Conspirituality

Bobby provokes a “disorganized attachment” response in would-be followers.This is the emotional vortex that begins to churn when a charismatic leader draws followers into a vision of the world as irrevocably broken, poisoned, dangerous, full of lies and betrayal. But he doesn’t just scare them. Somehow, he also promises an island of salvation in their sea of doom. This is Bobby’s pattern. It’s clear that his misinformation on everything from supposed vaccine danger to the supposed totalitarianism of COVID mitigations is not a description of the world so much as a ghoulish parody of it. As the creator of that vision, in which solutions seem so out of reach, he stands alone as the wizard who can repair it. Show NotesJoe Rogan's worst misinformation yet, with RFK Jr.—Dr. Dan Wilsonbad_stats Rogan debunk Twitter thread How Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., Distorted Vaccine Science - Scientific American (coverage of the 2005 article) RFK Jr.'s reign of error: Correcting the record about yet another false claim he just made | CNN Politics—Tapper  Just Another RFK Jr. Lie. I Know, Because It’s About Me. | The Nation—Joan Walsh My Conversation with Robert F. Kennedy Jr. - by Paul Offit Robert Kennedy Jr. Full, Controversial Speech at "Defeat the Mandates"Stein, A. 2017. Terror, Love and Brainwashing: Attachment in Cults and Totalitarian Systems. Routledge. 2017. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Nazis loved yoga. Rudolf Steiner set the stage for COVID denialism. Modern social justice warriors have a fondness for Hindu nationalism. Antivax activists are stuck in 19th century Gothic novels. Yoga, as the religion of neoliberalism, has actively depoliticized large swaths of the white middle class, making yoga moms vulnerable to fascism. Who’s responsible for these outrages? Conspiritualists? Who are they and what’s their evil plan? No, our book is not a conspiracy theory. There’s no one piloting this plane. And yet, the patterns we’ve tracked on this podcast and in our book at times suggest something organized and coherent. Do we take this too far? At point does the intricacy of our research mimic the paranoia of what we’re researching? This week, we take a look.Our Recent Op-Eds:New age wellness takes a reactionary turn (The Boston Globe)The Conspirituality of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (Time)Opinion: Danielle Smith’s alternative health proclamations are key to her populist messaging (The Globe and Mail) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What do we mean when we say that we believe something? When the QAnon Shaman got dressed on the morning of January 6, he put on his red, white, and blue face paint, his postmodern quasi-Native American horned fur hat, and grabbed the spear to which he had attached an American flag. In performance mode, this cosplay persona had already garnered him a taste of the attention that would soon increase exponentially as he became the most recognizable figure of the Capitol Riot. In today’s Bonus, Julian argues that his costume, as well as his ritual  actions on that day were also an expression of a political worldview, run through with deeply held spiritual beliefs about the world and his role in it. The history of political religion, propagandistic conspiracies, and progressive spiritual convictions may show that—far from being trivial—belief is at the heart of the American, and perhaps the human, story. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On June 26, presidential candidate Robert F Kennedy, Jr hosted a "health policy roundtable" on Rumble. His guests included Joe Mercola, Sherri Tenpenny, Mikki Willis, and a host of other anti-vax luminaries. Very little policy was discussed, though RFK put forward plenty of ideas about executive orders, including blackballing scientists and researchers behind FDA-approved drugs and censoring scientific journals. Derek breaks down some of the more egregious moments. Show NotesHealth Policy Roundtable on Rumble Joe Rogan's worst misinformation yet, with RFK Jr. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Matthew narrates the first three sections of the audiobook, Conspirituality: How New Age Conspiracy Theories Became a Health Threat.More information on our book here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Derek discusses the new Conspirituality book with filmmaker and podcaster Mike Hull at Powell's Books on June 26, 2023. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Friend of the pod and historian of American fitness culture, Natalia Petrzela, joins Matthew to shed light on a new development in RFK Jr’s campaign to disrupt the Democratic Party: his recent workout campaign videos from the barbell patio of Gold’s Gym in Venice beach. Topics include the iconic status of Gold’s, why Bobby Muscles is in Wranglers rather than lycra, how he’s both drawing on and distorting the Kennedy fitness legacy, body mastery as the ultimate American frontier, political pissing contests, the ableist “sweatwashing” of complex health policy problems, the body-shaming of soft, flabby, unpatriotic liberals, and how the whole scene—pumped by biohackers and tech bros—has some alarming political echoes. Show NotesFit Nation: The Gains and Pains of America’s Exercise ObsessionMatthew’s Twitter thread on Bobby Muscles echoing body fascism."Go, you chicken fat, go!" — Meredith Wilson Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Chaos in Russia! Wagner’s pagan neo-Nazis. Is conspirituality unique to a failing American empire in the internet age? Does it require Californian New Age spirituality, with conspiracy theories that weave around alternative medicine, for-profit pharma with no social safety net, and the reactionary politics of White Christian Nationalism?This week, Julian explores a different version of Conspirituality. This form translates QAnon for a European audience and calls for a return to the golden age of the Russian empire, but also to an ancient pre-Christian Slavic identity united across borders in pagan faith.Show NotesThe Everyday Religious Life in Wagner PMC, via ObservatoireCandance Rondeaux on Wagner, Pan-Slavism, al-QaedaJan Zabka’s piece on QAnon in Czech/Slovakia, Prophets of Freedom and DoomSofia Cherici’s piece on QAnon’s cross-cultural evolution, Translating QAnonMarlene Laurelle on the Rodnoverie MovementFake News sites centered in Veles, Macedonia had Russian and American tiesA Photographer and an Artist Walk into a Fake News Factory from Coda StoryOriginal Book of Veles forgeryMain interstitial music: Bus Ride to Gulu — Pete Kuzma Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today in our Listeners’ Stories installment, Lynn Short joins her partner Justin to discuss how they met, grew up in, and grew out of a branch of “Gnosis,” a theosophical cult founded in the 1950s by Samael Aun Weor in Columbia. Weor was a classic old-school spiritual pervert, with 60-plus (likely ghostwritten) books to his name, and a passion for meddling in his followers’ sex lives. Lynn and Justin describe what it was like to wake up to each other again—and to normal lives—after 17 years of practicing non-orgasmic sex and missionary work. A unique and hopeful look into a relationship that survived coercive influence—a bond that didn’t become a trauma bond. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“It’s much more interesting to live not knowing than to have answers which might be wrong," wrote Richard Feynman. But does curiosity end where awareness cuts off? Derek explores the positive and negative sides of the spiritual search, especially in light of the burgeoning eco-spiritual movement. Show NotesI’m “spiritual but not religious.” Here’s what that means for a physicistHow to hold onto a sense of wonder ‘Big Earth energy’: A new era of nature spirituality is here Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices