220: Swifties for Trump (and Other AI Lies)

Naomi Klein’s Doppelganger: A Trip into the Mirror World is a polymathic work that serves up new political heuristics with the firepower we’ve come to expect from the coiner of “disaster capitalism.” A Dante-spiral through our circles of cultural hell, it’s also a memoir of demoralization, self-evaluation, and persistent hope. If this sounds overly ambitious or grandiose—that’s a fair suspicion in this age of galaxy-brained pundits who want to write *that book about everything.* In less humble, less feminist hands, a project like this could feel like a vanity vehicle for an author’s unbearably brilliant mind. But that doesn’t happen here, because Klein’s intersectional discipline—which despite many flights of fancy, she never abandons—serves the values of economic, racial, and climate justice, and she does it by always citing her sources and elevating the voices of the marginalized. Derek, Julian, and Matthew discuss briefly before Klein joins Matthew to discuss her way into and out of this bizarre and demoralizing land. Show Notes Doppelganger — Naomi Klein Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

14 Sep 20231h 20min

The Forrest Gump dandy of right-wing dirty tricks is in the news again. Strategizing from the Willard Hotel as January 6 unfolded; protected by a coterie of now convicted Oathkeepers; captured on video dictating Trump’s fake electors scheme for an email. These are just a few of the things Roger Stone has done.  Stone may be the swampiest of Deep State operatives our politics has seen. Julian gives a colorful breakdown of this longtime Trump ally who's been involved in every anti-democratic scheme, from Watergate to Bush’s 2000 steal to 2016’s Russian interference—raking in millions from the “torturer’s lobby” along the way. Stone has always slithered away from accountability, but maybe this time he’ll pay the price. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

11 Sep 202310min

Doppelganger: A Trip into the Mirror World is an exuberant, polymathic effort, in which Klein develops several new political heuristics that pack the punch we’ve come to expect from the originator of “disaster capitalism.” Reading it is like getting walloped by a novel political theory virus— or a potent vaccine for the times. It’s also a Dante-esque spiral down through our endless circles of historical and cultural hell. Klein’s core subject is the “Mirror World” we now battle in: a place where our digital avatars occlude our bodies, where morbid fantasies blot out fact-checked histories, where the fool’s gold of influencers outshines the daily work of researchers. It’s a place where antimaskers steal the “I can’t breathe” cry of George Floyd, and antivax influencers pretend they are being led to the gas chambers. It’s a place where selfish demagogues appropriate and mimic the poetry of social justice, but only for a select few. It’s where MAGA movement architect Steve Bannon LARPs as a therapist for the common man. Doppelganger has landed like a Rosetta Stone for divining the incoherent politics of the figures we’ve covered all these years—and the cultural and moral vacuums they fill. But most surprisingly—and we think our listenership will be grateful for this—this rich memoir of demoralization and self-evaluation also offers a deep undercurrent of persistent hope.  Sign up today at butcherbox.com/CONSPIRITUALITY and use code CONSPIRITUALITY to get two 100% grass-fed filet mignons and two wild-caught lobster tails for FREE in your first box plus $20 off your first order. Show Notes Doppelganger Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

9 Sep 202358min

Do you ever feel like American society is caught in limbo? The bardo-realm between two election cycles. The dial-up static between invasive social media and quarantine isolation. Stacking sandbags against the deluge of conspiracies and disinformation as we await the slow-motion countermeasures of science and the justice system. The disruptions of Trump, COVID, QAnon, conspirituality, and January 6 all still frame our everyday lives, even as we attempt a return to a normalcy that was always tenuous at best. Whatever happens over the next few months, the oven of 2024 looks preheated for chaos—yet, one by one, the treasonous conspiracy-mongering liars who peaked in 2020 are being forced to deal with cold legal consequences. Our guest today is award-winning journalist and author David Neiwert, whose book The Age of Insurrection explains how we got here—and points a way forward. Sign up today at butcherbox.com/CONSPIRITUALITY and use code CONSPIRITUALITY to get two 100% grass-fed filet mignons and two wild-caught lobster tails for FREE in your first box plus $20 off your first order. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

7 Sep 20231h 13min

Claiming your First Amendment rights are being violated is a sure way to have the spotlight shone on you. It's also an effective way to shut down criticism of whatever you're selling. From the 1940s-60s, supplements manufacturers used the free speech gambit to keep regulators away from their products, resulting in a 1969 Supreme Court case. Derek looks at the 20th century evolution of medical regulations, and how companies are still using a similar argument to dissuade consumers from looking too deeply into what's inside the bottle. Sign up today at butcherbox.com/CONSPIRITUALITY and use code CONSPIRITUALITY to get two 100% grass-fed filet mignons and two wild-caught lobster tails for FREE in your first box plus $20 off your first order. Show Notes Dietary Supplements: A Framework for Evaluating Safety United States v Kordel Some Implications of the Kordel Decision 163: The Huberman Paradox Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

4 Sep 20236min

One piece of connective tissue between the right and wellness influencers we cover is their liberal use of the language of Civl Rights to describe their completely incomparable grievances. Derek covers a few recent examples, centered around one particularly troublesome analogy by a tech-bro entrepreneur using slavery as an analogy for his hustle. Sign up today at butcherbox.com/CONSPIRITUALITY and use code CONSPIRITUALITY to get two 100% grass-fed filet mignons and two wild-caught lobster tails for FREE in your first box plus $20 off your first order. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

2 Sep 202321min

Several months ago, we received an email from Esme Providence Brown (a pseudonym, and we’ll discuss why she’s using it off the top of the interview). Esme asked if we would like to discuss the strange and taboo overlaps between yoga, wellness, neo-tantra, and sex work. I wrote back immediately to say yes.  Esme has worked as a professional dominatrix and kink provider for the past twenty years. In 2012, she began teaching yoga and investigating the intersection of sex work and spirituality through her practice and writing. She lives and works in NYC, and is now doing academic work in textiles. Matthew spoke to her while she was on a research trip to Indonesia.  We think you’ll all learn a ton from this conversation about transparent vs. non-transparent labour practices, performative intimacy, the gendered inequalities of wellness work, and how Neo-Tantrics who use handguns in their foreplay made their presence known at the January 6th insurrection. In honor of Labor Day: Workers of the world unite.  Sign up today at butcherbox.com/CONSPIRITUALITY and use code CONSPIRITUALITY to get two 100% grass-fed filet mignons and two wild-caught lobster tails for FREE in your first box plus $20 off your first order. Show Notes Former sex workers, now academics and published authors: Melissa Febos Chris Belcher Catlynn Ladd Sex Worker Decriminalization Resources: The Oldest Profession (Podcast & Organization) Amnesty International Statement on Sex Work ACLU Statement on Sex Work US Department of Health & Human Services Report on Human Trafficking Sex Workers Want Rights Not Rescue The White Slavery Panic Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

31 Aug 20231h 43min

They fell into a rabbit hole.  Matthew examines the blindspots thrown up by this common and unexamined phrase: — The assumption that we all know what the rabbit hole is. — The assumption that right up to the edge of the rabbit hole, the world makes sense. — The assumption that everyone who avoided falling (or being pushed) in is simply more rational, balanced, and normal. All of these assumptions can obscure the insanities of the dominant culture. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

28 Aug 20238min