Counterflow with Buck Johnson

My guest this week is one half of the Mystic Sisters Podcast and Substack: she is Amy Mastrine. Amy is an Orthodox Christian and an artist and iconographer. Amy's journey through far-left politics and feminism left her not only spiritually sick, but she became physically and mentally ill as well from her empty political ideology. At times, she couldn't even speak because, instinctually, she knew her ideas were wrong. She went through multiple secular therapists, all of whom weren't prepared to give her the help she really needed. After a journey through atheism, Catholicism, and multiple other churches, Amy found Christ through the Orthodox Church, and her healing began. Her art showed in this transformation as she began to work on icons of Christ, Mary, and the Saints. Amy's story is gripping, and she's open and honest about her pain. For more on Amy and her paintings, go here: https://amy-the-artist.com/ Sponsors: Amy Mastrine's art: https://amy-the-artist.com/ Expat Money Summit: https://2023.expatmoneysummit.com/ The Podsworth App: Get 50% off your first order at Podsworth.com when you use code BUCK50 at checkout! Visit my website: https://www.counterflowpodcast.com Donate to the show here: https://www.patreon.com/counterflow Audio Production by Podsworth Media: https://www.podsworth.com Leave us a review and rating on iTunes! Thanks!

My guest this week is someone I've wanted to interview for quite a while. He is the proprietor over at The Symbolic World, none other than Jonathan Pageau himself. Jonathan is a French-Canadian icon carver, public speaker, and YouTuber exploring the symbolic patterns that underlie our experience of the world, how these patterns emerge and come together, manifesting in religion, art, and popular culture. He's also the editor of the Orthodox Arts Journal and host of the Symbolic World blog and podcast. In this episode, we discuss the dark issues with AI and where the world is headed in that regard. We discuss how it works as far as "agency" goes, the demonic aspects of it, as well as what not to necessarily worry about. I get into art, beauty, Jordan Peterson, symbolism, and more. This episode is not to be missed! For more on Jonathan and his work, go here: https://thesymbolicworld.com/ Sponsors: Amy Mastrine's art: https://amy-the-artist.com/ Expat Money Summit: https://2023.expatmoneysummit.com/ The Podsworth App: Get 50% off your first order at Podsworth.com when you use code BUCK50 at checkout! Visit my website: https://www.counterflowpodcast.com Donate to the show here: https://www.patreon.com/counterflow Audio Production by Podsworth Media: https://www.podsworth.com Leave us a review and rating on iTunes! Thanks!

My guest this week is back for his second appearance. He is "Nicholas", a writer over at Orthodox Reflections. Nicholas wrote a very good piece titled, "There is No Free Market or Democracy in America", and he's here to dive into the points he makes in it. Largely, we discuss the three mega-companies that own much of what we know as corporate and governmental America. They are State Street, BlackRock, and Vanguard. The 401(k)s and pensions of millions and millions of ordinary Americans are the key to untold power and influence. The big three asset management firms own almost the entire corporate sector and an increasingly large chunk of the residential real estate market as well. How does it change things when the same management firms own everyone and their competitors? We discuss all this and more. Here's the piece we discuss: https://orthodoxreflections.com/the-is-no-free-market-or-democracy-in-america/ Sponsors: Amy Mastrine's art: https://amy-the-artist.com/ Expat Money Summit: https://2023.expatmoneysummit.com/ The Podsworth App: Get 50% off your first order at Podsworth.com when you use code BUCK50 at checkout! Visit my website: https://www.counterflowpodcast.com Donate to the show here: https://www.patreon.com/counterflow Audio Production by Podsworth Media: https://www.podsworth.com Leave us a review and rating on iTunes! Thanks!

This week, we do some things a bit differently! I was a guest on a show published by Ancient Faith Radio called "Everyday Orthodox" hosted by Elissa Bjeletich Davis. I explained my life, almost from the very beginning! We go through my family life, childhood, teenage years, and, of course, my political and spiritual journey. I rarely publish my own story on this show because I like to feature other people, much smarter than me. But I wanted to do some cross-promotion with Everyday Orthodox, and I thought this interview was a very enjoyable one. Let me know what you think! For more information on Everyday Orthodox, go here: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=everyday+orthodox ...or here: https://www.ancientfaith.com/podcasts/everydayorthodox Sponsors: Expat Money Summit: https://2023.expatmoneysummit.com/ The Podsworth App: Get 50% off your first order at Podsworth.com when you use code BUCK50 at checkout! Visit my website: https://www.counterflowpodcast.com Donate to the show here: https://www.patreon.com/counterflow Audio Production by Podsworth Media: https://www.podsworth.com Leave us a review and rating on iTunes! Thanks!

Auron MacIntyre is back on the show this week, and we are discussing the brilliant ability of the progressive left to set the narrative in the way that makes them appear to be virtuous and good. We get into some of these narratives like, "climate change" and "being against book-banning". The right constantly is put in a mode to simply react to these and try to catch up to the left while not being in the driver's seat. Now, they can simply say that being against their draconian false ways to help the environment, you are simply against conserving the planet. How do we get in front of this phenomenon without just being reactionary and falling into the back-and-forth pendulum swing within the left v. right paradigm? We get into all of this and more in the episode of the Counterflow podcast. To find more of Auron's work, go here: https://twitter.com/AuronMacintyre ...and here: https://www.youtube.com/c/AuronMacIntyre Sponsors: Expat Money Summit: https://2023.expatmoneysummit.com/ The Podsworth App: Get 50% off your first order at Podsworth.com when you use code BUCK50 at checkout! Visit my website: https://www.counterflowpodcast.com Donate to the show here: https://www.patreon.com/counterflow Audio Production by Podsworth Media: https://www.podsworth.com Leave us a review and rating on iTunes! Thanks!

