conspirituality

The Syndicate

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I was listening to the Nonsense Bazaar, one of my favorite podcasts on weird stuff, and one of the hosts discussed the connections between weird metaphysics grifters. He christened this The Syndicate, and I realized how absolutely appropriate it was. I’d like to go into something that is very obvious in the world of spiritual scams – so obvious it’s disturbingly easy to miss.

If you find any grifty religious/spiritual group and pursue it’s origins you often find others like them very quickly. Some online guru is just channeling beings dreamed up by another scam artist, while doing affiliate marketing with a fellow grifter. An exceedingly weird religious group directs you at courses taught by an only slightly less disturbing organization. If you pursue this for any amount of time, it starts to seem very connected.

The podcast Conspirituality noted a whole guru ecosystem, where some new internet influencer will suddenly hook up with other more well-heeled ones. Once you’re in the ecosystem you get to start exchanging audiences, expanding together, and so on. Plus you want to connect with new talent so they don’t steal your audience.

Now do I think this is some kind of conspiracy? No, it’s just networking by people of similar interests, its the influence of ideas, and of course it’s driven by people who see dollar signs and power. You don’t need a conspiracy, so though there may be some tiny conspiracies, good old greed explains plenty of it.

However I think there’s an issue here that The Syndicate also helps give the illusion of truth.

We humans decide things are true not in simple linear fashion – though it may look like it – but by a web of associations. People we trust, classes we took, experiences we had, techniques we learned, all come together to help us evaluate truth. Even something that comes as a revelation only seems so as it rests on a substrate of past experiences.

The Syndicate has people linking back to each other, to past teachings, and to various forms of content. It has people recommending and boosting each other. It is a web of associations that can give the appearance of truth. Even if this is not intentional, if it’s just people helping each other rip others off, it’s “close to truth.”

When it is intentional, it’s pretty damn effective. In the world of spiritual grift it’s also easy – a dash of Theosophy, some alternative medicine, and then some conspiracy theories and you’re good. Team up with a few others and you’re good.

I think this is important to remember. The network of people busily selling you fake spirituality for real money can seem true because of the network. Something that should set off someone’s alarms may, under the right conditions, do the opposite.

(Come to think of it, the way I recommend podcasts, some of which refer to each other, should make you suspicions . . .)

-Xenofact

Games, Culture, and Spiritual Grift

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Spiritual merchandise is quite a world to explore. Stones that supposedly block 5G radiation, pants that circulate Chi energy, assorted crystals that are different from those other crystals, potions with luck vibrations, and so on. Plenty of people are ready to sell you all sorts of made-up solutions to your problems that your major problem will be poverty.

Now I’m not against spiritual merchandise per se, like any good mystic I have my own selection of tools and idols and the like. However some of this market gets grifty, with all sorts of claims, questionable testimonials, and even more questionable practices. There’s more than a few sales pitches dug up from the depths of social media that eevated my blood pressure.

A lot of this merchandise seems to be Conspiritual in nature, promising to sell you secrets hidden by them or to fight their influence. You know, that them. It seems things sell better when you think you’re screwing someone else over by buying it. People also seem to ask less questions when you can battle some conspiracy with a credit card charge.

Looking over all of this, something strikes me – a lot of this spiritual grift-merchandise sounds like something out of a role-playing game.

You know what I’m talking bout, games with treasures like The All-Seeing Sphere of Vormak or The Whirling Axe of The Moon. Games with Potions of Healing and Draughts of Clarity. Those specific treasures with special magical effects you’ve probably seen if not spent hundreds of hours using in various games.

These sound just like these 5G Blocking Crystals and Spell Kits For Invoking Loki At A Discount

And I wonder . . . is that an influence?

I mean by now standard RPG game tropes are pretty far integrated into culture. Dungeons and Dragons is a worldwide phenomena and a surprisingly fun and good movie. Computer games with plenty of lovingly-rendered magic items are available to play. Game tropes have worked their way into assorted fictions.

So now I find myself wondering, is all this grifty merch playing on the fact that we think in terms of magic items?

I really don’t know, but now I wish I had a way to analyze it to see if I was on to something or merely have been playing too many games. So if you have any insights, let me know.

If nothing else we can trade game recommendations . . .

–Xenofact

And A Child Shall Bleed Them

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I keep up on modern cults, conspiracies, and conspirituality. It’s fascinating to me, it’s a way to understand people, and it lets me know who would probably try to kill me and the people I know. It’s a depressing win-win.

Recently, following up on a specific modern cult (that I shall mention later) that had lost it’s leader, I was surprised to find it had two competing child leaders. I assumed that it was a case of people finding two manipulable figureheads to let them seize control of the cult. As I listened to the analysis, I found I was wrong or mostly wrong.

The cult members weree thrilled to have these young people spewing their doctrine back at them. They encouraged them, gave them nicknames, hung on their every word. They were elevating two poor kids that had walked into this mess into leaders, and the open desire of the cultists was painfully obvious. Whoever might be behind the scenes, the cultists were becoming sycophants pretty damn well on their own.

That’s when I realized these people were no different than the various sycophants, we see around techbros, hack authors, politicians, and “mainstream” “religious” leaders.

Some people want a leader so intensely they’ll construct one out of whatever and whoever happens to be around. Someone says what they want to hear, suddenly they’re all ears, boosting their new savior, and donating online. Throw in the social experience of believing with all the other needy people and you have a powerful trap of peer pressure and sunk cost.

Of course the would-be leaders usually play into this – mostly out of greed and delusion I’m sure, but probably too many out of sheer ignorance. A few posts and videos in the right spot and suddenly you’re a Thought Leader, a Spiritual Master, or Leader of a New Revolution. It has to be tempting even for decent people.

As for non-decent people, it has to be not only tempting but easy as hell. Say a few things and people will attribute near (or actual) godhood too you. Get some financial backing from rich lobbyists or delusional wealthy folks, and you can amplify your message more. Once the belief machine gets going, you just have to keep churning out platitudes – and of course directing people at new enemies.

Any child, literally or emotionally, could do it and judging by the state of the world many have.

So now third-generation billionaires with no idea how people’s lives work, drugged out techbros, and internet influencers with no other skills but video editing become leaders of thousands and millions. Sure they may have help, but plenty of people will help them become cult leaders because they want it so bad.

Child or manchild, there’s not much difference when people want to surrender to a leader so bad. It also helps us ask when we might surrender our free will easier than we’d think.

– Xenofact

I avoided mentioning the podcast, but it was a look at a gematria cult done by the lead podcaster of PokerPolitics/Adventures in HellWqrld. https://www.patreon.com/posts/hellwqrld-48-88061916