Bonus Sample: What My Late Mom Would Have Thought About Jordan Peterson
Matthew reflects on the fifth anniversary of his mother’s death and revisits how her life, trauma, and values helped him understand the appeal—and fatal flaw—of Jordan Peterson’s worldview. Toughness can be an expression of love without becoming a politics of cruelty. Show Notes 33: Manipulating the Hero’s Journey Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
5 Tammi 5min
Brief: Class Wars on Christmas
Have you seen the “Grinch prank” video trend? Bad parenting, yes. But also a nod to the conflicts, ancient and modern, embedded in Christmas. Contrary to what Bill O’Reilly would tell you, there has never been a “war on Christmas.” Rather, Christmas itself has always been a battleground over love, dignity, and resources. What we’re really fighting over is who gets care in systems built on scarcity and extraction. Vignette 1: The Original Creche Vignette 2: Krampus Vignette 3: Dickens, Chekhov, and Andersen Vignette 4: The Christmas Truce, 1914 Vignette 5: Dr. Seuss and the Grinch Show Notes Andersen, Hans Christian. The Little Match Girl. Copenhagen, 1845.https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/10623 Boyle, James. “The Second Enclosure Movement and the Construction of the Public Domain.” Law and Contemporary Problems 66, no. 1–2 (2003).https://scholarship.law.duke.edu/lcp/vol66/iss1/2/ Chekhov, Anton. “Vanka.” 1892.https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13418 Dickens, Charles. A Christmas Carol. London: Chapman & Hall, 1843.https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/46 Imperial War Museums. “Christmas Truce, 1914.”https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/christmas-truce-1914 Imperial War Museums. “Letter Describing the Christmas Truce.”https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/1030000503 Lenin, Vladimir Ilyich. The Principles of Socialism and the War of 1914–1915. Marxists Internet Archive.https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1915/princip/ McCoy, Michael. “What Is Tinsel Made Of? (and How It Changed Over the Years).” Chemical & Engineering News, December 15, 2014.https://cen.acs.org/articles/92/i50/Tinsel-Made.html Mitterauer, Michael. “Peasant and Non-Peasant Forms of Family Organization in Relation to the Physical Environment and the Local Economy.” Journal of Family History 2, no. 2 (1977).https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/036319907700200203 Nel, Philip. Dr. Seuss: American Icon. New York: Continuum, 2004.https://books.google.com/books?id=Yt4QAQAAIAAJ Nissenbaum, Stephen. The Battle for Christmas. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1996.https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/171502/the-battle-for-christmas-by-stephen-nissenbaum/ Restad, Penne L. Christmas in America: A History. New York: Oxford University Press, 1995.https://global.oup.com/academic/product/christmas-in-america-9780195043659 Schmidt, Leigh Eric. Consumer Rites: The Buying and Selling of American Holidays. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1995.https://press.princeton.edu/books/paperback/9780691018448/consumer-rites Science History Institute. “History and Future of Plastics.”https://www.sciencehistory.org/topics/plastics Smithsonian Magazine. “The Origin of Krampus, Europe’s Evil Twist on Santa.” December 4, 2015.https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-origin-of-krampus-europes-evil-twist-on-santa-180957438/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
3 Tammi 35min
289: Big Wellness’s Nicotine Gambit [feat Mallory DeMille]
In 1965, the US passed the Federal Cigarette Labeling and Advertising Act, the reason every pack of cigarettes has a warning label informing you about the potentially harmful effects. Since then, numerous regulations, educational drives, and taxation initiatives have made smoking less appealing and harder to do. In the contrarian wellness space, nicotine has become the alkaloid du jour. Forget cigs, this special chemical helps your energy, mood, and, at the far end of the influencer spectrum, treat cancer and autism—without that being medical advice, of course. And while nicotine has been shown to be potentially beneficial for a small range of issues, wellness influencers once again are sprinting the cart in front of the horse. Mallory DeMille returns to break down the latest wellness buzz. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
1 Tammi 50min
Bonus Sample: Alien Abduction Mack Daddy
