Of course we had to cover Alex Jones's banishment from social media. Over the last few weeks, the conspiratorial chickens of Alex Jones's InfoWars have come home to roost. Jones, in one swell foop was banned from Apple Podcasts, YouTube, Facebook, Stitcher, and apparently even pornography channels. Joining the show today is our resident conspiracy enthusiast, Jordan Poss, veteran of these types of Sectarian Review episodes. Jordan and Danny discuss the background of the controversy and explore why they are so uncomfortable with Jones's fate. Jordan brings a conservative perspective, while Danny relies on a leftist critique of the banishment, but both end up drawing the same conclusions: how comfortable are we letting markets decide who has a platform? All this and much more.
Links: ACLU Warns Against Worrisome Alex Jones Ban ​Facebook Can't Be 'Ministry of Truth' Twitter Decides to Help Alex Jones Spread Lies The requisite "Vox Explains Everything" article When the Content Police Came for the Babylon Bee
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In the third installment of our "Keywords" series with C. Derick Varn, we focus on a single term with a long and diabolical history: Cultural Marxism. The theory that truth-denying, postmodern Marxists are seeking to undermine society has been around for a while and most recently has been popularized by such intellectual luminaries as Jordan Peterson. What many people don't know, however, is the deeply anti-Semitic roots of this conspiracy theory. What are the historical roots of the term? How was a marginal conspiracy theory mainstreamed by people like Pat Buchanan? Why are conspiracy theories more prevalent on the right than the left? All this and more!
**UPDATE: Varn wishes to make the following correction: "I made one error in this, I got Horkheimer and Axel Honneth confused on ethnic background. Horkheimer was Jewish and Honneth isn't as far as I know." Link: Diet Soap Podcast. Doug Lain interviews Mark Fisher 
Jumping back into the world of conspiracy theory, this episode of the show finds Danny and Coyle Neal discussing a book called Sacred Scroll of Seven Seals, by the pseudonomous author, Judah (link below). The book has a rock-hard prophetic Christian worldview (very reminiscent of "Rock Music Seminars" and End Times preachers. It constructs an all-encompassing theory of history as a Satanic plot by elites (called "The Order" here) to control and manipulate God's natural creation and order. The book shares much with secular conspiracy theory, but twists common conspiracy tropes into a peculiar religious box. The show explores the patterns of conspiratorial thinking as well as its connection to a prophecy-driven approach to Biblical exegesis. In what ways do prophecy-minded people share a conspiratorial style? Aren't we all susceptible to this type of thinking?
Danny's four qualities of the Conspiratorial Style: 1. Conspiracy as an instrumental reading of current or historical events. 2. Obscuratism in style (an insider's Gnosticism) 3. Research with an "outward trajectory." Rather than seeing a thing as in and of itself, the conspiracist will point outward to broader, global connections. 4. A twisting of logic and fact to suit an a priori conclusion. Links: Sacred Scroll of Seven Seals Subscribe to the show on iTunes and leave us a nice review. Also, join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.  Danny Anderson, Jordan Poss, and Jay Eldred discuss the complicated, sometimes appalling legacy of Jack Chick and his "Chick Tracts." What theological tradition do these comic books participate in? Where do they go off the rails? Is there anything laudable about Jack Chick's bleak theology? Special Treat: hang around for about the 1 hour 45 minute point to hear Danny's impromptu Alex Jones imitation!
Main Links: Chick Tract Evangelism on YouTube "The Imp" Chick Tract Parody LA Magazine Retrospective Jack Chick 'Official' Biography from Chick.Com "The Wiles of the Devil" by Charles Fuller "Meet Jack Chick," by Jimmy Akin https://www.catholic.com/magazine/print-edition/meet-jack-chick "The Death Cookie" http://www.chick.com/reading/tracts/0074/0074_01.asp "Dark Dungeons" https://www.chick.com/reading/tracts/0046/0046_01.asp "Somebody Loves Me" https://www.chick.com/reading/tracts/0006/0006_01.asp MST3K style parody of "DD" https://www.fecundity.com/darkdung/darkdung.php?page=1 In addition, this episode introduces the first of an occasional new segment for the show: "Spider-Web Christianity" (provisional title). In these brief segments, we explore institutions that structure Christian Culture. What are the networks that drive Christian thought and conversation? To start us off, Danny talks about the publicity company Grace Hill Media. Spider-Web Links: Grace Hill Media website "Disney Sells Faith Side of Mira Nair's 'Queen of Katwe' with Whispers, Not Shouts" "Secular Hollywood Quietly Courts the Faithful" "The Secret Christian Message in This Weekend's Highly-Anticipated Horror Film"  Join in for a two-part series that is both depressing and fun. Danny Anderson is joined once again by Jordan Poss for a discussion about conspiracy theories. Jordan’s expertise in history provides an illuminating (not illuminati) framework and taxonomy for a great discussion about conspiracies past and present. From Nero to 9/11 Trutherism, conspiracy theorists have always been with us. What can we ignorant sheeple learn from our enlightened brethren as we seek to understand the paranoid style of the conspiratorial mind?
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