Dismantling New Age cults, wellness grifters, and conspiracy-mad yogis. At best, the conspirituality movement attacks public health efforts in times of crisis. ...
“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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6:09
Brief: My Dad Became a MAGA Power Broker (w/Julia Tucker)
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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38:48
237: Your Revolution is Out of Network
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
UnitedHealthcare CEO gunned down in Manhattan sold company stocks just before DOJ probe made public | The Independent
Conservatives Face Backlash From Followers Over UnitedHealthcare Murder - Newsweek
Before fatal subway chokehold, Jordan Neely was on NYC’s list of homeless individuals with dire needs | CNN
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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1:24:04
Relief Project #5: Annie Kelly
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
Annie Kelly
Vaccine: The Human Story - YouTube
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31:53
Bonus Sample: TheoBros, Political Religion, and Christmas
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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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.
Österreich