The Paranoid Strain

Latest Episodes:

Historical political conspiracies, part 2 Sep 15, 2020

Show notes

We're back again, with the next installment of our historical review of American political conspiracy theories. This time, unfortunately, we have to talk about the hideous history of conspiracy theories centered around slavery, and the ways that they impacted both slaveowning, and even abolitionist societies prior to the Civil War. This one is, of course, upsetting. But, we hope, also super interesting. And, as our nation strives to reckon with its unfortunately and intensely racist history, we think it's really important. We hope you agree. Email us at theparanoidstrain at gmail dot com, join the FB group, and please tell anyone you think might enjoy the show that...well, you enjoy the show. See you in a couple of weeks.

Notes:

Seen on Radio: Seeing White
Kerry Walters: American Slave Revolts and Conspiracies
Thomas Konda: Conspiracies of Conspiracies
Jill Lepore: New York Burning

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Historical political conspiracies, part 1 Sep 01, 2020

Show notes

Brand. Spanking. New. Content.

Welcome back. This episode inaugurates a nice, long run of new stuff that should lead all the way up to the U.S. Presidential election, assuming we're still gonna go ahead and hold that thing. We figured that, for the back half of this historically weird year, it might be appropriate for us to focus on the fact that throughout our history, all the way back to the colonial period, Americans (especially white Americans) have been obsessed with conspiracies that they imagine one or another group to be scheming about in one or another smoke-filled back room. In this first part, we not only do our introductory skit thing, but go over a couple of important conspiracy phases of pre-America--Native American, and later the Salem Witch conspiracies. We hope you dig it. More to come in a couple of weeks. In the meantime, join our Facebook group, subscribe on Youtube, and drop us a line at theparanoidstrain at gmail.

Bibliography:

The United States of Paranoia, by Jesse Walker

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Archive--Episode 1, part 2 (plus bonus Rick Perlstein interview) Aug 18, 2020

Show notes

We're back, just a week(!) later, with the last third of the show's original, 2017 first episode. We could have cut it into two chunks of even length, but that would have split the interview in half, which seemed like a weird thing to do. So rather than give you a ten-minute episode this week, we've also tacked on a fascinating discussion with historian Rick Perlstein, the author of some of the best ever books about this history of the conservative movement. You'll be hearing from him for the rest of the year, especially when we talk about Nixon. Enjoy, and look for the first part of our brand new episode in a couple of weeks.

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Archive--Episode 1, part 1 Aug 12, 2020

Show notes

PHASE TWO IS UPON US.

Please do not panic. We're ready for this. As promised, we're starting our new, more frequent content feed with the first two-thirds of our very first episode. It includes high-falutin discussions of what, exactly, we mean by conspiracy theories, why people believe them, and what this whole show is supposed to be about. The last bit of this one comes out in a week or two, with some special bonus content. As always, thanks for listening, and let us know what you think of the updated format.

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Not really an episode: FORMAT CHANGE! Jul 28, 2020

Show notes

As noted above, this isn't a real episode, but it is a real announcement. You're gonna start hearing this show every two weeks. Or sometimes, if we're feeling frisky, every week. But don't count on that second thing. Everything's gonna be shorter and punchier, but we'll still put out big long compilations of our topics. But why are we telling you this here? You can learn all about that in our seven minute mini-sode.

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Quick Hit: Recap Jun 30, 2020

Show notes

Hey--remember, like, five or six months ago, when we told you the next episode would be a recap? And that we'd go over all the stuff that had happened to the topics in our old episodes since we created those episodes? And then it turned out we lied about that, twice, because COVID conspiracies were just too transcendently weird and timely to pass up? Well, it's finally time to put out that long-delayed, much promised show from late last year, with a few timely updates for stuff that's happened in the intervening months. Hope you enjoy it. Next time you hear from us, we'll be shaking up the format of the show. But don't worry--you'll be hearing from us even more frequently. For now, sit back and enjoy the crazy. Talk to you again soon.

