0.1: Conspiracy Theories & Cult Dynamics

Today we’re looking at a lavish infomercial put out by New Age oligarch and RFK Jr superfan Aubrey Marcus, in which he tries to show the world that his very expensive encounter group, Fit For Service,...

11 Heinä 20241h 12min

Back in 2011, Ward and Voas wrote that conspirituality was a mainly-online movement, and they were right about that. They didn’t do fieldwork at events. They didn’t attend trainings and rituals. They ...

8 Heinä 20245min

The stress of influencing in the New Age / alt-med world is rough. You have to pretend to know everything, from vaccine science to the origins of autism, to how feminism has desecrated the sanctity of...

6 Heinä 202437min

Can yoga bring hostages home? No. Can yoga stop a genocide? Also no. But this won’t stop earnest practitioners from instrumentalizing practice for both purposes.  For supporters of Israel, practice is...

3 Heinä 20241h 9min

What does it really mean to be a prophet, found a religion, and persuade millions of people that god speaks directly to you?  And what does this god tell you? How to live morally. What kinds of sex ar...

1 Heinä 20246min

Last month, Russell Brand visited Jordan Peterson's podcast for “The Evolution of Theology.” Which, given these two figures, had to focus on topics like the unreligious impulsivity of gay people and w...

29 Kesä 202435min

On June 14, Reuters published an article about the US Military’s clandestine program to discredit China’s Sinovac vaccine during the early days of Covid-19. Turns out the Pentagon hired an outside age...

27 Kesä 20241h 12min

What is the distance between spiritual practice and social action? Derek has weighed this question for decades. This unscripted meditation on the topic uses Aubrey Marcus's new "documentary," Anti-Cul...

24 Kesä 20246min