There are so many factors at play: distrust of mainstream science/medicine, conspiracy mongering, nature as good & anything manufactured as evil, white and affluent audience, "create your own reality" solipsism, and (of course) weaponized & amplified dis- and misinformation.

As if to drive home this point, just reported and blocked a "Jahsun Melchisedek" (of course) on FB (of course), who owns some kind of alternative healing practice (of course) in CA (of course) for going on an unhinged conspiracy rampage against COVID vaccines. Life is a cartoon!

(With apologies to all my sane and discerning CA friends who practice alternative health and don't pimp inane, dangerous conspiracies 😊)

@michaelmhughes I am completely pagan, and I am 100% against using an experimental vaccine on millions of people, most of whom absolutely do not need it 👍 (Sorry if you were not referring to cv-1984 vaccine) ❤️

@BigConspire I don't care if you're Jesus H. Christ himself, you're wrong. It's a safe, necessary vaccine. Come at me telling me otherwise and you're blocked.

@michaelmhughes I don’t think new age spirituality is to blame. Blame it on the good old religion and those Trumpsters.

@SsPelletier I think you should pay closer attention to what's happening in yoga, alternative medicine, and new age spiritual communities. See: conspirituality. I've been watching its rise and writing about it for years. It's endemic and it's extremely dangerous.

@michaelmhughes I’ve started to see the outlines of the libertarian/populist/anti science/spirituality-industrial complex. This is going to be interesting.

@DEinDC Cryptoconspirituality

@michaelmhughes I did not see that coming either.

@michaelmhughes Same though

@michaelmhughes Here where I live the "wanna be pagans" in the community are nothing more than bigots, racists and lost people who think the craft is on facebook. That was before the 2x impeached one thought of running. Its the group the true bunch of us steer clear of. They give it a bad name.

@michaelmhughes it is why we can't have nice things

@michaelmhughes There has always been an extreme fringe aspect to the New Age sector. They were some of the first to be against vaccinations way back in the 70s, 80s and 90s. And have always been prone to conspiracy thinking. So I am not the least bit surprised.

@michaelmhughes Saw it exactly coming miles away.

@michaelmhughes I work at a metaphysical shop and the amount of this shit I see on a regular basis is so disheartening. The worst part is they apply all of their skepticism to legitimate science and social justice, but apply none when presented with conspiracy theories.