Dismantling New Age cults, wellness grifters, and conspiracy-mad yogis. At best, the conspirituality movement attacks public health efforts in times of crisis. ...
A personal journey through health describing what led Derek to focus on health, science, and healthcare as a career and, eventually, this podcast.
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5:56
Brief: Post-Election Online Survivor Group Dynamics
The post-election online chaos has a lot in common with what can go wrong in online survivor groups. Matthew tracks how opportunities for connection and solidarity can crater into gravity wells of recrimination, trauma-dumping, moral outrage porn, and the rise of new influence hierarchies. Not just because of differences in politics and values and temperament—but because of inequality and privilege.
A meditation on the difference between building a boat to sail in vs. a boat in a bottle, on considering the second arrow, and on when to log the fuck off.
Show Notes
Mutual Aid Hub
MORAL OUTRAGE PORN C. Thi Nguyen and Bekka Williams
The Second Arrow — Sutta Central
Log the Fuck Off with Amber Frost, Matt Christman, & Ben Fong
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17:38
232: Gaslighting The Election
Once upon a time, there was a golden age. A time when the news media was fair and balanced, unbiased and honest. But we've lost all that to the corrupting influence of big money, political correctness, and woke censorship. Blame the radical left.
Not to worry: the online charisma of heterodox new media figures like Bari Weiss and her plucky, centrist, truth-telling little start-up, The Free Press, has come to Make Journalism Great Again.
Yet their supposed heterodoxy is neither neutral nor journalistically rigorous. It's pure culture war contrarian sensationalism that wastes little ink critiquing the rise of right-wing authoritarianism.
We trace these tangled threads by listening in to the supposedly non-partisan The Free Press election night livestream, which giddily praised Trump for being the consummate bullshitter that will take an ax to Democratic institutions.
Show Notes
The evolution of France’s left and right politics, from the 1789 French Revolution to this year's election
What to Know About the Origins of ‘Left’ and ‘Right’ in Politics, From the French Revolution to the 2020 Presidential Race
Our American Zion
When a Terrorist Comes to Your Hometown
Columbia's Own Middle East War
Bari Weiss’s Unasked Questions
TFP latest round of funding
Thiel/Lonsdale and UATX funding
UATX huge cash injection after pro-palestine protests
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1:11:16
Bonus Sample: “What will happen?” (asks a 12 year-old)
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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5:36
Brief: Tucker Carlson's Daddy Issues
Derek discusses Tucker Carlson advocating for corporal punishment as a way to discipline children in his appearance at the Turning Points USA MAGA rally.
This is an unlock from a recent Patreon bonus, with a new intro from Matthew.
Show Notes
Stephen Colbert: Tucker Carlson’s Weird Daddy Issues
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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.
Australia