Conspirituality

Florida governor Ron DeSantis appointed right-wing propagandist, Christopher Rufo, along with other conservative Christian education-activists, to the board of the tiny, progressive New College in Sarasota, FL this past January.They fired the president, installed prayer at the board meetings, forbade personal pronouns in faculty email signatures, and claimed DeSantis’s electoral victory gave them a constitutional mandate to make whatever changes they want.The invaders frame this hostile take-over as a test-case model to “recapture” universities across the state and the country.But who is Rufo really? He’s the guy behind the manufactured moral panic over Critical Race Theory that set conservative media, school boards and city council meetings ablaze with fear-mongering over “woke Marxism” in 2021.New College is the latest conquest in his explicit long-game to remake the fabric of America, one sadistic lie at a time. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Marianne Williamson? Inexperienced? Not at all.In fact, she does have a ton of experience… in New Age, on-stage pseudotherapy, where she solves the problems of the troubled with memorized lines from A Course in Miracles. She’s been doing these sessions at workshops and retreats for decades, and the schtick is always the same: if only the person would change their minds about their problem, the world would be healed. While this may fly on the workshop circuit, if you listen carefully you’ll hear that she gives the same answer on the stump.It comes through most clearly when she’s pressed on questions of strategy. She will instantly pivot to talking about the spirit and the soul. The effect is a disarming oscillation between the political and the personal. Are we talking about defeating fascists? No, no, that’s too worldly! We’re talking about opening our hearts. And if that feels good during a politically tense exchange, it’s because she changed the subject.To see how this sleight-of-hand works, Matthew examines two classic Williamson encounters to show that the answers she gives on the stump aren’t much different from the answers she gives on her New Age retreats. Show NotesThat Time Byron Katie Gaslit a Follower about Trump | by Matthew Remski I'm Afraid of Trump—The Work of Byron KatieBeing Rejected for Your Spiritual Beliefs | Q&A With Marianne Williamson Mindfulness can make you selfish: A pioneering new study examines the social effects of mindfulness Marianne Williamson with TYT's John Iadarola & Francesca Fiorentini Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What does it mean for a prominent American politician to come into power as the sleeper cell of an eccentric Hindu-American cult? Does she act independently, or has her God-man got her on speed-dial? Can she bridge the divide between left and right with the radiant glow of Krishna consciousness?Joining us today to help answer these questions is Nitai Joseph. He shares some heritage with Gabbard, because he also grew up in a Hare Krishna sect. He holds an MSc. in the Psychology of Coercive Control and has worked across a range of issues connected to ideology and manipulation, including cultic awareness, child sexual abuse prevention, adverse meditation experiences, and organizational ethics and accountability. Show NotesGopala Govinda Rama Chant by Jagad Guru Siddhaswarupananda Paramahamsa Chris ButlerQAnon Anonymous Episode 211: Tulsi Gabbard P1 (The Cult) feat Mike PrysnerQAnon Anonymous Episode 212: Tulsi Gabbard P2 (The Fascist Turn) feat Mike Prysner Tulsi Gabbard Had a Very Strange ChildhoodWhat Does Tulsi Gabbard Believe? | The New YorkerChris Butler Siddhaswarupananda Paramahamsa: on “freedom”An Insiders Perspective on Tulsi Gabbard and her Guru | by Lalita | Medium Tulsi Gabbard 2016 Janmashtami Message ISKCON Abuse TimelineDefinition of Betrayal Trauma TheoryArchived ex-Hare Krishna message boardNitai can be reached via LinkedIn Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Apocalyptic language is everywhere: in the marketing copy of wellness influencers and pseudo-documentary makers selling spike protein detoxes and vaccine fear-mongering videos, and in the fervent anti-trans panic stoked by right-wing Substackers. How we use language — and we use that how language to inspire actions — is everything. Derek imagines a better use of language, and of understanding, through the lens modern secular Buddhism. Show NotesThe World-Ending Fire — Wendell BerryA Paradise Built in Hell — Rebecca SolnitAfter Buddhism — Stephen BatchelorConfessions of a Buddhist Atheist — Stephen BatchelorBuddhism — Alan Watts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How, in the name of the Holy Virgin Mary, did Michelle Remembers—the book that started the Satanic Panic—come to be written? Who was Lawrence Pazder really? Did he encourage and exaggerate Michelle Smith’s recovered memories of ritual abuse? Did Smith tell him what he wanted to hear? Or was it a little of both? Canadian filmmakers Sean Horlor and Steve Adams have a new documentary