Conspirituality

Mikki Willis recently joined Russell Brand to discuss a whole host of issues, including rather suspect rewritings of the histories of AIDS and Covid-19. Derek and Julian discuss. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Early in this podcast we covered the Disinformation Dozen, 12 wellness influencers and contrarian health figures responsible for spreading the lion’s share of vaccine misinformation on major social media platforms. On a recent MAHA Action weekly call, Tony Lyons got the group back together for a victory lap after a court settlement seemed to justify their actions. Or did it? We break down the court case, then hear from the influencers who continue to inflate their own sense of self-importance while rewriting a history that only exists in their minds. Show Notes The Real Election Threat: Tech Oligarchs & Algorithms | The Weekly Show with Jon Stewart POLITICO: Do the Disinformation Dozen Still Matter State Dept. Imposes Sanctions on Disinfo Advocacy Groups Original Disinformation Dozen Report CDC “Whistleblower’s Debunked Autism Claims Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Listen to the full episode The wellness industry has been repeating marketing strategies used by the fashion and diet book industries for decades. Influencers are just exploiting novelty-seeking cognitive behaviors deeply embedded in human psychology. Derek reviews today’s product du jour, peptides, by first looking into those dopamine-seeking behaviors, then exploring the history and present of these amino acid chains everywhere in wellness downlines. Show Notes Everyone’s Doing Peptides. Is It All a Big Scam? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Matthew eulogizes longtime Conspirituality listener Joseph Baker, who died on February 4 at the age of 51. They became online friends when Joseph reached out to say that maybe Matthew was being too harsh with people who found inspiration in A Course in Miracles. Expecting an irritating exchange, Matthew came to know an incisive political thinker who managed to radiate hope and forgiveness, and learned more about how a radical flank can develop in any spiritual community. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Did we all need a streaming manosphere documentary? Many did. Did we need one made in the GenX stop-and-mug slacker analysis-avoiding style of Louis Theroux? Debatable. Today we review Theroux’s Inside the Manosphere: its aesthetic mimicry of manosphere style, a potential ethics issue, how monetizing misogyny interacts with the gigwork incentives of OnlyFans, how all the bravado covers for legitimate fears, but only pays out at the top. Many Mexican Americans this past week were devastated to learn that a hero of the UFW and the broader Chicano Movement, Cesar Chavez, was a coercive serial abuser and pedophile. I say many: because many women knew, connected and informed by a whisper network dating back over decades, and maintained by the pressure to not degrade the status and gains of the movement itself. Off the top today, we look at the influence of the Synanon cult on Chavez’s tactics. Show Notes Cesar Chavez, a Civil Rights Icon, Is Accused of Abusing Girls for Years Oregon institutions reckon with removing Cesar Chavez’s name following sexual abuse report From streets to murals, the erasure of Cesar Chavez is fast underway in California Inside the Manosphere: Louis Theroux opts for superficial spectacle over serious scrutiny Myron Gaines releases private call with Louis Theroux after revealing he tried to get footage removed from doc My Family's Story Is Proof That Documentaries Need Ethical Standards Beyond "The Staircase": What happens when the documentary ends with subjects "left with the bill"? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

From a repurposed orphanage in the North of England, Abdullah Hashem tells his audience in five languages, across two satellite TV companies, and multiple social media channels that he is the successor of Jesus and Mohammed, the “one true Pope” for Christians. In his carefully staged and ominously lit “basilica,” he lectures to his 200 residential followers (who emulate his idiosyncratic fashion style) about angels, aliens, reincarnation, and a planet where giant rabbits keep humans as pets. Oh and all about the coming apocalypse and his divinely chosen role in it. Who is this American-Egyptian cult leader? Hashem grew up in Indiana, and got his start in college making documentary films debunking cult leaders and UFO hoaxes. Some time in his early twenties he went full conspiritualist, made an eight-hour film about esoteric knowledge, Quranic-prophecy, the Illuminati, and the End Times. He moved to Egypt and declared himself the Mahdi—a messianic figure from Islamic eschatology. Former members tell of bizarre loyalty tests, financial exploitation, and other forms of abuse. Meanwhile Hashem broadcasts that the fall of the Iranian theocracy clears the way for his ascension into his divine appointment as philosopher king. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

