211: Terrence Howard Solves Science

Cable travel channels are filled with haunted houses and other paranormal activity, beyond History Channel’s Ancient Aliens and cryptozoology content. The more radicalized Gaia TV has close to a million paid subscribers gobbling up content about yoga, meditation, and psychedelic consciousness alongside accounts of inter-dimensional cryptids, Q-adjacent vampire reptilians, and channeled messages from benevolent ETs. Julian’s talk with Pulitzer-nominated journalist Matt Hongoltz-Hetling about his new book, The Ghost Lab, How Bigfoot Hunters, Mediums, and Alien Enthusiasts are Wrecking Science. In it, he explores the history of ghost hunting and asks if failing trust in educational, religious, and government institutions is fueling a burgeoning obsession with the paranormal. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

14 Juni 40min

From 1999-2002, VH1 ran a show called “Where Are They Now?” The irregularly produced series wondered aloud what happened to former cultural icons like eighties hair metal bands, kid actors, and one-hit wonders. While some people remained surprisingly relevant, most were confined to, at best, appearing at VFWs and regional summer festivals in parking lots or, tragically, gripped by an addiction and dreams of a better time that they couldn’t make last.  Two years ago this month our book, Conspirituality, was published. We called one section Rogue’s Gallery to highlight a range of figures we’ve covered on the podcast. One of those chapters was dedicated to a man named Robert F Kennedy, Jr—don’t say we didn’t warn you. How about the other nine? In our own version of “Where Are They Now,” we’re going to turn back the clock and revisit those other nine chapters. We’ll do it over three episodes in the coming weeks. This week, we begin with famed women’s health expert turned harp-playing conspiracy peddler, Christiane Northrup; self-proclaimed philosopher king, Charles Eisenstein; and former model turned middling new age filmmaker turned anti-vax documentarian Mikki Willis. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

12 Juni 1h 1min

Matthew continues the Antifascist Woodshed series with a two-part analysis of an extraordinary cultural event: rebellions within rebellions—or how a ragtag band of writers and worldbuilders Trojan-horsed an antifascist masterpiece into the Empire of streaming content. Seven chapters:  (This past Saturday, main feed:) Space Wizards or Antifascism? Star Wars Culture Wars A Post-Fragmentary Left (Today:) Hope and Love   Tony Gilroy’s Antifascist Field Manual The Used Future Antifascist Parents Are Better than Jedi Parents NB: There will be spoilers for Andor! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

9 Juni 6min

Matthew continues the Antifascist Woodshed series with a two-part analysis of an extraordinary cultural event: rebellions within rebellions—or how a ragtag band of writers and worldbuilders Trojan-horsed an antifascist masterpiece into the Empire of streaming content. Seven chapters:  Space Wizards or Antifascism? Star Wars Culture Wars A Post-Fragmentary Left (Monday on Patreon:) Hope and Love   Tony Gilroy’s Antifascist Field Manual The Used Future Antifascist Parents Are Better than Jedi Parents NB: There will be spoilers for Andor! Show Notes The Mythology of Star Wars with George Lucas and Bill Moyers Special Interview: Nostalgia for the Superego (w/Sam Binkley) — Conspirituality  Movie Review – THX 1138: The George Lucas Director's Cut – A Sci-Fi Geek Looks at George Lucas' First Film 8 women accuse screenwriter Max Landis of sexual, emotional abuse - National | Globalnews.ca 'Star Wars' Actress Amandla Stenberg's 'White People' Remark Sparks Fury - Newsweek  'The Acolyte' Star Amandla Stenberg Cracks Up at 'Gayest Star Wars' Moniker: It's 'So Gay Already!' | Video  Amandla Stenberg Slams Anti-‘Woke’ Attacks And ‘Intolerable Racism’ Over ‘The Acolyte’  Sorry, haters, Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ new characters more than make up for the movie’s sins | Vox Star Wars: The Bad Batch Season 2 - Official 'Omega & Tech' Clip (2023) The Bad Batch: Tech’s death and the neurodivergent community Why Our Autism Community Loves Star Wars - Kerry Magro Virtue Hoarders and the Rejection of Liberalism (w/ Catherine Liu) | The Chris Hedges Report  The problem with identity politics | Counterfire Transcript: Andor: Tony Gilroy on Oppressive Regimes and Popular Revolutions - The Peabody Awards  Star Wars: A New Heap  Music: Brief: Star War fan-made music from Luis Humanoide: Trust Only in the Force  Bonus: Star War fan-made music from Luis Humanoide: Dark Ruins Exploration Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

7 Juni 39min

Megamillionaire supplements and New Age life coach tycoon Aubrey Marcus recently claimed the goddess Isis told him that he must impregnate both his wife and the third member of their throuple while doing spiritual tourism in Egypt. During a nearly three-hour podcast, the three explain their polygamous plans and heartaches while their on-call guru, Marc Gafni—an old-school spiritualist most famous for the long list of sexual assault and misconduct allegations against him—frames their drama as a sacred crisis. We pick apart the spectacle, assessing how badly Marcus is getting his ass beat. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

5 Juni 1h 10min

Support Conspirituality on Patreon. Does the word protestor conjure a masked figure in black clothing smashing windows and lighting fires or a weekend liberal ineffectually following rules while sipping on a creamy latte along the state-permitted protest route? A popular media narrative is that peaceful protest works best, but has the power of nonviolent resistance been debunked?  Julian responds to Matthew’s interview with political sociologist, Benjamin Case. In the context of anarchist activism, Case points out that successful “nonviolent protest movements” have always featured property damage, street-fighting, and window smashing. His ethnographic research shows that rioting can also be personally transformative and empowering, as the participant experiences “contentious effervescence.” His interview (and book, Street Rebellion) included a pointed critique of celebrated nonviolence advocate and academic, Erica Chenoweth, and their towering predecessor, Gene Sharp—who, inspired by Mahatma Gandhi, practically created the field of nonviolent resistance studies. Case has some excellent points, especially about how often Chenoweth’s work is misinterpreted. But was Gene Sharp really a tool of American imperialism? Is Erica Chenoweth a willing lapdog to status quo liberalism and capitalist power? What kinds of protest strategy might serve us best in our terrifying authoritarian moment? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

2 Juni 5min

Marty Makary and Vinay Prasad claim they're going to open the "black box" at the FDA, an agency they're now both employed at. So they started a podcast. It's not the first official FDA podcast, but it certainly fits into the contrarian ethos both men have cultivated since 2020. Derek and Julian listen in to see how much of that box is actually being opened. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

31 Maj 34min

We’ve been talking about RFK Jr for years, and even dedicated an entire chapter to him in our 2023 book—and we’re going to keep covering him. Since his power and influence has only grown, and since he’s now in charge of America’s entire health apparatus, there’s no way to avoid it. This week we catch up on the last few months of MAHA. Derek looks into why he believes Kennedy’s apparatus, despite claims of being about health, is really a cover for Project 2025’s deregulatory agenda. Julian discusses a recent paper published in the New England Journal of Medicine by Covid contrarians Marty Makary and Vinay Prasad, who now both work under Kennedy. Finally, Matthew will contemplate Kennedy’s crude remarks on autism through the lens of disability politics. Show Notes What Has All This Restaurant Food Done to My Gut? Function Health is Another Theranosesque Scam MAHA’s Goal Is Not Health: Robert Kennedy’s movement promises more privatization RFK Jr. meets with health tech startups, most backed by Andreessen Horowitz COVID infection no longer gives lasting immunity Hybrid Immunity May Be the Key to Developing Better Vaccines Makary, Bhattacharya in New England Journal of Medicine Consequences of Work Requirements in Arkansas: Two-Year Impacts on Coverage, Employment, and Affordability of Care  Concerns About ABA-Based Intervention: An Evaluation and Recommendations - PMC  Adler-Bolton, Beatrice, and Artie Vierkant. 2022. Health Communism: A Surplus Manifesto. Verso Books. SURPLUS. Adler-Bolton, The New Inquiry. October 18, 2022.  Extractive Abandonment - Stimpunks Foundation  Social and medical models of disability and mental health: evolution and renewal - PMC Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

29 Maj 1h 3min