Podcast Episodes

152: Tulsi Gabbard’s Krishna Consciousness (w/Nitai Joseph)

What does it mean for a prominent American politician to come into power as the sleeper cell of an eccentric Hindu-American cult? Does she act indepe…

2 years, 10 months ago

Bonus Sample: Reimagining the Apocalypse

Apocalyptic language is everywhere: in the marketing copy of wellness influencers and pseudo-documentary makers selling spike protein detoxes and vac…

2 years, 10 months ago

151: Satan Wants You Watch Party (Spoilers)

How, in the name of the Holy Virgin Mary, did Michelle Remembers—the book that started the Satanic Panic—come to be written? Who was Lawrence Pazder …

2 years, 10 months ago

Bonus Sample: Framing George Soros

FOX News says he wants to destroy America. Candace Owens is scared to speak his name out loud. Mikki Willis is making a film about his assault on the…

2 years, 10 months ago

Brief: Unmasking Liana Shanti (w/Jennings Brown)

Jennings Brown is becoming the Dr. Who of cult journalism. Every few years he pops up on a very different planet in the cultiverse, and tries to repa…

2 years, 10 months ago

150: Spiritual Influencer Theory

Julian and Matthew go big-picture in this tour through all the elements that construct and drive spiritual Influencers.

At the center of the parasocia…

2 years, 10 months ago

Bonus Sample: From Rabbit Hole to Research (w/Jaigris Hodson)

Our Listener Story this week comes from Dr. Jaigris Hodson, Associate Professor and Canada Research Chair for Digital Communication for the Public In…

2 years, 11 months ago

Brief: The Promises & (Mostly) Perils of Ketamine Therapy

Though not specifically a psychedelic — ketamine is a dissociative anesthetic — ketamine therapy is being touted as a depression treatment and, for s…

2 years, 11 months ago

149: Spiritual Heartbreak

“I would pursue transcendence and live with its inevitable close cousins, disappointment and heartbreak, for most of my life.” So writes “Steven” (no…

2 years, 11 months ago

Bonus Sample: JP Sears’s Woke CBD Grift

JP Sears is selling CBD. His new company, Awaken, recently sent out a marketing email extolling the benefits of CBD. Derek looks at the science behin…

2 years, 11 months ago