Bonus Sample: Galloway and the Mooch: The Lost Boys of Capitalism (Pt 2)

Matthew fields excellent questions about his new book from colleagues Ann Gleig and Michelle C. Johnson.  NAB Show Notes This event includes discussions on sensitive topics related to abuse; sexual assault; high-demand tactics; racism; gender-based violence; and systems of dominance, patriarchy, and oppression. We know that these topics may be distressing or triggering to some attendees, and we invite you to take care when listening, and to tend to your needs if you feel activated, overwhelmed, or emotionally impacted. We're so grateful you're here, and we thank you for coming. We also want to thank survivors of sexual violence and abuse in yoga, wellness, Buddhist communities, and beyond, whose stories, voices, and feedback have been invaluable to the work each of us continues to do in service of healing our communities from the harm of sexual violence. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

14 Loka 20246min

Born in 1831, Helena "Madame" Blavatsky pioneered the New Age grift. The Russian aristocrat plagiarized her books while claiming to be channeling the “Masters of Ancient Wisdom” to tell a dodgy heroic back-story. She founded the Theosophical Society in New York, claimed to have learned a secret Tibetan language, and laid the foundation for alien channelers and Woo-Anon. She also inspired the Nazis. In the latest episode from a series on the pseudoscience New Age roots of today’s conspirituality phenomenon, Julian pins Blavatsky on the cork-board map. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

12 Loka 202451min

On September 29, a predicted one million people were going to show up for the Rescue the Republic event in Washington DC. Founded by the libertarian party chair, the Defeat the Mandates founder, and “professor in exile,” Bret Weinstein, about 1,500 mostly MAGA acolytes showed up. Yet the event represents something a long time building in America: the strange and at times uncomfortable merging of wellness and right-wing politics via MAHA and MAGA. Sure, RFK Jr was there, but today we’re going to look at a few figures we haven’t covered in a while, or at all. As can be expected in conspiracy land, the C-list celebrities brought some of the most outlandish, and most dangerous, ideas along with them. Show Notes Orange Shirt Day | The Canadian Encyclopedia  National Day for Truth and Reconciliation and the History of Residential Schools - Foundry Phyllis’ Story - Orange Shirt Society  More Than Anything Else, the Rally to Rescue the Republic Was Awkward Are food dyes used in the US banned in other countries? No, not really. IDF Ordered Hannibal Directive on October 7 to Prevent Hamas Taking Soldiers Captive - Israel News - Haaretz.com  Have no childhood vaccines ever been tested using double-blind placebo controlled trials? ​​Vincent van Gogh's "Sunflowers" paintings vandalized hours after activists sentenced for similar incident - CBS News Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

10 Loka 20241h 9min

With MAHA taking over stages nationwide, we’re experiencing a deluge of wellness influence and contrarians screaming about systemic issues with food, medicine, and government. Yet the solutions they offer never actually address public health.  Ironically, the same trend has been occurring in investment-driven medicine, where both government and private sector money is flowing into individualized medicine at the expense of public health.  Derek dives into this sordid affair, concluding with six steps experts agree would actually do something about the state of our health. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

7 Loka 20245min

Finally: a dedicated, concise report on RFK Jr’s sordid history with women, with all the sources. Why?  Because now one of the allegations involves a criminal act.  And because it’s becoming clearer that the emotional manipulation he allegedly deploys in his personal life—many sources say that “love-bombing” is his technique—rhymes so closely with his political day-to-day that it’s hard to find the lines between stumping, white knighting, seducing, and screwing. Correction: The RFK Jr clip “I’m not a church boy” ran on Breaking Points, not Majority Report.  Show Notes The real victims of Olivia Nuzzi’s affair with RFK Jr are other female journalists | Moira Donegan | The Guardian  Exclusive: Multiple Women Claiming Romantic Relationships With RFK Jr. Threaten His Standing in Trump Orbit  RFK Jr.’s Family Doesn’t Want Him to Run. Even They May Not Know His Darkest Secrets. | Vanity Fair  Damning Report Reveals RFK Jr.’s History of Alleged Sexual Assault | The New Republic RFK Jr. Was a Compulsive Womanizer, and Yes, We Should Care | The New Republic  43 suspected mistresses found in RFK Jr.’s phone  Former babysitter for Robert F. Kennedy Jr. accuses him of sexual assault in Vanity Fair profile  Woman who accused RFK Jr of sexual assault says he apologized by text | Reuters   Keith Edwards — “I’m not a church boy.” Massachusetts Sexual Assault Laws Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Texts Apology to Woman Who Says He Sexually Assaulted Her  A Timeline of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s Controversies  The Last Days of Mary Kennedy: 'She Is Angry and Depressed, but She Is Not Ill' (Exclusive)  AA meetings in the White House? Kennedy, a recovering addict, says it's just one of changes he'd make RFK Jr. Wants to Send People Addicted to Antidepressants to Government “Wellness Farms” – Mother Jones   Brief: The New Age Origin Story of RFK Jr’s Campaign — Conspirituality Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

5 Loka 202423min

Cleanse the soil! Purify the blood! Save the children! Make America Healthy Again! On Sept 23, Jordan Peterson, RFK Jr., rising alt-health stars Casey and Calley Means, and many other nutrition non-experts gathered for a live streamed event they called the American Health and Nutrition Roundtable, hosted by Republican Senator Ron Johnson of Wisconsin. Their subtitle, A Second Opinion, was an apt description for the alternative fact-filled diatribes that ensued. The soil has been poisoned, everyone is fat and sick, the entire medical industry is corrupted by Big Pharma, and Big Food is enacting a genocide on the American people via metabolic dysfunction. COVID skepticism and anti-vax messaging lurked just beneath the surface. The speakers painted a terrifying picture and then presented themselves as benevolent common-sense saviors. At the climax of her speech, Casey Means, fresh from her career-boosting Tucker Carlson appearance, took a deep breath before declaring that this is all actually a spiritual crisis. Show Notes Killers of the Flower Moon: The real history behind diabetes and Native Americans.  Special Report: QAnon Fantasies Look Like Colonial Realities (w/Julian Brave NoiseCat) — Conspirituality Palestinians pampered”— Robert Kennedy Jr CDC Sociodemographic Data on American chronic disease Commonwealth Fund: Portrait of the Failing US Healthcare System Mikhaila Fuller | Yeah, I get botox. From the latest Q&A, link in bio. | Instagram Mikhaila Peterson’s life at the molten core of the culture wars - New Statesman   NPR on International Journal of Obesity Study Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

3 Loka 20241h 8min

Matthew here with the second installment of Five Big Questions Posed to an Extremely Thoughtful Person.  Does Natalie Wynn need an introduction? Or do we simply know that every frame of every Contrapoints essay is a gorgeous still life, a love letter to the unknown viewer thirsty for smarts and queerness and justice? Often, top-tier artfulness will wind up concealing the artist. But despite the rigors of curation and the introversion Wynn ‘fesses up to in this interview, she also communicates welcome and generosity, and it was an honor to hear her speak personally about these Big Things..  BTW: here are the five questions. You can think about them too. What terrifies you most in these times? What is the most meaningful and supportive idea or story you return to for reliable wisdom and relief? What is the greatest obstacle you face in forming community relationships, and how do you work to overcome it? If you were responsible for comforting and guiding a child terrified of climate catastrophe, how would you do it? What would you say?  If your wisest ancestor came in a dream to offer you one piece of advice about living in difficult times, what would it be? Show Notes ContraPoints - YouTube Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

1 Loka 202430min

An essay from Matthew exploring the problem of authenticity which plagues every investigation we do on the spiritual influencer beat.  There are queasy questions we’re always contending with when we’re listening to the preaching of Charles Eisenstein, Kelly Brogan, Zach Bush, or RFK Jr:  Has this person really committed to the spirituality they are presenting? Or is spirituality instrumental to them? Do they have experience to share, or programs to sell? It’s hard if not impossible to find the line between these things, especially in the society of the spectacle, especially when we’re talking about influencers we don’t personally know. But it's an important consideration because assumptions made in one direction or another taint the entire discourse.  Maybe, we’re talking about the difference between unearned faith and earned faith. Show Notes Zero at the Bone: Wiman Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

30 Syys 20246min