Episodes

  • Bonus Sample: Faith: Unearned and Earned
    Sep 30 2024
    An essay from Matthew exploring the problem of authenticity which plagues every investigation we do on the spiritual influencer beat. There are queasy questions we’re always contending with when we’re listening to the preaching of Charles Eisenstein, Kelly Brogan, Zach Bush, or RFK Jr: Has this person really committed to the spirituality they are presenting? Or is spirituality instrumental to them? Do they have experience to share, or programs to sell? It’s hard if not impossible to find the line between these things, especially in the society of the spectacle, especially when we’re talking about influencers we don’t personally know. But it's an important consideration because assumptions made in one direction or another taint the entire discourse. Maybe, we’re talking about the difference between unearned faith and earned faith. Show Notes Zero at the Bone: Wiman Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    6 mins
  • Brief: The Actual Biggest Losers
    Sep 28 2024
    On Monday, Senator Ron Johnson sponsored a congressional panel entitled "American Health and Nutrition: A Second Opinion." Unfortunately no actual health or nutrition experts were invited. Instead, the four-and-a-half hour event featured speakers like Robert F Kennedy Jr, Jordan Peterson, Jillian Michaels, Vani Hari (Food Babe), and a host of other influencers and contrarians. Derek investigates all the science that wasn't told—and all the products and services that were sold. Show Notes Mandela Barnes Says Sen. Ron Johnson 'Bought and Paid for' by Big Pharma The Congressional "American Health and Nutrition Roundtable" was an egregious display of anti-science disinformation MEDIA ADVISORY: Sen. Johnson to Lead Roundtable Discussion: “American Health and Nutrition: A Second Opinion” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    43 mins
  • 225: Trauma Healing for Trump
    Sep 26 2024
    Tens of people will be flocking to Washington DC this Sunday as Rumble comes to life during Rescue the Republic, a one-day event featuring RFK Jr, Russell Brand, Jordan Peterson, Bret Weinstein, Tulsi Gabbard—it’s quite an impressive roster of anti-vax luminaries and right-wing contrarians gathering under the pretense of what is effectively a glorified Donald Trump rally. And that’s not hyperbole, given that Trump is seated next to Elon Musk on the marketing materials, which is a graphic retelling of George Washington crossing the Delaware River. While this event is already infected with tons of conspirituality, one late addition caught our attention: Human Garage. This fascia-release-cures-everything organization had to flee California for Canada due to legal troubles, yet their star continues to rise as they embark on their “Transforming Trauma” world tour. And nothing says “healing” more than spreading pseudoscientific wellness jargon and hawking turmeric supplements at a Trump event. Show Notes Apostolic Journey to Singapore: Interreligious Meeting with Young People in the Catholic Junior College (13 September 2024) | Francis Lord by Thy Holy Cross Pope: War in Gaza is too much! No steps taken for peace - Vatican News Physio Reacts: Episode 1 - Human Garage (Part 1 of ?) Physio Reacts: Episode 2 - Human Garage (Part 2) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    1 hr and 14 mins
  • Bonus Sample: The Child Messiah Fantasy
    Sep 23 2024
    The British occultists took the thin and sickly but beautiful boy away from his family. Groomed him for 20 years to become the savior of humanity. Trained him between 1909-29 to be a serene guru and charming English aristocrat. He looked good in a double-breasted suit and had fabulous hair. Huge amounts of money flowed into the organization they built around him. But Krishnamurti became a man the day he shocked them all. Julian’s latest chapter of his historical series wraps up Helena Blavatsky’s Theosophical Society—one of the crucial 19th century roots of New Age metaphysics, and the phenomenon we call conspirituality. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    6 mins
  • Brief: RFK Jr Says the Devil Measures Carbon
    Sep 21 2024
    “God talks to human beings through many vectors. But nowhere with such detail, and grace and joy, as through creation. When we destroy nature, we diminish our capacity to sense the divine.” With this April 2023 tweet, RFK Jr inaugurated his presidential campaign, which has now folded into a daily ritual of Trump bootlicking. Now, Bobby is telling Tucker Carlson and the world that climate change cannot be solved through commitment to the “carbon orthodoxy.” “It’s not about quantifying stuff,” he says. “That's what the devil does. But the reason we're preserving these things is because we love our children.” What does this mean? Matthew tracks the sources and implications of Kennedy’s broken climate discourse—rooted in St. Francis of Assisi, appealing to gentleman farmers and homeschoolers, allergic to the scientific abstractions that give us a truly global picture, and always committed to the free market. Show Notes RFK Jr: Teaming up With Trump, Pavel Durov’s Arrest, CIA, and the Fall of the Democrat Party Birdwatching with Jonathan Franzen: 'Climate change isn't the only danger to birds' Special Interview: Nostalgia for the Superego (w/Sam Binkley) — Conspirituality Laudato si' (24 May 2015) | Francis Brian Swimme: The Cosmos Watching Itself (E35) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    42 mins
  • 224: RFK Jr’s Pet Guru Blesses Trump
    Sep 19 2024
    There’s been a question gnawing at fans of Charles Eisenstein: what does he really feel about RFK Jr’s pivot to Trump? The always aspiring poet-philosopher was hired as a messaging advisor to Bobby, after all. We’ve spotted little fragments of Eisenstein’s exceptionally long essays sneaking their way into Bobby’s speeches. There was some influence, for sure, even after Charles went on multiple Costa Rican sabbaticals right in the middle of campaign season and apparently cut his consulting rate down from $21k per month, perhaps out of the goodness of the heart he knows is possible. And yet, for weeks after Bobby jumped the shark, Charles remained silent. Until now, that is. With the publication of his recent 6,711-word essay, “Shades of Many Colors,” Eisenstein finally breaks his silence and lands firmly on the side of…well, we’re not quite sure. But one thing that’s emerged is Charles’s penchant for not crediting the source of some of his galaxy-brained ideas. Today, we’ll look at some of what Charles says in his latest opus, and try to figure out what exactly he’s saying. Show Notes mRNA vaccine spike protein differs from viral version The effect of SARS-CoV-2 variant on respiratory features and mortality SARS-CoV-2 Infections in mRNA Vaccinated Individuals are Biased for Viruses Encoding Spike E484K and Associated with Reduced Infectious Virus Loads that Correlate with Respiratory Antiviral IgG levels. Autoimmune and Autoinflammatory Connective Tissue Disorders Following COVID-19 Risk of autoimmune diseases following COVID-19 and the potential protective effect from vaccination: a population-based cohort study The Lancet: Most comprehensive study to date provides evidence on natural immunity protection by COVID-19 variant and how protection fades over time Conspirituality 1: Coronation for Whom? Brief: The New Age Origin Story of RFK Jr’s Campaign — Conspirituality 86: Charles Eisenstein, New Age Q — Conspirituality Disavowing Disinformation - North Atlantic Books Inside the Last Weeks of RFK Jr.’s Campaign Charles Eisenstein - What is the Next Story? - Scientific and Medical Network Brian Swimme: The Cosmos Watching Itself (E35) ​Charles Eisenstein Whitewashes Trump, Caricatures & Demonizes Democrats in Post Decrying Caricatures & Demonization (Part 1) Charles Eisenstein Endorses Trump, but Thinks You're Not Clever Enough to Notice (Part 2) Cardiac Events Following Mpox Vaccine Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    1 hr and 17 mins
  • Bonus Sample: Waking Up With the Biohackers
    Sep 16 2024
    "Biohacking expert" Kayla Barnes recently published a 31-minute video about her morning routine, filled with EMF-blocking shields, grounding protocols, and 40 different daily supplements. Good if you can afford it, but then she sells questionable protocols at her Cleveland, Ohio-based clinic, Lyv Wellness, despite having no clinical training. Derek watches what she says, then watches what she sells. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    6 mins
  • Brief: Tucker Carlson’s Friendly Fascism
    Sep 14 2024
    Tucker Carlson is the Steve Bannon of Joe Rogans. Tucker surpasses Rogan’s massive reach at times, but his curated guest list drives a deliberate agenda: normalizing neo-fascist political discourse. He does it all with an affable, friendly, just-asking-questions, I’m-not-as-smart-as-my-guests attitude that may disguise what he’s doing—like interviewing a Holocaust-denier Nazi apologist, or framing modern-day dictatorships as admirable, or promoting the anti-semitic Great Replacement Theory, or globe-trotting to flatteringly interviewing brutal enemies of democracy like Viktor Orban or Vladimir Putin. In the wake of recent controversy about WWII revisionism on Carlson’s show, Julian breaks down the accelerationist contours of Tucker’s far-right influence and agenda. Being fired from FOX News and going “independent” has only made it worse. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    28 mins