out called “Satan Wants You,” and it fills in a lot of the blanks in our prior “Swan Song Series” reporting with incredible archival footage and brave interviews from friends and family members. Today it opens at Toronto’s Hot Docs Festival, which means the reviews embargo is lifted… and our review is: “Incredible work. Must see.”PS! If you haven't pre-ordered our fabulously interesting book, Barnes and Noble are running a 25% off pre-order promo. You can use "PREORDER25" as the discount code at checkout. Good from now till Friday!Show NotesSatan Wants YouConspirituality: UNLOCKED: Swan Song Series 4 | Michelle Remembers: Context & HistoryConspirituality: UNLOCKED: Swan Song Series 5 | Michelle Remembers: Themes & Framing Conspirituality - UNLOCKED: Michelle Remembers: Literal SymbolsConspirituality - UNLOCKED: The Courage to Heal Pt. 1 on Stitcher Conspirituality - UNLOCKED: The Courage to Heal Pt. 2 on Stitcher  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 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

FOX News says he wants to destroy America. Candace Owens is scared to speak his name out loud. Mikki Willis is making a film about his assault on the American family. Dr. Christiane Northrup claims he caused the pandemic. Trump called DA Alvin Bragg a "Soros-funded animal." Who is this billionaire Jewish banker, a man so diabolical he can simultaneously be the greatest capitalist of all time and a communist chaos agent, so deceptive that he founded philanthropic organizations in 120 countries while supposedly being the "most evil man in the world?" And how does his financial influence in American politics actually stack up against the machinations of disciplined religious right-wing powerbrokers, supercharged by dark money?Show NotesThe right’s obsession with Soros Soros on right-wing conspiracies against himGOP dark money Democrat dark moneyAn overview of dark money 2022 biggest disclosed donor list Barre Seid donates $1.6B Harlan Crow and Justice Thomas Sheldon Whitehouse on dark money and SCOTUS Leonard Leo and SCOTUS Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jennings Brown is becoming the Dr. Who of cult journalism. Every few years he pops up on a very different planet in the cultiverse, and tries to repair the timeline. These days he’s deep into the story of a cult leader who seems to have no “presence” at all. Liana Shanti has managed to recruit about 180 women into her lucrative fever dream of Satanic Panic, recovered memories, starvation diets, and family destruction—all from behind a keyboard and a podcast microphone. Who is Liana Shanti, and why isn’t she Liane Wilson any more? Show NotesInside Liana Shanti’s Lemurian Mystery School — Jennings Brown Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Julian and Matthew go big-picture in this tour through all the elements that construct and drive spiritual Influencers.At the center of the parasocial storm is charisma, which covers over the intellectual and moral bankruptcy of wellness content. Charisma is the only real currency in unregulated spaces. It’s compensatory, and very anxious. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Our Listener Story this week comes from Dr. Jaigris Hodson, Associate Professor and Canada Research Chair for Digital Communication for the Public Interest at Royal Roads University in Victoria, British Columbia. Dr. Hodson shares her pandemic journey with inflammatory breast cancer, and how, even as a misinformation researcher, she was vulnerable to the hope sold by alt-health grifters. After completing treatment, she turned her research attention to cancer misinformation, and is now innovating research methods for analyzing how emotion drives misinformation consumption and virality. Show NotesJaigris Hodson | Royal Roads UniversityThe Podcast: Digital Public Interest Collective  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Though not specifically a psychedelic — ketamine is a dissociative anesthetic — ketamine therapy is being touted as a depression treatment and, for some, a new form of spiritual healing. And indeed, some of the results are promising. But with Ketamine Wellness Centers and Field Trip Health both shutting down ketamine clinics across the country, leaving clients scrambling to find relief. Are these psychedelic entrepreneurs placing too much emphasis on scaling and shareholders and not enough on healing, even though their marketing efforts claim the opposite?Derek looks into the sordid developments of ketamine therapy, including the botched trials that ultimately received FDA approval.Show NotesKetamine infusion: The new therapy for depression, explainedNew analysis claims the FDA rushed ketamine’s approval for depression treatmentExcessive drinking costs $249 billion. Can one dose of ketamine curb alcoholism?‘I’m terrified’: Patients scramble for treatment after 13 ketamine clinics shut downHow ketamine-fueled dreams can promote a spiritual approach to mental health and therapy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices