Brief: Cult of the Lamb Anti-Cult School? (w/Riley MacLeod)
We cover conspiracy theories, spiritual abuse, and religious and right-wing extremism. We cover showmen and charismatics suffering from King Victim Complex. Last week we had to study a goddam assassin...
20 Jul 202446min
215: Divinely Protected
Two landmark Supreme Court decisions—the Trump immunity case and the overturning of the Chevron doctrine—represent the legal institutionalization of the core values of conspirituality: self-sovereignt...
18 Jul 20241h 2min
Bonus Sample: Project 2025's Plan: Let It Burn
Project 2025's approach to environmental issues is pretty straightforward: deny climate science, dismantle the EPA, clear a path that prioritizes corporate profits, and let the world burn. Derek and J...
15 Jul 20245min
Brief: Project 2025’s “Bloodless” Coup
While speaking on Steve Bannon’s podcast, The War Room, Heritage Foundation president Kevin Roberts recently stated, “We are in the process of the second American Revolution, which will remain bloodle...
13 Jul 202426min
214: Aubrey Marcus is Totally Not a Cult Leader
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 Jul 20241h 12min
Bonus Sample: You Can’t Do Religion on the Internet
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 Jul 20245min
Brief: The Freebirth to Born-Again Pipeline
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 Jul 202437min
213: Yoga for Gaza, Yoga for Israel
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 Jul 20241h 9min
