Conspirituality

Women journalists spend years meticulously investigating, corroborating and fact-checking allegations that Russell Brand is a serial sex offender. The result? A 6600-word masterpiece of survivor-centered concision, battle-tested by a legion of editors and lawyers.

But the manosphere responds! With logorrheic defenses, conspiracy theories, and rationalizations. Peak posting through it.

We look at choice man-stan statements from Charles Eisenstein (RFK Jr’s Director of Messaging), and psychonaut Daniel Pinchbeck. We also look at a pre-allegations interview Brand did with meditation guru Jack Kornfield to learn more about how Brand has ingratiated himself to wellness entrepreneurs flattered by his attention. 

Show Notes

BBC and police begin inquiries as Russell Brand faces more claims 

‘Jimmy Savile police unit’ helps Met with Russell Brand investigation 

Russell Brand quizzed by cops 9 YEARS ago over claims he sexually assaulted masseuse and treated her 'like a prostitute'

On Mobs, Cults, and Russell Brand - Charles Eisenstein 

Brand and Circuses - Daniel Pinchbeck’s Newsletter 

Open Letter to Russell Brand — Daniel Pinchbeck's Newsletter

A Cultural Crucible - Daniel Pinchbeck’s Newsletter  

Alyssa Milano on the #MeToo movement: 'We're not going to stand for it any more'

Writer blames ‘predatory’ ways on women | Page Six  

#6 - Abusing Power: Taking Predatory Daniel Pinchbeck At His Word  

We Refuse to Endorse Daniel Pinchbeck as a Credible Voice in the Psychedelic Movement  

Community, Transparency and Accountability—Dr. Ann Gleig in conversation with Egyoku Nakao Roshi & Tenku Ruff Roshi  

Jack Kornfield (Morality, Spirituality & AI) - Stay Free with Russell Brand

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Four members of the Florida-based Grenon family were recently sentenced to between 5 and 12 years of prison for selling bleach. The problem? They claimed that bleach, known as Miracle Mineral Solution, cured Covid-19—as well as cancer, autism, AIDS, erectile dysfunction, and over 90% of the world's ailments. The elder Grenon, Mark, had founded the Genesis II Church of Health & Healing alongside of MMS's founder, Jim Humble, who left the church in 2017.

How did the Grenons profit from industrial-strength bleach for 13 years before finally being convicted? And why are so many people sprinkling bleach crystals in their morning glass of water to "detoxify?" Derek investigates.

Show Notes

Family Sentenced for Selling Bleach as ‘Miracle’ Covid-19 Cure

Drinking bleach can be deadly but lots of Americans are falling for fake bleach ‘cures’

Fringe 'Church' Founder on MMS: It's No Cure

Genesis 2 Church FDA Warning Letter

Jim Humble

MMS Testimonials

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On October 9, RFK Jr. brought his three-podcast-bros-in-a-trench-coat campaign to Philadelphia. On a dias across from Independence Hall, he announced his anticipated departure from the Democratic party and his new status as an independent candidate. Matthew and Julian profile his conspirituality credentials, his diagonalist politics, and his incoherent positions:

He attacks public health officials, or corporations—it’s all the same. He can pretend to care about health while making fatphobic and ableist comments. He can rail against the capture of federal regulatory agencies while proclaiming himself a staunch free market capitalist. He can pretend to help advance the lives of Black people by telling them that vaccines are a racist plot against them. He can earnestly identify with and fight in court for dispossessed tribes on American soil, while doubling down on morbid power imbalances abroad.

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Show Notes

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announces independent run for president, ending Democratic primary challenge to Biden

164: The Two Faces of Robert Francis Kennedy Jr. 

Brief: The New Age Origin Story of RFK Jr’s Campaign

Brief: RFK's Health Propaganda Roundtable

Brief: RFK Jr., The Anti-Vax Candidate

Brief: RFK Jr Flirts with Body Fascism (w/Natalia Petrzela)

Kennedy Condemns Terrorist Attacks Against Israel 

Tribal Council | lowerbrulesiouxtribe 

Special Report: Stealing Indigenous Voices in Australia (w/Tyson Yunkaporta) 

Robert Kennedy’s Indian Commitment 

Deep Commitment

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Quinn Slobodian teaches Modern German History at Wellesley and William Callison teaches Political Theory and Human Geography at Uppsala. We first came across their work via Naomi Klein’s examination of the clusterf&cked politics that dominate the movements we cover. We dug out their paper, and they had us at this:

"At the extreme end, diagonal movements share a conviction that all power is conspiracy."

