting a trailer for a follow-up to a key recruiting video. With up to a dozen QAnon supporters running for office in November, Northrup is positioned to nudge middle-class white wellness women with money into a cult that believes Trump is a messianic figure.
This week’s interview is with Britt Hermes, who earned her doctorate in naturopathic medicine from Bastyr University in 2011. After three years of practice, Hermes left the profession to became its most vocal public critic. We asked her to weigh in on women’s wellness in the pandemic and the appeal of Dr. Northrup.
Show Notes
Pharmaceutical Ethics and Grassroots Activism in the United States: A Social History Perspective
Just 50% of Americans plan to get a COVID-19 vaccine. Here’s how to win over the rest
To celebrate the Fourth, Michael Flynn posts a pledge to conspiracy group QAnon
How New Age Guru Louise Hay Harmed a Generation of Gay Men
How the ‘Plandemic’ Movie and Its Falsehoods Spread
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It can be as hard to talk with your well-meaning yoga-world friend about their COVID-conspiracy beliefs as it is to talk with a family member about their devotion to Donald Trump. This isn’t an accident — but it’s not exactly by design, either. Both figures can seem trapped in filter bubbles of jargon that hypnotizes and cancels critical thinking.
In this episode, we talk with pre-eminent cult researcher Steve Hassan about his new book, The Cult of Trump, and explore the overlaps between the cults of personality that destroy political, wellness, and spiritual cultures. We discuss changes in cultic technique in the age of lockdown, and how best to maintain contact with a person transformed by manipulation. The interview with Steven begins at the 37-minute mark.
Show Notes
UFO Conspiracy Theorists Offer ‘Ascension’ From Our Hell World for $333
How the ‘Plandemic’ Movie and Its Falsehoods Spread Widely Online
Anatomy of Delusion: How Otherwise Conscious People Descended into the Darkness — Stephen Dinan
“I Am Not Your Guru” — Tony Robbins documentary
“Hacking the Consumer’s Brain” — Moran Cerf
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Conspiritualists are compelling for numerous reasons: they’re charismatic; they claim to transcend polarized politics; they claim to speak the unspeakable in a quest for hidden truths. It makes sense that a key rhetorical instrument in their toolbox is poetry.
“The real virus is fear” is a unifying metaphor for conspiritualists, but there are others. In conspiritual-ese, the immune system is like the Christian soul: eternal, perfect, and solitary. Masks are signs of submission that symbolize the suppression of free speech and even slavery. Public health departments are bureaucracies of death. Vaccines are poisons designed to demand compliance. Vaccinators are Satanic agents compelled to enter the sacred space of the body — especially the child’s body — in order to possess it.
In this episode, Derek (cancer survivor), Matthew (pulmonary embolism survivor), and Julian (Lyme disease in remission) discuss the function of the beautiful and delusional metaphors of illness and transcendence in conspiritual-ese, applying the discoveries of Susan Sontag and Eula Biss. Maggie Levantovskaya, an Adjunct Lecturer at Santa Clara University, discusses her essay, “My Disease is Not a Metaphor.”
Show Notes
“My Disease is Not a Metaphor” — Maggie Levantovskaya
“Don’t Thank Me for My Sacrifice” — Maggie Levantovskaya
Resilience and Possibility Conversation with Zach Bush MD
Mary Baker Eddy: American Religious Leader
The Science of Mind — Ernest Holmes
“The Trouble With Medicine’s Metaphors” — Dhruv Khullar
Internalised Ableism: The Tyranny Within
Ableism and internalized ableism
“Will you Go with a War-Cry or a Whimper?” — Ben Ralston
On Immunity: An Inoculation — Eula Biss
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On one hand, we have the CEO of Crossfit tweeting that “Floyd-19” is the real problem. (He got canceled.) On the other, COVID-truther psychiatrist Kelly Brogan is using Hopi mythology to support the fantasy of a Corona consciousness-awakening — while the Hopi themselves live within the Navajo Nation, which has the highest infection rate in the country.
WTF is going on with white wellness people?
For this episode, we’re joined by New School historian of American fitness, Dr. Natalia Petrzela, who sheds light on the historical links between physical culture and racism, and Dax-Devlon Ross, an anti-racism and civil rights educator, on what white wellness ideology does to Black people.
