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567 episodes
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Conspirituality Awakener
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- Religion & Spirituality
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4.0 • 1.6K Ratings
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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.
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Bonus Sample: Speak Through Me
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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Speak Through Me
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.” -
Brief: The Theatre of Trump (w/Hank Willenbrink)
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
About Me – Hank Willenbrink
Bread and Puppet Theater — Glover, VT
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209: The Right’s Fantasy Super-Villain (w/Renee Diresta)
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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Bonus Sample: Nicole Shanahan Talks DEI with Scott Adams
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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Nicole Shanahan Talks DEI with Scott Adams
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.
Customer Reviews
Great topics
Poor follow through.
Sadly self centric- off putting
Update came back looking to see if these guys had given up on tribalism and wanted to give integrity a try - answer- no - they are worse - trust NPR? - wow- more my side science and I already knew it commentary
As a scientist I remain mortified by how laypersons, journalists, and pundits such these folks ( yes I keep suspecting the next frauds they will discuss is themselves) miss what science is and does (see critical thinking org, carl popper, or excellent current thinking from david Deutsch) science explains things. Several points stand out - playing clips while laughing at them is just so 6th grade. Yes I figure they will use this and attack me as that is all they do they don’t respect expertise or how deep the world goes - stop playing expert - I am not playing the stay in ur lane game as they are generalist but as such then they need to provide levels of confidence and a 360 degree view of what we know and don’t. Being critical of crazy is easy and I am not sure who they are even connecting with that are surprised or enlightened by finding out that Q is 2nd grade thinking. The problem is they then confuse actually interesting and scientific thinkers with crazy without fair understanding or as far as I can tell even reading of their work .....finally it is also clear that if it is their tribe they fail to ask for or question evidence- if they like the idea than why ask if it’s accurate? Summary: more sad arrogance but it is well produced — ps my reference to 2nd and 6th grade thinking is not to knock children- children are smart very smart just different than older minds - their excellent mind are only pathetic when adults have them
A Comprehensive View of Spirituality & Politics Today
No one else provides such a high-level view of the current landscape of spiritual movements, conspiracy, snake oil, and politics. The work these hosts do is amazing. They’ve refined their views and style since their early reporting at the height of covid denialism and I really enjoy their dedication to keeping an eye on many trends at once. There are plenty of specialist podcasts that are focused solely on specific issues at a granular level, but this podcast helps me see them all in context in a way I’d struggle to do on my own. Thank you to the hosts for all their hard work!