There no clear left-right polarity in conspirituality. And Horseshoe Theory won’t cut it. We’re in the age of Diagonalism, and things are very, very weird. 

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Show Notes

Coronapolitics from the Reichstag to the Capitol - Boston Review

William Callison

Quinn Slobodian

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Our main character this week is the six-degrees of authoritarians—more like one or two degrees, in fact. He’s made millions playing footsie with most of the blood-thirsty kleptocrats of the last half-century. He embodies the corrupt and anti-democratic deep state history of Donald Trump’s inner circle, reaching back through the decades and across the globe.

Julian’s colorful storytelling series seeks to contextualize the Trump era and where we find ourselves now, based on the swamp creatures who worked for, enabled, and to some extent groomed him for the role.

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On October 14, Australians will vote in a referendum on a simple question: should Indigenous peoples be invited to form an advisory council—a Voice—to Parliament? 

It seemed like a shoe-in “Yes”—before the issue was FUBARed by a coalition of antivax, anti lockdown, Q-adjacent white sovereign citizens who believe that they are the true victims of colonization. 

Professor Tyson Yunkaporta of Apalech clan joins Matthew to discuss the complexities of this history—including how some vulnerable Indigenous folks have been lured into supporting the “No” vote and providing cover for libertarian and white supremacist agendas.

Yunkaporta is the founder of the Indigenous Knowledge Systems Lab at Deakin University in Melbourne AUS, author of Sand Talk: How Indigenous Thinking Can Save the World (2019) and released just this past week: Right Story, Wrong Story: Adventures in Indigenous Thinking. He’s also the host of the excellent free range podcast The Other Others. 

Sign up today at butcherbox.com/CONSPIRITUALITY and use code CONSPIRITUALITY to receive ground beef for life plus $20 off your first order.

Show Notes

Indigenous Knowledge Systems Lab at Deakin University

Referendum 202

Conspiracy theories are derailing the Yes vote w/ Tyson Yunkaporta 

Voice pamphlets: false claims and conspiracy theories distributed across Australia | Indigenous voice to parliament

How a soap opera star pushed a conspiracy theory linking the Voice to Parliament to a UN takeover 

Key voice battleground South Australia is ‘leaning to no’, campaign volunteers say | Indigenous voice to parliament

View The Statement - Uluru Statement from the Heart 

Aboriginal Tent Embassy — 'the guys who woke up Australia' — marks its 50th anniversary

So-Called Sovereign Settlers: Settler Conspirituality and Nativism in the Australian Anti-Vax Movement

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Butcherbox Deal! Sign up today at butcherbox.com/conspirituality and use code CONSPIRITUALITY to receive ground beef for life plus $20 off your first order.

We love our scicomm episodes, because they really dig into the material heart of the conflicts this project tries to understand. What is this information chaos tearing apart public health? How do you push back against it? What does “follow the science” mean to the average voter? And how do we push back against influencers who exploit the difficulties of science and the reasonable fear that erupts when a virus is on the loose? 

One answer is that we produce the best content we can, and our guests today, Drs Andrea Love and Jessica Steier have the chops. Like us, they started the popular “Unbiased Science” podcast during the pandemic in the midst of a tsunami of confusion. Only they come at it from within the sciences: Andrea is an immunologist and biologist who specializes in infectious diseases immunology, cancer immunology, and autoimmunity, while Jessica is a public health scientist who has designed and led multiple COVID-19 related research and science communication projects. This week, they tell Derek why the new COVID boosters are important, discuss the challenges of science communication in an age of misinformation, and confirm that colloidal silver and essential oils are not, in fact, immune boosters.

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On September 19, Matt Christman was hospitalized with, in the words of his colleagues on the podcast Chapo Trap House: “a sudden, severe medical emergency that will require a significant period of recovery.” His wife was scheduled to deliver their first child a few days later. Baby arrived in good health. Christman is as of this moment still hospitalized, but making some progress.

Matthew reflects on the hard left passions and despondent ecstasies of a beloved and sometimes hated dirtbag charismatic—and sends him peace and love in the silence, wherever it leads.

Show Notes

Forward Left: An Interview with Matt Christman of Chapo Trap House - CounterPunch.org

CushVlogs - YouTube  

The Chapo Dilemma – Souciant

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Deep Cut pulls from our bonus episode archive to unearth previous ideas that remain relevant today.

What the hell happened between the Dalai Lama and that Indian boy? The internet served up a raft of painfully inflammatory takes, so I took a month to talk with Tibetologists and review the literature on sexual abuse in Tibetan Buddhist contexts.

This is a deep, tangled dive. Content warnings apply.

Chapters:

Deep Cut Intro Music

Single Origins — Pete Kuzma

Show Notes

Stop Sensationalizing the Dalai Lama's Innocent Interactions | A Tibetan's Perspective

Yin Sun

རྒྱ་གར་མཐོ་སློབ་ཀྱི་བྱིས་པ་ཞིག་གིས་མཇལ་ཁ་ཞུས་པ།

Cardi B on Twitter: This world is full of predators.

The Dalai Lama is clearly pedo inclined. He wrote a statement (in third person) after we posted the clip below.

https://twitter.com/MIAuniverse/status/1645530569042956289

MIA on vaccines, vindication and her visions of Jesus: ‘People fear me for some reason’

Himalayan Community comes out with massive outpour of support for HH the Dalai Lama

https://thewalrus.ca/survivors-of-an-international-buddhist-cult-share-their-stories/

Survivors of an International Buddhist Cult Share Their Stories | The Walrus

‘Abuse of Power’ (1999) | open buddhism

Confessions of Kalu Rinpoche

‘Not The Tibetan Way’: The Dalai Lama’s Realpolitik Concerning Abusive Teachers | open buddhism

Independent: Sexual Abuse Allegations in Tibetan Buddhism

Mind & Life Institute statement on the Dalai Lama

Mongolian child named by Dalai Lama as reincarnation of Buddhism's third most important leader | Daily Mail Online

China: Dalai Lama furore reignites Tibet 'slave' controversy - BBC News

https://www.instagram.com/p/Cq4hDfaLe6d/

https://www.instagram.com/p/Cq_1L77vl2L/

Attune to the Body Cues of the Boy in the Dalai Lama Incident + Open Offer for Counseling to the Boy

https://twitter.com/LizCrokin/status/1645971419447148545

Tibetans Say the Dalai Lama’s ‘Suck My Tongue’ Viral Video Is Being Misinterpreted

Brother Lobsang commentary 

“Eat my Tongue” explanation 

Giaco Orofino commentary 

HH Dalai Lama Archetype of Radical Innocence with Robert Thurman : On The Recent Viral Video

Kazi Adi Shakti's essay 

Holopoiesis

MORAL OUTRAGE PORN C. Thi Nguyen and Bekka Williams

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The market for psychedelics is projected to grow from $2 billion in 2020 to $10.75 billion by 2027—a growth rate that could outpace the legal US cannabis market. Many high-profile investors and celebrities are entering the space, often under the pretense of funding breakthrough mental health interventions.

But…is that the real concern? Microdosing to help depression, anxiety, addiction, or suicidal ideation are all laudable goals. But is that what’s really happening in the psychedelics space?

Derek is joined by Psymposia co-founder, editor, and producer, Brian Normand; medicine, society, and culture research fellow, Neşe Devenot, PhD; and managing editor and harm reduction advocate, David Nickles. This far-reaching discussion about the history and future of psychedelics touches upon numerous aspects of this burgeoning industry.

Show Notes

Psymposia

Church of Psilomethoxin, Part 1: Sacramental Skepticism. Is the Church in Denial?

Right-Wing Psychedelia: Case Studies in Cultural Plasticity and Political Pluripotency

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