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Quick HIt: Coronavirus Conspiracies 2, The Phlegm and the Fury May 12, 2020

Show notes

Yeah, I know. This wasn't the episode we promised last time. But coronavirus is, in addition to being a real asshole of a disease, also the gift that keeps on giving when it comes to frightened dipshits generating an endless panoply of new conspiracy theories.

This is another "Quick Hit", but it's over an hour. No, our nomenclature doesn't even make a lot of sense to us, but hopefully this is pretty up-to-date and comprehensive in terms of the biggest highlights of the current lay of the virus conspiracy land.

We'll be back with you soon, and we're still working on some big, exciting, totally non-virus-related stuff for the rest of the year. We hope this makes your sheltering in place more enjoyable, and as always, thanks for listening.

Oh, and if you wanna see that ridiculous video explaining how you can cure COVID with a blow-dryer, knock yourself out.

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Quick Hit: Coronavirus Conspiracies Mar 18, 2020

Show notes

Whaaaaaa? A new episode? But it's been just a few weeks?

That's right, Strainiacs. We're back in the saddle, albeit an indoor, socially distancing, "shelter in place" kind of saddle, to spread some facts and debunk some nonsense around the pandemic plague that suddenly has the world's undivided attention. This is a true "quick hit", production to your ears in just a couple of weeks. We hope you enjoy it, and we look forward to sharing more quickly produced, up-to-the-minute content with you in the future.

Only one link this time, to a Vox story that explains all the reasons you shouldn't believe this virus is man-made

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Reality is an Illusion? Part 2, Philip K Dick Feb 25, 2020

Show notes

Sorry about the delay, but we’re very pleased to present you, via our brand new podcast feed (which should, from your perspective, be completely indistinguishable from our original feed), the second half of our reality episode. This time, we’re orienting our discussion around the singular perspective of one of the most interesting and influential writers of the 20th century, Philip K Dick. You may know him as the Blade Runner guy, or the Total Recall guy, or just the guy who gets (rightly) credited with inspiring basically every good sci-fi idea you’ve ever heard of. But it turns out that Phil was a strange and fascinating dude, a man who believed the universe’s greatest secrets had been revealed to him in a bolt of pink light, and who then spent the rest of his life figuring out what the hell that light was trying to tell him. In the process of explaining his life and works, we’ll also incidentally delve into gnostic christianity, the modern theory of consciousness, and the work of some other super-influential, similarly mind-expanding writers. Hope you enjoy it. And if you do, let us know at theparanoidstrain at gmail dot com.

Bibliography:

Philip K Dick books referenced in the episode:

The Exegesis

Man in the High Castle

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep

Ubik

A Scanner Darkly

The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch

Valis

Other books and such:

Divine invasions, A Life of Philip K Dick, by Lawrence Sutin
Science Fiction: A Hopeless Case, With Exceptions, by Stanislaw Lem
Beginner’s Guide to Reality, by James Baggott
What Is It Like to Be a Bat?, by Thomas Nagel
V.S. Ramachandran:

- The Tell-Tale Brain

- A Brief Tour of Human Consciousness

- The Phantom Brain

Great Courses: Gnosticism, by David Brakke
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Reality is an Illusion? Part 1 Dec 10, 2019

Show notes

We came, we saw, we conquered, and we rendered it all into an mp3 file. Welcome back to the Paranoid Strain. This is the first of a two-part series that is not, technically, about conspiracy theories per se. We see this show as a proud defender of reality against conspiracist nonsense. But we felt it would be unfair if we didn’t spend a couple of episodes exploring exactly how little we understand about reality, when you really get down to brass tacks. This time, we’re going over philosophy and science, and then discussing some very out-there ways to interpret reality…some intriguing, some ridiculous. This is our new favorite episode. Hope you feel the same, and hope that you’ll check out some of the extensive bibliography below to learn more. Bibliography: Great Minds of the Eastern Intellectual Tradition by Grant Hardy A Beginner’s Guide to Reality by Jim Baggott Reality, Art,... (read more at TheParanoidStrain.com)

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