Bonus Sample: The Wellness Civil War

This episode has been brewing for some time. This week we ask: which hole is coffee really supposed to go in? Because, in the contrarian and conspiratorial wellness world, a growing number of influencers advocate for your morning java to go where the sun doesn't shine. If that's not alarming enough, they claim coffee enemas will treat autism, cancer, parasites, and much more. Mallory DeMille is here to finally flush out this nonsense. Head to factormeals.com/conspirituality50 and use code conspirituality50 to get 50% off your first box and 2 free wellness shots per box while subscription is active! Sign up today at butcherbox.com/conspirituality and use code conspirituality to choose your free offer and get $20 off. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

8 Feb 20241h 1min

Project 2025 is the libertarian conservative Heritage Foundation’s systematic governance plan for the next Republican president. The 920-page plan aims to implement the "unitary executive theory," which would give all of the power of the US government to the executive branch. This week, Derek and Julian investigate the chapter on US media agencies and the GOP's plan to create a true state-sponsored media beholden exclusively to the president. Head to factormeals.com/conspirituality50 and use code conspirituality50 to get 50% off your first box and 2 free wellness shots per box while subscription is active! Sign up today at butcherbox.com/conspirituality and use code conspirituality to choose your free offer and get $20 off. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

5 Feb 20246min

From the Supreme Court to Project 2025, reactionary Catholics are on the frontlines of this year’s war on democracy. Many of them bend the knee to an Italian redpilled Vatican diplomat: Cardinal Carlo Maria Viganò.  Who is this guy, and who let him onto the internet? In 2018, Viganò rebranded Pizzagate for Catholics, by accusing Pope Francis and his progressive allies of supporting “homosexual networks, which are now widespread in many dioceses, seminaries, religious orders,” and “act under the concealment of secrecy and lies with the power of octopus tentacles, and strangle innocent victims and priestly vocations.”  Viganò went on to pen an open letter to Trump—in the style of one spiritual leader to another—in which he spoke of the great war between the “children of light and the children of darkness.” His 19th century flair, boosted by Trump himself, was such a hit it got featured in a Qdrop, got echoed by Mike Flynn, and won him an invite into the world of Steve Bannon.  Catholic political commentator Dr. David Lafferty has been following Viganò for years. He walks Matthew through how the Cardinal Catholicized MAGA fever dreams to discredit the progressive administration of Pope Francis—going so far as to wish death upon him—while inspiring a generation of TradCath crusaders. Show Notes Puccini meets Watergate in 'Vatileaks' scandal Former ambassador Vigano accuses Vatican of covering up McCarrick scandal for years The Man Who Took On Pope Francis: The Story Behind the Viganò Letter The (Growing) List of Catholic Prelates and Other Notable Catholics Supporting Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò. : r/Catholicism  ‘It Is Not a Closet. It Is a Cage.’ Gay Catholic Priests Speak Out Open Letter to President Donald Trump from the Carlo Maria Vigano, Archbishop of Ulpiana Vigano's most pilled tweet   Viganò, QAnon, and the 'Deep Church' explained Another Viganò Wake-Up Call “An infamous betrayal of the mission of the Church”: Interview with Archbishop Viganò - Crisis Magazine (CW: Steve Bannon BS ahead) Americans, including Catholics, continue to have favorable views of Pope Francis — Pew Research  The Silence of Sodom: Homosexuality in Modern Catholicism, Jordan Decadence and Catholicism — Hanson The Causes and Context of Sexual Abuse of Minors by Catholic Priests in the United States, 1950-2010 John Jay Report: On Not Blaming Homosexual Priests Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

3 Feb 202445min

The internet has changed not only how we communicate with each other, but how we understand the world. All technologies reorient how we navigate the world. This one just feels, at times, so disorienting—especially if you are, like the three of us today, extremely online.  That’s the title of Washington Post columnist Taylor Lorenz’s recent book. Taylor has been covering internet culture since starting in social media for the Daily Mail in 2011, which led to positions as a technology reporter for Business Insider, the Daily Beast, and the NY Times. In her insightful book, she details the history of internet culture, and she joins us today to discuss reporting in an age of conspiracy theories and online trolling, the challenges of covering long Covid in an age of overwhelming health misinformation, and what it’s like to be extremely online.  Show Notes Extremely Online: The Untold Story of Fame, Influence, and Power on the Internet Taylor Lorenz on YouTube Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

1 Feb 202452min

Project 2025 is the libertarian conservative Heritage Foundation’s systematic governance plan for the next Republican president. The 920-page plan aims to implement the "unitary executive theory," which would give all of the power of the US government to the executive branch. This week, Derek and Julian break down the dystopic chapter on the Department of Health and Human Services, written by the anti-abortion, anti-LGBTQ+ Catholic nationalist, Roger Severino. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

29 Jan 20246min

Do people radicalized into conspiracism or cults ever admit their errors? When the prophecy fails and evidence shows they were wrong, do they come clean or double-down?  Julian checks in on some of the legacy conspiritualists profiled in our book—Russell Brand, Dr. Christiane Northrup, Mikki Willis, JP Sears, and Lorie Ladd—to see what their online messaging around Christmas and the New Year tells us.  These figures drove the anti-vax, Covid denial, QAnon virality, and rightward political trend in conspirituality during 2020-21. We’ll find out if they’ve seen the error of their ways in the aftermath of the 5th dimensional Great Awakening that never happened. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

27 Jan 202445min

Science evolves, often through fits and starts. Yet for most of medical history, there’s been one consistent theme: most science has been conducted on male bodies. And this has created a range of problems for women. Thankfully, says Cat Bohannon, that’s changing. As more women and BIPOC are entering the STEM fields, we’re undergoing a renaissance in our understanding of a more inclusive and expansive science. On today’s episode, the author of Eve: How the Female Body Drove 200 Million Years of Human Evolution tells Derek how much science has gotten wrong by focusing exclusively on male bodies—and what we’re now doing right. Show Notes Cat Bohannon Epidemic Podcast | Tony Fauci: from one pandemic to another Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

25 Jan 20241h 10min

Julia Tucker is a professional church organist in Savannah, Georgia. She grew up homeschooled in a TradCath home presided over by a father who is now a minor celebrity on the reactionary right. In this Listener Story, she discusses her long strange trip out of Catholic revanchism, the unexpected freedoms of homeschooling, sneaking around in sacristries, why she believes that figures like Bishop Strickland and the Catholics heading up Project 2025 are more ominous and effective than Evangelical leaders, how music began to displace religion for her, and why she’ll continue playing the organ in church.  Show Notes Julia Tucker, Organist  Julia Tucker, Recital Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

22 Jan 20246min