The Podcaster's Guide to the Conspiracy
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In the sequel to last week's episode, we look at Part II of Michael Shermer's book "". This part is all about determining which conspiracies are real - judging them, if you will. So the title works - it's not just a gratuitous pop culture reference! Not that there's anything wrong with a gratuitous pop culture reference.
Josh and M review part 1 (of 3) of Michael Shermer's 2022 book, "
We're back and in the same physical location for ONE WEEK ONLY, so the only sensible thing to do is talk about a spy book from the 1980s. What was "Spycatcher"? What secrets did it contain? How did it manage to leave Margaret Thatcher "shattered"? Was that a typo and she meant "sharted"? Sorry, we didn't get enough juvenile humour into the episode and it has to go somewhere.
Josh and M return to the internet airwaves for a little catch-up on news during the podcast's hiatus, as well as some updates on the podcast's near future...
Josh and M end 2023 like they ended previous years: with a year in review! — You can contact us at: podcastconspiracy@gmail.com Why not support The Podcaster's Guide to the Conspiracy by donating to our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/podcastersguidetotheconspiracy or Podbean crowdfunding? http://www.podbean.com/patron/crowdfund/profile/id/muv5b-79
Fact, damn it, facts! Give us cold hard facts! Beautiful, comforting numbers to make sense of the world we live in! Wouldn't you know it, the surveys in Joe Uscinski's “Have beliefs in conspiracy theories increased over time?” give us exactly that - let's rifle through them and see what conspiracy theories are believed the most, and which (if any) have seen belief in them rise in recent times. — You can contact us at: podcastconspiracy@gmail.com Why not support The Podcaster's Guide to the Conspiracy by donating to our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/podcastersguidetotheconspiracy or Podbean crowdfunding? http://www.podbean.com/patron/crowdfund/profile/id/muv5b-79
Josh and M re-revisit the suppressed technologies of Nicola Tesla. — You can contact us at: podcastconspiracy@gmail.com Why not support The Podcaster's Guide to the Conspiracy by donating to our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/podcastersguidetotheconspiracy or Podbean crowdfunding? http://www.podbean.com/patron/crowdfund/profile/id/muv5b-79
But enough grave dancing - here's a quick episode from Josh, as it turns out neither of us are in a state to be recording a full episode this week. Instead, let's see what Bulgarian mystic Baba Vanga has in store for us in 2024, despite having died in 1996.
A momentary reflection and shaking of the booty over the death of infamous war criminal, Henry Kissinger.
Friend! Do you have a conspiracy-themed podcast that needs a new episode but you just can't even right now? Why not go find out what Alex Jones and David Icke are saying on their respective websites and then comment on it? It's like the content is already created for you! Plus you get to talk about gay furry hackers. — You can contact us at: podcastconspiracy@gmail.com Why not support The Podcaster's Guide to the Conspiracy by donating to our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/podcastersguidetotheconspiracy or Podbean crowdfunding? http://www.podbean.com/patron/crowdfund/profile/id/muv5b-79
Josh and M review Michael Barkun's 2016 “Conspiracy Theories as Stigmatized Knowledge” as published in Diogenes. — You can contact us at: podcastconspiracy@gmail.com Why not support The Podcaster's Guide to the Conspiracy by donating to our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/podcastersguidetotheconspiracy or Podbean crowdfunding? http://www.podbean.com/patron/crowdfund/profile/id/muv5b-79
We're looking back at the history of attempts to rewrite the history of Aotearoa, in this case by making claims that Maori are not its indigenous people (and then making conspiracy theories to explain why this isn't widely accepted). Along the way we discuss local birdlife - without making reference to John Oliver - and use the phrase "pubic thatching". — You can contact us at: podcastconspiracy@gmail.com Why not support The Podcaster's Guide to the Conspiracy by donating to our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/podcastersguidetotheconspiracy or Podbean crowdfunding? http://www.podbean.com/patron/crowdfund/profile/id/muv5b-79
Josh and M talk cartels, lightbulbs, and lightbulb cartels! — You can contact us at: podcastconspiracy@gmail.com Why not support The Podcaster's Guide to the Conspiracy by donating to our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/podcastersguidetotheconspiracy or Podbean crowdfunding? http://www.podbean.com/patron/crowdfund/profile/id/muv5b-79
Time for some psychological experimentation, as we look at Michael J. Wood's Some Dare Call It Conspiracy: Labeling Something a Conspiracy Theory Does Not Reduce Belief in It. In addition, Josh eats his dinner over the course of the entire recording and refuses to edit out any of his slurping and chewing sounds - you could see this as an intense lack of professionalism, but we prefer to think of it as some extra ASMR, free of charge. We're so good to you. — You can contact us at: podcastconspiracy@gmail.com Why not support The Podcaster's Guide to the Conspiracy by donating to our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/podcastersguidetotheconspiracy or Podbean crowdfunding? http://www.podbean.com/patron/crowdfund/profile/id/muv5b-79
After a brief hiatus, M and Josh join together once more, this time to talk about the New Zealand General Election of 2023. — You can contact us at: podcastconspiracy@gmail.com Why not support The Podcaster's Guide to the Conspiracy by donating to our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/podcastersguidetotheconspiracy or Podbean crowdfunding? http://www.podbean.com/patron/crowdfund/profile/id/muv5b-79
M is unwell, so Josh takes you through the story of the Pentagon Papers, the original "thing-starting-with-P Papers". As far as we know. — You can contact us at: podcastconspiracy@gmail.com Why not support The Podcaster's Guide to the Conspiracy by donating to our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/podcastersguidetotheconspiracy or Podbean crowdfunding? http://www.podbean.com/patron/crowdfund/profile/id/muv5b-79
After last week's episode - which totally exists and was awesome, you guys - we dial things down a notch with a look a recent paper of M's, where they survey some works, outline some methodologies, tabulate some results - are we sure this is a philosophy paper? Apparently it is. We also talk about robot lifeguards, obviously. — You can contact us at: podcastconspiracy@gmail.com Why not support The Podcaster's Guide to the Conspiracy by donating to our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/podcastersguidetotheconspiracy or Podbean crowdfunding? http://www.podbean.com/patron/crowdfund/profile/id/muv5b-79
The rumoured outbreak of Ebola at this year's Burning Man is all the excuse M and Josh need to take a look at our old episodes about Ebola conspiracy theories, and infectious disease conspiracy theories in general. Who remembers Zika? — You can contact us at: podcastconspiracy@gmail.com Why not support The Podcaster's Guide to the Conspiracy by donating to our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/podcastersguidetotheconspiracy or Podbean crowdfunding? http://www.podbean.com/patron/crowdfund/profile/id/muv5b-79
Josh and M look at “The Emergence of Conspirituality” by Charlotte Ward & Prof. David Voas, the prequel to a paper of Dean Ballinger's (RIP) that we looked at last year. — You can contact us at: podcastconspiracy@gmail.com Why not support The Podcaster's Guide to the Conspiracy by donating to our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/podcastersguidetotheconspiracy or Podbean crowdfunding? http://www.podbean.com/patron/crowdfund/profile/id/muv5b-79
Since M is en route to China (did we mention that M is going back to China?), Josh supplies a story of mass food poisoning in Spain with conflicting explanations. Listen as he tries to pronounce the word "epidemiological" repeatedly while his children do the dishes in the noisiest way possible in the background!
The funeral is for the death of that intro, which came well after it should have. M and Josh talk about politicians foreign and domestic, while wrestling with lapel mics - literally going by some of the noise.
Josh and M discuss not one, not two, not three but four of the F. Kennedy clan. — You can contact us at: podcastconspiracy@gmail.com Why not support The Podcaster's Guide to the Conspiracy by donating to our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/podcastersguidetotheconspiracy or Podbean crowdfunding? http://www.podbean.com/patron/crowdfund/profile/id/muv5b-79
Due to miscommunication the previous bonus episode we said would be free for all, never got released. Missing in the archives for over two weeks, we are proud to bring you this missing bonus episode of the Podcaster's Guide to the Conspiracy, completely unedited!
It's another free patron bonus episode (largely because we realised there was some Patreon admin/fallout we failed to mention in the main episode)!
Having sucked the philosophical literature dry (for now), M gets some anthropology into the mix, by having Josh read through the 2011 paper “Conspiracy theories and their truth trajectories” by Mathijs Pelkmans and Rhys Machold. It's a gripping read - so much so that even Siri can't resist butting in at one point. Or is it because M is a wizard? They do dress like one - the signs were all there! — You can contact us at: podcastconspiracy@gmail.com Why not support The Podcaster's Guide to the Conspiracy by donating to our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/podcastersguidetotheconspiracy or Podbean crowdfunding? http://www.podbean.com/patron/crowdfund/profile/id/muv5b-79
M interviews Patrick Brooks, author of the forthcoming paper "On the origins of conspiracy theories" (Philosophical Studies: https://philpapers.org/rec/BROOTO-6). — You can contact us at: podcastconspiracy@gmail.com Why not support The Podcaster's Guide to the Conspiracy by donating to our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/podcastersguidetotheconspiracy or Podbean crowdfunding? http://www.podbean.com/patron/crowdfund/profile/id/muv5b-79
Josh and M revisit episode 28 (and a few others) to (re)investigate cases where someone got it right about a conspiracy, only to then go on to have a career where they seem to always get it wrong... — You can contact us at: podcastconspiracy@gmail.com Why not support The Podcaster's Guide to the Conspiracy by donating to our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/podcastersguidetotheconspiracy or Podbean crowdfunding? http://www.podbean.com/patron/crowdfund/profile/id/muv5b-79
M chats with Will Mittendorf about his paper at the 2nd International Conference of the Philosophy of Conspiracy Theories, which concerns racist and anti-racist conspiracy theories. — You can contact us at: podcastconspiracy@gmail.com Why not support The Podcaster's Guide to the Conspiracy by donating to our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/podcastersguidetotheconspiracy or Podbean crowdfunding? http://www.podbean.com/patron/crowdfund/profile/id/muv5b-79
Inspired by Steve Clarke's talk "When Conspiracy Theorists Win", M and Josh introduce an unsuspecting Georgia to the unpleasant tale of the Mountain Meadows Massacre - if she's lucky, she'll live to regret it. Alternate titles for this episode include "When Mormons Attack!", "Transmormons: Mormons in Disguise" and "That's Too Much Strychnine!" — You can contact us at: podcastconspiracy@gmail.com Why not support The Podcaster's Guide to the Conspiracy by donating to our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/podcastersguidetotheconspiracy or Podbean crowdfunding? http://www.podbean.com/patron/crowdfund/profile/id/muv5b-79