Listen to the full episode In 1994, Pulitzer Prize-winning Harvard psychiatry professor John E. Mack became one of the most pedigreed proponents of UFOs, alien abductions, and the alien-hybrid breeding scheme. He was introduced to celebrated painter, amateur hypnotherapist, and UFO researcher Budd Hopkins by transpersonal psychologist Stan Grof. Hopkins had helped author Whitley Strieber recover the abduction “memories” that became the book (and then movie) Communion. Mack and Hopkins quickly produced their own movie, Intruders. Mack published Abduction: Human Encounters with Aliens, going on the TV talk-show circuit with star patients that believed they were being experimented on while on alien spacecraft. Oprah slotted alien abductions right into her schedule, alongside Satanic ritual abuse, multiple personality disorder, and past-lives regressions. In reasoning not unfamiliar to Conspirituality listeners, Hopkins claimed a government conspiracy was covering up the ET hybrid breeding scheme, while Mack explained the lack of physical evidence by claiming the abduction experience “challenged the Western paradigm of materialist science.” The X-Files TV show was inspired by their work, which also spawned today’s generation of UFO grifters, alien channelers, and pastel-Q lightworkers. For today’s installment of his The Roots of Conspirituality series, Julian explores the characters, stories, psychology, and cultural significance of fantastical repressed memories retrieved under hypnosis—be they of horny demons, ritual Satanic abuse, or alien scientists who steal abductee’s DNA in the night. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
29 Joulu 20255min
Brief: Nicki Minaj Goes MAGA
Turning Point USA's AmFest 2025 saw a record number of attendees pour into Phoenix last weekend to watch a host of MAGA and MAHA luminaries proclaim they're raging against the Deep State—even though their coalition is now the Deep State. Derek and Julian look at the conference through the lens of the white, Christian Nationalist identity politics on display. Show Notes Inside AmericaFest: Infighting, lies and the desperate search for Charlie Kirk’s heir Vance Refuses to Take Sides in G.O.P. Fight Over Bigotry Turning Point exposed a brewing MAGA civil war. Can JD Vance unite it? ‘It’s Very Controversial, but I Love Nick Fuentes’ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
27 Joulu 202536min
UNLOCKED: Chatbot Awakening to Love and Enlightenment!
An unlock of a bonus episode from earlier this year. Access all of our bonus episodes here. Happy holidays, everyone! -- -- Earlier this year, a spate of news stories told of chatbot users travelling through the looking-glass right into Conspirituality. Paranoid conspiracies, spiritual awakenings, even falling head-over-heels in love with the simulated personalities of large language models like ChatGPT. Could AI have finally crossed the threshold into autonomous sentient consciousness? Could it be that chatbots were anointing new prophets—or, conversely, that very special users were awakening their very special friends via the power of love and illuminating dialogue? Step aside, QAnon, the code behind the screen is illuminated by God! Sadly, some of these stories trended very dark. Suicides, attempted murder, paranoid delusions, spouses terrified of losing their partners and co-parents to what looked like spiritual and romantic delusions. For this standalone installment of his Roots of Conspirituality series, Julian examines this strange new phenomenon, then takes a detour into Ancient Greece and the oracle at Delphi to show that everything old is actually new again—just dressed up in digital technology. Show Notes I Married My Chatbot FTC Complaints Against OpenAI for Chatbot Psychosis AI Spiritual Delusions Destroying Human Relationships Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
25 Joulu 202551min
Bonus Sample: The Monetization of MAHA
Listen to the full episode RFK Jr trademarked MAHA in a giant swath of categories, including many he now advocates for in his position as Secretary of HHS. After making $100,000 in licensing fees, he transferred the trademark to his anti-vax compatriot, Del Bigtree, before it was transferred again to former Kennedy security lead, Gavin de Becker. Currently being used by a variety of MAHA-based organizations, the opportunity to monetize MAHA, the brand, could be directly affected by Kennedy’s policies. Given how much MAHA leadership loathes social services, more health-based privatization could be on the horizon—just as Projected 2025 prescribed. Derek winds down the rabbit hole into the MAHA trademark. Show Notes MAKE AMERICA HEALTHY AGAIN - Trademark Details The MAHA Enterprise Explained Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
22 Joulu 20258min
Brief: Dr Mike vs MAHA
Dr Mike has become one of the most effective debunkers of science misinformation. His second appearance on the uber-popular show, Jubilee's Surrounded, pitted him against 20 fans of RFK Jr. Derek and Julian discuss the debate, as well as the value of Jubilee in an oversaturated media environment. Show Notes 1 Doctor vs 20 RFK Jr. Supporters (ft Doctor Mike) Surrounded Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
20 Joulu 202534min
