Relief Project #2: Natalie Wynn/Contrapoints

FOX News says he wants to destroy America. Candace Owens is scared to speak his name out loud. Mikki Willis is making a film about his assault on the American family. Dr. Christiane Northrup claims he caused the pandemic. Trump called DA Alvin Bragg a "Soros-funded animal."  Who is this billionaire Jewish banker, a man so diabolical he can simultaneously be the greatest capitalist of all time and a communist chaos agent, so deceptive that he founded philanthropic organizations in 120 countries while supposedly being the "most evil man in the world?" And how does his financial influence in American politics actually stack up against the machinations of disciplined religious right-wing powerbrokers, supercharged by dark money? Show Notes The right’s obsession with Soros  Soros on right-wing conspiracies against him GOP dark money  Democrat dark money An overview of dark money  2022 biggest disclosed donor list  Barre Seid donates $1.6B  Harlan Crow and Justice Thomas  Sheldon Whitehouse on dark money and SCOTUS  Leonard Leo and SCOTUS Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

24 Apr 202312min

Jennings Brown is becoming the Dr. Who of cult journalism. Every few years he pops up on a very different planet in the cultiverse, and tries to repair the timeline.  These days he’s deep into the story of a cult leader who seems to have no “presence” at all. Liana Shanti has managed to recruit about 180 women into her lucrative fever dream of Satanic Panic, recovered memories, starvation diets, and family destruction—all from behind a keyboard and a podcast microphone.  Who is Liana Shanti, and why isn’t she Liane Wilson any more?  Show Notes Inside Liana Shanti’s Lemurian Mystery School — Jennings Brown Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

22 Apr 202342min

Julian and Matthew go big-picture in this tour through all the elements that construct and drive spiritual Influencers. At the center of the parasocial storm is charisma, which covers over the intellectual and moral bankruptcy of wellness content. Charisma is the only real currency in unregulated spaces. It’s compensatory, and very anxious. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

20 Apr 20231h 14min

Our Listener Story this week comes from Dr. Jaigris Hodson, Associate Professor and Canada Research Chair for Digital Communication for the Public Interest at Royal Roads University in Victoria, British Columbia.  Dr. Hodson shares her pandemic journey with inflammatory breast cancer, and how, even as a misinformation researcher, she was vulnerable to the hope sold by alt-health grifters. After completing treatment, she turned her research attention to cancer misinformation, and is now innovating research methods for analyzing how emotion drives misinformation consumption and virality.  Show Notes Jaigris Hodson | Royal Roads University The Podcast: Digital Public Interest Collective  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

17 Apr 202328min

Though not specifically a psychedelic — ketamine is a dissociative anesthetic — ketamine therapy is being touted as a depression treatment and, for some, a new form of spiritual healing. And indeed, some of the results are promising. But with Ketamine Wellness Centers and Field Trip Health both shutting down ketamine clinics across the country, leaving clients scrambling to find relief. Are these psychedelic entrepreneurs placing too much emphasis on scaling and shareholders and not enough on healing, even though their marketing efforts claim the opposite? Derek looks into the sordid developments of ketamine therapy, including the botched trials that ultimately received FDA approval. Show Notes Ketamine infusion: The new therapy for depression, explained New analysis claims the FDA rushed ketamine’s approval for depression treatment Excessive drinking costs $249 billion. Can one dose of ketamine curb alcoholism? ‘I’m terrified’: Patients scramble for treatment after 13 ketamine clinics shut down How ketamine-fueled dreams can promote a spiritual approach to mental health and therapy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

15 Apr 202332min

“I would pursue transcendence and live with its inevitable close cousins, disappointment and heartbreak, for most of my life.” So writes “Steven” (not his real name) in the first of our six spiritual heartbreak stories from our Patreon supporters.  “The spiritual by-passing of folks like Marianne Williamson and Eckhart Tolle kept me spinning in a cycle of abuse and unable to see clearly enough to end an abusive marriage with a Unitarian minister.” That’s from Katherine—story number three. And in our final story, Lynn writes: “I will say even though I've been through a really awful trauma and still have to deal with that residue, I am now happier than I've ever been in my life. I enjoy just being a simple person now, without the ever exhausting pressure of having to perform my religion, to awaken my consciousness.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

13 Apr 20231h 19min

JP Sears is selling CBD. His new company, Awaken, recently sent out a marketing email extolling the benefits of CBD. Derek looks at the science behind the claims. Show Notes CBD is everywhere. But is it a scam? Inverted U-Shaped Dose-Response Curve of the Anxiolytic Effect of Cannabidiol during Public Speaking in Real Life Pioneering UAMS Study Warns of CBD Supplements’ Harm to Gut Health Can Cannabis Help Your Gut? The Impact of Cannabidiol on Human Brain Function: A Systematic Review Cannabis, Cannabinoids, and Sleep: a Review of the Literature Does CBD Help With Insomnia? Cannabidiol (CBD): What we know and what we don't Antioxidative and Anti-Inflammatory Properties of Cannabidiol Cannabidiol (CBD): a killer for inflammatory rheumatoid arthritis synovial fibroblasts A single dose of cannabidiol reduces blood pressure in healthy volunteers in a randomized crossover study Immune Responses Regulated by Cannabidiol Can CBD Benefit Your Immune System? CBD and Heart Health Efficacy and Safety of Cannabidiol and Tetrahydrocannabivarin on Glycemic and Lipid Parameters in Patients With Type 2 Diabetes: A Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled, Parallel Group Pilot Study Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

10 Apr 20236min

Why do so many inflammatory culture war issues crystallize around vaccines and masks? What is so compelling about these forms of public health and mutual aid, that they become central to the right-wing imagination?  For some, straight-up libertarianism might be a sufficient answer: the knee-jerk allergy to being asked to do anything as a social player. And beneath that might lie conspiratorial notions of Fauci being a Red, Bill Gates monetizing polio, or George Soros controlling Congress.  Matthew argues that even those are surface stories, covering over a trembling anxiety about the status of the body in relation to the State, and God.  Show Notes Rudolf Steiner on Traditional Childhood Illnesses and Vaccines Biss, Eula. On Immunity: An Inoculation. Minneapolis: Graywolf, 2015 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

8 Apr 202329min