Show Notes
A Letter to My White Male Friends of a Certain Age — Dax-Devlon Ross
Buzzfeed covering Glassman’s Zoom
Dr. Petrzela tweeting on McFadden and Sandow
One City’s Struggle to Police the Police — Dax in The Washington Post
Kelly Brogan using “sovereignty”
Kelly Brogan appropriating a Hopi text
Something we didn’t cover: A Wisconsin “I Can’t Breathe” workout
A BUNCH of white spiritual dudes claiming that the “I can’t breathe” protest chant is a spell to program people for slavery to the Deep State. They advise taking strong action with deep breathing exercises and antidote mantras.
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Right-wing conspiracy theories are being marketed in wellness communities as a form of spiritual freedom. While pattern recognition is an essential survival instinct, it’s being exploited during a time of a global pandemic, governmental collapse, and social paranoia. Tragically, so-called spiritual leaders are trafficking in propaganda while advocating for individual sovereignty.
We also discuss the history of and science behind 5G and vaccines.
Show Notes
Ivanka Trump’s graduation speech to Class of 2020
Can a Vaccine for Covid-19 Be Developed in Record Time?
Louis Pasteur, from crystals of life to vaccination
The 5G Health Hazard That Isn’t
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To the layperson, Dr. Zach Bush’s vision of a resurrected microbiome as being the answer to modern illnesses sounds appealing. His basic argument: we’ve been weeding ourselves to death, externally and internally, depleting the biodiversity of our soils and bodies. He seems to have done typical clinical work (in mostly private settings) in internal medicine, endocrinology, and hospice care. But with no publications or experience with epidemiology, why is he being tapped by anti-vax activists to speak on COVID-19.
Perhaps because when he runs up against the limit of his knowledge, he offers spiritual sermons. J.P. Sears does something similar, though from a different direction, without being signal-boosted by anti-vaxxers. Sears’s deeper colors show when he reaches the limits of his satire: he’s a life coach medical libertarian who’s willing to cherry-pick data and mock concerns about the immunocompromised in support of…we’re not quite sure.
Show Notes
Zach Bush interview with Del Bigtree
Zach Bush monologue with Rich Roll
JP Sears videos: Media | Response to Media | Blue Pill People
JP Sears’s podcasts: Tim Kennedy | Viral Video
Summary of Santa Clara study cited by Bush and Sears
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Barely two weeks into various stages of lockdown around the world, New Age philosopher Charles Eisenstein published a 9,000-word essay on the meaning of the pandemic. He summed up his core theme with deft wordplay at about the 7,000-word mark. After suggesting that the global crisis afforded a kind of transformative opportunity, he writes
“Now the question arises: Initiation into what? What is the specific nature and purpose of this initiation? The popular name for the pandemic offers a clue: coronavirus. A corona is a crown. ‘Novel coronavirus pandemic’ means ‘a new coronation for all.’
What was so captivating about this essay that Jack Dorsey tweeted it to the 4.5M followers on his platform? What are Eisenstein’s premises, credentials, rhetorical techniques? What are his connections to medical libertarianism, and how does he manage to endorse conspirituality while seeming to deconstruct it?
Show Notes
The Coronation — Charles Eisenstein
Daniel Pinchbeck’s response to The Coronation
The Conspiracy Myth — Charles Eisenstein
Covid-19 Is A Rehab Intervention: Charles Eisenstein | Rich Roll Podcast
Charles Eisenstein / Sayer Ji discussion
Transformational Weight Loss — Charles Eisenstein
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Conspirituality started with Julian and Matthew as guests on Derek’s EarthRise podcast. We’re reposting these episodes for you to hear the origins of this project.
In episode 0.2, we discuss suspect medical claims made by Kelly Brogan and Sayer Ji. We also talk about Julian’s new essay, “The Red Pill Overlap.”
Show Notes
Why We Stay Asleep When COVID-19 Is Trying To Wake Us Up
What Mandatory Vaccination and the 5G Rollout Have In Common
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Conspirituality started with Julian and Matthew as guests on Derek’s EarthRise podcast. We’re reposting these episodes for you to hear the origins of this project.
In episode 0.1, we discuss the anti-vax propaganda film, Plandemic, as well as the intersection between conspiracy theories and cults. We also talk about the “red pill” video by comedian JP Sears.
Show Notes
7 reasons to be very wary of “Plandemic”
What It’s Like To Believe Everything the Media Tells You: JP Sears
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En liten tjänst av I'm With Friends. Finns även på engelska.
