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PODCAST

Conspirituality

Derek Beres, Matthew Remski, Julian Walker

Dismantling New Age cults, wellness grifters, and conspiracy-mad yogis. At best, the conspirituality movement attacks public health efforts in times of crisis. At worst, it fronts and recruits for the fever-dream of QAnon. As the alt-right and New Age horseshoe toward each other in a blur of disinformation, clear discourse, and good intentions get smothered. Charismatic influencers exploit their followers by co-opting conspiracy theories on a spectrum of intensity ranging from vaccines to child

society & culture philosophy

All Episodes

37:39

Brief: Antifascist Christianity: Bonhoeffer (Pt 1)

Conspirituality ·

2025/08/30

Matthew recounts the story of a young, hoity-toity soft-nationalist German theologian named Dietrich Bonhoeffer who discovered the radical soul of antifascism by hanging out in a Black Baptist church in Harlem in 1930. He came to the US believing in the white Jesus of European empire, but left enthralled by the Black Jesus of the oppressed. Back in Germany, he played 78s of spirituals and gospel tunes for the students of his illegal seminaries as he and other members of the Confessing Church issued

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58:36

272: Jillian Michaels is the Biggest Loser

Conspirituality ·

2025/08/28

The unavoidable question of the week: why is Jillian Michaels on CNN commenting on slavery, exactly? As it turns out, Netflix provides the answer. The three-part docuseries, Fit for TV: The Reality of the Biggest Loser, creeps behind the scenes of this uber-popular and uber-disturbing reality show that weirdly promoted fat-shaming while simultaneously pretending to alleviate it. As we’ll discuss today, we can’t shake the feeling that the biggest loser from this entire mess is all of us. Show

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6:09

Bonus Sample: The Beatles’ Billionaire Yogi

Conspirituality ·

2025/08/25

Levitation, world peace, and blissful enlightenment were all essential to the hippie counterculture. But it came at quite a price. Maharishi Mahesh Yogi made billions selling magical mantras and the promise of perfect happiness. Most well-known for being endorsed by the Beatles and David Lynch, he was also feted by world leaders and prestigious universities. The true story behind this 5’1” marketing genius is complex and layered: illicit sex, paranormal promises, alternative medicine, palatial

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37:44

Brief: Ground Zero Grifting

Conspirituality ·

2025/08/23

Plandemic creator Mikki Willis recently hosted an hour-long webinar to promote his supplements company. Marketed as a storytelling hour to share the power of immunity and god with their followers, the conversation went off the rails. Derek and Julian tune in and discuss.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

en

61:50

271: The Miseducation of PragerU

Conspirituality ·

2025/08/21

The right has waged a war on “woke” Sesame Street for generations. When the party passed the 2025 Recissions Act, they were finally able to take a significant field advantage in this battle—one which Big Bird and Mr Snuffleupagus never wanted to be in. That bill stripped $1.1 billion from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, greatly damaging NPR, PBS, and mostly their member stations. The CPB announced it will have to close in January 2026. What will take its place? Well, the right has a plan

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5:53

Bonus Sample: The Naturopaths Are At It Again

Conspirituality ·

2025/08/18

In preparation for this Thursday's episode on PragerU, Derek looks at one of the propaganda organization's videos featuring naturopathic practitioner, Joseph Pizzorno. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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34:59

Brief: Olympics for Dopers

Conspirituality ·

2025/08/16

The Enhanced Games promises to display the "true potential" of athletes by letting them use any sort of performance enhancement drugs available when it launches in Las Vegas in 2026. Yet why would a group of Silicon Valley billionaires and venture capitalists with no interest in sports be behind it? Likely because it's all a supplements grift, as Derek and Julian discuss.Show Notes The Definitive, Insane, Swimsuit-Bursting Story of the Steroid Olympics Joe Rogan Experience #2166 - Enhanced

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59:41

270: Kennedy's Bloodbath

Conspirituality ·

2025/08/14

The implications of awarding Robert F Kennedy, Jr with a position he’s completely unqualified for are becoming clearer by the day. While he’s made numerous egregious and dangerous moves as Secretary of HHS, canceling nearly $500 million of mRNA research grants is one of the most startling and shortsighted to date. Today we look at both the microcosm and macrocosm of such a move. Show Notes Kennedy Cancels Nearly $500 Million in mRNA Vaccine Contracts RFK Jr. slashed mRNA vaccine development

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5:22

Bonus Sample: Nair, Mamdani, and Culture against the...

Conspirituality ·

2025/08/11

Well, I seem to always be inspired by the person who is considered marginal. Firstly, their spirit of survival, their resilience, their lack of self-pity, the ability usually to laugh in the face of having nothing and to create a kind of sense of flamboyance and life at any cost, despite having you know no resources of any kind that are visible. That's what inspires me and I think in making portraits of the so-called outsiders, I'm also then allowed to question what is that society that deems us an

en

43:05

Brief: Nair, Mamdani, and Culture against the Culture...

Conspirituality ·

2025/08/09

Well, I seem to always be inspired by the person who is considered marginal. Firstly, their spirit of survival, their resilience, their lack of self-pity, the ability usually to laugh in the face of having nothing and to create a kind of sense of flamboyance and life at any cost, despite having you know no resources of any kind that are visible. That's what inspires me and I think in making portraits of the so-called outsiders, I'm also then allowed to question what is that society that deems us an

en

62:29

269: The Book of Gwyneth

Conspirituality ·

2025/08/07

In her new biography of Gwyneth Paltrow, Amy Odell calls Goop “a powerful platform for spreading health misinformation.” So many topics Goop has covered favorably—yoni eggs, coffee enemas, celery juice—have been scrutinized on our podcast. Rolling off her successful biography of Anna Wintour, Odell decided to train her sight on the “It girl” of the nineties who pivoted to a lucrative but contentious wellness business that laid the groundwork for the influencer aesthetic. She joins Derek to discuss

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6:03

Bonus Sample: The '80s Zen Master Con Man

Conspirituality ·

2025/08/04

Everything about Zen Master Rama was fake—except for the piles of money he made. His black belt in paranormal martial arts, three past lives as a Buddhist teacher, 31 meditation albums he claimed to compose in other dimensions, multiple computer software companies, and a bestseller based on being a “world-class snowboarder” were all smoke and mirrors. He had no training or talent in any of these areas. He was an expert con man, however. The man wore Versace suits and Rolex watches, bought

en

23:21

Brief: DJ Khaled of Pseudoscience

Conspirituality ·

2025/08/02

Strange billboards have been popping up all over Los Angeles featuring disgraced Theranos founder, Elizabeth Holmes, and an unidentified man listing a new URL—one that redirects to the Theranos website. Against all odds, the brand is back, with a wellness twist, as the new founder is directly courting MAHA. Derek and Julian dive in. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

en

74:18

268: Rogan’s Christian President

Conspirituality ·

2025/07/31

We catch up on three figures this week. First is Bari Weiss, who's trying to sell her upstart media org, The Free Press, to Skydance for a reported $250 million, just days after the network's merger with Paramount was approved and they said bye-bye to Stephen Colbert. Then we talk about RFK Jr's continued dismantling of our public health system, as well as an interesting lawsuit filed by the very nonprofit he founded. Finally, we look into Texas state representative and Presbyterian

en

5:58

Bonus Sample: "Natural" Snake Oil?

Conspirituality ·

2025/07/28

MAHA hates petroleum-based food dyes. Yet, as Derek unpacks, many of the main influencers in this movement monetize products synthesized by the same exact chemical process.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

en

39:17

Brief: Mehdi Hasan vs Jordan Peterson

Conspirituality ·

2025/07/26

Mehdi Hasan's recent Jubilee appearance has blown up—and so has criticism of the entire media operation. Derek and Julian discuss the value and pitfalls of this format, contrasting the far-right participants sitting across from Hasan from another recent episode, when atheists went to battle with Jordan Peterson.Show Notes 1 Progressive vs 20 Far-Right Conservatives (ft. Mehdi Hasan) Jordan Peterson vs 20 Atheists Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

en

62:51

267: Epstein Never Died

Conspirituality ·

2025/07/24

Jeffrey Epstein’s name is being screamed into the headlines again. The late and former self-described best-friend of Donald Trump's highly suspicious 2019 death following his arrest for child sex trafficking has been a loose thread for both rabid conspiracists and the reality-based community. Now that prominent conspiracy personalities are in the highest positions in America's law enforcement agencies, the QAnon faithful have been expecting all the damning details about the Democrat cabal to

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5:23

Bonus Sample: Galloway and the Mooch: The Lost Boys...

Conspirituality ·

2025/07/21

On the horizon: a new liberal-center manosphere, yearning to reach out to the young men poached by Trumpism, but offering what, exactly? Professor Scott Galloway and Anthony Scaramucci are earnest and charming in their way, and they have Trump’s number. But with their new project, Lost Boys podcast, they’re stuck in a paradox. They know enough to admit that the capitalist logic that made them both multi-millionaires is fickle, cruel, and misogynist. They know it’s beating up everyone, including

en

46:13

Brief: Galloway and the Mooch: The Lost Boys of...

Conspirituality ·

2025/07/19

On the horizon: a new liberal-center manosphere, yearning to reach out to the young men poached by Trumpism, but offering what, exactly? Professor Scott Galloway and Anthony Scaramucci are earnest and charming in their way, and they have Trump’s number. But with their new project, Lost Boys podcast, they’re stuck in a paradox. They know enough to admit that the capitalist logic that made them both multi-millionaires is fickle, cruel, and misogynist. They know it’s beating up everyone, including

en

79:09

266: Jubilee’s Body Image Debates

Conspirituality ·

2025/07/17

Body image is a phenomenon that has long simmered below the surface of the wellness industry. We’ve spent years covering the hard and soft eugenics that inform so many physical and spiritual practices, and how the notion of an ideal self persists and, as we get into today, grown in the online world. Just as shaming and skewed body perceptions proliferate in the comments sections and fitfluencer podcast world, so have opportunities for meaningful conversations. One such venue is the wildly popular

en

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