143 episodes

The podcast that explains why so many people believe ridiculous conspiracy theories.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Paranoid Strain Fearful Jesuit

    • Society & Culture
    • 4.6 • 125 Ratings

The podcast that explains why so many people believe ridiculous conspiracy theories.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    New! Unidentified, Episode 4: O-negative blood type? You're probably an Ancient Alien

    New! Unidentified, Episode 4: O-negative blood type? You're probably an Ancient Alien

    Episode 4 is all up in that Basque. Ok, so that joke deson't work. But the episode does! Learn why von Daniken acolyte Nick Redfern is pretty sure the Basque people of Northern Spain and Southern France are totes aliens, you guys. Oh, and if you have a "negative" instead of a "positive" blood type--guess what? You're an ET, too. Come explore this very dumb idea with us.
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    • 36 min
    New! Unidentified, Episode 3: Jesus Christ, Ancient Astronaut

    New! Unidentified, Episode 3: Jesus Christ, Ancient Astronaut

    We're still digging down into the Erich von Daniken rabbit hole, touching on some other authors who have followed EvD's lead in speculating about the extrarrestrial origins of the stories underpinning Judaism and Christianity. In other words, you're about to learn why Jesus isn't just your co-pilot--he's in charge of the whole goddanged UFO. Also, we'll learn why a trained Christian minister has spent the past fifty years or so explaining how a hidden UFO performed all of the miracles of the Exodus. Including the big special effects moment with the sea parting, the Jews passing, and the Egyptians drowning. It's a hoot. See you in a couple of weeks.
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    • 32 min
    New! Unidentified, Episode 2: Ancient Aliens, Chariots of the Gods, and the Swiss Felon

    New! Unidentified, Episode 2: Ancient Aliens, Chariots of the Gods, and the Swiss Felon

    Introductions done, we dive into our first subject in this grand UFO series--that is, Ancient Aliens and the man most responsible for bringing them to us, Erich Von Daniken. In addition to being a hilariously self-regarding fabulist, EVD is also just a very weird dude with quite a checkered legal past. We get into all of that, as well von Daniken's extremely weird inter-stellar sex orgy theory of space exploration. It's nice to be back.
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    • 32 min
    New! Unidentified, Episode 1: In which we narrowly evade an anal probing

    New! Unidentified, Episode 1: In which we narrowly evade an anal probing

    Seems like we've been promising this for ages, but it's finally here. Welcome to our next (very) long series, which we've called "Unidentified", because we think it's a cool name, but also because if we just called it "UFOs", or something, we'd be selling our ambition short. Yes, we're going to cover all of the standard "are aliens visiting us" stuff--abductions, ancient aliens, Roswell, and seemingly a million other topics. But we're also intending this set of shows to be about a lot more. The whole concept of human and non-human intelligence--what it means for a piece of the universe that experiences itself to meet another, very different intelligence.
    Anyway, we've got lots of ambitious stuff to cover. We hope you like it as much as we like creating it. Welcome to Unidentified.

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    • 29 min
    New! Quick-ish hit! Paul is Dead? Part 2

    New! Quick-ish hit! Paul is Dead? Part 2

    And here's the second part of our rundown of the Paul is Dead musical conspiracy theory. In this episode, we consider the long-term implications of this brief mania, as well as the modern conspiracists who just won't let it go. UFOs start in two weeks.
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    • 34 min
    New! Quick-ish hit! Paul is Dead?

    New! Quick-ish hit! Paul is Dead?

    We're back! But we're not doing UFOs yet. First, we're doing a two-parter on one of the most famous music-related conspiracies in modern history--that is, the sudden mania that gripped The Beatles fandom, who for very confusing reasons in 1969 started thinking that Paul McCartney had secretly died and been replaced with a doppelganger, whose voice also somehow was a dead ringer for the tragically dead young genius. This whole thing burned out and became an in-joke quickly enough, but its brief era of cultural mania is super-interesting and a lot of fun. We hope you agree. Happy to be back with you. The second part hits in two weeks, and then it's UFOs as far as the eye can see.
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    • 31 min

Customer Reviews

4.6 out of 5
125 Ratings

125 Ratings

cassandraetc ,

Both funny and informative!

Jesuit’s combo of gleeful fascination and terrified ridicule strikes just the right note for me (a Gen Xer) in dealing with his subject. Which is terrifying and ridiculous.
Here’s a question: I want to know why everyone else in the world, or at least Europe, seems to like our conspiracies best?

ryeguye ,

Thoughtful, Clever, with Exceptional Depth

I learned about this show from a reference in a “40 year old boy” episode…. and am so glad I did. I appreciate the perfect blend of comical sarcasm and intellectual deep dives on relevant topics.

Jwoodley101 ,

Good podcast. Corny delivery

Pretty good research, but the pointless sound bites that attempt to add humor don’t hit the mark. The delivery from the main narrator is fine but the lady who helps narrate needs work

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