317: Jordan Peterson vs the Nuns
Jordan Peterson is back. After a hiatus due to a, well, a whole lot of problems, he’s up for regular posting on his social media channels. We’re going to take a look at what’s happened over the last year or so of his absence, followed by his influence in the so-called manosphere podcast world. Then Matthew will offer a different perspective on podcasting that’s making waves: the Dominican Sisters Open Mic.
Brief: Cult Within a Church Does a Schism
Matthew traces SSPX's origins through Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre's formation in the shadow of Action Française's antisemitic integralism, his fight against Vatican II, and the movement's namesake, Pope Pius X's anti-Modernist crusade.
316: The War on Science
With so much emphasis on global politics and the World Cup in recent weeks, we’re going to focus on the somewhat quieter but intensely important bureaucratic dismantling of expertise occurring in health and science.
Book Club: America, USA
Derek discusses touch points from Eddie Glaude Jr’s America, U.S.A.: How Race Shadows the Nation's Anniversaries, with a slight diversion into the surging online activism that purports to be about justice for all yet time and again refuses to acknowledge race as a foundation of our distress.
315: Lifestyles of the Rich and Optimized
What happens when a wellness event is hosted in an expensive resort town on the French Riviera and features top-tier celebrities like Oprah Winfrey speaking to guests who paid thousands of dollars to attend? Does wellness really remain “for everyone?”
Brief: Tulsi Gabbard & the Cult Leaders in the News
This is the story of how these two cult operators are influencing minds across the pond.
314: JD Vance Rebrands as Church Dad for Prez
With Communion: Finding my Way back to Faith, JD Vance plays the same narcissistic trick: turning his lifelong journey through rightwing American Christianity—with a short and shameful detour into New Atheism—to land in the Catholic faith of Leonard Leo, sketching out a redemption plan for every bro seeking their way home.
Brief: Conspirituality Viewed Through Neofeudalism and Vectoralism
Matthew applies three interlocking frameworks to the conspirituality phenomenon—and to the podcast itself.
313: The Resurrection of JP Sears
JP Sears is one of the very first people we covered on this podcast six years ago, and was one of the influencers we featured in our 2023 book about the wellness-to-right-wing radicalization pipeline. Turns out he’s turned again, this time into a flavor of Christian nationalism with an antisemitic bend.
Book Club: Food Intelligence
In the first edition of the Conspirituality Book Club, Derek dives into Food Intelligence: The Science of How Food Both Nourishes and Harms Us by Julia Belluz and Kevin Hall, PhD.
312: The Next Plague
We look at candidates for the next plague, how unprepared the government is, and, in classic Conspirituality fashion, the wellness influencers selling products they just know will help your immune system stave off any little virus destined to become a plandemic.
Brief: Collapse at the FDA
The FDA is bleeding out Covid contrarians. Marty Makary, Vinay Prasad, Tracy Beth Høeg—all gone. Jonathan Howard returns to discuss why so many RFK Jr's friends have reached the end of their bureaucratic road.
311: AI, Pope Leo, & The Antichrist
Leo the XIV wrote a big letter about a hyperobject. Many thoughts and debates are triggered. Today we’ll look at what the hell an encyclical is, the Vatican's decade-long conversation with Silicon Valley about coding morally-sound AI, and the broken and laundered echoes of Liberation Theology in Leo’s text.
Brief: My Neighbourhood Data Center Conspiracy
Matthew investigates the under-construction STACK data centre at 3650 Danforth Avenue in Scarborough, two miles from his home, tracing what he finds through concentric circles of capital, neglect, hype, and deception.
310: The Bait & Switch Complex
We look at three modern bait and switches pertinent to our beat. First, Julian looks at “free speech patriot” Chud the Builder’s slimy social media tactics. Then Derek investigates RFK Jr’s SNAP benefits now you see them, now you don’t. Finally, Matthew looks at how Mark Carney is bait and switching the Canadian political body.
Brief: Living with Prediabetes
In February, Derek and his wife, Callan, were surprised to discover she was diagnosed with prediabetes. They didn't know that Asian American adults are at a higher risk of Type 2 diabetes than others without the traditional risk factors. Callan joins to discuss how the diagnosis changed her life, her frustrations with the healthcare system, and how she's navigating her new reality.
309: Crybully Christians in the White House
The Trump DOJ's 565-page report from the Task Force for Eradicating Anti-Christian Bias is one of the strangest federal documents in American history. It’s a crybully tome, arguing that the most powerful religious majority in the United States is its most persecuted minority.
Brief: Spirituality After Atheism?
Britt Hartley joins Julian to talk about her new book, No Nonsense Spirituality: All The Tools No Belief Required, and her recent run-in with the hardcore atheist community, which calls her work “nonsense.”
308: The AI Slop Machine is Worse Than You Think [feat Mallory DeMille]
Mallory DeMille leads us down a rabbit hole to uncover who’s behind the growing trend of AI wellness slopfluencer content.
Brief: Antifascist Dad (Audiobook Excerpt)
Matthew reads the Introduction from Antifascist Dad: Urgent Conversations with Young People in Chaotic Times.