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Published on:

29th Aug 2025

Supplementary Material 36: Comedy Cults, Toxic Mould, and WW2 Revisionism

We risk contamination with toxic mould, endure distressing initiation rituals to a comedy cult, and ponder if the narratives we have received about the Nazis have enough nuance.

The full episode is available to Patreon subscribers (2 hours, 21 minutes).

Join us at: https://www.patreon.com/DecodingTheGurus

Supplementary Material 36

00:00 Introduction and an Intervention

01:59 Tomatoes, Holidays, and Hollywood Remakes

06:15 AI x Indulgent People

06:41 AI Chatbots and Delusional Gurus

10:46 Sir Robert Edward Grant and the Architect 

12:26 Critiquing the Critics

13:31 Eric Weinstein engages with Dialogos with his silicon friend Grok

22:25 Tim Nguyen details the Distributed Weinstein Suppression Complex

24:20 Sabine Hossenfelder's Google Doc

27:10 2+2 Discourse and a surprise appearance from Kareem Carr

29:34 Chris's 10 Tips for Sabine

34:39 Coffeezilla does more Anomaly Hunting on Epstein Videos

37:50 Conspiracy Chat

39:58  Ghislaine Maxwell's potential deal 

42:29 Thoughts on the Elephant Graveyard's Video on the Joe Rogan Comedy Cult

49:45 Details vs Vibes

52:46 Rogan's Fact-Checking and Comedian Dynamics

54:54 The Rogan Anti-Human Tech Elite Conspiracy Theory

59:40 Master Geniuses vs. a bunch of dickheads who like the same stuff

01:03:55 Lex Friedman and the Role of Softball Interviews

01:06:28 Conspiracy Theories vs. Real Conspiracies

01:15:51 Overall thoughts on the Elephant Graveyard Video Essay

01:19:18 Ana Kasparian thinks the Jews knew about 9/11

01:22:21 Jordan Peterson's Health and Mould Toxicity

01:24:24 Good Fungus vs Bad Mould

01:26:08 Bespoke Medicine and American Individualism

01:29:57 Streamers saying Stupid Things: Taylor Lorenz on DSA Nazis

01:33:08 Populist anti-vaccine rhetoric in Japan!

01:35:58 Bill Maher and Andrew Huberman discuss the problems with medicine

01:38:40 Chris Rufo and Right Wing Outrage over the Cracker Barrel logo

01:42:31 The War on Christmas in Australia

01:44:35 Jonathan Pageau's revisionist World War II symbolism

01:48:29 Pageau's Postmodern Narratives

02:03:32 Finding the Balance between Nazism and Liberalism

02:14:02 Random Shoutout

02:15:45 Matt's Cognitive Decline and Professor Archetypes

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About the Podcast

Decoding the Gurus
A psychologist and an anthropologist try to make sense of the world's greatest self-declared Gurus.
An exiled Northern Irish anthropologist and a hitchhiking Australian psychologist take a close look at the contemporary crop of 'secular gurus', iconoclasts, and other exiles from the mainstream, offering their own brands of unique takes and special insights.

Leveraging two of the most diverse accents in modern podcasting, Chris and Matt dig deep into the claims, peek behind the psychological curtains, and try to figure out once and for all... What's it all About?

Join us, as we try to puzzle our way through and talk some smart-sounding smack about the intellectual giants of our age, from Jordan Peterson to Robin DiAngelo. Are they revolutionary thinkers or just grifters with delusions of grandeur?

Join us and let's find out!
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About your hosts

Christopher Kavanagh

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A Northern Irish cognitive anthropologist who occasionally moonlights as a social psychologist. Chris has long standing interests in the psychology of conspiracy theorists and pseudoscience. His academic research focuses on the Cognitive Science of Religion and ritual psychology. He lives happily in Japan with his family.

Matthew Browne

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An Australian psychologist and numbers-guy. He does research on all kinds of stuff, but particularly enjoys looking into why people believe the things they do: religion, conspiracy theories, alternative medicine and stuff. He's into social media in the same way people slow down for car accidents.