Noelle Cook, journalist and author of The Conspiracists, dives into the alluring world of conspiracism, focusing on middle-aged women drawn to movements like QAnon. She discusses her transformative journey from data analysis to intimate interviews with women like Yvonne and Tammy, revealing how personal upheaval and online communities fostered their beliefs. Noelle explains the intertwining of wellness culture and far-right politics, emphasizing emotional reasoning and community belonging, all while questioning whether such beliefs provide true happiness.
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Conspiracism As Ersatz Religion
Conspiratorial worlds offer belonging, meaning, and big explanations that fit personal pain for many middle-aged women.
Noelle Cook frames conspiracism as a substitute religion that fills social and spiritual voids during crises.
question_answer ANECDOTE
Research That Turned Personal
Noelle began with a year of paper research on January 6th women before personal contact pulled her into spirituality topics.
Her fieldwork shifted the project from academic paper to intimate book after meeting Yvonne and Tammy.
insights INSIGHT
The Conspiracy Trade-Show Effect
Conspirituality acts like a buffet where people pick beliefs from multiple ideologies to form bespoke worldviews.
This mixing enables adjacency to extreme views without full ideological conversion.
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The new book The Conspiracists: Women, Extremism, and the Lure of Belonging by Noelle Cook offers an unusually intimate look at why seemingly bizarre conspiracy worlds that involve starseeds, ascended masters, and shadowy cabals are powerfully compelling even when they damage the lives of believers. Rather than taking a detached academic approach, Cook traces how white, middle-aged women were pulled deeper into conspiratorial belief systems in the years leading up to and after January 6, through online communities, the pandemic, personal upheaval, and a New Age spiritual subculture fused with far-right politics.
The book follows Cook’s long, complicated relationship with two women in particular: Yvonne St. Cyr and Tammy Butry. Yvonne, from Idaho, sought structure in the Marines after a turbulent childhood, then found a home in the world of conspirituality, where politics becomes divine destiny and January 6 becomes a “spiritual war.” Tammy, from Pennsylvania, carries a history of trauma and instability, including seeing how the real-world betrayal of the “Kids for Cash” scandal harmed her children, making QAnon’s “save the children” framing feel emotionally plausible. Together, their stories show how conspiracism can function as belonging, meaning, and an explanation big enough to encompass their pain.
Travis and Jake talk to Noelle about how her book came together, her relationship with the two subjects, and why conspiracist movements like QAnon can appeal to women over fifty years old.
Noelle Cook
https://bsky.app/profile/noellecook.com
The Conspiracists: Women, Extremism, and the Lure of Belonging
https://www.broadleafbooks.com/store/product/9798889832423/The-Conspiracists
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