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 Daniel Shaw, LCSW Traumatic Narcissism: Relational Systems of Subjugation Traumatic Narcissism and Recovery: Leaving the Prison of Shame and Fear Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 David Lesondak's website 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: Ileocecal Valve 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 Human Garage: Faith Healing Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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  The New Right Activism 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 The Plagiarism War Has Begun A lesson in persuasion — Loretta Ross Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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  Tracy Beanz - The HighWire  How three conspiracy theorists took 'Q' and sparked Qanon  Anti-Vaxxer Del Bigtree’s Unhinged Quest for Unvaccinated Blood Leads Him to Mexico Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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. Show Notes Project 2025 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 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 Brad Onishi  Straight White American Jesus  Axis Mundi Media Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 Brad Onishi  Straight White American Jesus  Axis Mundi Media Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 White Dudes for Harris Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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. Show Notes Shot in the Arm Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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  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  More sexual assault survivors connected to Michigan-based religious groups surface  Inside the People of Praise, the Tight-Knit Faith Community of Amy Coney Barrett - The New York Times  And Scales Fell From His Eyes | PDF | Protestantism | Catholic Church  Pope Michael – WRSP  ‘The most conspiratorial demographic’: white evangelicals and the QAnon connection - The Conversationalist  Evangelicals are looking for answers online. They’re finding QAnon instead. | MIT Technology Review  QAnon Conspiracies Sway Faith Groups, Including 1 in 4 White Evangelicals | News & Reporting | Christianity Today  New poll: QAnon embraced by 11 percent of white Catholics and 15 percent of all Americans | America Magazine Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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. Butcherbox Promo: Sign up today at butcherbox.com/conspirituality and use code conspirituality to get free chicken wings for a year. Show Notes Mel Gibson: The man without a pope - Where Peter Is  Americans, including Catholics, continue to have favorable views of Pope Francis Many Americans — including most Republicans — believe the pope should stay out of U.S. affairs | YouGov Searching for Answers: Why Was Bishop Joseph Strickland Removed?   QAnon Conspiracies Sway Faith Groups, Including 1 in 4 White Evangelicals | News & Reporting | Christianity Today  New poll: QAnon embraced by 11 percent of white Catholics and 15 percent of all Americans | America Magazine   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 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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. Butcherbox Promo: Sign up today at butcherbox.com/conspirituality and use code conspirituality to get free chicken wings for a year. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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. Butcherbox Promo: Sign up today at butcherbox.com/conspirituality and use code conspirituality to choose your free steak for a year and get $20 off. Show Notes American Information Integrity Alliance D.O.U.B.T. (Discussing Our Unusual Beliefs Together)  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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. Show Notes Full text of "GHETTO DIARY - ENGLISH - JANUSZ KORCZAK" Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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. Butcherbox Promo: Sign up today at butcherbox.com/conspirituality and use code conspirituality to choose your free steak for a year and get $20 off. 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 Exclusive Interview: The founder of Unjected, a dating site for the unvaxxed, talks about why it's still growing after getting kicked off the App Store MAGA Influencers Are Sold on This Grifty Wellness Company Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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. Sign up today at butcherbox.com/conspirituality and use code conspirituality to choose your free steak for a year and get $20 off. If you’ve never donated through GiveWell before, you can have your donation matched up to $100 before the end of the year or as long as matching funds last. To claim, go to GIVEWELL.ORG and pick PODCAST and enter Conspirituality at checkout. Show Notes The surveillance technology that will watch us all, all the time Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sign up today at butcherbox.com/conspirituality and use code conspirituality to choose your free steak for a year and get $20 off. If you’ve never donated through GiveWell before, you can have your donation matched up to $100 before the end of the year or as long as matching funds last. To claim, go to GIVEWELL.ORG and pick PODCAST and enter Conspirituality at checkout. 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) The Great Reset - Iman Gadzhi 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" Education or Indoctrination? The Violent Origins of Public School Systems in an Era of State-Building Webarchive: Foster Gamble quoting Gates Thrive - Viral Video The Revisionists Revived: The Libertarian Historiography of Education  The Origins of the American Public Education System: Horace Mann & the Prussian Model of Obedience Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sign up today at butcherbox.com/conspirituality and use code conspirituality to choose your free steak for a year and get $20 off. If you’ve never donated through GiveWell before, you can have your donation matched up to $100 before the end of the year or as long as matching funds last. To claim, go to GIVEWELL.ORG and pick PODCAST and enter Conspirituality at checkout. 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  Gaza: UN experts call on international community to prevent genocide against the Palestinian people | OHCHR  Lack of clean drinking water for 95% of people in Gaza threatens health crisis | Global development | The Guardian  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  Press Briefing by Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre and National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan | The White House  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 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Butcherbox promo: Sign up today at butcherbox.com/conspirituality and use code conspirituality to choose your free steak for a year and get $20 off. 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 RFK Jr Confronted by Pro-Palestine Heckler Calling for Ceasefire at Portland Event [VIDEO] - The Maine Wire 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 Columbia University suspends student groups Students for Justice in Palestine & Jewish Voice for Peace for allegedly violating school policies - CBS New York Poll: Robert F. Kennedy Jr. takes eye-popping 22 percent against Biden, Trump, - POLITICO Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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  The Half-Century in Bullshit: On Peter Bogdanovich’s “Paper Moon” and Robert Greene’s “The 48 Laws of Power”   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 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Butcherbox promo: Sign up today at butcherbox.com/conspirituality and use code conspirituality to choose your free steak for a year and get $20 off. 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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

ButcherBox is offering our listeners turkey FREE in your first box plus $20 off your first order. Sign up at butcherbox.com/conspirituality and use code CONSPIRITUALITY. Support the pod and listen ad-free 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 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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.  'replacement theory' - Manifest Destiny  QAnon (mass institutionalized child abuse) - boarding and residential schools  'plandemic' - smallpox, alcohol, bioterrorism 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 Who’s Your People? The Past and Future of Native California Place Determines Who We Are The Census Powwow Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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. If you’ve never donated through GiveWell before, you can have your donation matched up to $100 before the end of the year or as long as matching funds last. To claim, go to GIVEWELL.ORG and pick PODCAST and enter Conspirituality at checkout. Show Notes The Techno-Optimist Manifesto 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? The Futurist Manifesto Marc Andreessen Is the Buyer of Serge Azria’s Malibu Home The Billionaire’s Dilemma The Summer of NIMBY in Silicon Valley’s Poshest Town 37.9 million Americans are living in poverty, according to the U.S. Census. But the problem could be far worse. Why American wages haven’t grown despite increases in productivity Post-pandemic poverty is rising in America’s suburbs The Federal Reserve says Taylor Swift's Eras Tour boosted the economy. One market research firm estimates she could add $5 billion The Surprising Poverty Levels Across the U.S. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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. If you’ve never donated through GiveWell before, you can have your donation matched up to $100 before the end of the year or as long as matching funds last. To claim, go to GIVEWELL.ORG and pick PODCAST and enter Conspirituality at checkout. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Get full access to all of our episodes and listen ad-free on Patreon. 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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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  Russell Brand quizzed by cops 9 YEARS ago over claims he sexually assaulted masseuse and treated her 'like a prostitute' 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 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 Jim Humble MMS Testimonials Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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. Butcherbox promo: Sign up today at butcherbox.com/CONSPIRITUALITY and use code CONSPIRITUALITY to receive ground beef for life plus $20 off your first order. Show Notes Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announces independent run for president, ending Democratic primary challenge to Biden 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  Deep Commitment Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 [text]  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  Ralph Drollinger | GLAAD  Exclusive Interview with Ralph Drollinger: Meet the preacher who teaches the Bible to the US Cabinet - WELT  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 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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.  Sign up today at butcherbox.com/CONSPIRITUALITY and use code CONSPIRITUALITY to receive ground beef for life plus $20 off your first order. Show Notes Coronapolitics from the Reichstag to the Capitol - Boston Review William Callison Quinn Slobodian Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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.  Sign up today at butcherbox.com/CONSPIRITUALITY and use code CONSPIRITUALITY to receive ground beef for life plus $20 off your first order. Show Notes Indigenous Knowledge Systems Lab at Deakin University Referendum 202 Conspiracy theories are derailing the Yes vote w/ Tyson Yunkaporta  Voice pamphlets: false claims and conspiracy theories distributed across Australia | Indigenous voice to parliament How a soap opera star pushed a conspiracy theory linking the Voice to Parliament to a UN takeover  Key voice battleground South Australia is ‘leaning to no’, campaign volunteers say | Indigenous voice to parliament View The Statement - Uluru Statement from the Heart  Aboriginal Tent Embassy — 'the guys who woke up Australia' — marks its 50th anniversary So-Called Sovereign Settlers: Settler Conspirituality and Nativism in the Australian Anti-Vax Movement Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Butcherbox Deal! Sign up today at butcherbox.com/conspirituality and use code CONSPIRITUALITY to receive ground beef for life plus $20 off your first order. 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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices