35: Séance Science (w/Susannah Crockford)

In 2022, Tucker Carlson produced a documentary called “The End of Men,” his contribution to the so-called “masculinity crisis.” That’s when testicle tanning hit the mainstream, which one astute observer dubbed “bromeopathic therapy.” Turns out the former Fox News host isn’t done dabbling in conspirituality. This year, he’s platformed the QAnon Shaman, Jacob Chansley; lyme disease conspiracist, Kris Newby; the “other” Naomi, Naomi Wolf; brother-sister optimizers, Casey and Calley Means; and he’s currently on a 16-city tour with the likes of Russell Brand and Alex Jones. He’s also partly responsible for helping usher RFK Jr into Donald Trump’s camp. While the former CNN and MSNBC host turned far right provocateur isn’t leading wellness retreats (yet), he’s certainly being shared by an increasing number of wellness influencers, and we want to know why. Show Notes DOJ Accuses Russia of Sprawling Election Interference Campaign Homeland Violence and Diaspora Insecurity: An Analysis of Israel and American Jewry | Politics and Religion | Cambridge Core  Safety through Solidarity by Shane Burley, Ben Lorber Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

12 Sep 20241h 15min

Here’s the first installment of a regular timeline cleanser featuring interviews with folks reflecting on hope, faith, resilience and building community in hard times.  You know—all the things that conspirituality itself can’t offer. These are short, personal visits in which Matthew asks each guest the same five questions about their life wisdom—at least as it’s coming together in this moment. To start this series, Matthew hearkens back to the roots of Conspirituality Podcast in the yoga world with guest Jivana Heyman. Jivana is the founder and director of Accessible Yoga, an organization dedicated to increasing access to the yoga teachings and supporting yoga teachers. He’s the author of Accessible Yoga: Poses and Practices for Every Body; Yoga Revolution: Building a Practice of Courage & Compassion; and The Teacher's Guide to Accessible Yoga: Best Practices for Sharing Yoga with Every Body.  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 jivanaheyman.com 9: Ableism in Conspiracy Theories (w/Jivana Heyman) — Conspirituality Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

10 Sep 202430min

What does it mean to spill ink on dispelling conspiracy theories about non-existent children being murdered, while actual children are being murdered? At what point does the labour of debunking right wing wackjobs also do the shadow-work of supporting the liberal-center orthodoxy? Matthew looks at how with QAnon, the liberal-center press criticized irrational responses to imaginary traumas, with a great sense of urgency. But on Gaza, they criticize rational responses to actual traumas, and imply that protesters are asking for too much, too fast.  What happens downstream of denials, minimizations, and contradictions? What are the social and mental health implications of moral injury? Are these not some of the same social conditions that generate conspiracism? Content warning: discussion of children, genocide Show Notes Is Israel Committing Genocide in Gaza? New Report from BU School of Law’s International Human Rights Clinic Lays Out Case  Rights expert finds ‘reasonable grounds’ genocide is being committed in Gaza | UN News  Dems Gave the 'Uncommitted Movement' Space to Talk About Gaza — Just Not on TV First-Ever DNC Panel on Palestinian Rights: We Need to “Restore the Soul of the Democratic Party”   “Stop Arming Israel”: Meet the DNC Delegates Who Unfurled Banner During Biden Speech  201: Librarians Are Not Groomers (w/Heath Umbreit) — Conspirituality  What I Saw Was “Unfathomable”: Doctor Who Worked in Gaza Speaks Out Against U.S. Arming of Israel  Counting the dead in Gaza: difficult but essential - The Lancet  Clearing Gaza of almost 40m tonnes of war rubble will take years, says UN  Israel Has Killed 2,100 Babies Under 2 Years Old in Gaza, Rights Group Says | Truthout  NYU barricades benches  College Administrators Spent Summer Break Dreaming Up Ways to Squash Gaza Protests  The Black Mark on the Democrats’ Big Party | The New Republic  Amnesty International Warns of U.S. Complicity in War Crimes in Gaza  Christian Wiman | Yale Divinity School Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

9 Sep 20246min

Calley Means is the cofounder of TrueMed, a company that helps businesses qualify products and services like supplements and ice baths for HSA and FSA money. Casey Means is the founder of Levels, a continuous glucose monitor subscription service aimed at the biohacking community. The brother and sister recently appeared on Tucker Carlson's podcast to rage against seed oils, as well as the food and pharma industries' focus on profits over people. Derek dug into their business models, finding them guilty of the same "crimes" they accuse others of. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

7 Sep 202421min

RFK Jr has dropped out of the presidential race and thrown his weight behind Trump. In our 10th episode on the man in the last year-and-a-half, we look at the potential dangers of this unholy alliance, and what it means for America. Show notes are extensive, visit patreon.com/conspirituality or conspirituality.net for more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

5 Sep 20241h 9min

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 this debut 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

2 Sep 20245min

Dems are laughing about Donny Dentures or #TrumpisDone, but the reality inside his head, and Mar a Lago, will be very grim, and there will be a lot of collateral damage. Mental health titans like Robert Lifton have reached the consensus that Trump has been mentally ill for a long time. They’ve diagnosed him with “narcissistic personality disorder, antisocial personality disorder, paranoid personality disorder, delusional disorder, malignant narcissist,” and so on. Such patients meet predictable ends when the wheels fall off. In the cult world (where Lifton has been so influential), there are bangs (Jim Jones) and there are whimpers (Keith Raniere). What might it look like for Trump? No one is more qualified to discuss the possibilities with Matthew than Daniel Shaw, LCSW, a psychotherapist trained in psychoanalysis as well as in trauma-informed psychotherapies. He is in private practice in New York City and in Nyack, New York; and Faculty and Supervisor at The National Institute for the Psychotherapies in New York. He is the author of Traumatic Narcissism: Relational Systems of Subjugation, published by Routledge in 2014, and nominated for the prestigious Gradiva Award. His book Traumatic Narcissism and Recovery: Leaving the Prison of Shame and Fear was published in 2021. He is known for his work with cult trauma survivors and with clients who have experienced narcissistic abuse. Show Notes Daniel Shaw, LCSW Traumatic Narcissism: Relational Systems of Subjugation Traumatic Narcissism and Recovery: Leaving the Prison of Shame and Fear Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

31 Aug 202433min

In one survey, 82% of young people aged 18-25 searched the internet for mental health advice. Another survey of university students found that 44% report using the internet to learn about sadness, anxiety, or confusion. Regardless of what mental health experts advise, people of all age groups are turning to the internet and social media for help. What are the potential risks and rewards of using these platforms to try to communicate credible mental health science? And what happens when you’re endlessly trolled for being a “Big Pharma shill,” even when you don’t have prescriptive powers and only offer talk therapy in your clinical practice? Clinical psychologist Jonathan Stea joins us to discuss these difficult questions. His new book, Mind the Science: Saving Your Mental Health from the Wellness Industry, is a field guide that responds to some of the intense challenges earnest seekers face when trying to navigate waters filled with supplements-slinging sharks who believe they can diagnose mental health conditions with zero training. Show Notes AI-generated video of Trump on ayahuasca  Mind the Science: Saving Your Mental Health from the Wellness Industry Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

29 Aug 20241h 1min