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Conspirituality — Philosophy
Conspirituality

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.

Copyright: © 2023 Conspirituality

Latest Episodes:

238: Diary of a CEO Bro Jan 02, 2025

Show notes

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

The Canonization of St. Luigi

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

Teal Swan Collection—Patreon

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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Relief Project #6: Rebecca Solnit Dec 31, 2024

Show notes

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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Bonus Sample: Why Big Wellness Hates Ozempic Dec 30, 2024

Show notes

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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Brief: The Free Press Tastes Its Own (Polio) Medicine Dec 28, 2024

Show notes

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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Unlocked: “What will happen?” (asks a 12 year-old) Dec 26, 2024

Show notes

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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Bonus Sample: Blessed NeoKayfabe of Santa Claus Dec 23, 2024

Show notes

“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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Brief: My Dad Became a MAGA Power Broker (w/Julia Tucker) Dec 21, 2024

Show notes

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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237: Your Revolution is Out of Network Dec 19, 2024

Show notes

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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Relief Project #5: Annie Kelly Dec 17, 2024

Show notes

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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Bonus Sample: TheoBros, Political Religion, and Christmas Dec 16, 2024

Show notes

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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