This week, our friend Cyprian, a.k.a. Vin Armani, is back on the show. We get into a very sensitive topic, and it's something that has been popping up a lot lately. In what is broadly called the "manosphere", there are a lot of men that pretend to be all for "traditional values" for men and women. The problem is that when they veil their hatred of women with a sort of fake "tradition" narrative, things easily start to become obvious when wealthy AI creators start to push AI sexbots into the market. Many of these men (often single, bitter, and lonely) have openly admitted to preferring an AI Onlyfans bot over a real female in real life. Many of them have a cartoonish version of dating and marriage in their head, and when real humans don't meet that narrative, these men become lonely and angry. This is ripe for AI creators to take advantage of, and it appears to be working. This is a very good discussion, and I think, while it will ruffle some feathers, many will get a lot out of it. To find the Royal Path, go here: https://www.youtube.com/@TheRoyalPath Sponsors: Expat Money Summit: https://2023.expatmoneysummit.com/ The Podsworth App: Get 50% off your first order at Podsworth.com when you use code BUCK50 at checkout! Visit my website: https://www.counterflowpodcast.com Donate to the show here: https://www.patreon.com/counterflow Audio Production by Podsworth Media: https://www.podsworth.com Leave us a review and rating on iTunes! Thanks!

Julie Mastrine is back on the show today for her 5th appearance. Julie is one half of the Mystic Sisters podcast, and she is the director of media bias at Allsides.com. Today we are breaking down several examples of media bias and propaganda and the code words and methods that media outlets use to propagandize their readers and viewers. I thought I was good at doing this, but Julie is like a Jedi Master at this. This was really fun and very enlightening, and I think you'll find it to be just that and more. To learn more about what Julie does, go to https://AllSides.com To watch her and her twin sister, Amy on their show, go here: https://www.youtube.com/@themysticsisters2 Here is the Substack for Julie and Amy, the Mystic Sisters: https://mysticsisters.substack.com/ Sponsors: Expat Money Summit: https://2023.expatmoneysummit.com/ The Podsworth App: Get 50% off your first order at Podsworth.com when you use code BUCK50 at checkout! Visit my website: https://www.counterflowpodcast.com Donate to the show here: https://www.patreon.com/counterflow Audio Production by Podsworth Media: https://www.podsworth.com Leave us a review and rating on iTunes! Thanks!

This week, my guest is Tho Bishop. Tho is Editorial and Content Manager for the Mises Institute. In this episode, we discuss the current political environment with the presidential contenders as well as all of the legal issues surrounding Donald Trump. What are the chances that Trump recruits RFK Jr. to be his VP nominee? Who will replace Joe Biden as the Democratic choice for president? One option could spell danger for the Republicans. For more from Tho Bishop, go here: https://mises.org/profile/tho-bishop For the article we reference, go here: https://mises.org/library/united-states-vs-donald-j-trump Sponsors: Expat Money Summit: https://2023.expatmoneysummit.com/ The Podsworth App: Get 50% off your first order at Podsworth.com when you use code BUCK50 at checkout! Visit my website: https://www.counterflowpodcast.com Donate to the show here: https://www.patreon.com/counterflow Audio Production by Podsworth Media: https://www.podsworth.com Leave us a review and rating on iTunes! Thanks!

My guest this week is Nicholas from the Orthodox Reflections site. Orthodox Reflections is a collaborative effort by committed Orthodox Christians to provide thoughtful analysis of the Orthodox Christian faith's interaction with American culture. They featured an article entitled, "3 Harmful Myths Most Christians Believe About Judaism" which I found to be enlightening and very well done, and this is the topic Nicholas is here to chat about. As someone who spent my teenage years attending a Christian, nondenominational, Zionist church, I was not only familiar with these myths that we discuss, but for many years, I took them to be factual. Nicholas is humble, well spoken, and very well informed on this topic, and I think you'll get a lot out of this episode. This is the article that we are discussing: https://orthodoxreflections.com/3-harmful-myths-most-christians-believe-about-judaism/ Please consider going to https://sharethefaith.net to check out a great way to support lower income Orthodox parishes and priests! Sponsors: Expat Money Summit: https://2023.expatmoneysummit.com/ The Podsworth App: Get 50% off your first order at Podsworth.com when you use code BUCK50 at checkout! Visit my website: https://www.counterflowpodcast.com Donate to the show here: https://www.patreon.com/counterflow Audio Production by Podsworth Media: https://www.podsworth.com Leave us a review and rating on iTunes! Thanks!

This week, Michael Witcoff, a.k.a. Brother Augustine, is back with us on the show. Michael has written a new book called, "Fascism Viewed from the Cross". In this book and this discussion, Michael gets into how the Jewish people were viewed by the early Saints, Church Fathers, and Orthodox Monarchs. He also then walks us through how various fascist leaders viewed the Church and religion in general. We get into the way the Orthodox Church views not only the State in general but also which government is the best government. This discussion shows that it can be very tempting to fall off of the Royal Path in either direction, and what the Church calls for is for us to repent and get back onto the Royal Path. Sponsor: The Podsworth App: Get 50% off your first order at Podsworth.com when you use code BUCK50 at checkout! Visit my website: https://www.counterflowpodcast.com Donate to the show here: https://www.patreon.com/counterflow Audio Production by Podsworth Media: https://www.podsworth.com Leave us a review and rating on iTunes! Thanks!