There's been talk about the "male loneliness epidemic" for years. Yet what about women? Derek reviews economist Corinne Low's recent book, Having It All, in light of this question, contrasting it with Scott Galloway's recent self-help book for men. The contrasts between the books couldn't be clearer. Show Notes Having It All: What Data Tells Us About Women's Lives and Getting the Most Out of Yours Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When Hannah and Daniel Neeleman recently went on camera to explain their position on raw milk, they assured their 22 million-plus following that they were going to follow regulations—with a bit of a grudge. The couple behind Ballerina Farm wasn’t going to let a little bacteria get in the way of their farming operations, so they’ll just focus on pasteurized products. While not associated with MAHA, some of their takes on health certainly rhyme. So today we’ll get into this uber-popular feed: who they are, what they’re doing in the mountains of Utah, and how privilege plays out in farming and childbearing aesthetics. Show Notes Is Hannah Neeleman Mormon? Inside Ballerina Farm’s Religion After Lifestyle Controversy The story of Ballerina Farm and the 2 co-CEOs behind it Meet the queen of the ‘trad wives’ (and her eight children) Why influencers with 7, 8, or 10 kids are having a moment The Trad-Wife Revolution Is Upon Us Ballerina Farm pauses raw milk sales after samples fail health tests Ballerina Farm’s Hannah Neeleman explains the dairy’s decision to stop selling raw milk JetBlue’s Founder Helped Fund A Stanford Study That Said The Coronavirus Wasn’t That Deadly Hannah Neeleman’s “Viral” Glowy Skin Secret You’ll Never Really Know Ballerina Farm Postpartum Weight Retention Risk Factors and Relationship to Obesity at One Year - PMC Effect of grand multiparity on adverse maternal outcomes: A prospective cohort study Are tradwives and feminists two sides of the same coin on women’s labor? | KUER Tia Levings on Fundie Parenting Number of siblings and intellectual development. The resource dilution explanation - PubMed WAGES AGAINST HOUSEWORK | caring labor Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Pitt recently exposed fans to the complexities and reality of panic attacks. Derek uses that moment in the exceptional show to discuss his own longstanding struggle with anxiety, exploring the latest science and interventions for dealing with them. Show Notes Generalized Anxiety Disorder and Panic Disorder in Adults Management of generalized anxiety disorder and panic disorder in general health care settings: new WHO recommendations Anxiety Disorders Guidelines Clinical Practice Guidelines for Cognitive-Behavioral Therapies in Anxiety Disorders and Obsessive-Compulsive and Related Disorders Interoceptive Exposure Short, intensive cognitive behavioral therapy can ease panic disorder Brief, intensive exercise helps patients with panic disorder more than standard care Panic attacks and interoceptive acuity for cardiac sensations Rapid Reconfiguration of the Functional Connectome after Chemogenetic Locus Coeruleus Activation Anxiety Disorders are Associated with Reduced Heart Rate Variability: A Meta-Analysis Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Turning Point USA's Women’s Leadership Conference returns to Dallas in June. Derek and Julian take a look inside. Show Notes Antifeminist women’s summit: ‘The kitchen is where the real revolution starts’ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As black rain falls from the smoke-choked skies of Tehran, the US and Israel continue their war against the Islamic Republic of Iran. From the start, Trump officials have seemed only to disagree on both the murky rationale and the objectives of their mission. Meanwhile, the Military Religious Freedom Foundation has been flooded with reports of commanding officers rallying their troops with apocalyptic pep talks in which Trump has been anointed by Jesus to kick-off Armageddon. This should come as no surprise, given that Sec of Def Pete Hegseth, has been holding Christian Nationalist prayer and worship services in the Pentagon since last May. Beyond the obviousness of this religious politics, Matthew looks at how Canadian PM, Mark Carney, supports Trump, and this war, while pretending not to, using deceptive language tricks that borrow from religion to blur the line between strength and values, power and principle. But, hey, if you want to distract yourself from all this, Polymarket is a wonderful place to bet on who’s going to be bombed next. Derek breaks down how prediction markets have become a massively lucrative Rorschach-portrait of our times. Show Notes Troops Told Iran War is “Armageddon” Hegseth Joined Drollinger’s White House Bible Study Hegseth Hosts Christian Nationalist Doug Wilson at Pentagon Religious Service The History of Prediction Markets: From Ancient Oracles to Blockchain Forecasting A brief history of prediction markets: from papal elections to Polymarket Three economists grabbed a beer. A multibillion-dollar industry was born. A Primer on Prediction Markets Prediction markets are booming. Why are their ads banned from the Super Bowl? Scandals, prediction markets: Is 2025 a turning point for sports betting? An Analysis Just Found Something Extremely Unflattering About What Happens to Users of Prediction Markets Trump administration backs Kalshi and Polymarket as states move to ban prediction markets Trump’s CFTC Tries to Stop States From Regulating Prediction Markets Iran Bets on Prediction Markets Draw Scrutiny: ‘Suspected Insiders’ Polymarket Pulls Bet on Nuclear Detonation in 2026 Trump to meet arms executives Friday in push to boost weapon supplies Trump Privately Dreams of Iran Regime Change Glory as Democrats Cynically Weigh Political Benefits of War “Principled and pragmatic: Canada’s path” Prime Minister Carney addresses the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Matthew found out that the late Marxist historian Michael Parenti went on a yoga retreat at the Sivananda Ashram in the Bahamas. He clocked the BS immediately—unlike Matthew when he showed up in spaces like that decades later. Was political training the difference? Show Notes Michael Parenti "The Political Uses of Religion" Denver, Colorado 4.18.87 How a #MeToo Facebook Post Toppled a Yoga Icon | by Matthew Remski | GEN Shielded for Decades, a Leader of Sivananda Yoga Finally Comes Under Fire for Alleged Abuse | GEN Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Matthew digs into the fascism-enabling political theology of Bishop Robert Barron and the rightward slide of Big Catholic media. From his early admiration of Thomas Merton—carefully stripped of his antiwar and anti-capitalist passion—to his praise for Jordan Peterson, Marco Rubio, and Charlie Kirk, Barron repackages Red Scare tropes in the language of beauty, civility, and “religious liberty.” And what about his virtual silence on ICE operations in Minnesota and the suffering of immigrants within his own diocese? What does “religious freedom” mean when it defends American exceptionalism more than human beings? Show Notes McGarry: Ireland and the Spanish Civil War Ireland | Virtual Spanish Civil War Diocese of Winona-Rochester settles with abuse survivors for $21.5 million | National Catholic Reporter Word On Fire Catholic Ministries - Nonprofit Explorer - ProPublica Evangelization, Movement, and the Word on Fire Institute Word on Fire Institute The Hundredth Anniversary of Thomas Merton’s Birth - Word on Fire The Jordan Peterson Phenomenon - Word on Fire He Died with a Microphone in His Hand - First Things Bishop Barron’s Latest MAGA Crusade Sparks Vatican Alarm Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices