FAQs & Newbie Orientation (Updated February 24!)
“Why are you so critical of conspiracy theories?” Conspiracy theories have always been tools of reactionary violence, even when they initially appear to be aimed at actual oppressors. They've always targeted vulnerable minorities and oppressed people.
Fun fact: Most conspiracy theories are derived from The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion, (a known hoax created to demonize Jews and blame them for the world's problems while justifying a return to monarchy), early modern witch panic and blood libel, or The Two Babylons (a book that uses Bat Deduction to try and "prove" that the Catholic Church is secretly a Babylonian mystery religion). BTW, I recommend Justin Sledge's video on the Satanic Panic.
"Is so-and-so spreading conspiracy theories?" Go check out my resources on the history, tropes, and behaviors of conspiracy theories. If you are sufficiently educated, it should be pretty easy to figure it out for yourself.
"How do I fight conspiracy theories?" Go check out the resources provided on this post. And while you're at it, reblog both it and the post I just linked above.
"What do you think of Project Monarch/alter programming/trauma-based mind control?" The alleged practice of putting people through brutal torture to create alters and functionally turn them into Manchurian agents is a far right conspiracy theory rooted in Cold War fearmongering over alleged communist brainwashing. Its mythology is constructed from old witch panic tropes and old antisemitic tropes, and there is not a shred of real evidence to support its actual existence. To learn more about how we know this, see my masterpost here.
“What do you mean when you say ‘New Age’?” I specifically mean forms of spirituality that revolve around the idea that the Earth is about to enter an actual new age, commonly referred to as the Age of Aquarius, Fifth Density, or Fifth Round. That's literally what the term "New Age" refers to.
“Why are you so critical of New Age and starseeds?” Short answer? It's a belief system built on white colonialism, Orientalism, eugenics, and hateful conspiracy theories. Always has been.
Longer answers: A brief introduction to New Age spirituality (and some of the things wrong with it) New Age beliefs that derive from racist pseudoscience A quick intro to starseeds Various ways the New Age movement is shitty The New Age concept of ascension - what is it? Why New Age is thinly-veiled antisemitism/nazism The Shared Origins of Reptilian & Ritual Abuse Conspiracy Theories Starseeds: Nazis in Space? (Not my article) What is the New Age to Alt Right pipeline, and how do you stay out of it? How the mythology of starseeds, indigo children, crystal children, rainbow children, etc. harms kids
I also recommend checking out the #new age to alt right pipeline and #spiritual eugenics tags.
Now, I don't think everything associated with New Age is bad simply because it's associated with New Age. Many practices are harmless in and of themselves - the problem is the conspiratorial, morally polarized framework they're practiced in. For more info, see Some things associated with New Age that aren't inherently bad.
”What do you think of reincarnation, in general?” I don't think it's inherently harmful to think reincarnation might be a thing. But if you think you can know for sure who you were in a past life, believe that you have special knowledge or wisdom, believe you're entitled to appropriate and misrepresent other people's cultures, or tie your belief in past lives in with a conspiracist worldview, that's a problem. (Starseeds do all of these.)
“What if I’m alienkin, or I believe my soul comes from another planet?” Nothing wrong with being alienkin! But before assuming you must have a past life, consider whether your feelings of alienation might be related to autism and/or ADHD. And remember that the techniques people use to try and find past life memories are known to generate false ones.
“What if I want to call myself a starseed, though?” The starseed movement is a sugarcoated hate movement. You can't reclaim this word. “Why are you so critical of ancient aliens?” See Spencer McDaniel’s excellent post.
“But aren’t starseeds part of ancient traditional beliefs?” Literally no one has been able to produce a single scrap of evidence that anything like the New Age concept of starseeds existed before the Victorian period. However, New Agers are well-known for bullshitting about the age and origins of their beliefs. If you’re going to assert that starseeds are genuinely part of some ancient tradition, you need to provide some real evidence.
“Do you think it’s wrong to believe in alien life?” No, I just think it’s important to be critical of what you believe about it, and why you believe it. If you believe in aliens, question your assumptions about them. What are you projecting onto them? Why are you projecting that? Is that projection a bit self-centered, whether positively or negatively?
"But isn’t there a bunch of evidence for this stuff?” 'Fraid not. All of it's either fabricated (EG, the aforementioned Protocols), taken out of context (EG, the Dendera “light”), extremely subjective (EG, someone’s mystical experience), based on absurd standards of what constitutes "evidence" (being a depressed teen who liked heavy metal and D&D was taken as a sure sign being involved in a satanic cult in the 80's and 90's), or produced through flawed methods (EG, so-called recovered memory therapy), or questioning vulnerable people until the interviewers or psychologists finally got what they wanted to hear. (If you want to get an idea of just how much of a mess this was, and just how unethical and irresponsible things could get, I recommend checking out the You're Wrong About podcast's episodes on Michelle Remembers.)
"Wait, do we have actual evidence that false memories exist?" We sure do! Just look at Arizona Wilder, who "remembered" seeing the British royal family morph into reptilians. Look at all the people who "remembered" past lives in Atlantis (which never existed). Look at all the people who "remembered" UFO abductions where they were implanted with alien hybrid fetuses (a biological absurdity). For more information, see my post How we know false memories exist (and no, it's not because the FMSF says so!).
“What’s your problem with the Law of Assumption?” See this post and this post. See also: The prosperity gospel, explained: Why Joel Osteen believes that prayer can make you rich. (The Law of Assumption is closely related to prosperity gospel.) Why you should know about the New Thought movement (another closely related movement) "If the Law of Assumption is fake, what about the success stories?" "This Law of Assumption practitioner posted photos, doesn't that prove something?" Was Neville Goddard really trustworthy? No, modern witchcraft and the Law of Assumption are not "the same." Quick rundown on my actual positions re: the Law of Assumption & reality shifting right now
"I know someone who's fallen into some dangerous beliefs, how can I help them? Check out my #deradicalization tag! (If you want to share this info with someone who isn't on Tumblr, use this link instead!)
"I'm trying to get out of a shitty situation, what can I do?" See my post, "I'm in a bad place and need to get out, what can I do?"
"Why haven't you posted anything about X? Probably for one of the following reasons:
My primary focus is right wing conspiracy theories, and the beliefs/narratives that surround them.
I am a forgetful fuck; things can slip my mind indefinitely.
I literally do not know enough on this topic to say anything meaningful on it at this time.
I have simply never heard of X.
I literally did (maybe even post about it semi-regularly), but you missed it.
Please understand that researching conspiracy theories takes a lot of time and can be pretty draining. There's an immense amount of media to go through, and that media is often some of the most hateful shit you'll ever find. Sometimes I need days to decompress from it.
"What's your position on magic?" I think the benefits of magical practices are mostly psychological and social, because it fits with what I've been able to observe. (My own practice is based on a psychological paradigm.) Generally I don't mind that much if people believe in the supernatural more than I do - I do mind when people push stuff that's well known to be harmful or incorrect.
"I think you're a fake wizard because you don't believe in in the supernatural!" Skill issue.
"What's your position on religion?" "Religion" is an umbrella term that covers a number of personal behaviors and sociological phenomena frequently found together. There's no singular way religion manifests, nor any specific thing it absolutely has to be. To learn more about what I think our goals should be with regard to forms of religion that cause damage, see this post.
"You dare criticize the Law of Assumption when you practice witchcraft? Hypocrite!" Just say you're too lazy to read and go.
"I'm new to witchcraft, got any advice? Yup, over on this post!
“Do you recommend any resources?” Yup, over here!
